What have I done?

I have done     I acciden     Something awful happened today. I haven’t slept because of it, and I worry about what tomorrow morning may bring. Askashia and I… we went to the ramparts in hellfire today. There is a well known orc problem there and we took it upon ourselves to thin their numbers. We fought together well, but it seemed that we were no match for Watchkeeper Gargolmar. We cut our losses and flew to the very top of the Citadel and decided to rest there. After a bit of small talk about the funeral, I decided that the ledge below us was a nice place to jump to. There were some boxes down there that bore the mark of the orcs, though they seemed long forgotten, and they peaked my curiosity. Without a second thought I ran and jumped to it, landing with a soft ‘pffth’. My training had taught me that. I looked up at Askashia and asked her to jump down as well. She looked down and saw I made it, smiled, and jumped. Halfway down I realized that she had no training in jumping down such a long way, but it was too late. She slammed into the boxes, and I hoped they cushioned her fall. Helping her up, she only grunted in pain and smiled. She assured me she was fine, and I decided that maybe we should just leave the Citadel altogether.

The flight to the far off mountain we agreed to go to was quiet. Very quiet. I didn’t realize… You see, when we arrived at the mountain Aska looked at me with her face scrunched in pain. Immediately next to her, I asked her if she was ok. She mentioned something about the fall, and said she was. When she said this I noticed she had something on her face. I leaned in to look and I was horrified. Blood. Before I could say anything, she coughed and more blood came up. I tried to keep a cool head and looked around. There we were, nine hundred feet in the air and Aska was coughing up blood. I didn’t know what to do. I told Aska we needed to get her to the ground and somewhere to be cared for. She nodded, but her eyes looked glazed and unfocused. I cried out her name, trying to keep her attention, but she slumped to the side of her saddle and fell.

I kicked my Griffon, Bruce, hard. We flew down at the same speed she was falling and I reached out and grabbed her. Slowly Bruce leveled of, so as not to jolt her. I motioned for Bruce to head for Shattrath and cradled Aska in my arms. She looked at me… her eyes so… afraid. My heart lurched. I told her I was sorry as we flew, that I would fix this. I told her she was going to be alright, and that I would never let her go so easily.

All she did was grip my shoulderpads tighter and cough. Through her tears, she said she was scared.

I called for my mistsaber as soon as we landed, racing through the portal to Darnassus. People stopped on the bridge to watch me race by with Aska in my arms, making it harder to get to the house. I gingerly put her on the bed there, and called for Arillion to come quickly. Aska curled up into a ball and coughed again, staining the bedsheets. I pulled off my mask and took a knee next to her. I grabbed her hand, told her everthing I already had, and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Arillion arrived and took over. There was little I could do now. I stood back and watched.

Aska was always so strong. But now… she looked so vulnerable. Looking down at my armor and tabard, I realized it was covered in Aska’s tears and blood from her coughing while I was clutching her so close. I removed most of it just in time for Arillion to say he could do nothing more. Casyl and Ernaad both came to try, but it looked like she was flinching every time it was attempted. That when I noticed the barb in her leg. Pulling it out, it suddenly dawned on me that those crate were filled with poison. This particular poison appeared to stop and even reverse healing effects. I pulled out almost 14 barbs. With so much of that poison in her system all we could do was wait.

Other people came, including Ellassar. I couldn’t even look them in the eye while they were there. Aska…. I hurt her, asking her to follow. How could I forget my training in landing? She… is the second person my actions could have saved… So here I am, writing instead of sleeping. If she doesn’t make it…

… I guess I’ll leave the guild quietly.