Excerpts from a story I'm working on (Part 4)

The aftermath of that event comes back to hurt him

"That was a stupid thing to do. You keep making stupid decisions, now everyone has to pay for it." This was the harshest of the criticism he'd been getting and he knew he was as guilty as he was being charged. Nora was visibly angry, her hands shaking even as she pointed the accusing finger at him. She stormed out of the room, not giving him room to explain.

Harris had not yet recovered from the corruption. His hands and feet were still sprouting tendrils for fingers. He was sorry he had acted out of anger. He shouldn't have left Harris in the wild knowing how difficult it was for him to defend himself. All of this was his fault.

Everyone was avoiding him. He could tell it to even if if he some didn't say anything. Nora was the only one who'd he spoken to him since that night and that was two days ago. She was the one most affected, obviously so. She'd been as close to Harris as George has ever seen and he hated to be the one to cause her pains. He wished things didn't always go this way.

Even Mrs. Ivy was snubbing. She'd come to his room, dropped his food and had gone away without the usual 'Hi'. George didn't know how much more he could take. Everything was falling apart. He didn't know what was going to happen. The battle they'd been preparing for, the battle that brought them here was just a day away and they were in disarray. How do you win with disheartened and discontented people?

And Cordelia, she'd not said a word to him since she'd told him that morning when he woke up that he was wrecking everything and taking everyone down to with him. He wasn't the one to be hurt by words as he's had told deal with such all the years at Manterror's. Yet, her words had struck him like arrows dipped in scorpion poison. It was spreading all over his head and he couldn't stop thinking about the sadness that had creased her brows as she spoke.

What had he done that was so wrong? He had been concerned about Dathan, about him dying because of what Harris had done. At least someone should understand. Even if no one did, Cordelia, whom he'd spent the better part of a year should know he wasn't selfish. He had always wanted, desired what was best for everyone.

Selfish?

He had never heard anyone used that word. No, not since Alexius left. That even had been lies. Lies Alexius told to get at his skin. He'd never agree that he was selfish. Or was he?

The last few days, all he'd been thinking was getting fine with the ear so he could get to lead a normal life. The war was the password to getting the elixir. The elixirs with whichever he'd save his people. Maybe he had been selfish after all. Damn! It felt like his happiness had been plunged even deeper into the ocean that was his saddened heart.

He sank to the floor, not careful to avoid the shards of glasses that was everywhere, a reminder of his unguarded state. An attempt to push the food Mrs. Ivy had brought in that morning had resulted in the glass of water breaking, spilling water and glass everywhere. Yet, he hadn't moved to clear the mess. He hated that he might see someone and would have fresh pangs of guilt at seeing them not talking to him.

As he sat down, his felt a sharp prick on his right index finger. A shard of glass had gone in and it was deep inside. He tried removing it but the more he tried, the deeper he looked felt it go.

He pointed his left palm towards it, the last option being magic.

"Excavio!"

Nothing worked. He didn't even feel the usual rush of power that jostled him a little when casting a spell. Alas, his magic was gone!