The coachman was cleaning up the picnic as I sloshed through the stream, not able to skip so lightly across the rocks this time.
He looked up at me as I strode toward him. “By the gods!” he hissed. “You?—”
“Are well enough. Just clean up quick and hurry back to the city. I could use a healer in due time, but most of this blood isn’t mine.”
He blinked at me and nodded, redoubling his cleaning. We were soon on our way.
The lovers were laughing to themselves inside the carriage. They would never know what had happened to me nor what had almost happened to them.
And that was how it should be.
CHAPTER 16
Dazar
My quiet despondencewas interrupted by an insistent knock on the door. Only one person knew I’d fled to this modest inn.
“Avela?” I asked.
“Yes, Master Dazar, please hurry!”
I sighed, rose, and went to the door, opening it. Avela looked a mess, bedraggled and fatigued. Had she run here?
When I’d gathered my things and left the cottage, I hadn’t gone far. I hadn’t known what to do, where to go, at least not yet. So, I’d gotten a room at a pleasant inn called the Blue Goose, about a five-minute walk from the cottage. I’d told Avela where I’d be in case of emergencies. It seemed… there was an emergency.
“Mistress Tisera is hurt, she needs healing. You need to come quickly!” Avela said, breathless and clearly distraught.
I left without a second thought. When I looked back at Avela, she waved me away.
“I’ll follow in time, go!”
I ran.
I gathered my aura and pushed strength and vitality — red and orange — into my legs, heart, and lungs as I sprinted back to the cottage. Horror consumed me when I saw blood spots all the way down the lane and into the house. I followed them in shock, hoping — praying — Tisera was still alive.
I burst into her room, like I had yesterday, only this time she was not naked and proud, she groaned, sitting on her bed, trying — with little success — to remove her armor. Her right arm hung limp and she bled from a gash in her side. Her aura was all over the place — fluctuating and erratic — as her life energies floundered and surged in a wild dance of life and death.
“Let me help,” I said and rushed to her.
“Daz?” She seemed confused, her voice raw and weak. “Where…?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just lay back. I’ll get this armor off.”
She relaxed a little, falling back on her bed. Her eyelids fluttered shut as she let herself finally rest.
I removed the armor carefully. The breastplate had a significant dent in the front which looked like it wouldn’t be comfortable at all. And the metal of the back plate had been pushed into a deep gash on her side. It looked nasty. I couldn’t imagine what sort of weapon might have caused this, nor did I want to know. I cautiously removed the breastplate, managed to roll her onto her front, and got the backplate off without doing any more damage.
I summoned green for a quick assessment of her injuries: that nasty gash to her side, several wounds to her right arm, a bump on the head, and bruising where her armor had been dented in. Fever and delirium had set in as well. That would be easy to sooth away, once I’d dealt with the physical issues.
I focused my aura on that deep and messy cut low on the right side of her abdomen. First the hardest part: I summoned white, purity, to cleanse the wound before I healed it. Whitewasn’t so much a single color as it wasallcolors, which meant it took a lot to channel. Concentrating, I carefully cleaned the wound. Then, I brought forth green for health and recovery, and red for strength, and some orange to encourage the flesh to mend. Sweat dampened my brow by the time that was done.
With her worst injury mended, I could take a moment to recover and plan which wound I’d tend to next. My sense of Dizzy’s Phora had given me a pretty clear picture of the damage, but I removed the rest of her armor and clothes for a closer physical inspection.
Dizzy woke from her feverish mumblings as I sat her up to remove her shirt.
“Taking advantage of me, are you?” She didn’t know who she was talking to, her eyes lidded, gaze unfocused.
When she did manage to focus on me, she whispered, “Daz?” then swooned and went limp again.
