Her fate was not yet decided. As hard as it was to trust when her trust had been shattered before, the Trateri had given her no reason to believe they would cast her to the wolves for an incident that wasn't her fault.
"Ollie, do you have any salve on you?" she asked.
The salve was a concoction made by one of the healers to treat wounds. It worked on both humans and animals. Ollie usually carried some on him since he was the one most warriors approached when their mounts were wounded and needed treatment.
"I do. Are you hurt?" he asked, his expression sympathetic.
"Not me. Him." Eva tilted her head at the mythological.
His pain surged against her in waves. She winced as a phantom pain touched her throat. Her wrist throbbed in sympathy seconds later.
Hardwick slanted her a look but didn't comment as Ollie stared uncertainly up at the mythological.
"Will he let us get close enough to treat him?" Ollie asked.
Eva lifted her head and stared at the mythological. "Only one way to find out."
"Perhaps it would be wise to leave him alone until the Hawkvale and Battle Queen arrive," Fiona suggested.
Eva's expression was troubled as she glanced over at the warrior. "Will they kill him?"
Fiona raised an eyebrow. "Your opinion of us doesn't seem very high."
Eva shrugged. "Don't take it personally. I find most people prefer the easy choice, no matter who gets hurt in the end."
"You'll have to forgive Eva," Ollie said, shooting a quelling look Eva's way. "She isn't very good with humans. It's a limitation we're working on."
Hardwick made a sound of amusement. In this, he and Eva were disturbingly similar.
"I can't say what the Hawkvale and Battle Queen will do, but I doubt they will harm him," Fiona said with an easy smile. "She has a soft spot for the creatures since they helped her when she was in the Badlands."
Eva hoped Fiona was right. Her experience with Shea had been brief, but the Battle Queen had seemed honorable, to the point others would consider madness.
"Then it won't matter if I treat his wounds," Eva concluded, rising.
She couldn't control what decision was made, but this was one thing she could do.
Fiona regarded her with an amused glint in her eyes and gestured to the mythological as if saying ‘after you’.
Filled with determination, Eva held her hand out to Ollie, waiting expectantly for the salve. He looked from her to Hardwick with a touch of uncertainty.
Hardwick dipped his chin down in the barest of nods. With a sigh, Ollie reached into his satchel and pulled out the balm, placing it carefully into Eva's waiting hand. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Eva hoped so too, if she was honest.
She stepped around him without speaking, striding past Fiona and Roscoe as she channeled a confidence that felt far away.
Hardwick and Fiona followed close behind as Eva led the way up the hill. She was the first to reach the crest, her eyes rising to meet the mythological's glare as his teeth closed inches from her face. Her reflexive jerk nearly sent her tumbling back down the hill. A muffled curse escaped Hardwick as the mythological's attention shifted to him next.
Hardwick moved with the practiced ease of someone who had been dealing with temperamental horses all his life, stepping sideways as he dodged having a chunk torn out of him.
Fiona spat a nasty word as she crouched, her hand going to the hilt of her sword.
The mythological stayed where he was, guarding the top of the hill as he bared his teeth.
Eva's heart thumped at the close call as she took stock of the situation. The mythological was acting like a new mama who saw a threat to her foal. He was aggressive because he was afraid, and he didn't trust any of them.
She could understand that. She wouldn't trust two leggers if they'd done to her what they'd so obviously done to the winged horse.
