Poor Bingley was pressing a strip of linen to the area in such an agitated fashion, Elizabeth’s heart contracted with fear. What would they do if they lost her? As well as being her sister, Jane was her dearest friend and confidante. They had always known some of them might be wounded or worse in battle, but for Jane to be taken away from them in a meaningless carriage accident seemed particularly unjust.
The carriage seemed suddenly airless. She had to get out. She stepped onto the road and breathed in great gulps of country air.
She could hear Mr. Bennet questioning Miss King. Elizabeth strode over to listen. Of all of them, she was the most objective. Very likely, she would have the most realistic assessment.
“I cannot say. She has lost blood and will lose more if we remove the piece of wood. But we must remove it before infection sets in. If we can stem the bleeding quickly, there is hope. We will need a proper Healer quickly.”
The difficulty was determining where they could find one.
“We should retrace our steps. Take her back to Founder’s Hall,” said Bingley, emerging from the carriage to ask for more linen. “There are plenty of Healers there, and we know they are good. No point wasting time scouring the countryside only to find a Healer with weak abilities.”
“First things first,” said Darcy, appearing suddenly at Elizabeth’s side. He was tearing at his shirt to give Bingley more strips. “We cannot do anything until we move the carriage and extricate Miss Bennet. That is our priority. Once we have her in the other carriage, we can decide. But I have the feeling thatjolting her around to take her such a long way may make matters worse.”
“I agree,” said Miss King. “In any case, we need to seal the wound first. Miss Bingley has attempted to do so, but it is beyond her ability. As soon as Miss Bennet has been moved, we must form a Healing circle. Hopefully we can at least stem the bleeding.”
Darcy prepared himself to start his work, trying to control his apprehension. There was a huge difference between making errors on an inanimate log and moving the carriage with Jane inside. A mistake here could send Jane tumbling and risk making the situation much worse.
And then there were the logistics of it. Extricating Jane from the carriage was an intricate business. The branch that had pierced her leg was still attached to the tree itself. Miss King had tried to use a thin line of fire to saw it off, but after a spark flew into the carriage and nearly set fire to it, she had abandoned the idea. Darcy and Mr. Bennet would have to cut away without causing any other problems. Once that was done, the carriage could be moved away from the tree so Jane could be taken out without having to pull at her too much and risk making the bleeding worse.
In the end, everything went more smoothly than anticipated. The first part was easy, once the two of them had determined the best way to do it. Darcy set up a Warding bubble around the branch to protect Jane, the carriage and the trees around them from any consequences, while Mr. Bennet used a form of Arcane magic to crumble the wood into a fine powder.
Next, they turned to the task of moving the carriage away from the tree so they could open the door. It was fortunate that he and Mr. Bennet had practiced shifting a log earlier in the day, although the downside was that their efforts had tired them. They were able to work together efficiently. Darcy tried not to pay attention to Elizabeth, who stood on the side, wringing her hands and urging them to be careful. He tried to ignore Bingley’s despairing look. And most of all, he tried not to look at Jane’s chalk-white face.
Utterly drained, he left the task of transporting Jane to Bingley, Redmond, the postillions and anyone else who wanted to help, and went to sit on the edge of the road next to the coachman, completely spent.
It galled him that he could not do anything more, but it was the price he had to pay for using Elemental magic.
As soon as Jane was taken to the second carriage, Elizabeth gathered all the mages together.
“Miss King, if you could be kind enough to keep an eye out for any trouble while we are occupied with the Healing.”
“Of course.”
“Miss Bingley, do you think you could lead the Healing Circle? Do you think you are strong enough after all the effort you exerted.”
“Yes, of course,” she said, with her usual arrogance.
“I would like to help,” said Mr. Bennet.
Elizabeth shook her head. Obviously, he wanted to do what he could to save his daughter, but Elizabeth had never tried to Link with him in any way. This was no time to experiment.
“You have already pushed yourself to the limit moving the carriage, Papa. Mr. Darcy as well.”
Darcy was looking crestfallen. She gave him a warm smile. “You have already done a lot. Though perhaps it would be good to set up Concealment Wards around us, just in case.”
She was impatient to start. “There is no time to be lost. Although five would be ideal, there are four of us: Bingley, Redmond, Miss Bingley and myself. We have all practiced joining together before, so this should be familiar. I will start by forming the Circle, then Miss Bingley will guide us in the Healing.”
Elizabeth’s hands were shaking, and it took a while to push away her terror and calm her mind before she reached out to everyone. Very carefully, she reached out with the threads of her magic to link with theirs.
She started with Redmond. It was hard to resist the temptation to Bond, but a Healing was very different, and in any case, Bonding was too risky. Then she connected with Bingley. She knew his magical signature well, and they usually Linked easily, but today he was withdrawn, his magic held tight to him like a shield.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Bingley?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, unknowingly echoing his sister.
And finally, Elizabeth reached for Miss Bingley’s magic signature and weaved it into a protective unit surrounding Jane.
“Miss Bingley – your turn,” she murmured.
