Page 31

Chapter

Thirteen

Merrik shuddered out a long breath as he sat in his wheelchair, facing the two parallel bars in the hospital’s recovery room.

Adry sat in one of the chairs along the wall, her knees bouncing as she attempted to stay silent and still. As if sensing his gaze, she sent him a smile and a small wave of encouragement.

Aunt Illyna set her bag down, knelt in front of Merrik, and pulled out a prosthetic. “Your new leg.”

Merrik took it from her, turning it over as he inspected it. The wooden calf and foot were both hollow, with the real strength coming from the metal strut running down the center. The ankle and toes were reticulated on bearings and springs while a system of roots ran through the inside, acting like tendons and muscles he could move with his magic, if he could get his magic to cooperate. Those roots ended inside the cuff so that he would have skin contact to use his magic.

When Aunt Illyna had first shown him this leg in the hospital, he’d been too overwhelmed to take it in. Now, an eagerness filled him. He wanted to put this on and test it out, and that wasn’t something he would have been able to feel a few weeks ago.

“You will need this.” Aunt Illyna held out a stocking that had numerous holes.

After rolling up his trouser leg, revealing his stump and knee, Merrik tugged on the stocking before Aunt Illyna walked him through putting on the prosthetic.

The holes in the stocking corresponded with the ends of the roots that stubbed out into the prosthetic’s leather cuff. As he put the cuff on, he worked the roots through the holes in the stocking so that the roots were pressed against his skin.

Once the cuff was all the way on, he adjusted the roots against the side of his stump until they sat comfortably. The roots were at least flat to form to his leg, and they’d likely become more comfortable as he poured his magic through them.

When everything was as comfortable as possible, he tightened the buckles on the cuff, buckled an additional strap around his thigh above his knee, and attached the cuff to the upper strap.

Aunt Illyna gave everything a swift inspection before nodding. “The fit looks good. How does it feel? A little mild discomfort is normal since your body had not adjusted yet, but there should not be any pain or great discomfort.”

Merrik bent his knee back and forth, feeling the weight of the prosthetic as it moved. “It feels okay.”

“Let me know if that changes when you walk.” Aunt Illyna sat back on her heels before rising to stand. “If you need extra security to hold the prosthetic on, there is an additional leather strap you can use to attach it to a belt around your waist. There has been some experimentation with a compression cuff to hold a prosthetic on, but so far it has not been perfected yet. Right now, this leather cuff and the system of buckles and straps is the best method for holding it on securely.”

Merrik nodded. While the cuff felt secure on his stump, he could see where a strap to his waist would come in handy for more active situations, like running or sword practice.

Would he be able to run or practice his sword again? When he’d first lost his leg, things like that had seemed impossible.

Now, after experiencing a level of freedom and function return after weeks of healing and hard work, such things felt within his grasp once again. He could learn to run again. He could learn to dance. Sword fight. Live.

He tugged a boot onto his prosthetic foot, tied it, then rolled down the trouser leg. Fully dressed like that, one couldn’t even tell at a glance that he was missing a leg. Or two of his toes on the other foot.

While he could still feel the lack of both the leg and the toes, he also felt a sense of wholeness settle into his chest. It was still tenuous, still lacking the confidence and comfort within his own skin that he’d once had. But perhaps he was, slowly, coming to terms with his new body and reality.

In a familiar action after the weeks of practice, he pushed his wheelchair to the ends of the bars, grabbed them, and pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the nurse who hovered close in case he needed the help.

“How does everything feel now?” Aunt Illyna’s gaze swept over him, as if cataloguing everything from his stance to his expression. “How does your stump feel? What about your hips and shoulders? Do they feel level? If the prosthetic is not right, it will make your hips hurt.”

He stood there for a long moment, assessing. His stump ached at the unfamiliar pressure but not badly. His hips felt all right. When he straightened his shoulders, his stance shifted into something closer to the way he’d used to stand when he had two feet. “All right, I think.”

“Then go ahead and take a step.” Aunt Illyna gestured toward the bars in an encouraging motion.

When Merrik glanced toward the wall where Adry sat, Adry beamed at him and made a similar wave.

Drawing in a deep breath, he tapped into his magic. It curled around his fingers first, and it took him a moment to redirect it down his leg to run along the roots into the prosthetic.

This was it. He’d been walking on the peg leg for a couple of weeks now, but this would be his first true step since the crash.

With his magic filling the prosthetic, he took a step, trying to flex the wooden foot and ankle the way his regular foot moved. His brain felt like it was splitting, trying to concentrate on both using his magic in this new way and on walking at the same time.

His steps were wobbling and tentative, his gait a staggering limp. Between his weak left ankle and still learning to move his right prosthetic leg and foot, he wasn’t the most graceful or steady, and he had to grip the bars to keep himself from falling.

After only a few steps, his stump began to hurt worse. Unlike a foot that had a natural cushion on the bottom, his stump was still developing the cushion to take the shock of his movements. Nor was he yet used to the feeling of the cinched straps holding the prosthetic in place.