“Okay. Yeah. That’ll work.” Logan nodded a little dazedly, looking down at the body as his eyes seemed to water. A tear leaked down her cheek as she knelt next to a man she would have called her friend. She reached out to touch his hand, which was already noticeably colder. She heard Logan’s breath intake sharply as the body disappeared into her ring. She wasn’t about to make them figure out how to transport his body properly when she could do it easily. Logan was looking at her strangely, “Where did his body go?”
Oh yeah, not everyone knew she made her ring into a ring of holding. Holding her hand up, she smiled tiredly at him. “My ring of holding. It’s rather handy…” He seemed to nod a little dazedly, but she could see a tiny bit of relief on the nearby guards’ faces now that they weren’t faced with the constant reminder of their companion’s death.
She waited for him to compose himself while she held one hand behind her back to soak in a patch of sunlight. The constant drain of the wind bubbles was starting to get to her. She’d need to try and recharge fully before they set off, just in case. Hopefully she’d be able to attach them to one of the animals. Maybe she could rig some sort of litter? It wasn’t like she was going to attempt to put a living being into her storage space. That was simply asking for trouble. Maybe she should catch some of those beetles the beann were feeding on for future experimentation?
Later; she could do that later. Right now she had injured people to see to. She gently pulled Logan towards the wounded who were being tended by other guards. Quietly, she asked, “Was there not a healer who came with you?”
Logan sighed, pointed at a man who seemed to be unconscious. “That’s him. I’m sure he’ll wake up eventually because he wasn’t hit that badly, but I think he went into shock. I don’t know that he’s ever come outside the walls before…” He had a point. The young man wasn’t even wearing armor. She suspected he’d thought he’d be nice and safe in the middle and wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Still, she went to him first. If she could wake him up and get his help, not only with the others, but with her own injury that she’d been ignoring, that would be for the best. Her stomach still wasn’t sitting quite right, but the sooner she took care of it, the better it would be. She was glad most of her group seemed to have forgotten about it, however. She knew Tisha already felt awful, and there was no need to rub her nose in something she’d done while hypnotized.
Kneeling down carefully near the healer, she pulled out the dirt that had gotten into the claw marks across his leg. Once it was clean, she closed the wounds with her magic. It took about a minute, and by the time she was done, she felt a piercing gaze watching her. Looking up, she realized the healer was awake and staring at her work in awe.
“No wonder she calls you a genius…” His muttered words barely reached her as she smiled at him. He sat up fully, examining his leg as he shook his head. “Thank you. I’m guessing you’re Lady Jade? I’m Lord Riley Tremont.” He held out his hand to take hers, and she absently accepted it.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lord Riley…” She paused to hiss slightly as she felt a wave of healing magic pass through her. He probably did it out of instinct, but he’d frowned upon realizing the condition her stomach was in, and she could feel the magic rearranging her insides to bring them back to where they were supposed to be. She knew she was holding her breath as her guts moved around painfully, finally settling back into their rightful places.
She let out the breath she’d been holding and smiled wanly at him. “A little warning next time would be nice. But thanks.”
Riley looked a little abashed as he let go of her fingers, saying softly, “Sorry, it was a habit. Mom told me you were injured, and usually it’s better to get it over with quickly.” The way he said it made her think that she knew his mother...and then it clicked. Tremont. Scylla Tremont.
“Scylla’s your mother?” she asked, wanting to be sure. When he nodded, she smiled. “She’s a lovely woman. Now, if you’re up to it, there are several other people who need healing.” His eyes widened as he looked around, gulping before he nodded.
“R-right. Of course.” He honestly looked a little nervous now that she’d pointed out the others. Perhaps it was guilt that he hadn’t been awake to help them while they’d been protecting him. He quickly got up and went left while she went right.
Quietly, she added, “Let me know if you need any help.” He gave her a bit of a sheepish smile, then nodded and knelt next to the first man. Rather than blindly going down the line, she asked Logan quickly, “Who’s the worst off?”
He led her down the line past a few people, stopping in front of a man whose leg was half severed, though it had been bandaged. She absently pulled the bandage off to take a look at it and make sure it didn’t heal into the wound as she cleansed it of toxins. Thankfully, the man was out like a light as she stitched him back together, double checking his nerves to make sure no permanent damage would occur. Down the line she went, Logan leading her to the most serious cases first as Riley also worked as quickly as he could.
Fifteen minutes later found Jade sitting off to one side, everyone giving a large berth to the black space surrounding her. In the darkness she was munching on meat she’d pulled from her ring while watching those around her. Thankfully, the group was leading extra capall, though not enough for everyone to have their own if she was counting correctly. She figured they were one short, which made her frown a bit. She’d loved to have tied Tevon to a capall so that she could stop hauling him around in a wind bubble.
It seemed everyone was getting ready to go, so when she finally felt her energy had basically recovered, she dropped the light absorption and walked over to where the last unclaimed capall was waiting nervously. Tisha was sharing her capall with Hayden, and Jade was amused to see how he was fussing over his older sister.
“Jade, you can put the...mesmer on that one and ride with me.” Hunter’s quiet voice surprised her, and she turned to look at him with a raised brow. He grinned unapologetically and went on, “That way you don’t have to concentrate on riding...or falling off.”
Laughing softly, she asked, “Do I look that tired?”
He shrugged and said softly, “Pretty much. Logan offered too, if you’d rather ride with him.” Well, that was interesting. She wondered how she’d missed that conversation. She’d probably been too focused on healing, or maybe it was when she was re-energizing.
She reached over, ruffling his hair, much to his indignation. “I’ll ride with you, okay? Let me just get him settled.” Hunter nodded impishly, and from the corner of her eye she saw that Logan had a somewhat crestfallen look, though he hid it quickly when he noticed her glance.
Shaking her head ruefully, she pulled her bubbles towards the last capall, where both it and the guard holding onto it seemed a bit nervous. She studied the saddle there, then pulled out a bedroll from her bag, laying it over the saddle and beast’s sides, then securing it to the straps. It wasn’t going to be the most comfortable of rides, being draped over the saddle like a sack of potatoes, but it was the best she could offer while keeping Tevon safe. She floated him over, securing the blanket on top of him as well as pulling out a seed to tie him with vines, blanket and all, to the makeshift saddle-bed.