Ashes And Spirit (Book 3) (60 page)

She picked her way carefully through the felled trees and reached out to feel for a pulse. A faint throb met her fingertips. He stirred at her touch and mumbled, “Merru…”

“Shh. You’re badly injured. Don’t try to move.”

“Meeerrush,” the slurred word barely made it past his swollen lips.

Kirynn looked at the gold. From this angle, she could see his body moving with shallow breaths. Large wounds showed where claws and teeth had taken chunks out of him. His wings looked like they’d taken the brunt of the crash into the trees. She turned back to Loki. “He lives.”

Loki sighed and passed out again. Slides opened all over the sky as other Guardians arrived. Nira and Nolan were the first to reach them. Nolan went straight to Merru while Nira placed her hands on Loki.

Shryden, Tanis, and Saria worked together to pull the shriveled body of the Shadow Dragon away. As they did, Kirynn could see the hole burned through the chest of the rider from a deadly light weave. At least Loki had gotten the pile of shadow dung.

Nira pulled her hands away from Loki. “We have to move him off this tree—now. Kirynn, grab him around the waist. Mckale, take his shoulders.”

Kirynn placed her arms under his hips, and Mckale grabbed him under the shoulders. Nira stood and said, “On the count of three you two will lift together. It’s going to cause more damage no matter how we do this, so let’s be quick and,” she pointed to a grassy spot several paces away, “put him down there. One…two…three.”

Kirynn and Mckale lifted together. Loki came awake with a shout, but they managed to hold him securely while he struggled. Thankfully, the stump was small, and they removed him from it fast. Unconsciousness claimed him again, and his blood ran onto the ground as they started for the grassy area. Nira placed her hands on Loki and began healing while they moved him and eased him down.

Everyone waited in silence while Nira worked, the tension so thick Kirynn could have cut it with her zahri. Another death would be devastating.

When Nolan finished with Merru, he staggered a few steps away then fell. Mckale and Belynn were quick to help him reach a sitting position. Varnen offered him a traveling cake. “You need to eat and get some energy back.”

Nolan accepted it with a nod and whispered, “Thank you.”

Jocelynn and Marcaius moved to bracket Nira, and Kirynn pulled a traveling cake out of her own pouch to have ready. The healing stretched on. A knot began to form in Kirynn’s stomach as she fought for distance. Even if Loki died right here, he had lived, truly lived, and his death was not without a fight. She would rejoice in those two things.

Finally, Nira pulled her hands away and collapsed into Marcaius’ arms. He held her tenderly as she leaned against him while Jocelynn took the traveling cake from Kirynn and handed it to Nira.

Nira took a bite, chewed slowly, swallowed, and said, “Water.” Everyone tried to hand her their water bag at once. She chuckled. “I don’t think I can drink that much.”

Mckale glanced at Loki. “How is he?”

Nira took a drink from Jocelynn’s water bag and wiped her mouth. “He will live. It will take a few more sessions to mend him fully.” She gave Jocelynn a stern look. “You have just had several serious wounds healed and should be resting in Galdrilene.”

“I couldn’t leave until everyone was accounted for.” Jocelynn glanced at Loki. “I needed to know.”

“As we all did,” Belynn said.

Mckale glanced at the gathered group. “Everyone’s accounted for now. I want anyone who had more than superficial injuries healed to go back to Galdrilene. Everyone else needs to be on their way to Markene. We have to keep it secure.”

As the others began to move toward their dragons, Kirynn said, “At least we held our ground this time.”

Mckale nodded, his expression grave. “We have to find thanks in any victory we can today. You need to go to Galdrilene as well and get that healed.” He pointed at her arm. “Nira, Nolan, and Serena have already pushed themselves too far.”

Kirynn glanced down and noticed the deep slice through her upper arm and the blood caked on her skin. “It probably looks worse than it is.”

“No reason to leave it open to infection.”

“Since my arm still works, it can be healed after Loki, Vaddoc, and their dragons are back in Galdrilene. I will help with transport.”

He nodded. “If you wish.”

Syrakynn reached out to her,
“Vaddoc and Namir have been moved to Galdrilene.”

“We will follow them soon.”

Nira brushed aside a dark ringlet that had escaped her braid. “In the right hand pack on Saria’s saddle is a transport sling. Will one of you grab it for me?”

Kirynn strode to the yellow dragon and unfastened the buckles on the pack. Inside, tightly rolled up, was the canvas and rope sling. She pulled it out and began to unroll it as she walked back.

Marcaius helped Mckale position Loki better, and Kirynn laid the sling on the ground next to him. Together, the four of them moved Loki with minimal jostling. As Nira began pulling the ropes up and tying the appropriate knots, Serena came through a Slide above them. A moment later Miya landed.

Serena sat in the saddle with a pile of canvas wadded in her arms and dragging on the ground around Miya. “I brought the dragon sling. It took quite a bit to get Namir moved. Merru is smaller and there are more dragons to help so it should be easier. It was almost too much for Shryden, Miya, and Nydara to get Namir back to Galdrilene.” She glanced at the trailing ropes. “I didn’t have time to roll it back up, and it’s too heavy to carry alone.”

The five of them sorted out the tangled lines and spread the huge sheet of thick canvas out. Then they stepped back so the dragons could get Merru shoved onto it. Kirynn helped secure the buckles that would keep the gold from falling in the event one of the lines was dropped, then stepped back.

“Syrakynn and I can take Loki.”

Nira nodded. Kirynn quickly secured herself in the saddle then the red lifted off until she hovered directly above the young man and the healer. Nira and Nolan grabbed the thick ropes and hooked the loops over Syrakynn’s claws.

“I’ve got him.”
The red pulled higher into the air.

Once they were well above the ground, Kirynn sensed the image form, and the Slide spun open. They came out directly over the caldera. While Syrakynn slowly lowered their cargo to the ground, the others came through a single huge Slide. Each dragon held ropes connected to the sling. Suspended between the four lay Merru.

M
aleena paced the width of Vaddoc’s lair in the small hours of the morning. He lay on the bed with Serena, Nira, Nolan, and Gideon gathered around him. This was the second time in as many days that they worked to heal the damage to his back and save his organs from failure.

Worry nagged at her, but it wasn’t completely for Vaddoc. He was alive. He shouldn’t be. Vaddoc never lived in any of the possible futures she had seen in the lake, not even the last. How could the futures shift like that?

Emallya’s voice echoed in her memory,
“The future you see isn’t always the future that comes.”

But she’d went through them all. Every single agonizing moment. How did this change things? Was she more likely to succeed or fail? To live or die?

And Loki. The young man she saw in the lake did not have the scars he carried now, nor was he missing an eye. An eye that no healer could replace. They weren’t big changes, and yet at the same time they might as well be mountains.

Mckale leaned against one wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Though he glanced at Vaddoc and the healers occasionally, he followed her progress back and forth across the chambers. Maleena avoided his gaze. Worried curiosity flowed through the bond from him. It was understandable; she wasn’t acting normal. Under any other conditions, her attention would be focused on the healing and recovery of her friend. Instead, her mind was consumed with the implications.

Though Maleena wasn’t sure when the final battle would be, all signs pointed to it coming sooner rather than later. Until the moment Serena saved Vaddoc’s life on the battlefield, Maleena had known how everything was going to end, what had to be done. Now it was all thrown into chaos.

She stopped and turned to Mckale. “Keep watch over him. I will return soon.”

“Where are you going?” He pushed away from the wall with a frown.

“I won’t be long. Just,” she glanced back at the bed where Vaddoc’s chest rose and fell in an even rhythm, “stay here. Please.”

Mckale stared at her with eyes that shifted between silver and iron gray. “You are keeping something from me and have been for some time. What is it?”

Her shoulders fell, and she looked away. “Fine, you can come with me.”

“Where? What aren’t you telling me?”

“There is a lot I haven’t told.” She crossed the room and paused at the doorway to the hall. “Come with me. It will be better to see for yourself. Perhaps then you will understand.”

The muscles in his jaw flexed, and his eyes shifted to gray. In his mind, she saw the understanding that he wouldn’t like what she was about to show him.

In silence, they made their way to the dark caldera where Nydara and Tellnox waited. It wasn’t long before they were in the air, and Nydara opened a Slide. They came out over the unreflective surface of Spirit Lake.

Nydara landed several paces from the sandy shore. With some reluctance, Maleena slowly removed the safety straps and dropped to the grass faded by the coming of fall. The trees where they had once camped with Emallya sported yellow leaves that danced on the light breeze in the pearl-gray light of early morning. Mckale stood beside her as they stared at the lake’s surface, which remained as smooth as glass.

“When we were here last time, I saw every possible future the lake had to offer. Including one I didn’t share the details of with you.” Maleena paused, and Mckale remained silent while she gathered her thoughts. “In every future, no matter what, I saw my own death. The only choice left to me was what I did with it.”

She didn’t look at him but his sharp intake of air mirrored the shocked fear she felt through the bond.

“Why didn’t you tell me this? We, the riders as a group, could have been working on this the whole time to find a way around it,” Mckale said, his voice revealing none of his emotions.

Maleena smiled sadly despite the anger threading through the bond from him. “That is why I didn’t tell you. You would have wasted precious time worrying about it, trying to find a way to change it instead of accepting it and treasuring the moments we have left together.”

“Why are we here then? If nothing will change it then why bother to come back here?” His brows drew down creating deep furrows between his eyes.

“Because something
has
changed.” Maleena looked back at the lake. “I don’t know what it means.”

“What? How do you know?” The hope that filtered through the anger almost broke her heart. It was hope she was sure wouldn’t be fulfilled.

“Vaddoc was supposed to die, and he didn’t. So something has changed.”

“Wait a minute.” Mckale grabbed her arm and turned her toward him. “You knew he was likely to die and you said nothing…”