The Wizard's Curse (Book 2) (45 page)

Tarkyn looked at Autumn Leaves, “You all right with that? Right, shut your eyes, relax and we’ll see what we can do.”

Tarkyn placed his hand on the woodman’s shoulder and closed his eyes. He let his awareness flow down through his arm into Autumn Leaves and up into the area around the bridge of his nose where he had been struck by the knife hilt. Before long, he spotted a small piece of bone that had been chipped off Autumn Leaves’ eye socket and was pressing into inflamed flesh. Tarkyn relayed the information to Summer Rain and, unusually, received a firm instruction to come out.

He flowed out of the woodman, back up his own arm and opened his eyes. Autumn Leaves opened his too and exclaimed, “That’s a weird feeling! It feels like a spider running over your hand, soft pattering, but on the inside, instead of on the outside.”

Lapping Water crinkled her nose in distaste, “That sounds creepy.”

Autumn Leaves smiled, “No, it’s all right. It’s quite nice actually when you get used to it but I would have died of fright if I hadn’t known what was causing it.” He looked at Tarkyn, “So, is it fixed?”

Tarkyn shook his head, “Not yet. Summer Rain told me to come out.” He turned expectantly to the healer.

“From what I’ve seen of your healing power, I don’t think you can repair that damage. I think we need to remove it rather than try to move it back into place and reconnect it.”

“Not wishing to pry, but could you two tell me what Tarkyn found?” There was a definite rebuke in Autumn Leaves voice.

“I’m sorry, Autumn Leaves,” said Summer Rain quietly. “A small piece of bone has been chipped off and is now pushing into the area in your eye socket next to your nose. It’s quite dangerous, I think. If it travelled, it could damage your sight or possibly even work its way back into your brain. Either way, it needs to come out.”

“What? Now?”

“As soon as possible. Now seems as good a time as any.”

Autumn Leaves looked a little frightened and, to Tarkyn’s surprise, glanced across at Thunder Storm for reassurance. Before Tarkyn had time to wonder why, Thunder Storm rumbled, “Don’t worry, little brother. I’ll be here and I’ll be the one to knock you out if that’s what’s needed.”

“Why do I never know these family connections?” asked Tarkyn, with a puzzled frown.

“I told you that Autumn Leaves and Thunder Storm would have asked you into their family,” said Waterstone quizzically. “Wasn’t it obvious from that?”

“I thought you meant into either of their families. I suppose I wasn’t listening closely enough.”

Waterstone smiled, “You were a little drunk at the time. You were probably past noticing detail by that stage.”

“Hmph,” Tarkyn couldn’t help feeling a little sidelined. He gave himself a mental shake and returned his attention to Autumn Leaves. “Don’t worry. We’ll look after you. You know you’re in good hands with Summer Rain.”

“We’ll need as much light as we can get. So, can we have some space near the entrance for Autumn Leaves to lie down in, please?” As she spoke, Summer Rain was rummaging through her bag, producing little switches of herbs, tweezers and a needle and thread.  “Danton, could we borrow one of your knives please? They strike me as being remarkably sharp.”

Almost before she finished speaking, a small dagger appeared in his hand. He offered it to her hilt first.

“Thank you, but if you could hold the blade in the flames for a short time and keep it until I’m ready for it, that would be most helpful.”

“Certainly, ma’am,” said Danton.

“And the tweezers, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Tarkyn eyed the needle and thread. “If you can extract the piece of bone, I think I can close up the wound and heal it without needing stitches,” he offered.

“That would be better, certainly, but I’ll keep them nearby just in case we need them.”

A few minutes later, everything and everyone was in place. Summer Rain knelt on one side of Autumn Leaves, Tarkyn on the other with his hand on the woodman’s shoulder. Danton was holding the cauterized knife and the tweezers.

“Are you ready, Autumn Leaves?” rumbled Thunder Storm from a little further back in the cave.

Autumn Leaves closed his eyes, grimaced, and took a deep breath,  “Go on.”

In one fluid motion, Thunder Storm drew his slingshot and fired. Suddenly, Thunder Storm was thrown over backwards from his crouching position, his slingshot ripped from his hand and thrown across the cave. He found himself staring up into bright green eyes, as a protective Midnight sat on top of him and pummelled him.

“Oh no,” said Rainstorm, rolling his eyes. “He thinks Thunder Storm has attacked Autumn Leaves.” He grabbed Midnight from behind and hauled him off. “Come on Tarkyn. Explain to him.”

Midnight thrashed and kicked out, trying to get back to stop Thunder Storm from rising. Tarkyn sent out a feeling of calm and tried to send images of what was happening but Midnight’s mind wasn’t receiving again. With a sigh, Tarkyn stood up and came around to crouch in front of Midnight. Midnight kept looking in alarm at Thunder Storm, panting with the effort of struggling to get free but Tarkyn grabbed the little boy’s shoulders and forced him to look into his eyes. Then he re-sent the images and used hand signs to show that Thunder Storm was friend to both Autumn Leaves and himself. The little boy glanced over at the unconscious Autumn Leaves and frowned in perplexity. Tarkyn sent reassurance and showed him again what they were about to do and why. Midnight took a deep breath and glanced sideways at Thunder Storm who had stayed where he was until Midnight was contained.

A look of consternation dawned on the little boy’s face. He sent a plea for Tarkyn to let him go and when Tarkyn’s grip loosened, scrabbled across the cave to retrieve the slingshot. He dusted it off and presented it to Thunder Storm. Then he grasped Thunder Storm’s shoulder and frantically tried to help him to sit up, all the while sending out waves  of contrition.

“He’s trying to send you a message to say he’s sorry,” interpreted Tarkyn.

Thunder Storm sat up, brushing down his dusty sleeves, “I think I can tell that,” he said dryly.

Midnight’s eyes flickered around everyone else watching him, and realised that no clear path lay between him and the mouth of the cave. Wide-eyed and vigilant, he backed himself into the deepest corner of the cave and cowered down trembling, with his hands curled over his head protectively.

There was shocked silence.

“This poor little boy has been badly treated by someone,” said Summer Rain sadly.

Without standing, Thunder Storm shuffled over to the cowering child who flinched away and shut his eyes as the woodman neared him. Thunder Storm stroked Midnight’s hair and gradually manoeuvred his other arm around behind him. All the while, Midnight trembled and cowered away, as far into the corner as he could get. Thunder Storm slowly but firmly pulled him into his arms and held him quietly, stroking his hair and rumbling quietly to him until the trembling subsided.

“Tarkyn, could you please thank him for me for risking himself against me to protect Autumn Leaves, even if he mistook the need. After all, the fault is ours that we did not explain beforehand what we would be doing. He was actually very brave.”

“I’ll try,” said Tarkyn. “It’s complicated saying things without words.” He sent reassurance and an image of Midnight standing over Autumn Leaves protecting him with a sense of approval and thanks.

Midnight raised his tearstained face and looked up at Thunder Storm with his head on one side. He looked across at Tarkyn and then around at everyone else. He let out a shuddering sigh and frowned uncertainly. Tarkyn sent waves of reassurance and Thunder Storm gave him a squeeze and held him close. For a moment Midnight looked bewildered but then gradually his face relaxed. He gave Thunder Storm a hug in return, to reiterate that he was sorry. Then he sent Tarkyn a clear message that the prince should be helping Autumn Leaves before snuggling down against Thunder Storm’s chest.

“Huh, little rascal,” laughed Tarkyn. “He’s just told me to get on with helping Autumn Leaves!”

“That’s rich!” exclaimed Rainstorm, “When he’s the one who created the diversion.”

“Quite. He is, however, right.” Tarkyn re-positioned himself next to Autumn Leaves with his hand on the woodman’s shoulder. “So. How do you want to do this, Summer Rain?”

“Can you point to where that piece of bone is located?”

Tarkyn frowned and tried to remember the position of everything relative to where he had been inside Autumn Leaves. He nearly pointed to a spot on the right hand side of Autumn Leaves’ nose that was in fact correct, but then hesitated and withdrew his hand. He shook his head regretfully, “I’m afraid my hopeless sense of direction is letting  me down again. I keep getting confused when I try to see it from another angle.”

Summer Rain smiled kindly, “Don’t worry. We’ll find another way.” She thought for a moment, “If you go into him, would you be aware of any pressure from the outside?”

“What do you mean?”

“I could press with the point of the tweezers around the area and you could tell me from inside when I’m over the place where the piece of bone has lodged. You would only need to raise your finger to let me know.”

Tarkyn took a breath, “Yes, I can do that. Just. It’s hard to stay in contact with my outside body when I am flowing inside someone else.”

“Would it help if I squeezed your hand each time Summer Rain presses with the tweezers?” asked Danton. “Then you would feel a sensation near your finger.”

Tarkyn nodded, “Yes, I think that may make it easier. Right. Let’s go.”

He closed his eyes and flowed down through his arm into Autumn Leaves. He made his way to the damaged area and waited beside the embedded piece of bone for pressure from the tweezers to occur above him. From time to time, far away, he felt his hand being squeezed as Summer Rain pressed on various places nearby. Finally, she prodded directly above him. Using the squeeze on his hand as a guide, he reconnected with his body enough to raise his finger. Then he retracted himself, retreated up his own arm and into his own body.

By the time he opened his eyes, Summer Rain was preparing to make a small incision just under Autumn Leaves’ right eyebrow near the bridge of his nose.

“Hold on,” he said, “What do you want me to do now?”

Summer Rain glanced up at him, “Nothing for the moment. There is no need for you to be in there to endure the pain of the cut. You might as well wait until we are ready for him to heal.”

“Very well.” Tarkyn glanced over at Midnight and gave him a smile. Then he looked up at Thunder Storm who was sitting with his arms still around Midnight and a feeling of common understanding passed between them.

“Actually,” said Summer Rain, “Can you use your Shturrum spell on someone who is unconscious? Because we don’t want him to move while we’re doing this.”

Tarkyn brought his gaze back to the healer, “I don’t really know. After all, you wouldn’t usually use a spell to freeze someone if they were already unconscious, would you? There wouldn’t be any point.”

“They don’t need to be able to hear you,” reasoned Danton, “Remember. You used it on Midnight and he can’t hear, and wasn’t even looking at you.”

“True,” mused Tarkyn. “Well, I’ll give it a try. It can’t hurt, can it?” He focused narrowly on Autumn Leaves, waved his hand and murmured, “Shturrum.”

“Thanks,” said Summer Rain. “Someone had better hold his head still, just in case that doesn’t work and he starts coming round.”

“I will,” offered Waterstone. He came around to kneel beside Tarkyn and firmly grasped Autumn Leaves’ head, placing a gentle downward pressure on it.

Summer Rain took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Tarkyn realized with a slight shock that the usually phlegmatic healer was nervous. He sent her a wave of strength and belief in her. She looked up in surprise and smiled warmly at him. Then she turned her attention briskly to her patient and without further hesitation, inserted a small incision below Autumn Leaves’ right eyebrow. For several minutes she worked quietly and intently. No one else spoke or moved. Finally, she lifted the tweezers holding a jagged, bloody piece of bone.

“I have it,” she said triumphantly. “Tarkyn, if I hold the wound shut, can you go in and repair it?”

Without another word, Tarkyn closed his eyes and sent his essence flowing down his arm and into Autumn Leaves. He found the cut made by Summer Rain and let his power flow into the damaged tissue. He wove together the tears in blood vessels and soothed the violated nerves. Then he simply supplied the power and let Autumn Leaves’ body heal itself. Minutes later, he withdrew.

When Tarkyn opened his eyes, everyone was looking more relaxed. The wound had healed right over and only a pink line showed where Summer Rain had made her incision. He waved his hand to release Autumn Leaves from the paralysis spell and looked over at Thunder Storm, “How much longer will he be unconscious, do you think?”

“A little longer. Perhaps another five minutes. Ten at the outside.”

Tarkyn smiled, “Good timing then. Luckily our little misguided hero didn’t waste too much of the time we needed. Do you want to swap places? I’ll take the rascal and you can wait next to Autumn Leaves if you like.”

“Thanks.”

Shortly afterwards, Autumn Leaves wandered back into consciousness and groaned. He shook his head to clear it and groaned even more “Blast it, Thunder Storm. How can I tell if my head’s better? It’s hurting from the slingshot.”