Scent of Magic (28 page)

“I’m—” A gust swept me toward the ceiling. Fast.

“Jael, stop,” Noelle said.

I hovered in midair as Jael rounded on Noelle.

“The harder you push her, the harder she’ll resist,” Noelle said before Jael could respond. “Besides, she’s a coward. If she knew Prince Ryne was leaving, she would have gone with him.”

Jael hesitated.

“And you should know better than anyone that Ryne and Tohon would never team up,” I said. “Tohon hasn’t forgiven him for what happened when you were in school with him.”

“Boarding school for brats” is how Kerrick had described it. Where Ryne had been crowned king in their final year, Jael broke Kerrick’s heart and Tohon turned into a monster.

Jael set me down hard. Pain shot through my arms as I sat up. My wrists were either broken or sprained. Jael stepped back.

I continued to poke holes in her argument. “You’re also well aware that Kerrick and I can share our magical energies. Or have you forgotten that day you attacked us and
we
stopped you?” I glanced at Noelle. “I haven’t.” Nor would I forget Noelle had asked Jael to stop hurting me. Progress!

Jael pressed her lips together—a warning sign that I ignored.

“Plus, if Tohon had...claimed me with his life magic, I’d be...well, I wouldn’t be here, that’s for sure.” I shuddered. I’d been a complete mess. His touch had been like an elixir, and each time I’d grown more addicted.

Jael’s gaze turned contemplative. I hoped she remembered those six years. Even though she and Kerrick had been friends with Tohon, she had to have seen the rot below the surface of his mind. As I thought about the stories Belen and Kerrick had told me, I recalled a comment.

“Did Tohon use his magic on you when he attempted to steal you from Kerrick?” I asked her.

She smiled. “The bastard tried and failed. Like you, he needs skin contact to work his magic. I wouldn’t let him near me.” Her grin turned sinister. “As you’ve just learned, air is a powerful force.”

“Handy.”

“Indeed. Estrid believes we need Ryne and his army to stop Tohon. I’m here because of her panic.” Jael shoved a long golden strand of hair behind her ear, expressing her exasperation. “My mother-in-law doesn’t put any faith in my abilities during a battle.”

Odd. I hadn’t considered her magic either. My pain forgotten, I scrambled to my feet. “Can you knock a company down?”

“I can send a whirlwind to distract and keep them off balance.”

“Just one?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Too bad. “How many soldiers can you neutralize by suffocation?” I asked.

“About a dozen.”

Not enough. And it wouldn’t even work on the dead troops. I wilted.

“Why the sudden interest?” she asked.

“I’m looking for some hope.”

“And?”

“We need Ryne.”

* * *

I lay on the floor long after Jael left. She hadn’t appreciated my comment and had knocked me flat before leaving my room. At least she no longer considered me a threat. Of course, it would be temporary.

My wrists ached, my head throbbed and my knees stung. When the pain lessened, I climbed to my feet. I wasn’t going to spend the rest of midsummer’s day lying on the ground.

A ripple of surprise rolled through the caregivers when I entered. I wondered if they’d heard Jael’s attack or were just shocked to see that I’d returned. Christina helped me splint my wrists, and I did what I could to fill the herb pouches for the troops. A few soldiers visited the infirmary for cuts and abrasions. I questioned all who entered, seeking news. Nothing about Tohon’s troops engaging ours or Belen’s whereabouts. Or Ryne’s, for that matter. Jael had ordered double patrols for tonight, and her first-wave soldiers guarded Pomyt’s border. She must have trusted Ryne’s prediction that Tohon would strike today more than she let on.

The sun set and still no word about an approaching army. I doubted anyone would be able to sleep tonight. I couldn’t. As I tossed and turned, images flashed in my mind—Tohon and his dead, Kerrick and Belen, Ursan and the jumping jacks.

* * *

During the night, Tohon’s troops attacked. It wasn’t what I’d imagined the start of a war would be like. I’d expected battle cries, the ring of metal against metal and the crash of two forces colliding. I’d expected to be roused from my restless sleep. Instead the assault happened with utter and complete silence.

In fact, nothing appeared to be any different in the morning. As my first shift of caregivers arrived, they reported all was well. But as the day progressed, reports filtered in. The patrols that were due back failed to return. And when the second-wave soldiers arrived at Pomyt’s border to relieve the others, the first wave had disappeared.

Tension permeated the camp. Everyone was on high alert. Rumors reached us that Jael had sent a company of soldiers to the north and one to the south to flank the enemy, she’d doubled the troops at the border and she’d remained with them.

In the middle of another sleepless night, loud voices and yells of pain drove me to my feet. I raced to the infirmary and roused my staff just as the first injured arrived, followed by a steady stream. My world shrank to cleaning and bandaging stab wounds, splinting limbs, treating concussions and dispensing medicines. So far, no one had sustained an injury that needed my healing magic. A good thing, considering my wrists hadn’t fully healed and I needed to save my strength for someone on the edge of dying.

Those who could talk kept repeating the same thing about the enemy. Silent, deadly and without life or mercy. They shuddered in revulsion.

“We are the lucky ones,” a sergeant said to me as I stitched a deep slice on his arm.

“How so?” I asked.

“We escaped. The others...” He fisted his hands. “The others...” The sergeant closed his eyes. “The others were dragged down into the earth.”

Although I wanted to dash out and find Noelle so we both could hide under the bed, I kept calm, finishing his stitches. As I checked on other patients and gave instructions to the caregivers, I overheard more horrible descriptions.

“...the ground opened up, and they poured out like fire ants.”

“Two grabbed Helen and snapped her neck...”

“...didn’t give chase, but most of my team couldn’t run...”

“Our squad climbed through the trees, thinking to get behind them, and they swarmed after us.”

Within a few hours, the stream of casualties stopped. Jael had called a temporary retreat.

I wasn’t surprised when Jael arrived later that afternoon. Haggard and bloody, she clutched a map in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Without a word, I led her back to my examination room. Then I turned to her. “Where’s my sister?”

“She’s running messages for me. Don’t worry. She stays well away from the zone.”

“Zone?”

Jael sheathed her weapon and unrolled the map. A bright red arc slashed a long curve around the western side of Zabin. She tapped it with a dirty finger. “This is where they’re hiding. Approach this area, and they...swarm, but back off and they stay in this combat zone.” She took a breath. “How do we stop them?”

I resisted the urge to be petty. “Are they wearing metal collars?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have to use the skull jab.” I explained the maneuver. “We were training your troops before...”
Ryne left,
but I was smart enough not to say his name.

“Who knows this technique?”

“Major Granvil’s Axe Company.” None of his soldiers had come into the infirmary, and I didn’t know if I should be worried or glad by their absence.

Jael cursed. “Figures.”

I waited.

“I put them on suspension due to too many unanswered questions about their involvement with you and Ryne.”

“They’re loyal. Ryne taught them the skull jab. I taught them to move silently in the forest. Their involvement with us prepared them for this.”

“Then they’re unsuspended as of now.” Jael gathered the map and strode away.

It wasn’t until after she left that I realized I’d just condemned my friends by defending them.

* * *

The next three days passed in a blur. Casualties arrived in waves as Jael tried different tactics. I healed only a couple soldiers who had more severe wounds. Most of my patients suffered treatable injuries. It seemed the soldiers who could walk away from the combat zone had a better chance of escape.

Noelle came to the infirmary every night to write down the names of the injured. Her face appeared more drawn each time. She looked very young and frightened. I wanted to comfort her, but I was afraid she’d spurn my efforts—although she did drink a tonic I mixed for her to help restore her energy. She thanked me with a tentative smile.

The soldiers in my care remarked that Tohon’s dead stayed within the combat zone. They didn’t advance nor retreat. Jael stopped sending patrols, since none of them returned. Also no one encountered a living enemy, which made sense for Tohon and had the added benefit of unnerving our army.

When Odd arrived carrying a limp Wynn in his arms, I rushed over. Blood covered half her face, the other half was pale. Fear lumped in my throat as I gestured him to the examination room. He laid her down on the table with a gentleness I didn’t know he possessed.

“What happened?” I pulled her eyelids up to check her pupils.

“Her opponent tried to decapitate her,” Odd said stiffly.

While there was plenty of blood, it wasn’t spurting or gushing. I grabbed a wet cloth and cleaned the skin. A deep cut ran from the tip of her chin, along the jawbone and sliced through her left ear. The gaping skin exposed teeth and bone. I examined the laceration, running a finger along the inside of the injury.

“Well?” Odd asked.

“She’ll live.”

He blew out a breath.

“It’ll heal, but...” I pushed the skin together.

“But what?”

“Infection could be a problem, but...this is going to heal ugly.”

“So?” Odd asked.

“It could affect her hearing and her mouth. Like her smile and maybe interfere with chewing.” Magic swelled in my core. “Or I could heal her, and she won’t even have a scar.”

“But you will,” Odd said.

I shrugged. “I won’t develop the other problems.”

“And she might not either. Besides you’ll be useless for a while.” Odd scanned the full infirmary. “You’re in high demand.”

Wynn opened her eyes. “Stitch me up and send me back out, Baby Face,” she slurred. “Gimme something for the pain first.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

I hesitated.

“What would you do if she wasn’t your friend?” Odd asked.

No need to answer. He’d made his point. Giving Wynn a dose of pain medicine that also put her to sleep, I assembled the supplies. Odd hovered as I stitched her skin back together. I made the stitches small and close together, hoping the scar wouldn’t look as bad.

As I worked, I asked Odd about the battle. “Is the skull jab effective?”

“When we can get in tight, it works just fine. But those...things are hard to disarm.” Odd sank down into a chair next to me. “I never realized how much pain factors into a fight.”

“What do you mean?”

“Usually when you slice a person, he backs off or at least hesitates. And he’s more cautious when you have drawn his blood. But these things just keep coming. Their intestines can be falling out, but it doesn’t matter.”

Unfortunately, I remembered when Kerrick, Belen and the monkeys had fought them.

“Too bad we don’t have more soldiers,” Odd said. “That skull jab works better when we can double up on one.”

“How?”

“One distracts the thing, while the other sneaks up behind it and pow!” Odd stabbed the air with his hand. “Although I wonder why we bother. They’re not moving closer, and we can’t punch through their line. So why fight?”

An excellent question. “Any signs of...”

“Your boyfriend?” Odd smirked.

I resisted the desire to correct him. At least he hadn’t called Ryne a coward. “Of Prince Ryne or his army?”

“Nope. And before you ask for the millionth time, no sign of Belen either.”

I finished bandaging Wynn’s cut. Odd carried her to an empty bed and then sat with her until she woke.

* * *

The flow of injured stopped the next day. When Odd came to visit Wynn, I asked him what had happened.

He puffed up his chest. “General Jael took my advice.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We ceased engaging the enemy. Now we’re keeping a distance, watching and waiting for them to make the next move.”

I wondered how long it would last. Two days passed with no new casualties. I was able to concentrate on my patients and discharged a number of them, including Wynn, who promised to follow all my instructions in caring for her wound.

“I want to see you back here in a week to take those stitches out,” I called as she hurried out the door.

At the end of the third quiet day, Noelle arrived with a couple soldiers. She looked haggard with dark circles under her eyes.

“The High Priestess requests your presence immediately,” Noelle said to me in a thin voice.

I left Christina in charge and followed Noelle to Estrid’s study. Not as elaborately decorated as her receiving room, it had a huge desk crafted from a dark wood. Estrid stood behind it, and Jael and a few high-ranking officers were standing in front. They turned as soon as I entered. The tension in the room pressed against me with such force I almost stepped back into the hallway.

Estrid’s expression remained serene, but Jael’s gaze burned with fury and indignation. Not good.

“Avry, please come in,” Estrid said, gesturing me closer.

When I approached, the officers made room.

“I won’t lie to you, Avry,” Estrid said. “We’re in trouble, and it’s hard not to believe that Prince Ryne abandoned us. Did he say anything to you before he left?”

I recalled our conversation after Ursan’s funeral. “He didn’t give me any indication that he was going to leave, but I told him something that might have been the trigger.”

“I knew she was keeping secrets,” Jael said.

“Jael, let me handle this,” Estrid said. “What did you tell him, Avry?”

I explained my theory about Ulany burying the dead. “I thought it was crazy, but Ryne said he’d look into the possibility.”