“Manos, go,” Theodon ordered. The mind reader turned and ran.
Helaina placed the stick flush with the fabric and knotted the shirt again, holding the stick in place with Breyer’s help. She created a crank to tighten the vise around the severed flesh. She rotated it. Once, twice, three times. The pooling blood lessened, then finally stopped.
“I need someone to hold this in place.”
Theodon sank down beside them. Eyes still scanning the distance, he took hold of the tourniquet until Helaina had set it firmly in place with another knot.
Aaron was unconscious now, but his heart was beating.
“The gash in his chest is letting blood pool where it shouldn’t. We need to drain it. But we can’t do it here. It’s not safe, we need supplies. He needs an infirmary.”
Theodon nodded toward the fae. They didn’t need a verbal order. Fee and Breyer picked up Aaron in unison and began sprinting back to the cave entrance.
Helaina rose to follow, but after only a few steps, she stumbled, her leg giving out from underneath her. Theo caught her, swinging her up and over his shoulder without breaking his stride.
He was surprisingly gentle when he lowered her to her feet inside the infirmary, one hand on her hip, the other delicately bracing her back. For once, she was grateful to him. There was no way she could have kept up, and every minute counted. She took a moment to breathe in his deep scent of rain and leather. It calmed her, covering the tang of blood in the air, at least until they separated.
On nearly every wall, there were shelves stocked with supplies. Jars filled with what looked to be different lotions and salves, bandages, and braces. Her eyes found an entire separate area of sharp tools and instruments. Aaron lay on a slab of stone before her, the makeshift tourniquet still holding strong.
Manos ran in behind them. “We sent the fliers for Lionel. They’ll be back by sunup.”
“Does Callum know?” Fee looked up at Manos again.
“He’s still out, I couldn’t wake him. I tried.”
Fee seemed mournful and desperate.
The injured soldier began to murmur incomprehensible words. His chest wound still gurgled and oozed; the puncture went straight through his shoulder and out the other side.
Helaina wasn’t sure what had caused it, a blade or a claw maybe? She snatched a hardy bandage from a neatly formed stack. “Hold this firm over the bleeding.”
While the fae did as they were told, she looked to the shelves of tools. To her surprise—and dread—she found the instruments she was searching for.
She exhaled deeply, trying to steady her nerves. “It’s just like Madge’s procedural manuals. How hard can it be?” she whispered.
She reached for a hollow metal tube the diameter of her smallest finger, a thin razor-sharp blade, and a large glass beaker.
“What are you doing?” Theodon’s grave look gave her pause.
“I told you. We need to drain the blood.” She hurriedly assembled the equipment on a nearby table. “His lung is collapsing from all the fluid. If we get rid of the blood, the lung expands and he can breathe. I can buy us time until Lionel gets here... I think.”
“Youthink?” The captain looked to Manos.
His lieutenant hunched his shoulders upward. “She has some experience, it seems, training... she read some medical books?—”
“Get out of my head!” Helaina snapped. She heard the audible click of his teeth as Manos closed his mouth, and she began working to remove Aaron’s pants, scanning for other injuries.
“Tell me you’ve at least done this before?”
Helaina hesitated. “I saw it once... on a cadaver.”
“The person was alreadydead?”
“It’s how the healers learn.” She tried to move past him.
Theodon planted himself between her and Aaron, blocking her path. “No, you’re not doing this. You’ll kill him.”
“We’re killing him just standing here doing nothing!” She could tell she struck a nerve, because everyone in that room grew quiet.
