Page 13 of The Healer and the Warlord

I stared at her, dumbstruck, as though seeing her for the first time, despite our close proximity over the last days.

I didn’t hear the warning trill until it was too late.

A pained scream filled the air, and Dileas reared in fear, front hooves lashing out. Before her, a family of three caracals hissed and spat, crouched in preparation to pounce. Muscles bunched with lethal strength in their long feline bodies and the black tufts on the tips of their ears quivered. Alyx whirled around, hands outstretched as if she were prepared to try to reason with the predators.

Time slowed, the sound sucking from my mind even as I saw Alyx’s mouth open to shout. The magic of the desert flared in my skull, connecting me to every living thing and grain of sand for miles—Alyx a raging bonfire of power so bright, I could barely make out the flickering flames of the caracals beside her.

I leaped into action, jumping between her and the animals and throwing my hands out, unleashing a lick of power at the closest flame of life. One of the caracals flew back, hitting a rock at the edge of the pool with a thud and a whimper.

The others were not deterred. I unsheathed my saber from my back, slicing it downward in a savage slash just as another creature jumped at me, forcing it to retreat out of my blade’s reach.

“Run!” I commanded, both shouting with my voice and sending a bolt of intention toward Dileas through our connected minds. As open to the power of the desert as I was during battle, the command came unconsciously.

I barely had time to register retreating hoofbeats and a scrabbling behind me as both Alyx and Dileas hurried to obey before the caracals advanced, two at once this time.

I threw my saber up in time to slash one across the chest, but the third had circled toward my unarmed side. It crashed into me hard enough to rattle my teeth. Together, we tumbled to the ground, a tangled ball of limbs and tearing claws. I managed not to impale myself on my own saber as we rolled, but it fell from my grip as my head connected with the hard earth.

White flared behind my eyes, blinding me momentarily, as a tearing pain seared across my shoulder. Sightlessly, I threw my arms out, wrestling with the writhing, furry creature that pinned me to the ground.

Power flared unbidden, the presence of the desert in my mind turning to an all-consuming shriek. A pulse of magic exploded out of me with a wordless shout. The weight on my chest disappeared and did not return.

I blinked to clear my vision and struggled to sit up. The creature that had pinned me lay on the ground several meters away, smoking gently, a large, charred circle marring the golden fur of its body.

The one I had thrown back originally struggled to its feet and beat a hasty retreat, sensing that it was outmatched. I sighed heavily in relief marred by frustration.

I grit my teeth, ready to berate myself for not being aware of other visitors to the watering hole. Alyx’s presence had left me distracted and unbalanced.

Such thoughts flew from my head as another scream filled the air, followed by a flash of pain in my mind.

Dileas.

I flew to my feet, injured shoulder forgotten.

“Kelvar!” Alyx called out, but I was already moving, running and stumbling forward before I had fully stood.

She kneeled on the ground, a short run away from where I had fallen. Dileas lay on her side before her, and my heart dropped.

In seconds, I was at their sides, nearly shoving Alyx out of the way to get to my mount. My heart plummeted from my chest into the baked earth below me.

Dileas’s foreleg was bent at an odd angle. Pain and despair rose in my throat, choking me at the sight of bone poking through her silken coat. Blood dripped down her hoof to stain the ground below.

“She panicked and stepped in a fox hole,” Alyx said at my side, her voice tremulous, as if with pain. I barely heard it. It sounded as if I were underwater.

I had done this. I hadn’t watched for predators, and when I ordered her to run away, I had sent my normally surefooted mount into a frenzy.

My eyes burned, and the hairs on the back of my neck lifted, as sparks began to dance across my skin. Where before, sound had been sucked out of my surroundings as the focus of battle set it, now, it pushed in on me: Dileas’s labored breathing and Alyx’s voice as she tried to say something I was too overwhelmed to understand.

Thunder rumbled far too close, and I knew it was my doing, but I could do nothing to stop it. I turned my face up to the sky and screamed. The sound was carried away by the howling of wind, as lightning split the sky, and I was lost in a storm of rage and magic.

Chapter eight

Alyx

Iclapped my hands to my ears, trying to block out the noise of howling wind and bone-rattling thunder. It did nothing, though, to drown out the screaming in my head.

It was as if the magic of the desert was being torn apart. The gentle growing force that lived in my mind was nowhere to be found. It had been replaced by a wild, feral thing.

And that wild thing currently kneeled on the ground before me.