AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Men come with torches. They stand just close enough to bathe my men in light, but not so close as to make me feel crowded. The harsh light makes a strange pounding form in the back of my head. Nausea rolls through me, but I take deep breaths, willing my body to obey me when it feels like it wants to fail me.
Looking down at Dusk, I freeze. My hands reach out, then pull back. So much fucking blood. I pray that it isn't all his, but as I push aside the shredded remains of his shirt, my heart is in my throat. Some bastard tried to cut him in half. Slashed from one shoulder down to his hip on the opposite side of his body. And the wound is more than flesh deep; it's struck organs. Vital organs. There can't be much blood left in him.
He’s hurt. Gravely injured, even. If I can't heal him, I don't know how he'll live.
He won’t, a soft voice whispers in my mind. It’s the same strange but soothing voice I’d heard in my mind when I’d fought the shadow king.
"I'm so sorry," Phantom whispers to his brother, bowing his head over Dusk, and his voice is filled with hopelessness. Almost like instead of saying sorry, he means to say goodbye.
Onyx signs something, his hands covered in blood, but I only pick up the words, "not yet."
“No, not yet,” I whisper back.
Not if I can help.
“I-it’s okay,” Dusk murmurs, his eyes filled with pain.
“It’s not,” I say, swallowing around the lump in my throat. “I can fix this.”
He starts to shake his head, winces, and his eyes close like even the movement was too much for him. “You can’t.”
Yes, I can. I will!
I feel tears rolling down my cheeks as I press my hands to Dusk's chest. He winces, and I hate that I have to touch him. Hate that I have to cause him more pain. But I will, if I can save him.
In my mind, I picture every moment we've shared. The times he's made me smile. The times he's made me laugh. This man is special, important. There is no one like him in the world, and I can't lose him. Iwon'tlose him. I have the power to heal, even if I don't know entirely how to use it. I beg my powers to help me now, when I need them the most.
But nothing happens.
I try to focus. I try demanding that my powers work. But still, nothing.
Reaching for the strength inside me, the source of my power, I sense… emptiness. Panic unfolds inside of me. I have to save Dusk. If I can’t save him, nothing else matters. Not myself. Not this fight. Nothing!
Heal, damn it!I scream into my mind.
And then I feel it, a power that wasn’t there a moment ago flaring to life, filling me. My body shudders in protest, almost like it’s too much for me to handle. But I ignore all the warning bells and reach for it, knowing it’s Dusk’s only chance.
My hands begin to glow. My breathing grows harsher as I try to focus on how much I care for this man, and how important it is that he heals, that he survives this. Every healer said this was essential to their magic, this focus on the task at hand, on the person who needs healing. I’d never more than causally listened to healers discuss their magic, but now I channel that idea with every thought in my head focused on Dusk and my desire to save him.
My hands glow brighter and brighter against his ragged flesh. Maybe I press, I don’t know, but he makes a miserable sound, almost a scream that he’s trying to swallow down, and it takes everything in me not to stop and check in with him. Instead, I stay focused. He begins to fight beneath me, and I see Onyx and Phantom take hold of him.
Dusk's entire body begins to glow. I feel a little like someone who can suddenly control electricity but doesn’t know how the hell to do it. There’s so much power at my fingertips, power that I hope I’m funneling into him as I picture the parts of his body that need this magic. I don’t know if that’s exactly what I should do, but it feels right. So I keep going, watching, hoping.
Before my eyes, I see the bleeding slow and change. I don't understand what's happening inside his body, butsomethingis happening, something I hope is good. And then the sides of his flesh begin to pull together, closing the massive wound in his chest. Time passes, and I'm not sure when to stop, when it's enough. I feel sweat dampening my body, and now I'm shaking so hard my teeth are chattering, but I don't stop.
And then the glow radiating from my hands begins to dim. My gaze clings to Dusk, trying to notice any small detail about him.Is he better? Will he be okay?After a tense moment, his breath comes easier, his pale skin floods with color, and he opens his eyes, a smile on his beautiful lips.
I touch his cheek, returning his smile. But then I hear men screaming, moaning, and I jerk. It's like I'd tuned out every sound and sense around me, just focusing entirely on Dusk, and now that I'm not, the world has opened itself back up to me.
It's overwhelming. The smell of coppery blood and smoke in the air. The trees in the clearing splattered with blood. The bodies everywhere. My gaze sweeps over the battlefield, and I realize that most of the men are injured in some way, although their friends are already helping them, already scooping them up and carrying them from the battlefield. But it’s like a nightmare as the various torches and burning piles of grave trolls light the dark night, sending shadows dancing like more enemies come to destroy us.
I shiver again.War. This is war.
A man passes Phantom. "We're taking them to the home cave. We'll save everyone we can."
Phantom looks grim. "The shadow king and his men won't be back, at least for a little while, so just focus on our injured. Take whatever you need of our supplies to save them."
The man nods and disappears into the woods.
