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I hurried through them until I came to Mad Dog’s bed. I couldn’t believe how rough he looked considering I’d seen him in the afternoon and he’d beenfine.
“Oh, hey there,” he whispered, his voice more of a gargle than actual speech. All right, so there was fluid in his lungs. That wasgood to know. “Got tired of all of you hogging the spotlight, so I thought I’d do something about it.”
“You’re such a diva,” I said, but it was hard to sound cheerful. I was afraid, truly afraid, and practically drowning in guilt.
“Here’s his chart,” one of the healers said, approaching me with a clipboard and a fairly thick stack of papers. “We took the liberty of running several tests while we waited for you to arrive.”
“I appreciate it,” I said. Normally I’d be annoyed that the palace healers hadn’t thrown themselves into treating whatever was ailing him, but they were there for booboos and STDs, like Kai said. It wasn’t a surprise that this was completely out of their depth, and I was glad they hadn’t harmed my friend to protect their own egos.
I quickly read over everything, including what herbs and liquids they’d used to stabilize him. I did see he had an IV in his arm and a catheter coming out from under the sheets, which told me they didn’t solely rely on magic, and this was a good thing. Sure, my primary form of healing was the energy within me, but it didn’t mean magic was always the best answer. I believed all schools of medicine held the best way to fully treat patients.
“You made it.”
I didn’t turn around when I heard Kai’s voice. I was happy he was beside me, yet I needed to concentrate on Mad Dog.
“I came straight here the moment I arrived.”
“I figured as much, so I took the liberty of grabbing a new healing bag from our supplies. I know it probably won’t have everything you’re used to in it, but one of the healers in the infirmary helped me stock it with at least the basics.”
He didwhat?
I felt such gratitude when Kai handed it to me. It was just a bag, yet it was so much more. I wished I could hold his hand andcalm the thunder in my heart, but I knew it wasn’t possible with so many eyes on us.
“Hey, Mad Dog, I’m going to place my hands on you, and you can tell me how you feel, okay? If anything good or bad happens, let me know.”
“Suuuureeee, lassie,” he drawled, his eyes rolling back a little in his head in a way that told me he didn’t quite understand.
I needed to work fast.
Setting the clipboard down, I placed one hand right on top of his forehead and the other just below his belly button, concentrating on the two points of energy. His life force was weak within him, flickering as I coaxed it to the surface.
Shifters were naturally warm, but he was burning up in a way I didn’t like, his skin clammy to the touch and growing grayer by the minute. Whatever was ailing him was undoubtedly magical in nature.
Breathing in and out, I pushed my energy deeper, closing my eyes so I could thoroughly concentrate on scanning him.
It didn’t take me long to reach the issue. All throughout him were thick, oily lines.They looked like dark tentacles in my mind that’d spear through an organ, only to spiderweb out into a poisonous looking pattern.
Get. Out.
That was the message I poured through my magic, filling him with all the brightness, all the restoration it could. I felt his life force rally slightly, but I knew it wasn’t enough. My treatment was going to need to be so much more meticulous.
But it was enough to pull him away from the edge and give me time.
I reached toward the first spear, the one in his liver, and my magic settled over the strange spine, only for it to feel like it physically burned.
I recoiled, Kai instantly at my side again, but I held up a hand for him to give me space. I couldn’t risk him touching me and pulling me out of my trance, as I needed to push all my energy into Mad Dog and Mad Dog alone.
Steeling myself, I sealed my magic around the spike once more, willing it to wash it away. It was foreign. It was alien. It didn’t belong.
The entire time it felt like sharpened tentacles were burning their way through my own chest, the malady vicious, baring teeth. But eventually, my magic won out, and I nearly gasped in relief when the searing pain left.
Now for the webbing.
Instead of dissolving it with the restorative energy I was pushing into the soldier, I instead sent my magic flowing into it, going into the gaps I’d created by removing the spike. It spread out in a wave of healing, soothing, calming, repairing wherever it went.
I had no idea how many minutes it took to clear out one of the systems of webbing, but eventually, it vanished, and I felt Mad Dog’s blood begin to pump the waste out as what looked like dark ink flowed from his body.
I was going to need to cleanse the area when we were done, but it’d have to wait. I could sense there was so much more to do. His heart. Both his kidneys. His mating gland. His large intestine. His wrists. Even his eyes. All of them had their own magical spikes I had to gently work out, each time burned by a force that left no marks, but I knew would haunt my dreams for quite a long time.
