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“Ayla?”
“Medic Everton.”
“Oh, right. Sorry, for some reason I have a hard time remembering her face.” He wasn’t alone in this, which mystified me. I had a vague recollection that she was quite beautiful, but I couldn’t think of a single feature of hers. “Anyways, she’s fine. She was found passed out in a bunch of bushes.”
“Passed out?”
“Yeah, from what I heard, she overdid it healing too many people and suffered injuries of her own. I thought they mentioned something about breaking the life-force barrier, but I didn’t quite understand it.”
I didn’t, either, but it certainly sounded serious.
“Where is she? Can I see her?”
“I’m not sure why you’d want to, but I’m sure we can set something up if you want to thank her for her efforts. I think the head of the infirmary ordered her to go take a nap. She’s been working ever since she regained consciousness.”
Yeah, that certainly sounded like Everton. I didn’t have the best memory of her, but her being a workhorse did make a certain sense.
“All right then.” For the first time since I’d woken up, I rose into a seated position in a calm and collected way. It certainly helped make my head feel less dizzy, but I was so…so…
Weak.
“Did we find out why the enemy launched the attack when they did? How they managed to get into our walls for the first time in generations?”
“I believe they physically catapulted their troops in.”
I gave Oren a look that said I wasn’t going for his passive aggressive sass. Not today. Most people would think he was just responding with a straight face, but I knew my friend and how he operated. He was snarking all right under that placid veneer.
“You know what I mean. We have enchantments that shouldn’t allow it.”
“Uh, we’re still working on how they were able to subvert some of our barrier spells. The most popular theories are that there was some magical nullification component to those fireballs they were launching, or a curse.”
“But nothing solid yet?”
“No, our magic users are working around the clock to try to identify all the parts, but it is difficult when, well…”
“The thing they’re studying is blown to smithereens.” I let out a sigh, trying to order my thoughts from high priority to low. Two full days, huh? I had a lot to catch up on.
“I do have good news, however. Or at least, uh, mostly good news.”
“I could take some of that.”
“Do you remember that missing scout?”
“Yeah. That’s the whole reason I was outside and ran into…” I trailed off, unable to remember who I was referencing and why. I’d… I’d been about to mention something important to me, hadn’t I?
The cold, oily feeling of somethingwrongbegan to prickle at my brain. Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the meds, but something was most certainly off with me. I really needed to look into this once everything settled down.
“You ran into…?” Oren pressed.
“Never mind. Tell me about the scout.”
“Well, Tristan Hayes returned this morning. I can tell you he was quite surprised by the state of this place. He’s been brought up to speed, and actually has intel he says he has to relay to you.”
Intel? Now, that could certainly be helpful.
“All right, then. Send him a summons. I want to hear what he has to say.” A troubled expression crossed Oren’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Shouldn’t you wait for your pain meds and see how you respond to them?”
