Phoenix’s Fire (The Ruins Of Men #2)

Chapter 89

Eighty-Nine

Ayla

I pushed through the shrubs to find him tucked between a boulder, thorny plants, and a cluster of vines. He'd covered himself partially with dirt and leaves, and his tail was up defensively - but none of it hid that his eyes were open and he was looking at me.

Blinking.

Alive!

"You came back?" he croaked.

"Holly, move," I ordered, pushing her out of my way so I could reach him. "We thought you were dead. I wouldn't let them have you."

That made a smile touch his lips, but a grunt followed after. "Ayla, I'm hurt."

"Uh-huh," I agreed, scanning his body.

He'd managed to unbuckle the leather straps he wore across his chest, but he hadn't taken it all the way off. That exposed his chest and belly. In the shadowed moonlight, I could see a reflection on his dark skin. Blood. Among all of that were cuts and abrasions, but poking out of his right side, just under his ribs, was something very solid.

"You weren't shot?" I asked even as I pulled the medical bag over my shoulder.

"Grenade," he explained. "A piece of metal." He groaned, clearly in pain. "Ayla, we can't remove it. I'll bleed out."

"You are bleeding out," I informed him. "Slower, but we should've found you hours ago."

Numbing. That would be necessary, because I couldn't hold him down, and he'd pull away even if he tried not to. Clamps. Suture, the brown liquid they used to clean things, and a few more clamps. Folding the bag sideways, I set those out, aware I needed to get to his other side.

"Holly, lie down. Guard. "

She whined, but obeyed. Now that I knew she wouldn't trample over him, I pushed back against the branches so I could crawl over him without hurting him. He couldn't be moved yet. That he was here made me think he'd crawled, but I'd worry about that later.

Infection. Blood loss. Organ damage. Those were all things I needed to worry about, but I could do this. I was good at this.

"I can't walk," he panted. "Ayla, I'm not going to make it back."

I reached down to press at his skin, trying to feel if there was excessive bleeding in his abdomen. "Kanik, I am a healer."

"And we don't have the supplies," he said.

So I opened the numbing and poured a splash across the injury. "We do."

"You can't see," he tried next.

"I can."

He breathed a few times, watching me as I examined his wound. Then, "Ayla, I'm going to die."

I looked up, meeting his eyes. "You will lie there. You will not move. This will hurt, but I am not going to let you die, so shut up and grab something."

"What are you - "

I took the clamps and pulled out the metal without warning, cutting him off. Kanik gasped, and his body flinched, but he didn't completely jerk away. Immediately, blood began pooling into the wound, but I could handle that. Wiping it away with my hand - which was far from sterile - I found the first bleeder. A clasp crimped that. Suture came next, tying off the vessel, then I wiped at him again.

"Ayla..." he begged.

"The infirmary in the compound was darker than this," I said without slowing my hands. "We didn't have numbing, so tell me if it hurts too much. The war arrows would spin as they entered the body, leaving large, ugly wounds."

I found another bleeder and moved the clamp to that. "Often, they would destroy organs. Sometimes, we could put those back together, but only some of them. Livers can be sewn. Intestines are a bigger problem because they come with infection, but that's okay. It takes about three days before that will take a body, and Dragons have medicine."

"Antibiotics," he agreed.

I nodded. "Kanik, this is not good, but I can save you."

"What?" he asked.

"Brace," I warned before shoving my hand into his belly.

He screamed, arching his back off the ground, but he didn't pull away. Beside me, his tail lashed, yet I knew what I was doing. I'd mastered this by torturing them. I'd liked healing because it was the one time I had power - over life or death - and I chose that Kanik would live.

When I pulled my hand out, there was another, smaller piece of metal. That got tossed aside, and I clamped yet another vein that was bleeding. What I didn't see was anything worse. His intestines were still filled, so they hadn't emptied into his body. His kidney seemed to be intact, and the wound was just a bit too low to have injured that. It was also on the good side, which meant he might actually be okay.

Even better, the blood wasn't rushing in to fill the wound now. That meant only veins had been cut, not an artery. Releasing the clamps, I put them back in the bag, then pulled out a roll of gauze. That, I wrapped around my hand over and over, making a wad.

"I'm going to hurt you again," I warned, "but I can't close this. The doctors will need to do more."

He nodded, so I shoved the bandage into the wound. This time, he only groaned, but there was so much pain in the sound. His jaw was clenched, and his tail lashed again, but it never came toward me.

"And now you have to sit up," I said, leaning in to help him. "Put an arm back, because I need to get all the way around you."

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Keeping you from dying," I said as I wrapped the rest of the gauze around his body, holding the bandage in place. "I'm sorry, because the next bit is going to be horrible, but you're alive." I finished, tucking the end of the wrap under itself to stay in place.

"I can't walk," he said again.

"Uh-huh," I agreed as I crawled back over him and out of his hiding place. "But I thought I was taking back a body. Don't move."

He huffed like it was supposed to be a laugh, but I was doing this. I had a plan. Looking around me, I knew there would be something I could use - and I spotted it easily. Over there was a tree branch that had fallen in an explosion. On the other side was a sapling that had been broken in half. Gathering those up, I dragged them back as close to Kanik as I could. With the rope, I bound them together, then tied the sheet over them.

"Okay, now to get you out," I said, leaning in to get him. "Grab my arms?"

Kanik shifted as much as he could. I grabbed his wrists, and he clung to mine, but the moment I started pulling, Holly darted in, grabbing one of those leather straps over his shoulders to help even more. Together, we slid him out from under the brush, not stopping until we were beside my make-shift contraption.

"Now to get you on that," I said, trying to figure out how to make it happen.

"I can move a bit," he promised.

Mostly, he used his legs. His arms lifted and adjusted. It took a bit, and I felt helpless watching him, but Kanik eventually managed to flop down on the sheet, face up. I moved in to shift his legs, lining him up better, and I gently laid his tail over his knees.

"Holly?" I called, getting her to stand beside me.

Then I tied a knot in the rope the way Zasen had taught me. The kind that wouldn't slip and tighten. That went around her neck. A few wraps were secured around her body so they wouldn't squeeze her, and then I moved her to the end of the thing. Taking the ends of the rope, I tied each one to the branches, creating a sled of sorts.

"Stay," I ordered before going back to where Kanik was lying. Dropping to my knees, I grabbed his hands in mine, not caring about mud, blood, or anything else. "This is going to hurt too."

He nodded. "I know. It's okay. I'll manage."

But I didn't let go. "We thought you were dead, Kanik."

That earned me a weak smile. "Me too."

I nodded. "I don't like whiskey, and I never want to have it again. That means you can't die, okay? I have to get you back, and I'm scared, and I feel..." I gestured in front of my body, shaking my hand to show how it felt. "I don't like this, but I'm doing it, and if I stop..."

"You'll fall apart," he realized. "Okay. Then take me home, Ayla. Fix this, Phoenix."

That made something inside me relax. A weak smile found my face, and I nodded, but as I pushed to my feet, there was one last thing I had to say.

"I like you too much to never see you again, so I'm saving you!"

"Yes," he agreed, "you are. Ayla, you are definitely my hero."

"Holly," I said, turning back towards Lorsa and grabbing a part of the ropes I'd used to hold this sled together. "Pull."

She hadn't been trained for this, but my dog never let that stop her. She'd learned how to disarm Moles. She'd stayed at my side loyally through all of this. So when I started walking, pulling at the sled, she leaned into her harness, pausing when Kanik didn't move easily.

"Pull!" I ordered again. "Come, Holly. Pull."

This time, she dug in, putting her all into it. Behind her, the sled moved, so she pulled harder. Kanik groaned as he bounced across the ground, but in only a few strides, the branches shifted, making runners of a sort, and my plan proved it was working.

But it was a very long way back.

W hen we got the sled off the loose dirt and onto the road, it moved even easier. Now, Holly was trotting beside me, and I was stretching my legs. Kanik had passed out after an hour of walking, but he was still alive. He'd come to in the middle, but he was out again.

The moment we entered the city walls, I began to hope. A few more steps got us in front of our house. There, I ordered Holly to stay and raced across the yard, aware I was simultaneously exhausted and too excited to stop.

Throwing open the door, I barely stepped inside before yelling, "Zasen! Rymar! I need help!"

"What?" Rymar called.

"Ayla?" Zasen gasped, and feet followed .

"I found Kanik!" I yelled, glancing back to make sure Holly was still where I'd left her. "He's hurt!'

Zasen rushed around the corner in only his underwear. "What?" he asked, gaping at me in astonishment.

"Kanik!" I said, pointing behind me, through the open door. "We need to get him to the hospital!"

Rymar rushed out of the room, shoving a pair of pants against Zasen's chest. "Kanik?"

"Fuck." Zasen said, scrambling to get a leg into the pants. Then he took a step, hurrying towards the door while still bent over. When his other foot came up, he shoved that in his pants too, moving while getting dressed. "He's alive?"

"Hurt badly, but yes," I promised, waiting until they passed me and then closing the door to the house.

But Rymar ran, not stopping until he reached Kanik. "You're alive!" he whimpered, bending to scoop Kanik into his arms. "I'm carrying him!"

"Holly, stay!" I ordered, knowing I needed to get her out of that harness.

Zasen ran to the road, pausing to look between Holly, me, and where Rymar was marching quickly away. "What do you need, Ayla?"

"Help him!" I said, pointing after Rymar. "We'll catch up."

That was all Zasen needed. He ran. I grabbed one of my krael, not wanting to wait either. Cutting two of the ropes got Holly out of the contraption I'd made, and then we took off after them. The sled could stay there. I didn't care if it was in anyone's way. I may have stabilized Kanik, but that wasn't going to be enough. He was hurting, and I didn't like that.

But he was alive. Kanik was actually alive, and that mattered more than I realized. Right now, he was alive, and more than anything else, I really wanted to keep it that way.

Because there were things I still wanted in life, and he was a part of them.