Chapter 19
Krashe
I was in bad shape, there was no denying that, but I’d had worse.
I just needed to lay down for a short moment, get a proper pressure bandage on my wound, and then I’d be good to go.
From here it wasn’t far to the Shaman, and he could fix me right back up.
I wasn’t even feeling the mildest hint of unease over going to his technology-filled home.
“Don’t you pass out on me!” Naomi said, bending over me, her small hands pressing down hard on the wound low on my back.
The one on my chest was dribbling too, but I’d rolled back far enough to prevent that blow from striking deep.
It hadn’t hit anything major, unlike that damn knife Jesrifa had stuck me with.
I should have seen it coming from that viperous bitch, but whatever, she’d died marvelously and I needed to make sure Kiwi got all the rewards for that later.
The choicest bits of my kills were going to be his for at least a month.
“Not passing out,” I grumbled, I was a little faint from blood loss, but I was strong and I had my mate safe beside me.
“I need some big purple leaves with deep jagged edges. Do you see them? Over there?” I pointed at a cluster I saw growing in the shadow of some rocks nearby.
They would help stem the blood flow until the Shaman could do his work.
She didn’t move to right her chair when I took over pressing the fur to my wound.
Instead, she crawled and dragged herself to the spot and started yanking out as many leaves barehanded.
I looked away, my gaze going over the strange vehicle she’d been using.
It was on its side, and with horror, I realized that the backpack and the sack with the precious boxes had been crushed beneath it. What if the box she needed was damaged?
I scooted closer, groaning as I hauled the chair upright.
Lights were blinking on the armrest, many of them red, but their glow seemed to grow dimmer before my eyes.
What was happening? Was it broken? That would be bad news, she’d hate losing her independence, and if the boxes were beyond saving.
That chair was her best way of getting around.
All kinds of scenarios were running through my mind. I was injured, and I had a heavy pack of books to carry. Could I do that and carry Naomi all the way to the Shaman? We’d have to leave everything else behind, but that was okay, the Shaman would be able to help us get back what we lost.
“Krashe, hold that tightly! Damn it! What are you doing?” Naomi was suddenly next to me, pushing my hands off her chair with brisk movements.
I hadn’t even realized I’d stopped putting pressure on my wound so I could inspect the wreck.
I hated seeing her means of independence, her means of transportation destroyed.
I couldn’t deny, however, that her intervention in that fight had been extremely well-timed.
Without her and Kiwi, we could have been looking at an entirely different outcome.
She was yanking the leaves she’d gathered out of the front of her shirt and without asking me what to do, pressing them against my wound.
“Will this help? What else can we do? Fire?” she spoke frantically, worried tears filling her pretty blue eyes.
I took the rest of the leaves from her and packed those tightly against my bleeder, calm settling over me once more.
“Cut some strips from that leather skin, please,” I said, jabbing the tip of my tail at the corner of one sticking out from beneath our backpack with the tent and bedding.
It wasn’t far, and I didn’t like it at all that she only had her hands to scoot herself along the ground.
Rocks and pebbles made it a rough surface, along with the gnarly roots from the trees that stuck out in random places.
On top of that, we were on a mild slope, she had to pull herself uphill, not that she appeared to have any trouble doing so.
“I am going to be fine. The Shaman is only a few hours in that direction,” I said calmly, and I pointed down the mountain slope.
Toward the wetlands and the spine of another branch of the mountain.
Artek’s home was in the tunnels that pierced that flank, but his were filled with crystal lights, his entrance shielded by a garden inside a dome.
A technological wonder that had often been the debate among the Clan, was it for healing or was it for something else?
Was it just frivolous, dangerous use of technology the Shaman should not be tampering with?
Now I really didn’t care one way or another, I just wanted to get the both of us there.
Kiwi too. The little Sleara had landed not far away and I could scent his blood in the air.
He kept his wings tucked tightly around his body so I had no chance to see how bad it was but I was pretty sure that he’d let Naomi take a look.
As soon as she was back and had helped me tie the improvised bandage in place I snagged her up in my arms and pulled her close.
“My brave heart,” I said, tipping her chin up so I could kiss her.
“You are amazing and you are worth a little bit of blood and pain. A lot, if it was asked of me, don’t you know that? ”
She curled her arms around my neck and just leaned there, a hug that grew tight as she clutched me with her deceptively strong arms. “Doesn’t mean I don’t hate to see it.
Are you sure you’re going to be alright?
No macho posturing big guy, I need to know you’ll make it down that mountain alright. It’s not like I can carry you.”
No, she could not. My eyes went back to the toppled wheelchair or hover chair as she’d also called it.
“I’m sure. Now go check on Kiwi, he is definitely more hurt than he’s letting on.
” She made a worried little squeak and immediately pushed away from my chest, pain shooting through me where the dribbling, open spear wound across my pectoral was located.
I held back my groan, trying not to make her worry even more.
She fussed over the little Sleara, who as I had predicted let her touch him wherever she wanted, showing her the cut across his ribs without hesitation.
That one definitely thought my mate was his mate too, but I could share with the little beastie, he’d saved our lives after all.
With my worst wound taken care of, I untangled the rest of my coils and tested out my strength and range of motion.
Seemed alright, I felt sluggish, but I was no longer bleeding out so I’d call that a win.
We needed to hurry away from here before the Queen managed to convince some more lowlifes from the Clan to return and finish us off.
Her hover chair was upright with a little pushing, but the damage that was revealed below it made my stomach drop.
The wrap of leather in which I’d tightly bound the packages with Naomi’s possible cure had borne the brunt of the blow.
Many of the cases lay like cracked eggshells in their nest of fur and leather.
I picked through them with growing dismay; only three remained whole.
“It’s okay, Krashe,” Naomi said quietly. She was cradling Kiwi in her arms, the little fellow draped in a pitiful sprawl against her chest. She’d tied leaves and a strip of leather around his wounded chest, just like she’d done for me. “I’m okay like this too.”
I huffed, “Of course you are! You are perfect. I just wanted…” I didn’t know how to put it all into words and there was no time to start digging for the right ones.
So I finished, “I just wanted to make you happy.” Then I collected the three remaining boxes and carefully packaged them in whatever fur and leather I could find.
These were not breaking, even if the chances were slim that these were the right ones, I was getting them to Artek. Any chance was better than none.
“I know,” she said quietly. She didn’t need help to climb back into the righted chair, it wasn’t hovering, and she handily used the bottom tray to leverage herself up.
“The battery is nearly empty, and I am pretty sure the ride will be really rough, but we’ll get this thing as far down the mountain as it will go. ”
Those were fighting words, I liked them.
Cupping her cheek, I kissed her, this time lingering longer than I probably should.
Then I went to retrieve my precious bag of books and scrolls, and dug the box of my mother’s things out of our backpack of supplies.
It hurt, and I felt a new gush of blood down my side when I stretched.
I still soldiered on, slinging the pack over my shoulder, the precious boxes cradled in my arm.
Then I followed my mate down the mountain in the direction I’d already pointed her.
***
Naomi
I was going over plan after plan in my head the entire time we were going down the mountain slope. The purple coniferous trees weren’t super densely packed, but they did obscure much of the mountain flank, making it impossible for me to tell exactly where we were going.
To make sure I could keep going if he did pass out, I kept asking Krashe to point out our heading.
He was behind me, silently following and it freaked me out just how quiet he was.
I kept glancing back, worried that he’d passed out and I hadn’t noticed.
If he did, I’d have to somehow try and pull him onto the chair and hope the damn battery lasted us to the Shaman.
I didn’t have high hopes of that happening, it was listing to one side and kept lurching up and down.
There were tons of red blinking lights on the control panel and scrolling text that I couldn’t read.
They were growing dimmer and then brightening when we hit a sunny spot, which made me hope that it was solar-powered.
If we could hide somewhere and the chair could charge, maybe we could make it…
But I’d much rather he didn’t pass out at all.