Chapter Ten #2
There was the sound of hoofbeats, and Elida looked at the portrait. Wymol gathered her back against him and murmured, “I called him and told him to remove any charms, no matter how precious. He tore a rift a few blocks away.”
The thundering got deafening, and the hunters looked nervous.
Elida gasped as a monster of a unicorn pounded around the corner of the house. “I thought they were smaller.”
Wymol chuckled. “Ravenock is a herd master with no herd.”
“You know him.”
“Of course. I do business in Corudet.”
They watched, and the hunters faced down the unicorn. Never said calmly, “The designation of fugitive was made by those who mean her harm. Check the original filing. I did. No parent has the right to call a child of fugitive for non-filial action, but that is the warrant.”
The scowling hunters looked at their phones with glances and at the furious unicorn.
One of the hunters asked Never, “You reported it?”
“I did. Check for an update.”
The two men looked at each other and muttered, “Fuck.”
They moved, and the unicorn faced off at them, horn first.
Never remained on the ground and said, “The contract is cancelled. Now we need to help her.”
The unicorn leaned down and lipped Aida’s hair and neck. She didn’t move.
Never said, “I need to check on her.”
She eased toward the woman on the ground and touched her. She was ice cold. “Shit.”
She poured some energy into her, and Aida started visibly breathing again. “She needs either a lot of healing or a hospital. Her organs are shutting down.”
Elida said softly, “I sent a text to Kori. She’s going to come at a run. She’s an excellent healer.”
She looked at the unicorn. “And if you take one step toward my daughter, I will gut you first and deal with the horn later.”
Wymol wrapped his arms around her. “Cor, this is the mother of my child, Elida.”
The unicorn nodded, and when Kori came around the corner at a run, he stepped back.
Kori looked around. “Wow. Aida. Oh, no.” Kori knelt next to Aida and touched her hand and her forehead. “Weak pulse, her body has been starved, organs barely active. Some magic is keeping things going.”
“That was me,” Never said softly.
“Good. It’s all she has. Her stomach is seriously reduced, and she’s massively dehydrated. I am amazed she could move at all yesterday.”
Never nodded. “Who has a car for transport? Or who can call an ambulance?”
Elida nodded. “I will do it immediately.”
The unicorn shook his head and stomped.
Never stood and looked at him. “Take on your human form so this sticks.”
The massive unicorn shook and took the form of a man with tanned skin, black hair, and silver eyes. “I am sorry, my beast—”
“I don’t give a fuck. Aida has been chased, starved, and hunted nearly to death.
Her organs are shutting down, my magic is keeping her functioning, but I can only manage it for so long.
She needs food, fluids, and caretaking, and that requires a hospital.
She also needs security, and they can offer her that. Elida will see to it.”
“I didn’t—”
“Shut up and see if Wymol has some clothing you can use. Go to the hospital with her. Hold her hand and talk to her. I have had an idea for how to keep you two true, but I have to see another artist about a glyph. I will get what I can and meet you all at the hospital.” She sent a message on her phone and got a reply immediately.
“Right. I have a meeting with a tattoo artist.”
Elida smiled, and they listened to the approaching sirens. She watched Kori stabilizing Aida and was delighted that her youngest was going to medical school in the fall. It suited her.
When the medics came around, Wymol and Cor transported to her house to get a change of clothing.
Kori travelled with Aida, keeping her stable while the lines for fluids were sought for and eventually found using every technique at their disposal.
She was carried and set in the ambulance.
Elida shrugged, looked around, and put the duffel inside, locked and warded.
If Aida had anything precious in there, it wasn’t going wandering.
Elida summoned her purse and got into her car. Two men thudded in a moment later.
She drove without speaking. Parking in her reserved spot, she got them guest passes, and they headed up to the private room that had been arranged when she sent a warning to the hospital while the medics assessed Aida.
Kori was still with Aida when they arrived. Cor looked at her, pale, her bones protruding. “Gods, Aida. What happened to you?”
Elida said softly, “According to Never, she became prey and ran until she had nothing left. I think she believes that she has created her death scene.”
Cor frowned. “What?”
Wymol summoned the painting and showed it to Cor. “This was all there. She’s on the ground, three hunters, and you.”
Cor looked at him and the portrait. “She painted that?”
Elida was surprised. “Yes, this is what she does. She paints scenes of violence. It’s her particular seer manifestation. Her images are used to get a feel for the actual violence of crime scenes. Cor, you have known her since she was seventeen. How did you not know that?”
Cor looked green. “Her sister claimed the skill.”
A whisper of sound came from the bed. “Half sister.”
He leaned over her and stared at her. “Oh, Aida. How long have I been asleep?”
“Five years.”
His eyes were wide. “How long were you running?”
“A year and a half. The volcano event.” Her voice was a weak thread. “Why are you here? Why can you see me?”
“Wymol told me to strip naked and remove all charms before my shift, no matter how attached I was to the item. So, I did, and my beast ran to you in a moment.”
Aida smiled. “I missed him. He was always kind.”
Cor knelt at her side in a sweatsuit that Elida didn’t remember Wymol having when he unpacked and settled in.
Aida sighed. “It was nice that you came and all, but isn’t the wedding just around the corner?”
“Not anymore. Not after today. You are what I planned for, and I need to get things back on track.”
Elida spoke, “If you two are up for it, Never is going to get a tattoo artist who can work a block against interference. That is my translation of things.”
They stayed together for another hour, and then there was a knock at the door. “I have brought a visitor.” Never opened the door and brought in an elf with brown and white colouring.
“This is Emily, and she is a skilled tattoo artist. She can even get her pigments to stay in dark elf skin. She is here today to put a charm block on Aida so that no hunters can find her, and if Coriven wishes, there can be a charm against magical interference with his mind.”
Cor looked at Aida. “Can you just do a fated-mate link? Between the two of us, it will have the effect of the other charms.”
Emily had a kit with her. “Right, I need to see skin on someone. You. Tough stuff. Your lady will pick the design, and you will get it.”
Cor smiled. “I will deal with whatever she gives me.”
Elida watched as Emily discussed placement, and she brought out a slim folder with designs that could be altered to suit the recipient.
Never smiled and left the room. Elida followed her and looked at the orc rippling with power.
“What’s wrong, Never?”
“I have been doing this kind of thing a little too often. Depleting my reserves.”
“What can be done to fix them?”
“Aw, nothing. Well, something, but it involves a lot of technicalities and counsels and stuff.”
“What?” Elida was confused.
“I have someone who is interested in me in all forms, but he’s a speaker, and certain rules bind him, and I have to abide by that. He wants to cover me in tattoos suitable for an orc shaman.”
“That sounds sweet... I guess.”
“Yup.”
“Which clan?”
“Daring Claw.”
Elida looked it up and blinked. “Holy shit. He and the chief were athletes.”
“They are good at maintenance. Really good.”
“What was the speaker’s sport?”
“Powerlifting.”
“Uh-huh. Looks like it.”
“He’s very nice and adheres precisely to the rules.”
Elida wrinkled her nose. “Those can be fun.”
“Not when I have been waiting so long for someone who wants me.”
Elida noticed a flicker in Never’s aura. “How long can you keep her alive?”
“Let’s hope they can decide on the markings quickly. I think I have about an hour.”
Elida’s eyes widened, and she headed back to the patient room. “Emily, no rush, but Aida’s life support is going to need life support in about an hour.”
Emily nodded. “I can do it. Shirt off and bend forward. Let’s get this started.”
Cor obliged, and then Emily got to work prepping his skin. The glyph went on in ten minutes, was cleaned, and covered. Aida’s design went in the same spot at the base of her neck. The moment Emily said, “They are done,” there was a thud and shouting in the hallway.
Elida darted outside and saw Never seizing on the ground. “Oh, shit.”
She called Iscorabella, and when she answered, Elida said, “There’s an emergency at the hospital. It’s Never.”
“Never is good at emergencies.”
“No, she is the emergency.”
“What? I am on my way. Wait, did you tell Tam-or?”
“No. Why?”
“They are... I will tell him.”
“Good.”
Elida watched as they wrestled the orc onto a gurney, and Elida made a note to call a tailor. Those leathers were terribly expensive and hard to replace. She sighed and went to help get her out of the suit. She might be able to keep the parts for repair.
* * * *
Cora watched the drip in her sister’s arm. Energy depletion. She usually could pull from nature, but there was none around her. She could pull from the living, but they were all ill. Hospitals were not a good food source.
“Never, why didn’t you say something?”
A soft voice behind her said, “A life was at stake. An innocent had been hunted to the edge of survival, and Never stepped in to keep her from falling.”
“Yeah, she’s good like that. I wish she had a bit more self-preservation.”
“Can you give her anything?”
“No. I am pregnant. Our link locked up the moment she felt it.”