Chapter 16 #2
Dove did her “chirp kee kee” so loudly that I winced, but it got the other sleara moving.
I’d forgotten he was still there, but now he slipped from Ekkire’s shoulder and flew a circle around us.
I could see the Shaman tense up, ready to fend off another attack, but the blue guy didn’t strike.
He landed awkwardly on Ekkire’s arm, chirping, cooing, but Dove still didn’t settle.
I tried talking to her too, urging her to calm, to settle down.
It didn’t seem to convince her I was all right…
When the blue guy leaped to the ground, picked up a small twig, and tried to fly back up to offer it to her, she finally stopped screeching, snatching the stick from his mouth, then twisting to lean over Ekkire’s elbow to peer at me with huge, silver eyes.
“It’s okay, sweetie. Come chew on your stick over here.
” I patted the fur beside my hip weakly.
It was a risk, but Ekkire seemed calm as he released Dove.
She fluttered to the spot on the fur I’d patted, rubbing her head against my hip.
Then she laid down her new stick, perched a paw on it possessively, and smoothed out some ruffled fur.
To my surprise, she did not rebuff the slate-blue sleara when he landed next to her and began grooming her too.
I’d been so distracted, staring, that I had not even realized the Shaman had bent back over my leg and resumed his assessment like nothing had happened.
He did not even tend to the bloody scratches on his abused face.
Warmth washed over my leg as he powered the healing device around his hand with his mind.
At least, that’s how I figured it was working, because there were no handy buttons.
These were not the healing devices I recalled from my doctor’s office.
The heat bathing my break pushed out the deep, throbbing pain, and my brain began to feel a little clearer.
“How did her leg break?” the healer asked, his tone conversational, a bit distracted.
He had all his focus on my leg, which I found immensely reassuring.
He was a very big naga, bigger than Ekkire, bigger, in fact, than anyone else present.
I could see that as I gazed around and took in the many staring faces.
He was like a bear with yellow scales and a massive pile of curly blond hair.
Ekkire slipped closer again now that the sleara had settled, and finally his tail curled in a thick loop around me, helping me prop up against his coils so I wasn’t quite so vulnerable and could better see what was going on.
At the first touch of his scales to my skin, the sigils lit up again.
That settled something inside me, but it caused a flutter of murmurs among our crowd of suspicious watchers.
“She was swept into a gully the earthquake opened up, then carried along by a wash of water from an underground spring,” Ekkire said.
That was not what had broken my leg; that had come from a tail blow from a Thunder Rock warrior.
I thought it might even have been the guy with the nasty mouth, but it had happened so fast I couldn’t be sure.
Perhaps Ekkire thought the half-truth was better than the full story.
After all, these guys had allied themselves with the very guys who’d attacked me.
“Ouch,” this Shaman guy said, his yellow eyes flicking to my face and growing soft and kind.
“That you survived is a testament to your strength, tiny sky being. Do not worry, I am a most gifted healer, and you will be walking by nightfall.” Walking by nightfall?
I doubted that. I’d seen what those healing devices could do, and healing a broken bone in just a few hours seemed extremely unlikely.
For serious injuries like that, Corin always used the healing machines in the med bay on Ahoshaga.
“Doubtful,” I said through gritted teeth.
He was still healing my injury with the device, but with his other hand, he’d pulled out a knife and begun cutting the ties of my improvised splint.
Since Ekkire remained calm, I told myself I had nothing to worry about, but the knife so close to my body still made me tense.
“She says thank you,” Ekkire said tactfully, rather than conveying my prickly response.
I shot him a glare and was surprised when he answered with a smile that was both gentle and warm.
I racked my brain; had I seen him smile like that before?
Maybe, but right now I definitely couldn’t recall, and I just stared, entranced.
“You are very welcome, sky being. I am delighted to meet you,” the Shaman responded, beaming a smile at me that was indeed very delighted. His words seemed extremely contrary to what this war party had been planning to do. Why was he being nice? Wasn’t he planning to kill my kind?
I started to ask, furious that he’d lie to me when I was already so vulnerable.
I hated double talk. Ekkire spoke over my beginning protest, speaking louder than he probably needed to, to silence my suspicious exclamation.
“Her name is Jasmine. Jasmine, this is Ishmakah. Ish is still an apprentice, but he is indeed a very gifted healer. We have met several times before,” he added, directing those words to me.
I was certain he was trying to tell me I could trust this shaman, err…
apprentice. That he knew him well enough to know I was in good hands, and to my surprise, it did help. It helped because I trusted Ekkire.
The healing was beginning to take its toll, though.
Or was it the pain I’d been in for days now?
My sore, abused body was finally starting to ache less, and with it came an exhaustion so deep it was terrifying.
I fought it, fought against the sleep pulling me under as long as I could.
In the end, I lost. I trusted Ekkire, did I trust him enough to guard me from all these others while I was at my most vulnerable?
There was no choice. Darkness claimed me, and I could only hope I was still safe when I woke up.