Page 60 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Again, like with Olia, the runes weren’t listening.

Tears of frustration threatened to spill and she swallowed down the failure. “Ivar, can I use your mana?”

Confusion had him knitting his brows together, but he nodded and tentatively stuck his hand out, his eyes asking her if this was what she meant.

Kolfinna grabbed his hand while keeping another hand on Inkeri. All at once, she felt the rush of Ivar’s mana. It was warmand large, like a body of lapping water. It stirred gently, like the sea softly lulling its waves back and forth. Kolfinna threaded that mana into her own body, pulling it forward. A thrill rushed over her body at the feel of magic intensifying inside her, but she pushed those thoughts away and focused on the runes.

She poured everything she had into the runes. Ivar gasped, likely at the pull of mana, and Kolfinna pursed her lips together. This had to work. It had to.

Remove any toxins that entered her body these past thirty minutes.

Golden runes shimmered in the air and imprinted on top of Inkeri’s pants before seeping through the material. Kolfinna could make out the glow of the runes on her skin through the tears of her clothes. Kolfinna and Ivar watched in amazement as the purple coloring in Inkeri’s skin faded into a light purple and then disappeared altogether. Another minute passed and the runes sank deeper into Inkeri, where they vanished.

Ivar looked between Inkeri and Kolfinna. “Is … Is it done? Is she healed?”

“I don’t know.” Kolfinna sat back, exhausted. “This is my first time I’ve healed anyone.”

“You just keep surprising me.” He hugged Inkeri’s body close to his chest and sighed raggedly. Kolfinna could see the relief loosening his tight features.

“If you love her, maybe you shouldn’t be so harsh with her,” Kolfinna said, turning away from him and shifting her attention to the rest of the battle.

Before she could launch forward and attack, the birds cawed, flapped their wings in unison, and shot up in the sky, away from them. The snakes did the same, suddenly turning and slithering away in every direction. The root cause seemed to be Blár and the elf woman.

The elf woman’s staff was stuck inside a hunk of ice a few feet away from her, and the woman herself was on the ground, Blár atop her with an ice spear aimed at her throat. The woman’s legs and arms were pinned to the ground with ice and her head was lolled to the side. Blár was breathing heavily. Splashes of bright, scarlet blood covered half of his face. His cloak was missing, the giant gashes along his uniform were painted in blood, and inky black stains covered more than half of his uniform.

Gunnar held his left arm and watched the birds fly away before stumbling toward Blár. “Is she …?”

“Dead? No.” Blár pushed himself off the unconscious elf.

“Is she … fae?” Eluf held his abdomen and limped over to them. Sticky blood seeped between his pale fingers.

Herja blew out air. “I’ve never seen that uniform. Black leathers? Is that common for the Tribes of Kriger or maybe the people of Skarlland?”

“No,” Blár said. “I don’t think so.”

Kolfinna swallowed down the nausea climbing her throat.An elf. This woman was an elf.

Her thoughts traveled back to Revna’s last words to her about the half-elf commander and his army. This woman … she couldn’t be, could she?

“Her ears are pointed,” Gunnar said. “And her hair …”

“Did you see her eyes? They were bloodyred.” Herja pushed her sweaty, red hair out of her own eyes as she said it. “Do fae have red eyes?”

“She’s not a fae.” Kolfinna stepped forward, but her body nearly gave out and she grabbed a nearby tree to support herself.

“Hey there!” Herja grabbed Kolfinna’s arm and helped steady her. “You’ve got to be careful. You were also bitten by those snakes.”

Another roll of nausea swept over her body and roiled in her stomach like steaming seawater. She wanted to vomit.

Blár was staring at Kolfinna intently but not in the way that would normally make her feel like butterflies were trapped in her body. In the type of way that told her he was thinking deeply. The hard set of his mouth told her that much.

“Kolfinna.” He stared down at the elf woman and then back at Kolfinna. “Is this woman … an elf?”

Kolfinna swallowed. The others exchanged glances with one another.

“An elf?” Eluf asked slowly.

“What’s that?” Gunnar’s voice was quiet.

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