Page 92 of Shardless

“Let me see.” Skye grabbed her arm and turned her so that he could get a look at the gash at her hip. It was a deep wound, and he could already see small rivulets of pus mixed in with the blood that stained her skin and clothing. “Okay, you’re seeing the healer.”

“That’s really not necessary.”

“Iona!” Skye called when he saw the same waifish earth mage from House Agno turn the corner. As the healer approached them, she ran a critical eye over Skye. “I haven’t moved,” he said, pointing a finger at Taly. “This is for her.”

“I’m fine,” Taly argued stubbornly.

“Jacket off,” Iona commanded, rolling up her sleeves. Those strange black eyes immediately zeroed in on the jagged gash peeking through the tear in Taly’s coat. “And” —the healer’s hand shot out and grabbed Taly’s wrist— “your shirt. I need to see your arms.”

Taly gave Skye a withering glare as she stood and started peeling off her clothing, revealing a plain camisole that had been layered over lace underclothes. Under any other circumstance, Skye might have noted the toned muscles of her stomach and arms, but his attention was immediately drawn to her injuries.

“Holy shit!” Skye exclaimed when he saw the angry streaks of purple and red dotting the skin of Taly’s right arm. “What happened there?”

Taly looked at her arm in mild surprise. “I guess that explains the soreness.”

Iona ran a gentle hand over Taly’s skin, her fingers hesitating when they came upon five perfectly spaced patches of discolored flesh.

“I ran into some of those creatures on the way to the compound,” Taly explained, a strange twinge of nervousness coloring her tone. She tried to pull her arm away, but Iona kept a firm grip on her wrist. “They managed to grab me. That’s all.”

“And you still got away?” Iona asked, skeptically. “You’re human. How did you manage that feat?”

Taly opened her mouth to reply but winced when Iona poked at a particularly large welt on the back of her bicep.

“Shooting them in the head stuns them,” Taly bit out between gritted teeth. “And it’s hard for them to chase you if they don’t have knees.”

There was something evasive in her tone that Skye didn’t like. “How many?” When she didn’t answer immediately, he asked again. “How many, Taly?”

“Just hold on a minute.” She held up a hand. “I’m counting.”

“You have to count?” Skye sputtered in reply.

“Three at first.” Taly turned when Iona started prodding at her shoulders. The skin of her back and left arm was unmarred. “Then four more came running when they heard the gunshots. Then another three. So, ten at the end. I stopped using my pistols after I got away from that group since they were drawn to the noise.”

Skye took a breath, unsure of what to say.Ten?!How had she managed to get away from ten of those monsters? From what he had seen, only a shadow mage would be capable of outrunning them.

“You must be quite resourceful,” Iona said distractedly. “Still, some of these contusions are quite severe. I’m actually more worried about the bruising than the wound at your hip. Did they grab you anywhere else?”

Taly exhaled sharply. “Yes. My legs, my ankles… I think they may have even ripped out some hair.” She frowned, pulling at the tie still holding her hair and combing out the tangles. When she pulled her hand away, her fingers were stained red with blood.

“Arms out,” Iona said tersely. When Taly extended her arms, Iona waved a glowing earth crystal over the length of her body. Threads of gossamer earth magic coiled around the healer’s fingers, branching off and spiraling around Taly’s form in a protective cocoon of healing magic.

“That should do it,” Iona said with clinical professionalism a few moments later. “I’ll need to see you again tomorrow. Lord Emrys, if you please.” She turned to Skye, who dutifully held his arms out in front of his body. The web of healing spells flickered to life, and she nodded. “Good. You may leave now. But remember what I said—no casting until I can examine you in the morning.”

Skye nodded in reply, and both he and Taly watched as the healer once again set off to deal with her never-ending stream of patients. Turning to Taly, he said, “They’ve given me Ivain’s old room if you want to go upstairs and get cleaned up.” Picking at a fleck of black blood that had dried onthe back of her hand, he asked, “Do I want to know how this happened?” He let his eyes rake over the splattered gore that covered her skin and clothing, staring at her pointedly.

“I killed one of them,” she replied flatly, pulling on her shirt. “It sort of, well… exploded.”

“Come again?”

Taly waved her hand tiredly. “Later. That is a story for much later. What about you? Are you coming up?”

Skye groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, gesturing for her to follow him as they made their way to the main building of the compound. “In a bit. There are a few things I need to see to before I retire for the night.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Skye shook his head. “No. It’s mostly just making sure that people are doing what they need to be doing. We need to get a team of mages going through the square and burning the bodies. I also need to speak with the researchers and find out if they’ve figured out what these things are. Oh, and I should probably set up a meeting with the leadership.” Skye ticked off the tasks on his fingers before a large yawn punctuated his train of thought. “Other than that, I think we need to take the night before we decide our next steps. Mourn the dead, tend to our wounded… those things come first.”

“Okay,” Taly said as she followed him across the courtyard.

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