Page 284 of Phoenix's Fire

Infection. Blood loss. Organ damage. Those were all things I needed to worry about, but I could do this. I wasgoodat this.

"I can't walk," he panted. "Ayla, I'm not going to make it back."

I reached down to press at his skin, trying to feel if there was excessive bleeding in his abdomen. "Kanik, I am a healer."

"And we don't have the supplies," he said.

So I opened the numbing and poured a splash across the injury. "We do."

"You can't see," he tried next.

"I can."

He breathed a few times, watching me as I examined his wound. Then, "Ayla, I'm going to die."

I looked up, meeting his eyes. "You will lie there. You will not move. This will hurt, but I amnotgoing to let you die, so shut up and grab something."

"What are you - "

I took the clamps and pulled out the metal without warning, cutting him off. Kanik gasped, and his body flinched, but he didn't completely jerk away. Immediately, blood began pooling into the wound, but I could handle that. Wiping it away with my hand - which was far from sterile - I found the first bleeder. A clasp crimped that. Suture came next, tying off the vessel, then I wiped at him again.

"Ayla..." he begged.

"The infirmary in the compound was darker than this," I said without slowing my hands. "We didn't have numbing, so tell me if it hurts too much. The war arrows would spin as they entered the body, leaving large, ugly wounds."

I found another bleeder and moved the clamp to that. "Often, they would destroy organs. Sometimes, we could put those back together, but only some of them. Livers can be sewn. Intestines are a bigger problem because they come with infection, but that's okay. It takes about three days before that will take a body, and Dragons have medicine."

"Antibiotics," he agreed.

I nodded. "Kanik, this is not good, but I can save you."

"What?" he asked.

"Brace," I warned before shoving my hand into his belly.

He screamed, arching his back off the ground, but he didn't pull away. Beside me, his tail lashed, yet I knew what I was doing. I'd mastered this by torturing them. I'd liked healing because it was the one time I had power - over life or death - and I chose that Kanik would live.

When I pulled my hand out, there was another, smaller piece of metal. That got tossed aside, and I clamped yet another vein that was bleeding. What I didn't see was anything worse. His intestines were still filled, so they hadn'temptied into his body. His kidney seemed to be intact, and the wound was just a bit too low to have injured that. It was also on the good side, which meant he might actually be okay.

Even better, the blood wasn't rushing in to fill the wound now. That meant only veins had been cut, not an artery. Releasing the clamps, I put them back in the bag, then pulled out a roll of gauze. That, I wrapped around my hand over and over, making a wad.

"I'm going to hurt you again," I warned, "but I can't close this. The doctors will need to do more."

He nodded, so I shoved the bandage into the wound. This time, he only groaned, but there was so much pain in the sound. His jaw was clenched, and his tail lashed again, but it never came toward me.

"And now you have to sit up," I said, leaning in to help him. "Put an arm back, because I need to get all the way around you."

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Keeping you from dying," I said as I wrapped the rest of the gauze around his body, holding the bandage in place. "I'm sorry, because the next bit is going to be horrible, but you're alive." I finished, tucking the end of the wrap under itself to stay in place.

"I can't walk," he said again.

"Uh-huh," I agreed as I crawled back over him and out of his hiding place. "But I thought I was taking back a body. Don't move."

He huffed like it was supposed to be a laugh, but I was doing this. I had a plan. Looking around me, I knew there would be something I could use - and I spotted it easily. Over there was a tree branch that had fallen in an explosion. On the other side was a sapling that had been broken in half. Gathering those up, I dragged them back as close to Kanik as I could. With the rope, I bound them together, then tied the sheet over them.

"Okay, now to get you out," I said, leaning in to get him. "Grab my arms?"

---