Page 22 of Grulen

“I need a sterile container to collect these to ensure they weren’t coated with anything.”Rivezt looked up at them.Grulen’s nostrils flared.Hmm, he and Lady Lin as well?

Lady Lin said, “I’ll be right back with my bag.”She ran off quickly.

“Your right ankle is sprained, but not broken,” Rivezt said after he scanned his patient.He pulled something that looked like long curved tweezers out of his med kit.

“Here.I have collection bottles in different sizes.Which do you need?”Lady Lin asked breathlessly.

Rivezt used the tweezers to pull out a needle and hold it up.

“Do you have one that can hold something this long?”

“Yes.”Lady Lin rustled in her bag and held out a bottle.Rivezt dropped a bloody needle tipped in blood into it with a tinny clink.

“Lady Lin, if you could hold the bottle while I remove the remainder, it would help.”

“Of course.”Lady Lin knelt next to Lady Emmy and gently touched her hand.“How are you doing?”

“Fine.Just uncomfortable.”

“This shouldn’t take long.”Rivezt continued to remove the needles with the forceps.

“Lieutenant,” Grulen said from where he was still crouched.“Assuming the configuration was the same as what is left on this, twenty-seven needles were released from here.”

Tolvex checked out what Grulen had found and took images before moving to the other side of the path.He growled when he found a similar thing there.

“We’re looking for a total of fifty-four needles.”

“I’ve removed fifteen so far,” said Rivezt.“I do not think all of them impacted Lady Emmy.”

“I see some on the gravel.”Lady Lin pointed.

“Don’t touch them with your bare hands.We don’t know if they’re safe to touch,” said Tolvex.

“Was it a tripwire?”Lady Emmy asked.

“Yes.”

After Rivezt finished removing a total of thirty-three needles from Lady Emmy, Grulen helped Tolvex and Lady Lin find the remaining ones either on the gravel or embedded in nearby plants.Lady Lin put on gloves and gently removed impacted plants and placed them in other collection containers.She took off her gloves, leaving them inside out, and put them in her bag.

Lady Emmy sat up and Rivezt treated her scrapes and ankle.Tolvex used some of Rivezt’s sealant on his hands, then detached the tripwire at both ends and put it in another container.

“Tolvex, does it seem to you that there have been too many incidents involving the human females?I think someone is trying to harm them.”Grulen’s tail flicked in short movements.

Tolvex nodded.“It appears that way.We’re investigating.”He leveled a stare at the male.“Do not speak of this to anyone, Jevax.We have our reasons for not making it widely known.”

“As you command, Lieutenant.If you need any assistance, I am happy to volunteer.I do not like knowing someone is trying to hurt females.”An angry rumble emanated from Grulen’s chest.

“I’ll inform the commander,” said Tolvex.

“Uh, about that.I’d rather Talia didn’t know about this, Devik,” Lady Emmy said.

“Why not?”

“She and the commander have had a couple of rough days and he was just released from the med bay.I really don’t want to cause her any more stress right now.”Lady Emmy frowned.“They’ve been through a lot recently.”

“I’ll brief Wurvez and let him know your concerns.”

“Let’s get you back to the med bay, Lady Emmy, so I can treat you properly,” Rivezt said.

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