Page 110 of Silver & Smoke
Wilder fell to his knees, and Torj’s heart lodged in his throat as he reached his friend, skidding to a stop in the dirt and dropping to his side. A blur of silver shot through the air, and one of Thea’s throwing stars pierced the throat of an enemy alchemist, his blood spraying the white stones red.
‘Hawthorne,’ Torj urged, holding his friend up by the shoulder. ‘Look at me. Where are you hurt?’
‘Not hurt,’ Wilder rasped, his eyes wide. ‘Can’t feel...’
‘Can’t feel what?’ Torj pressed, scanning his brother-in-arms forany sign of injury. He’d fallen, hadn’t he? ‘Is it your legs? Talk to us, Hawthorne.’
Thea cupped Wilder’s face in her hands. ‘Tell me,’ she breathed. ‘Tell me what happened and who to kill.’
But Wilder shook his head, dazed.
‘Brother,’ Torj implored, ‘what can’t you feel?’
Wilder’s gaze met his, broken. ‘My Furies-given power.’
CHAPTER 56
Wren
‘Beware the woman who studies herbs with the same dedication warriors apply to maps. The path to destruction often winds through a garden of seemingly innocent blooms’
– An Encyclopaedia of Deadly Plants
‘DEAR GODS, WOMAN,’ Kipp exclaimed as he regarded their dead enemies littered throughout the camp. ‘You’re terrifying.Actuallyterrifying.’
Wren was securing her belt of potions around her waist, having found it and her dagger in the commander’s tent, along with his body. ‘Why, thank you.’
Cal made a noise of agreement. ‘Remind me never to piss you off.’
Wren raised a brow. ‘Do youneedmore of a reminder, Cal?’
‘Nope,’ he declared quickly, shaking his head at the gruesome scene. ‘However, if I were a different Warsword, I might chastise you for changing the plan at the last minute. They were meant to takeme.’
Wren strapped her dagger to her thigh. ‘And if they had, you’d be dead. They tested the wine on me first. Luckily, I sorted my immunity to that particular poison years ago. You, on the other hand...’
Cal winced as he touched his shoulder gingerly. ‘Good thing I’m not a different Warsword then.’
‘My thoughts exactly,’ Wren replied, stepping over another corpse to stand before him and peel his armour back from his wound. Cal swore under his breath, but Wren ignored him as she examined the broken, bloody flesh. ‘The arrowhead went clean through. But I’m glad you didn’t take it out without me.’
‘It was one of the first things you taught us,’ Kipp interjected while he rummaged through the pockets of the dead. ‘And we’ve seen what happens to people who don’t do what you say...’
Wren huffed a laugh and reached for her medical supplies. ‘I’ll have to saw the arrow off, so I can draw the shaft back through without making the wound worse.’
‘Sounds delightful,’ Cal muttered.
‘I’d offer you some pain relief,’ Kipp said, wiggling a flask from one of the fallen soldiers, ‘but I’m afraid it might be a tad permanent.’
Cal rolled his eyes. But as soon as Wren started to saw through the front of the arrow with a toothed-edge blade she’d found, the warrior stiffened. She worked as quickly as she could, trying to hold the shaft of the arrow stiff as she put the blade to the wood. Cal’s face went blank, muscles feathering in his jaw as he ground his teeth against the pain.
When she was done with the tip of the arrow, Wren patted his good shoulder. ‘I’ll patch you up as best I can, but you’ll need proper treatment when we rejoin the others.’
‘Will I be able to fight?’ Cal asked.
‘Depends...’ Wren poured cleansing alcohol over the wound and he swore again. ‘How good are you with your other hand?’
‘Callahan’s had lots of practice being ambidextrous in his earlier,lonelieryears,’ Kipp called with a wicked grin. ‘He’ll manage.’
Cal’s cheeks flushed. ‘Fuck’s sake, Kipp.’
