S’Kir
Island of the Unseen Gods
HELL.
The only way to describe the pain in my leg.
It burned and throbbed and bled. There was no bliss of unconsciousness for me. I didn’t understand what kind of evil this was tearing my leg apart.
“Kimber?”
That was Drez’s voice.
I snapped my eyes open and saw I was on a litter and being loaded onto a buckboard. I found Drez as well as Jallina standing over me.
“What happened? What did they do to my leg?”
“Dorian said you were shot,” Roran answered as he climbed on board with me
“Shot? With an arrow?”
“No.” Drez climbed on the back and walked to the driver’s seat where he helped Jallina up. “No arrows. Master Dorian called it a hand cannon.”
Drez swatted the horses into motion.
“Rilen!” I exclaimed, realizing he wasn’t there.
“He went back to help Dorian,” Jallina said.
I settled, but another round of horrible pain ripped through my leg as Drez hit a bump. I yelped.
“Hang on,” Drez said. “The best healer in S’Kir is waiting for us at the temple.”
Roran glanced at the two driving the buckboard. “Who?”
“Doctor Symi, of course,” Jallina said.
I glanced out from the buckboard as the city passed by. Through the pain, I could see parts were ripped apart, left in rubble, and smoldering from fires. I wanted to ask so many questions, but I couldn’t get them out through my clenched teeth.
“Drez…” Jallina’s worried voice drifted to me.
“I see it.” He tossed a look back at us. “Hang on. I’m sorry, but this is going to jostle you.
The horse swerved left. I slipped across the wood and hit the side of the carriage, and had to brace with my good leg to keep from flying off the back through the open gate.
“What the hell!” Roran snapped and grabbed the gate to slam it closed. “This isn’t the way to the temple.”
“No, but we can’t go that way. We have to go around and use the back entrance,” Jallina said. “There was a group of marauders holding a cross street.”
I looked at Roran who asked the question. “Marauders?”
Drez shook his head. “Later. We have to get to Doctor Symi.”
I didn’t argue. I was starting to feel dizzy and foggy from the pain. I tucked myself into the corner and pulled the blanket around me.
Roran studied me. “Are you cold, ilati?”
I nodded. Roran lay down next to me and moved inside the blanket.
“That’s from the blood loss.” Roran wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. He wrapped the blanket around us. “We’ll get you fixed up.”
“I’m scared, Roran,” I whispered.
“Me too,” he admitted. “But Symi is the best doctor in S’Kir. You’ll be better in a few hours. He just needs to fix your leg.”
Shivering, I tucked my head into his shoulder. “Why…why did they attack us?”
“I don’t know, ilati.” His warmth seeping into me, the shivering began to slow.
“What does that mean?” His shirt collar was filthy, and I brushed at it. “All three of you call me that.”
“Three?” Jallina hissed from the front seat.
I lifted my hand and offered her a rude gesture.
Roran laughed quietly and brushed a strand of hair off my face. “It means goddess.”
“That’s a bit of overkill,” I whispered, smirking.
“Why? We worship you, don’t we?”
Even through the pain, I could feel my nipples pearl at his veiled suggestion.
I breathed carefully. “It really hurts, Roran.”
“Rest. We’ll be at the temple soon. Get you all fixed up.” Roran put his hand on my forehead. “Relax, ilati. You’ve done what you were meant to do.”
I snuggled up to him, trusting him as I realized I had never been able to trust before. Despite the pain, I fell asleep.
* * *
Doctor Symi was a neat, tidy man. His clothes were simple, clean, and unobtrusive with the symbol of his profession embroidered neatly above his pocket on his shirt. His cocoa skin seemed to be the right color of warm and comforting for his profession. With close-cropped hair, his honey-colored eyes stood out and seemed to read the soul.
“Mistress, I am sorry that you’re in pain. And I regret that I will have to cause more. Our supply of painkillers has been depleted, badly, and there just isn’t enough to go around.”
I didn’t really understand why they wouldn’t have painkillers, but I was more concerned about what happened. “What hit me?”
“It’s a bullet.” Jallina offered the answer from her seat next to me. “Master Dorian said it—from a hand cannon. There have been dozens of people in the research field for years trying to shrink the cannon to something a person could carry. Our swords have always been more effective.”
“There’s a tiny projectile in your leg that we will have to get out,” Symi said.
A look of confusion passed over Roran’s face. “Doctor Symi, you’re from South End. A day by train. How are we here?”
Drez and Jallina shot each other a glance and shared it with Symi.
Jallina finally answered him. “He’s been here a week. We called for him when you went into the cave.”
A jolt went through me. “We only went into the cave…” I trailed off, studying their faces, pausing to deal with the pain. “How long? How long were we in that cave?”
Drez answered. “Eighteen days.”
“What?” Roran was as shocked as I was. “How is that even possible?”
“We were so encased in magic,” I whispered.
“It felt like hours, not days.” Roran was truly shocked.
“The Breaking was one of the most magnificent things most people had ever seen,” Drez said. “It was a beautiful dance of destruction that moved mountains and changed the sea.”
“I was afraid the magic was never going to let you out of the cave,” Jallina said. “That breaking the Spine broke you.”
I turned to Doctor Symi. “I’m not the first one to be injured, am I? That’s why there is so few painkillers.”
Doctor Symi nodded. “That’s correct. I have been treating wounds of all terrible kinds as I’ve come up on the train. Whatever those… weapons are, they are destructive. We’ve lost many innocent people already.”
“Eighteen days…” I looked at Drez, who just nodded.
Jallina cleared her throat. “Doctor Symi will have to cut into your leg to get the bullet out.”
Roran let out a breath. “Gods, I didn’t want this to happen.” He looked at Drez. “You’re a spy for Kimber. I need you to be a spy for all of us. I need to know everything about these weapons and why we weren’t told about them.”
Drez nodded sharply. “Of course. I have a lot of information already gathered.”
Doctor Symi clapped his hands. “Out. Out, out.”
“Everyone?”
“All of you. No one needs to be in here but the nurse and me. Head out. Go help at the shield. There are many things to be done there.”
Roran cleared his throat. “I can help with the pain, Doctor.”
“Not as well as I can.”
We all turned to find Dorian standing in the doorway. He took long strides into the room to stand by me. “Doctor, I’ll stay. I can help Mistress Kimber block the pain.”
“Can you?” Doctor Symi seemed intrigued.
“All strong wielders can,” Roran nodded.
“I need more of you around since our painkillers are gone. Honestly. If you can spare anyone who is strong enough and has the skill, I have people who need the relief.”
Roran nodded. “I’ll spread the word. Strong magic and stronger stomachs.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Taking Jallina’s seat and my hand, Dorian whispered in my ear. “I will do what I can to stop the pain for you, but this is going to hurt like hell.”
“Just take it out and make sure I can heal well.”
Doctor Symi smiled and headed to the bathroom to scrub his hands. “My dear, this is a simple fix. You’ll be fine in a few days. I’ll be right back.”
Dorian looked worried, nervous even. I squeezed his hand. “Are you going to be okay with this?”
“I’m going to teach you how to use magic to block the pain. It’s a very strange, uncomfortable feeling to detach from who we are to deal with it, and that’s why we don’t use it as much as we could.”
“That wasn’t my question.” I stared at him.
“I’m not okay with this, ilati.” He stroked a thumb over the skin of my hand. “I am pissed beyond belief that you fulfilled your destiny and were rewarded with a grievous injury from vampires. I guess they…”
I waited for him to finish, but it was clear he wasn’t going to. “I will be okay alone if you want to leave, Dorian.”
“No.”
For reasons I didn’t understand, he needed to take a moment to himself. I didn’t intrude. I just kept breathing through the pain I had been enduring the entire time.
Dorian’s eyes snapped to mine. “You’re already in pain. Let me teach you.” He smoothed the messy mass of sandy brown waves with a careful hand. “Close your eyes. Breathe slowly.”
I was already trying to breathe slowly, but with his hand there, it seemed easier. He spoke softly. “Find a thread of magic, yellow or orange, and follow it slowly. Bring it down to the pain and weave a small pouch with it. You should be able to see the pain there, tiny little threads of blue and red.”
I could see them. They weren’t tiny, though. They were huge, angry, glowing, and trying to pull the skin open and keep it open. “Oh…”
Ba-boom. Flash.
I flinched but started weaving a little pouch of orange and yellow.
Ba-boom. Crash!
The pouch grew strong.
Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba—
“Kimber?”
“I can see it. It’s contained. I feel your heart…”
Ba-boom. Ba-boom.
“You’re so deep in the magic…” I could hear his amazement in his voice. “Careful, don’t go too much further.”
I brought my hand up to look at it.
There was a flicker on my wrist, a mark that faded in and out. It wanted to stay but couldn’t.
Missing.
“Is she relaxed?” That was the doctor.
“She’s… flickering… in the magic…”
Ba-boom.
But no echo this time.
I wanted the heartbeats together, but the more frantically I pulled them toward each other, the more they were out of sync. I couldn’t stop them. I could get them—
“This is…. as far as… pain will go.”
The chamber was dark. Warm bodies all around me.
Ba-boom!
Hearts but not together. No. I must have them together.
I felt warm breath on my cheek.
“Kimber…” Dorian was there again.
The words hissed out of me. “Soul mates.”
“Kimber Raven, you’re in the throes of a vision.”
Not a vision. No, definitely a vision.
The room was warm. Comfortable. I was wrapped in male bodies. It felt so much like our bed. Like they had left me in a cloud of sexual bliss.
“Soul mates,” I breathed again.
“No, Kimber. It’s prophecy.”
“I’m not a seer…”
I’m not a seer. I am a seer.
Cold, ice-cold fangs. Buried in my neck. Uncareful. Uncaring. Sucking hard, tearing, ripping.
Hot blood. Bile.
Fear.
Alone.
I am an instrument of magic. I am alone despite the warmth of men. I am not whole.
I am incomplete.
My heart beats alone.
Alone.