Page 51 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

Striding straight to the examining bed, I carefully eased her down. As much as I wished to remain in contact, I couldn’t. My hands were needed elsewhere.

“What do you require?” Illeron asked.

“Wards.” I focused on Adela. She breathed and her heartbeat thumped steadily. Although her skin appeared pale, it was cool and dry to the touch. Gently turning her head to the side, I set to examining it. That was when I found the source of the bleeding. As Vicre had predicted, she had struck the brazier.

“There is swelling here. I need a wet cloth to wipe away this blood and get a good look at the source.”

Leaving her head, I made my way down her body, checking limbs and joints. She protested when I touched her shoulder. I suspected dislocation. Swiftly assessing the rest of her, I came back to her shoulder with great reservation. This was going to hurt.

I began giving Illeron instructions. We worked together to heft her into the right position to force the joint back into place. She woke with a scream of pain.

∞∞∞

Adela

I woke to agony piercing through my left shoulder and a steady throb in my head.

Somewhere close by, Merlon whispered, “I am sorry, Adela, but this is going to hurt. No, don’t tense, just relax. Let us move you.”

Two sets of implacable hands held me in an awkward position.

“Breathe, darling,” Merlon prompted as he leaned around me, filling my senses with his scent and warmth. I tried to obey,but I couldn’t. A sob caught in my throat. “Shh…” He brushed a kiss against my temple. “One, two, three, now.”

The pain took my breath away.

“Drink this. It will help.” Merlon pressed an open vial into my right hand. “It’s going to be bitter.”

I slugged the elixir back, swallowing before the bitterness had fully hit my tongue, and spent the next few minutes coughing painfully.

“Well, that’s one way to approach taking one of those,” an unfamiliar voice observed.

I turned my head to find Merlon’s source of help. Another light elf, he possessed many similar facial features. Unlike Merlon, though, laughter lightened his green eyes, and a mop of caramel-colored hair fell messily over his forehead. This he shoved back by running his fingers through it, effectively standing it all on end.

“Adela, this is my cousin, Illeron.” Merlon pushed between us, elbowing his cousin out of the way. “Here, drink this one, too.” He claimed the empty bottle and pressed a new vial into my hand.

“What is in this one?” I asked. The pleasant numbness of a painkiller was already working its way through my system, easing the ache in my shoulder and the throbbing of my head.

“Something for the bump.” Then Merlon was off, darting across the room to fetch something else.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I protested. Lifting the bottle, I examined the color of the liquid. My muddled head was making it hard to recall which elixir did what. I wasn’t about to take another one without making sure I needed it. “Merlon!” I called after him. “I am not taking this until you tell me what it’s for and what is in it. You recall I am allergic to yaron root.”

“I remember,” Merlon replied from deep in a closet. I hadn’t even known the closet was there until he magically opened the door. “Drink it.”

“No, I told you—” And then I gave up. “He is not even listening. Stubborn elf.” I purposefully placed the vial down on the table next to me.

Illeron grinned.

“You are the spymaster, right?”

The elf’s grin widened. “I am.”

Feeling very exhausted, I groaned. “Was that first vial a knockout elixir?”

“No, you have just endured a very traumatic day and a half.”

“True.” I tilted my head, trying not to move my shoulder while still easing some of the tightness in my neck. It would take me weeks to get all the knots out of my neck and shoulders after this.

A great deal of noise outside signaled Lippin’s arrival. He clamored up the infirmary stairs and planted his hands against the ward’s surface, making it flare in my vision. “Adela! I am sorry.”

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