Page 127 of Elven Crown

Dammit, was she losing consciousness?Now?

She thought she heard Maxwell’s sigh of relief when the door opened with a violent twist of the handle and swung in to reveal what remained of the healer’s scraggly gray hair above beady black eyes and a toothless mouth.

That mouth gaped at them when she saw her visitors.

“Yeah, yeah, an emergency. I get it. But you’ll have to…” Zida stopped herself when she saw the stake protruding from Rebecca’s belly, then the blood all over them both and smeared behind them across the floor. The healer clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Blue Hells. What did you donow? Bring her in, will you? She’s half dead already.”

“So it’s not just me…”

That was what Rebecca had intended to say, but all she managed was a weak, warbling moan as she sagged against Maxwell and let him carry her the rest of the way into the infirmary.

Definitely not good.

All signs pointed to this being a lot worse than she’d thought. It wouldn’t have been if she’d been left alone from the startto heal herself in private, but who in their right mind would let Shade’s Thon-Da’al go off into hiding like an ancient cat sneaking away to die in solitude because its time had finally come?

Zida thrust a crooked finger at one of the infirmary beds. “Explain.”

“Training mishap,” Maxwell growled as he led Rebecca, stumbling, toward the bed.

The healer hobbled out of the way, looking them both up and down. “Some kinda training. Whatever happened to safety protocol?”

“We have safety protocols. An idiot with a death wish didn’t think they applied today.”

The healer froze, looked up at Rebecca with wide eyes, and her puckered mouth split to reveal the few remaining nubs of her teeth before she let out a wild cackle. “Did he just call you an idiot?”

“No,” Maxwell and Rebecca replied together.

Zida’s smile faded. “Oh. Good. I rather enjoy being the only one who can do that and get away with it. Well? Go on. What are you waiting for? Get her on the bed.”

Rebecca shouldn’t have tried to climb onto the infirmary bed herself. Even the first bit of movement sent a jolt of agony through her insides that made her groan.

With another growl, Maxwell bent to scoop her off the ground like she weighed nothing before he settled her gently onto the squeaky mattress and situated a pillow behind her head.

Then he stepped back to allow the healer room as she hustled and bustled around the bed, feeling Rebecca’s pulse, pressing the back of a hand to Rebecca’s forehead, sniffing at her blood-soaked abdomen where the wooden splinter still poked through.

Rebecca was still lucid enough to realize how close to the edge of unconsciousness she teetered, but now that’d made it to a bedand didn’t have to worry about walking or letting Maxwell guide her, she had a lot more mental power to spare.

While Zida bustled this way and that, checking every detail both crucial and mundane, Rebecca couldn’t help but notice the healer hadn’t addressed the glaringly obvious issue yet.

In fact, Zida kept shooting suspicious glances at Rebecca’s left wrist and forearm, as if expecting some other injury to appear there at the last second.

Like the dark gray handprint from a powerful homunculus burned into her flesh, for instance.

She hadn’t yet had the chance to inform Zida of that debilitating wound’s journey to full repair and healing. Fortunately, the healer didn’t mention it as she worked.

Rebecca was grateful for it. That was one more discussion she did not want to have in front of Maxwell.

The healer might not have pushed Rebecca for a full explanation, but Maxwell would if he thought there was knowledge to be gained from it. Then he’d probably demand she report the entire thing in a detailed debriefing at the first available opportunity.

No, thank you.

When Zida finished with her initial investigations, she shot Rebecca’s left wrist one final, deeply suspicious glance, then looked up and smacked her lips. “All right, then. Why don’t you tell meexactlywhat happened?”

“Training mishap,” Maxwell repeated with a deeper growl this time.

“Yes, yes, you already told me—”

“And it landed her with this piece of wood in her belly!” he shouted, then retracted his lashing anger and cleared his throat. “I assumed that part was fairly obvious.”

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