Page 50 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

Wait, it wasn’t a horse. It was a moose.Chiga. I had known he was a massive creature, but it was entirely different seeing it in person.

I knew from my various animal shenanigans throughout my life that moose were giant creatures, often standing anywhere from five to seven feet at their shoulders, but Chiga was at least nine feet tallwithouttaking into account the huge antlers atop his head. Leo wasn’t kidding about him being a force to reckon with.

Finally, I saw a flash of that familiar coat behind the gargantuan moose. Leo was lunging for one of the brothers, but the warlock had summoned a hazy shield around himself. If there was one trick I really hated from those guys, it was that.

Thankfully, my love was holding his own, so I switched my focus and looked for anyone needing my help. Unfortunately, quite a few people were in grievous states.

Time to see if my support skills could hold up in much closer quarters.

I ran to the closest shifter—a coyote I was pretty sure would come up to my waist. I’d gotten used to the fact that all shifterswere larger versions of their wild animal counterparts, but it still threw me for a loop. However, even at their greater size, I was still able to grab his legs and haul him over to the door, swinging it partially closed to use as cover.

My mind crept into that almost meditative state as I did what I could to stabilize the coyote so his body could begin the healing process. I hoped most of them would have the good sense to retreat rather than push their injured bodies and end up dying, but I also recognized that if one of them wanted to fight, it would be a waste of time trying to stop them. We all had our choices to make, and in the end, I needed to respect theirs.

A gust of wind blew the both of us forward. I grabbed the edge of the door to stay in place, but the coyote slid several yards down the hall. Before either of us could react to the sudden movement, the air reversed directions and I was being suckedintothe battle.

It was a strange sensation whirling through the air like that. My back hit the solid couch, my breath rushing out of my lungs from the impact. I sat there, more than a little stunned at the sudden game of tug-of-war over my body, but then a perfect replica of a miniature tornado skipped up on an ottoman that looked like it cost more than my entire cabin. I blinked in surprise as it launched itself right out the already broken window.

Fighting warlocks was absolutely wild.

Not wanting to encounter more shrunken versions of terrible weather phenomena, I scrambled to my feet, hoping to spot the closest fighter who needed my help. The coyote was too far away now, so all I could do was hope they would be okay while I helped someone else. Now that I was pretty much in the heart of the battle, I could see nearly a dozen or so of our people strewn across the floor or pinned in very uncomfortable positions. Whatwould they have done if the second cavalry hadn’t arrived when they had?

I didn’t like that thought, so instead of entertaining it, I rushed to the injured wolf nearest me. I figured since he was still in his animal form, he couldn’t be too hurt. When shifters were low on energy or too injured, they reverted back to their human forms.

I fell into a rhythm: triage, treat, and get them mobile enough so they could get themselves out of direct danger. The outer courtyard wasn’t exactly the safest place for the injured, but it was way better than the middle of a battleground with two extremely pissed-off warlocks.

Things grew a little blurry after that. I was so intensely focused on whoever I was helping, I didn’t realize how completely drained I was until I stood up from helping an eagle shifter and nearly fell on my face. Why was I sweating so much? Why did it feel like I had just run a marathon?

It wasn’t all that different from the way I’d felt after I killed Alric. Except I wasn’t using my plant powers, and that might have been a one-time thing, anyway. So, what the hell was going on? It was almost like healing people had been steadily sapping my energy.

But that was impossible, because I wasn’t actuallyhealingthem. As far as I knew that was the stuff of fantasy books. I was just using what homeopathic medicine and herbalist strategies I happened to know.

I tottered again, and my feet got tangled together, and it really seemed like I was about to face plant this time. But then an absolutely wretched-smelling wolf bounded up, turning at the last moment so I could catch his fur and slump over his back.

God, he smelled disgusting.

The stench overwhelmed me, but then my vision cleared enough to see it was Ricky below me. God, I was so happy to see him, I didn’t even care how he smelled.

“Hey.” I grinned slightly. That was all I got out before the marble below our feet fractured and dozens of vines shot up like a water spigot.

It felt like going quite literally from zero to one hundred as I was blasted upward, my body feeling like it had been hit with a dozen paintballs at once. The air was driven from my lungs when my back slammed into the ceiling, and once more my vision went a little fuzzy. God, I’d have to see a doctor when this was over. Did my insurance cover life-and-death battles with malevolent magical colonizers?

“Ugh!” I groaned, and Ricky echoed the sound. But that discomfort began to shift into outright pain as I realized the vines were still pushing, trying to drill through our skin.

There was a special kind of horror that came with something trying to burrow its way into one’s body, and the fact that it was something I loved so much didn’t help. I gritted my teeth, and that churning energy within me made itself known. I was no longer drained. Instead, a simmeringsomethingfilled me. It spilled out into the world all around me, painting every surface in colors only my mind could see.

Once that energy touched those vines, it was like baking soda touching vinegar. Everything was fizzing, reacting, and that burning anger inside me ordered those vines to put. Us.Down!

They did.

It wasn’t exactly the smoothest landing, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Ricky and I were on the ground. The plants writhed around us as if they weren’t sure what they should do. Well, if they needed orders, I was more than happy to give them. Did I understand that by doing so I would likely to be drawn into battle? Yes. But it was time. I had helped the injuredfor as long as I could, but the way the plants were running wild told me they needed to be reined in before the brothers got the upper hand. I knew personally just how pervasive and powerful foliage could be.

“Go,” I said, feeling along the spiderweb of sensation for the heart of where they were coming from. I’d lost sight of the brother, but I was certain I would sense him.

Sure enough, after a beat or two, my magic pulsed somewhere across the oversized room, almost like a powerful heartbeat pushing shock waves through the air. That was my target.

There was an inherent foolhardiness to taking on someone who had been communing with and manipulating plants for most of their life when I’d only done it once, but all I could do was hope the stress of fighting off nearly three dozen shifters had been enough to weaken him a bit.

Once I had him anchored in my mind’s eye, I let every plant my energy had bled through surge toward him.

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