Page 16 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
Danae’s brows knitted as she glanced at the councilwoman. “You need treatment as well.”
She shook her head slowly. “I can wait.”
The burns on the woman looked terrible before, but they’d become even worse while we waited for help to arrive.She’d finished the water in my canteen a while ago. It would be another fifteen minutes or so before it refilled again, and I didn’t think she should wait that long.
“Someone get water over here now!” I shouted.
Several people in the front yard took off running, quick to lend a hand. One thing I could say about this town was that they liked to help each other. If only the bad guys who’d caused this mess had been the same.
Larry looked up at Danae. “Should I keep putting pressure?”
“Yes. Don’t let go until I take over.”
She bowed her head to focus on Jack’s bashed skull. Time seemed to pass slowly, but I estimated it took about five or six minutes before she finished. Already, the injured man breathed easier. She moved to his shoulder and leg wounds next, putting a hand on each. Her brows furrowed. Having watched her work before, I knew she was probing them in some magical way.
“Good. The bullets didn’t lodge into him, so I can take care of both at the same time.”
My eyes widened. “You can do that?”
I knew her skills had increased a lot over the years, but I hadn’t seen her do something like this before.
“Yeah,” Danae said, hands glowing as the wounds began to close. “It was a light day at the hospital, so I’m pretty fresh right now.”
A minute later, the damaged skin had knitted neatly with no scar left behind.
She walked around to the next guy and nudged Larry. “Alright. You can move your hands now.”
“What can I do to help?” he asked, fear in his eyes for his friends.
“Go wash up,” she instructed as she took over care. “This will take a few minutes, and these guys will need your help afterward. They’ll still be weak for a while.”
Once he was out of the way, she concentrated on her patient. The gut wound looked the worst, so she focused on that first. As she began healing him, I mulled over the events that took place. Freya stood by the fence nearby with a frown as if her thoughts were centered on the same subject.
“I need to put a stop to this,” I said, glancing between her and the councilwoman, who could hardly sit up anymore. “We can’t afford these kinds of attacks with war coming soon.”
The female shifter worked her jaw. “I will help you. As you said, this must be resolved quickly.”
Relief filled me. Most people couldn’t spare any time with all the battle preparations taking place. Almost everyone at the fortress already had an impossible list of tasks to complete in the next few weeks and barely found time to eat or sleep. Freya mostly performed odd jobs that needed doing and didn’t have anything regular to fill her days. She was still a bit of an outsider to the Taugud, often forgotten.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“Once the smoke clears a little more, I want to sniff the area and see if I can pick up the attackers’ scents. It may be impossible with all the residents standing around, but it’s wortha try. Also, I can fly you wherever you need to go for your investigation.”
I gave her a grateful look. “It’s going to be late by the time we finish here, and I need to be back at the fortress before too long, but tomorrow, after first meal, we should visit Javier and see if he can help us track these guys down.”
The sorcerer usually had a good idea of what happened around town, and he specialized in locating people. If anyone could point us in the right direction, it would be him.
Freya gestured at Nadine, who was sipping some water a neighbor had brought her. “That one needs to go somewhere safe after she has recovered.”
“I’ll stay at the courthouse,” the councilwoman rasped. “I’ve got a spare set of clothes there, and we’ve set up sleeping quarters in the basement for… when they’re needed.”
She avoided mentioning too much about war preparations. Since we suspected the Kandoran had their own seers, we’d created special places shielded from that kind of magic. There were two at the fortress, one at the courthouse, and Javier had protected his own office. Anything mission-critical could only be discussed in those locations.
“We will escort you there,” I said as Danae moved toward the councilwoman to heal her next.
The two former bikers were beginning to wake. Once they were lucid enough, I planned to ask them some questions, hoping they might remember something about the attackers. The faster we put a stop to this rebel group, the better.
Chapter 5
