Page 25 of Healer
“And you, my love.”
The pink skin on Vienda’s face flushed, reminding me of how Agnes’ cheeks sometimes deepened in color.
“I am well, my mate, and enjoyed the exercise,” Vienda chuckled as she turned back toward her abode. Her easy manner stiffened, and a warbling wail rose deep in her chest—not a war cry, but a sound of deep anguish.
My eyes followed the line of her gaze to a slight form crumbled by the doorway.
“Agnes!” I yelled, instinctively knowing it was right to call for her. Her medical expertise had been with younglings.
When the last syllable of her name left my lips, Agnes burst from the cave, her eyes searching. I caught her gaze and nodded, watching a flash of relief cross her face. I jerked my chin, directing her toward Vienda and the child. Her gray eyes widened, and a look of anger and determination set on her beautiful face.
Agnes and I made it to Irsay’s side at the same moment. We knelt down and worked together, gently rolling the child onto her back. The wound encompassed the entire left shoulder, just above her breast, a crater deep enough to expose fat, muscle, and the white gleam of bone. A blaster pulse had hit her, asevidenced by her skin’s jagged, scorched edges. A thick stream of blood spurted in conjunction with her heartbeat, odd as blaster fire normally cauterized a wound.
“There’s a hole in the flesh next to the clavicle.” Anges frowned, tearing a hank of cloth from the bottom of her shabby dress. “If Kerzak have a clavicle.” I watched as she applied pressure to staunch the blood flow. Beside her, Vienda sobbed in Talamus’ arms.
I reached for the Medi-unit. As bad as things looked, it would be an easy repair.
My hand groped at my hip, a frigid chill running over my skin when my fingers encountered the hope of healing.
Or what remained of it.
A jagged hole ripped through the pouch, and the small gray box inside was nearly sheared in two.
Fuck!
The laser blast I felt must have hit the Medi-unit. I pulled the piece of equipment from its holder, realizing repair would prove impossible. The unit hemorrhaged parts worse than Irsay lost blood.
I glanced toward the little girl, my gaze snagging on Agnes. The communication between us consisted of little more than my raised brows and her narrowed gray eyes, but the information conveyed in those seconds was clear.
Irsay was losing ground fast.
Without the Medi-unit, we lacked the equipment to save the child. I let my eyes drift to the wound, watching Agnes’ nimble fingers palpating and assessing the surrounding tissue while one hand pressed tightly, stifling the blood loss. Watching her calm demeanor as she worked on the child, just as I knew it was right to call her to Irsay’s side, I knew these words were true.
“You can heal her.”
“What?” Anges hissed, frowning. “Can’t you get that medi-machine of yours working?”
I cupped the unit—which now lay in two distinctly separate pieces—between my palms and raised my hands to Agnes’ gaze. Vienda and Talamus moaned with worry. Perhaps I should have withheld the direness of the situation, but I didn’t believe in giving false hope.
“Shit!” Agnes murmured, gazing down at the child. The hands currently administering to the little girl held all the skills we needed. I felt it in my bones.
I laid a hand on Agnes’ shoulder, waiting until she met my gaze. “You can do this.”
“Please,” Vienda begged, her honey gaze locking first with mine and then Agnes. “Save our daughter.”
Uncertainty flickered across Agnes’ face, accompanied by worry. Drawing a deep breath, she glanced at the child, considering. I watched, blessed to be privy to the moment when the decision fell over her like a curtain, doubt burned away by absolute focus and concentration. This was Agnes, in control of herself, unfettered by the anxiety and pain of her disease. This was Agnes, the healer. She was utterly breathtaking.
“Tell me about a laser blast. What does it do to a body?” Gingerly, without losing pressure, she pulled back the edge of the cloth, studying the wound.
The answer depended on the species injured.
If the child were human, she would already be dead. Vaktaire warriors could sustain a laser blast and keep fighting like an adult Kerzak. Children of every species were more delicate. “It’s heat-based, as you can see by the scorch marks surrounding the impact point. It carries some kinetic energy but less than a projectile.”
Agnes gently probed the edges of the wound. “It looks like no greater than second-degree burns on the flesh.” Her bluntwhite teeth worried her lower lip for a minute. “But there’s too much blood. It must have nicked an artery.” The gray eyes held worry when they flashed to me.
“The laser blast normally cauterizes tissue,” I mused, glancing at the wound. “If it hit bone, it might have sheared a piece off which did the damage.”
“How different is Kerzak anatomy from humans?” Agnes asked, frowning as she probed Irsay’s neck. Finally, she located a pulse in the center of the girl’s throat.
