Page 74 of Shifter King
There were lines that could be crossed. Dangers that could be unveiled. Unless QueQoa came back with exceptional news from Laachtue, he doubted Naatos would even care about crossing those lines. And after all AaQar had seen these past days, he wasn't entirely sure he disagreed as much as he should.
DOCTOR
QueQoa didn't want to admit how glad he was to see Laachtue again when she emerged at their meeting spot. Nor did he want to admit that the way she smiled when she saw him made his chest tighten and his heart quicken. It was an odd sensation. One he shouldn't be experiencing. So he did not smile in return. He simply dipped his head and indicated Eskiatlo. "Thank you for coming. I am sorry to trouble you. We have need of your help again."
Laachtue brushed the draping fern branch aside and smiled as she strode forward. Today she wore a dark-brown coat with bright geometric designs over a loose white blouse and snug blue pants. "Little risky meeting here at the contact point instead of back at the camp, isn't it? For you I mean."
"It's an emergency. Actually more than one. But first, this woman is in bad condition."
The wounded Vawtrian woman sat on a broad flat stone near the fire, her wounded leg stretched in front of her and AaQar's robe wrapped tight around her shoulders. She studied Laachtue with cautious eyes and an expression that suggested she wanted to bolt. The small clearing was relatively safe even with only one of the rels in use, but if there was an attack, she'd probably have a head start on running. At least as best she could.
"I can see that. Though you know you don't have to find an emergency just to see me." Laachtue knelt beside Eskiatlo. "Hello. I'm Laachtue. Your name is?"
"Eskiatlo."
"Well, Eskiatlo, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
Eskiatlo explained slowly as Laachtue opened her black bag and examined her leg and scanned her with various tools. When Eskiatlo got to the point about the mind twisting girl, Laachtue leaned back. "Mind twisting girl? That's your Neyeb, isn't it?"
"My brother's veskaro. Yes."
"And the Reskal Bealorns have her? Zorna has her?" Scoffing, Laachtue ran a small silver tool shaped like a palm stone over Eskiatlo's arm. "Is that the other emergency here, QueQoa?"
"Yes."
"Zadka and all that is good help us." Laachtue rubbed her forehead. "What do you think I can do, QueQoa? I'm a low-level Abliato doctor who is pushing her luck as it is."
"Do the Abliatos have any way of finding these places? Of stopping the technology that blocks the scent and heat from showing?" QueQoa asked.
"It's bigger than you think," Eskiatlo said. "At least several hundred. Maybe more. There must be some way to find it."
Laachtue's eyes widened at that. "That's—" She drew her hand to her brow, fidgeting with her tightly curled hair.
"Isn't there something?" QueQoa pressed, crouching beside her. "It doesn't even have to be much. Just enough for us to find it. We can sort out the rest."
"No. You don't—you don't understand. After Potentate Tilfan and his generation of leaders came to power, the Bealorns were crushed. They gathered them up, executed most of them, made examples of the rest, and sent the remaining ones out. Many of the nations were completely destroyed. Now I know of at least a dozen Bealorn tribes and nations that have resettled and have started to grow again, though I was not aware of any that had grown that large. And I've heard rumors about the Reskal Bealorns. Seen some of their…less than good work. But as far as the Abliatos are concerned, the few Bealorns that remain are nothing more than a nuisance. For all intents and purposes, they're invisible. But if they ever got on the Abliato radar again, they'd go there only to exterminate. No prisoners. No slaves. They'd just send a plomar out with an oxygen shield, cover that area plus more, and suck out all the breathable air. So trust me. You don't want that."
Eskiatlo gulped. "I suppose that would take care of the fires."
Laachtue sighed heavily. "All right. Let me think." She drew the silver device over Eskiatlo's leg, then pressed a button. A soft humming and light scent of ozone spread.
Eskiatlo winced, a little, her other foot digging into the hard soil.
QueQoa watched, arms folded over his broad chest. Laachtue would come up with something. She had to. Because otherwise—he set his jaw. It wasn't going to go well if their family lost yet another member. Especially not with Naatos on edge. And with the way WroOth had been acting, he wasn't entirely certain WroOth's mind wouldn't split as well.
Laachtue cut the make-shift splint off. "This is an old method, but your friend did well with it. It made the healing a little faster and less uncomfortable. You Vawtrians have good healing."
She really had no idea how good it used to be. And neither did Eskiatlo. Those wounds should have been nothing a few minutes of focus and nourishing food wouldn't cure.
Laachtue cleaned a section on Eskiatlo's arm. "You also have some serious vitamin deficiencies. This will help with those, and it will help address any infections. Do you have any family?"
She shook her head tightly though her eyes misted with tears. "No."
"She will be staying with us until she finds another solution she prefers," QueQoa said. "We have room."
"There are a few cadres and places that will take a lone Vawtrian in so long as you stay away from the cities," Laachtue said. She removed another tool from her bag, this one pen-like. "And returning to your other problem, tell me everything that has happened."
QueQoa explained as well as he could. Laachtue repeated some of it back occasionally and sometimes she asked additional questions. Mostly she listened, sometimes closing her eyes as she nodded or rocking a little on her heels.
