Page 48 of Magic and Medicine

‘About bloody time. They’re all dying, and nothing we do is helping. We can’t even get close to the wounds without shaking so bad we drop the fucking tools!’ He yelled in Leszek’s face, hands balled into fists and huge, terrifying teeth bared.

Leszek didn’t even flinch, calmly turning to me to explain. ‘This is Tomasz. His people got caught in the firefight during a raid on our warehouse.’

I barely acknowledged either man as I pushed past, my team following and spreading out to assess the situation. It was a war zone. Around fifteen people writhed in pain while others tried to stem the bleeding, sweating at the proximity to the poisoned bullets.

‘It is a bloody nightmare,’ I told myself moments before an elderly woman approached me.

‘You are Sara? Yes?’ she asked, and when I nodded, she grabbed my hand. ‘I am Jora. I can heal the wounds but cannot touch those damn bullets. Dig them out, girl. Alpha and I will do the rest, but hurry; we’ve already lost one of my boys.’

I exhaled slowly, letting her words sink in when the time slowed around me. I saw a small theatre behind the glass panel, and the room looked well-equipped for surgical procedures. The whole thing looked surprisingly like a military hospital unit, and then it hit me. It was a helluva surprise if Leszek intended to gift me a military-grade medical facility similar to those we had in Kosovo.

‘Nina, go to the theatre. Take Jarek with you and prepare it. Guys, triage and stabilise those you can. If you see a bullet hole in a non-lethal place and can dig the metal out, do it. None of the Elder races can touch this shit, but as long as it is gone, they will heal, so don’t overthink it.’ As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the world snapped back into place. This was my place, my job, and I was going to own it.

Nina was already marching toward the unit, with Jarek following her without complaint, and, to my surprise, Adam joined them. Jora nodded toward a group of women who, swaying from exhaustion, cared for a silent, pale werewolf.

‘Take him first. He doesn’t have much left. I will point out the sickest to your men for this… triage.’ She said before looking at me. ‘Save them, and you will have an entire pack in your debt. No one will touch you, not even the Forest Lord. Save our family, please.’ She turned, issuing orders. I looked back at the Alpha.

‘Tomasz, yes? Go with my paramedics. Make sure they’re safe when they work on your people. The last thing I need is a pain-crazed wolf lashing out.’ I said, and he nodded, following my guys, who quickly gathered equipment from boxes by the walls.

‘Sara… thank you.’ I heard Leszek’s voice. When I turned, he stood there, hands clenched, and I could see the mixture of anger and concern flashing in his eyes.

‘Hey, big man. I got your back. I will do my best, but you need to keep my people safe, and if it’s true that fresh meat can help with healing, then please take care of it.’ I said, knowing having something to do would help him. He cursed, and I reached out to touch his cheek. ‘You are not alone to shoulder the burden. I won’t sit back and let your men die.’

I turned, trusting Leszek to do everything I asked and headed to the theatre, pleased that Nina and Adam already had the pale werewolf on the table. Despite my composed exterior, I was anything but calm. I was going to play god, a field surgeon, relying on speed, knowledge and luck to perform life-saving procedures in a half-finished operating theatre, and I had no way to locate the bullets, only the positions of the entry points. In a moment of inspiration, I trailed my hand over the shuddering patient.

‘Show me,’ I whispered, commanding the gift that inspired my hunches to act by design this time. My magic flared, and the intensifying heat dragged me to knots of corruption inside the male’s body, pinpointing the damage.

‘Are you sure you can heal him later?’ I asked the woman standing beside the wolf, and she nodded.

‘His wolf will do most of the work once free from the Dark Arcana and silver. I can encourage the healing process, ensuring he won’t die on the spot.’ She said, and I gave her a tight smile, reaching for the scalpel. In my mind’s eye, I could see the bullet was located deep in his stomach next to the aorta and had nicked one of the kidneys, with blood gushing out each time he shook.

‘I hope you’re right; otherwise, this poor bastard is fucked. Adam, hold him still if you can. Nina, I will need the forceps and retractor if we have them and be ready to clamp the artery.’

‘This is insane. You can’t do it without a proper theatre and a vascular surgeon. Sara, what the fuck?’ She said, and I looked at her, terrified of doing the wrong thing, just like I’d been when forced to help Jarek.

‘You can leave. I know it’s frightening, and he might die, but if you trust me…’ I said, and she huffed in annoyance.

‘The fuck? I won’t leave you alone in this mess. Just so you know, I will tell your boyfriend where he can shove his antlers when we’re done,’ she said, readying the equipment. I raised my head, catching a glimpse of Leszek. He was directing the able-bodied, helping the injured and overseeing the whole mess with a calmness I wish I felt.

‘You can tell him whatever you want as long as you help save this man.’ I said, cutting through the skin, and despite Adam’s firm grip, he thrashed, howling in pain.

I felt like a monster mercilessly digging into his flesh, guided by my uncanny magical imaging until I found the bullet, two others quickly following. My patient’s screaming faded as I continued, a worrying sign given the amount of blood he was losing, but as soon as I dug the last one out, tossing it into a nearby bowl, relief washed over his face. I heard Nina gasp in reaction to the movement of the tissue she held as it knitted itself together, stopping the bleeding under the wolf healer’s touch.

‘Good, let me take care of the rest.’ The healer gestured to someone outside and started chanting. My patient’s face relaxed completely, serenity overtaking his features, his body hanging limply as his comrade picked him off the table, open abdomen and all. Nina tried to protest, but I shook my head. Shifter powers were so beyond my understanding that I had to trust their healers, but I learned one thing from my previous experience. These ridiculously robust shifters could survive anything if something didn’t kill them instantly unless foul magic or silver prevented them from healing.

I didn’t have time to explain it to Nina because as soon as the table was empty and the blood wiped from its surface, another body was carried in, and I started the procedure again. This one was quicker, albeit more traumatic. The bullet was embedded in his neck close enough to his trachea that bleeding created a bulging sac that narrowed his airways.

‘Nina, we need front-of-the-neck access first.’ I said, and she assembled the kit.

‘Nothing will ever surprise me again, you know. Nothing, Buzz Lightyear in the rectum, fine, scissors in the head, normal, an ordinary day in the ER, but the depth of weirdness here beats anything I’ve seen.’ She muttered as we fell into our working rhythm.

I’d been exhausted before we started, but I was on my knees after butchering the seventh body on my table. An accident, a long shift at work, and dealing with the Rostov took a toll on me. Nina was unusually quiet, the clearest indication that she was just as exhausted. I looked across the room as, according to my count, we should still have eight more to go, but I saw only two people on the stretchers. The rest seemed to be in various stages of shifting or consuming industrial amounts of red meat.

‘I think Damian and Rysiek dealt with the easier cases, but we still have two more to go.’ I said, and Nina grunted in response.

‘I will sleep for a week after this.’ She said, making me smile.

‘We both will.’ I said, willing my body to keep moving.

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