Priestess

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Her mother lay crumpled like discarded laundry. Ara’s knives clattered to the ground as she dropped beside her. “Mother?” Qessa made no response. Ugly purple bruises were already swelling under her fair skin, but her chest rose raggedly. She was alive.

Tears streamed down Kendrake’s face. “They beat her pretty bad.”

“Lodan, what can I do?”

He peered in through the small door. “Bring her to me.”

Ara pushed her father back and then eased her hands under her mother and gently lifted her. A small sound of protest escaped Kendrake, but Ara ignored him as she laid Qessa on the threshold.

Kendrake’s eyes widened in disbelief when he noticed the Unicorn.

Reaching down, Lodan smelled and blew and shook his head before he looked up at Ara. “She is bleeding inside and broken some bones. There is something else wrong, but I am not sure what.”

By force of will, Ara kept her fear from overwhelming her. “Please Lodan. I can’t lose her.”

Lodan looked back at Qessa. “A Unicorns’ Gift doesn’t work that way.

“Then how does it work?” she tried to keep the anger from her mind’s voice.

“Through you.”

“I can’t! I don’t know how! All I can do is experience visions and sense danger!”

“My Gift will strengthen your own. Try.”

Ara laid her fingers on her mother’s head, shot Lodan a desperate look, and closed her eyes. She never actually gone inside someone. A rush of information inundated her. Images flashed in her mind. Blood flowing, gushing, running all around her. Muscle and bone. And then she felt something . . . wrong.

Blood seeped steadily from her mother’s liver. Ara slipped inside. She felt something gathering inside her. Power. Strength. The bundle in her mind spoke as if from far away. “Release it.” 

The power burned began to burn, like white hot light. Her soul tensed in pain, unable to let it go.

“No. Relax. Let it go.”

But how could she relax when the power had bound every part of her soul. She ached with the energy of it.

“Ara, listen to me. You’ve drawn in too much. Relax. Feel the blood flowing wrong. Feel the damage in the tissue.”

Ara obeyed. As she did, the power followed her thoughts to her mother. The bleeding stopped and the tissue suddenly knit together. Her mother’s body remembered being whole. It wanted to heal. Ara’s power just gave it the strength to do so instantly.

Ara felt drained. Tired. She wandered, confused.

“You withdrew too much of your soul. Follow me.”

She felt Lodan’s presence, almost as she had her hand on his smooth neck. And suddenly she was home in her own body. She sagged, her hands braced against the floor. It took all her strength not to collapse.

Her father held onto her arm. “You were . . . shinning.”

Slowly, she felt some of her strength returning. “I-what?”

“You must never do that again,” Lodan interrupted.  You almost burned yourself with the power. And then you drew away so much of your soul, your body almost stopped breathing altogether.”