Season of the Wild Hunt(Book 1 of The Seventh Gate series)

Unruly Tongues - pt3

"Shy boy, isn't he?" Ashira murmured, chuckling as she reached over to help Nyani. Before they got her leggings halfway off, Nyani could tell that something was different. Ashira unwound the bandage, then threw a blanket over Nyani's hips. "Riordan!" He popped his head back around the screen. "Bring more light and some cloths."

He disappeared, but quickly returned with another fire-bowl and some bits of cloth.

"Look! Do you see that?" Ashira exclaimed, at the same time as Riordan's exultant "Hah!"

He grabbed a cloth and set to work as well, the two of them huddling over Nyani and wiping at her leg. She craned her neck to watch them, flinching in expectation of pain, but there was none. The three of them stared at the skin of her thigh. Where there should have been scabbed, ragged gashes, there were now scars. Smooth, clean scars — still pink and new, but entirely closed over. Even the stitches Ashira had sewn just yesterday had come away with the green paste.

The scars formed a cross-hatch pattern down the inside and back of Nyani's thigh. The one that had been deepest appeared the most fragile, but the others looked as though they had been healing for a moon already. She poked at them gingerly while Riordan and Ashira watched her face.

"Well?" asked Ashira.

"They feel...wonderful!" She grinned at them. "This one," she jabbed her finger on the broadest slash, making Ashira cringe, "this one is a little tender, but it's still really good!" Nyani looked thoughtfully at Riordan. "This is a great gift that you have, Riordan. Thank you for sharing it with me. I owe you a blood-debt."

"What? No! I'm delighted to have helped, but I have to admit, I've never before had such immediate or impressive success with this method. We did this together, all of us. Well done!"

Ashira leant over and hugged Nyani, then surprised Riordan by bundling him into her embrace, too. "You are going to show me how to do this again! iÁ? My mother will fall on her face in the fire!"

Riordan looked perplexed, but smiled at her enthusiasm. "If we have time and opportunity, gladly. I think we may work well together. I don't know about you, but I'm parched. Shall we get something to drink?"

He disappeared behind the screen once more while Nyani got back into her leggings and boots. Ashira whipped off the blanket hanging between the poles, then towed Nyani with her across the cave to where Riordan, Kei, and Aedan sat with some of the company. Riordan gulped from a skin — poitín, Nyani judged from the now-familiar aroma. She slapped briskly at her injured thigh for the benefit of Kei and Aedan.

"Aw, that's grand!" Aedan beamed and thumped Riordan's shoulder. "Well done, lad. I knew you'd sort it out. Here, have drink, lass. Celebrate a little, eh? I told you they're good lads, now didn't I?" He thrust a skin into her hands.

"You did, Aedan. You were right." Nyani still wasn't sure that she liked the taste of poitín, but she was thirsty and the heat of the alcohol in her stomach was pleasant. She did want to celebrate.

"Here, easy on," said Aedan, "that's a strong brew. Don't want you waking up with a bad belly and a sore head in the morning. Riordan won't thank me for undoing his hard work, will he? No doubt we'll be off before sunrise now, if we've given those blasted crows the slip."

Nyani glanced around the cave while she and Aedan shared the skin of poitín between them. About half of the men were out keeping watch while the other half settled down to rest. Kei and Ashira sat close together, their mutual attraction clear to any who cared to look. Nyani was amused, but glad that her friend was finding some small pleasure in this situation. Riordan was falling asleep where he sat, his head nodding loosely until his chin touched his chest and he melted sideways to the floor, dead to the world. Aedan had subsided, too, humming quietly to himself as he sipped on the last of the drink.