Eliona's War 3: Lethal Healer

Ch. 11

"Hi." Severance gave a little wave. The last time he came here, she'd been the one to guide him to the Champion's clan Head, Linjao.

Jaema's warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners. "Who's your friend?"

Friend? Severance looked from the Valkyrie on one side to Vast on the other. He wasn't sure who she meant. To be on the safe side, he decided to introduce both. He patted Vast between the ears and said, "This is Vast. And that's the Valkyrie I pulled out of a ruin. She needs help and this was the only place I could bring her."

"Ah." Jaema's expression didn't change, but something about her demeanor seemed to soften. "May I take a look?"

Her question startled Severance, because why would she need to ask permission? This was her Clan headquarters, wasn't it? But then he realized he and Vast were still right next to the Valkyrie.

"Oh! Sorry, go ahead." He immediately took several paces back. Vast moved with him, as if he were part of Severance. Not once had the vastlhidan ceased his warning rumble. But at least he was staying fairly calm.

Jaema went to the Valkyrie. She made a soft exclamation when she saw the poor woman's gaunt features. And when she pulled back a corner of the blanket to take closer look, she actually closed her eyes for a brief moment. She replaced the blanket, and gently laid the back of a hand against the Valkyrie's cheek.

"Where did you find her?" She didn't look away from the Valkyrie. Her voice was calm, steady, and Severance found himself admiring her composure. She'd held it together far better than he did.

"I'm not sure," he said slowly. He wasn't sure how much he could give away here, but he also knew he had to tell them something. The Eternal Champions were allies, after all. "It was in the Lost Lands. There's ruins everywhere there."

"Describe it, please."

"The ruins?"

Jaema turned to face him. "Everything you can."

One look at those normally gentle brown eyes of hers and a mild alarm spiked through him. There was a ferocity lurking there, a promise of utter devastation to whoever had visited such cruelty upon the poor woman who lay motionlessly on the bench. It was like being faced with the primal fury of a mother bear.

He still held the token in one of his hands, and now he could feel the smooth edges of the wood biting into his flesh as he grasped it tight. He wondered how the Knights would fair against a woman like Jaema.

"Right. Okay. This part of the Lost Lands was all gray. Gritty dust on the ground, gray skies, and piles of ash, like everything had been burned in an instant."

"That sounds like the Scorched zone," The guard piped up. He hadn't left the guardhouse, but stood near the door as if to prevent anyone else from coming in.

"Seems like," Jaema agreed. She still watched Severance closely, as if determined to not miss the slightest of details. "What else?"

"There wasn't much of anything left standing there. But there was this well. An underground storage place." He paused, because revulsion rose so quickly that his stomach tightened and for a moment, he couldn't continue. Just the memory of what he'd seen there... he wasn't going to forget it for a long time.

Nothing like that should ever exist. Nothing like that should ever have happened. But it did, and it had, and he was frightened by the thought that maybe there were other places like that out there. Because if had happened once, what's to say it didn't again?

"Severance?" Jaema prodded. Her tone was gentle, but that frightening look in her eyes had not faded.

He tensed, and did not know if it was from her or from the horrible memory he was dredging up. He found Vast's soft fur, and curled his fingers into it as tightly as they could go, like it was a lifeline.