Starsinger

Warrior's Honor

Three days had passed since Raelyn had fainted in Jace's arms. Three days of panic.

They had carried her to a flat spot, shady, surrounded by scraggly trees, Jace barking orders. Delia knew the most about herbal healing, so he put her in charge. She stripped and cleaned the wound, but the flesh around it was still sickly and pale to the touch. She sent the rest of them out for water and nettleblossoms. Sapphire tracked down a stream a short, steep walk from their new campsite. Aaron came back with a pouch full of nettleblossoms. Delia pressed them against the wound and prayed they would draw the infection out.

It was a few more hours until Raelyn roused to consciousness. She was dizzy and weak, but she had stopped ranting and seemed to be in her right mind again. Delia called it a good sign and Jace sent Aaron for more water. The princess closed her eyes to rest again.

Raelyn slept through the night, but none of the rest of them did. Aaron was on edge. He circled their campsite on foot, prowling with his bow in his hand and his fingers ghosting the fletching of his arrows, ready to defend against any threat the mountains threw at them. None came. Why bother? We're already falling apart.

The next morning they breathed a sigh of relief when Raelyn woke hungry and energized. When she tried to stand, she cried out and fell against Aaron's shoulder. They lowered her back to the ground, where she lay clutching Delia's hand.

"Just tired," she said shakily. "I'll be fine in a few hours."

Aaron tried to ignore the fear in her voice.

Delia needed more herbs, plants to cleanse the infection and seal the flesh. But the plants she knew grew in the Wistful Wood, and while a few of them had cousins in the high peaks of Rhea's Teeth, she couldn't be sure they would work the same way. Fresh meat would give Raelyn's body strength to fight off the illnesses, but Jace couldn't find more than a few stringy rodents and rabbits.

Raelyn tried to complain about the fuss. "It's only a cut," she protested. "You cleaned it the day it happened, it can't possibly be dangerous."

Delia raised her eyebrows. "Really? Take a walk for me."

"You're a cruel nurse."

"You're a belligerent patient."

"When I'm on my feet again I'll have Jace teach me swordplay, too. Then I'll put you in your place."

Delia grinned. "Of course, your highness." But Delia's hands were shaking when she rewrapped the wound for another night. Raelyn pretended not to notice. The skin wasn't healing.

"Is it magic?" Jace asked.

"I don't know," Delia said tiredly. "I can almost feel something in the wound, but when I try to trace it, there aren't any words. There are a few things I could try—"

"Try them."

Healing magic was a difficult business. Light and heat spells weren't terribly useful for anything except pain relief, Delia explained, and while complex force spells existed to knit bone together or draw out infection, they had to be worked with an extremely delicate hand or they ran the risk of killing the person they aimed to save. "Far beyond my skills," Delia muttered. She tried to use targeted heat magic to burn out the infection, but the pain was so intense Raelyn blacked out. Delia refused to try it again.

Late that afternoon Aaron sat with the princess. Jace and Sapphire were standing beneath the trees, speaking in low voices. Delia had gone to fetch more water. Raelyn stared at the bright sky like a warrior onto a field of desolation.

"You were talking about the Cycle again," Aaron said. He was desperate to fill the silence. "Before you fell."

She turned her flat, emerald eyes on his. "Was I?"