Why did I allow this? I should've left him and Mara in Suata with all the young ones, but instead, he was riding in front of me in my saddle. Oana fit, but Gabriel didn't, not that he complained.
He'd ridden his horse...for about a quarter mile before he started sliding off, and I pulled him to my own. They'd bound his wound tighter...spearhead had slid flat along those ribs...so he'd bled a lot. Supposedly he wasn't bleeding now, but my pants leg was darkly red. At least we should get to Suata by nightfall. We had contingents forward, port and starboard, so unless they ran up our ass, we'd get some warning. Boian's force and my own had cleaned this out, so it was unlikely.
Gabriel drifted in and out of consciousness and was pale and clammy. Mara rode with Sinense and wasn't any better, though she'd put her knife into the one who bit and wounded her, and Sorina finished it.
When Gabriel was alert enough, I'd make him drink and chew on bits of jerky. Build his blood back somehow, even while he was still leaking it out. I was so tired of this. A few more forays and we'd be done. He could heal while we finished. I glanced around. Some wounded rode in the middle area behind us, others drug behind on travois.
Suata was in sight, then we were inside, Ellie next to me.
"How is he?"
"I'm 'kay," he muttered. "I can walk in, Maid Elexus."
I had her steady him while I dismounted, then pulled him off and stood him up.
His eyes seemed to sharpen some when his feet touched the ground. Gabriel stagger-stepped forward to the first of the steps but wilted at the first step. I grabbed his bicep and lifted him.
"Keep going, Gabe. I've got you."
He forced himself up the steps as Boian stepped out.
"Lord Kevin, I'd say you've got yourself a squire."
YOU ARE READING
Wherever I Am
Ciencia FicciónCollege-age Kevin Covali and his family have lived on his uncle's estate for the last year instead of in the city. When he and his sister Allie are attacked on the road home from school, he finds out that there is more to his family than he ever sus...
