Battlefields: Veil Walkers Book Three

Chapter Sixteen

Over Yonder - Astrid

Chaos.

Astrid hated chaos, but as the new threat vanished, that's what the scene devolved into.

She rose, disheveled from fighting and healing and fighting some more, to survey the scene with an eye to triage. Sort the wounded, tend to the dead, try to piece their lives together again. Keegan was an obvious loss, Odin bless his soul. At least he was content, laughing on the ground with his sister. It was an exhausted laugh, not a happy one; the kind someone makes when the only other option is to cry and scream.

Ming Yue's hand was so bad that Astrid could smell the cooking flesh from her location. Namid lay beside the elder, and when she panicked, she felt a touch of internal comfort and saw a shaky thumbs up from across the field. He was exhausted, but not injured.

Closer to her position, Sumiko lay exhausted in a different way. Astrid had seen the bubble around her head and knew it had been too long. Poor thing had gotten water in her lungs and would doubtless take pneumonia from it. Somehow she had helped with Astrid's elemental despite the problem. She needed to watch that, make sure Sumiko didn't end up in the hospital again. Three times was enough, and the accompanying paperwork was troublesome to forge.

Galen and Deza had found each other amid the chaos. They sat on the ground, hands bound, encased in that violet glow that encompassed everything they did now. They looked to be healing each other, much like she often did with her husband.

Cahya held Danika, the woman still sobbing and holding her head in pain. The dreamwalker sang to her softly, rocking her as he did. Whatever he did seemed to be working, which was a blessing. There was nothing Astrid could do to help that situation. That damage would take years to undo. You couldn't be connected like that during death and expect to come out sane in the end. Cahya eased her immediate suffering, but she could see the effort draining him. She hoped he could hold on until they got home.

Fair enough. She would start with Irem.

As she approached the illusionary coffin, Haru was just stirring from her slumber. Hoshi perched atop Irem's stomach without regard to the human, his attention firmly on his mate. He chittered to her in their native language, which didn't translate, as Astrid came alongside.

"Could we not use Irem as a perch, please?" she asked, lifting Hoshi as if he were a puppy and setting him alongside the unconscious woman instead. Astrid took Haru in her arms and brought her healing gift to use, stroking the kitsune gently.

Haru snapped to attention about a minute later and panicked. Astrid soothed her and presented her to Hoshi before turning her attention to Irem.

The flowers in her hair had been freshly picked. They matched the embroidery of her tunic perfectly. Her hair had been precisely arranged and her hands folded just so. Whoever had laid her out had done so with great reverence, but expected she would never wake from this slumber. Which of the slaves had it been, she wondered, as she placed a hand on Irem's cheek.

A burst of energy found its way in, and Craeu's mark appeared on her forehead, then snapped and melted away. A second touch of power trailed to her feet, and the yellow bracelet that held her sleeping popped, sending a lemon sparkle across her form. Irem's blue eyes flickered open as if she had just been asleep. "That was ... a hell of a dream," she whispered.

"You have Cahya to thank for that," Astrid answered as she took Irem's hand and helped her up.

Irem's attention moved past her, so Astrid turned to find Sumiko rushing in their direction. The former lovers embraced and, as tears and whispers began, Astrid made herself scarce.