The Raven's Chronicles. Rage of the Wraith

Chapter 29. At the Gate

"He'll back on his feet soon," Lara's rod danced just inches above Jules' calf. A golden trace of runes sneaked on Jules' skin as she hummed words the boy couldn't understand. Healers used mantras to clear and focus their minds as they worked. "You're lucky the wound isn't deep."

Ravin gave a short nod, his face relaxing with relief at her words.

Under the golden signs, his skin was warm and itching. His torn flesh was knitting. It wasn't the first time a healer had treated his injuries - though these ones had been the most serious so far.

"I'm done," Lara straightened on her chair and rubbed her temples. She motioned at Ravin in an authoritative gesture. "Remove your shirt and take a seat. It's your turn."

The hunter drank his coffee, put the mug back on the table at took his shirt off on the way to his bed. He sat down and Lara took a seat at his side. She unwrapped the blood-soaked bandage off his forearm.

"You're stubborn and careless like always," she frowned at the sight of the long cuts that tore his muscles. "What was it, again?"

"A striga," Ravin gave his apprentice a warning look.

"I wasn't saying anything!" the boy responded with a hurt expression.

"You didn't have to," Lara pulled the chair closer and put the bowl with water on its seat. She washed Ravin's arm with a cloth. "I can tell there was more than one. Strigas are very social, aren't they? Just like bats," she gave the hunter a questioning look, but the man remained stubbornly quiet. "I heard they were a real pain in the winter. Anyway," she tossed the cloth into the bowl and grabbed a needle with a thread. "You won't get away from here without stitches."

"I didn't expect to -" Ravin stopped short when the needle pierced into his skin. "Goddess, are you angry about something or what?"

"About you nearly getting killed, that for starters!"

Jules observed them, grinning. He had never before seen a woman bending Ravin's ear - or his master accepting it. Yet, while Mistress Lara ranted about the need for cleaning and dressing wounds properly, the hunter only listened, his eyes absent, nodding from time to time.

"She's been always like this," Ravin told Jules after the healer left their room. "Yelling at us while dressing our wounds whenever Kedmon and I got in trouble. There is one thing you should remember: if you argue with a woman, you've lost before you start."

Jules reached under his bed and grabbed his backpack. He rummaged in it, then took out a small bundle: three stones taken from his family's graves, wrapped in gray cloth.

"What do we do about the Lensters, anyway?" the boy got up and jumped on one leg toward the table.

"You aren't supposed to walk, don't you remember?" Ravin caught up with him in the middle of the room and grabbed his arm. Jules nearly dropped his stones.

"And you aren't to use your hand either," he reminded quite cheekily. Ravin frowned at him and the boy looked away, abashed. "I'm sorry, I'm just exhausted."

"And this is exactly why you should be in bed," Ravin helped him to get to the table. Jules smiled at the man bleakly and laid the stones on the table top. Then, he reached for a candle and offered it to the hunter. "Could you light it for me?"

Ravin lit the candle and placed it on the table between the three stones.

"Thank you," Jules rested his chin on his forearm, watching the little flame growing brighter. "I'd nearly forgotten it's the last day of May today."