Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar

ground in something between a slide and a fall. At least Samina landed on top of her, and none of the arrows hit the ground. Maia positioned the Herald carefully so that the arrows were still pointing away from the ground. “I’ll need to cut them out very carefully,” she murmured, looking around for the knife she used to trim arrow shafts.

:There should be a medical kit attached to my saddle.:

“That would help,” Maia agreed, moving to examine the saddle. An impressive variety of items was attached to snaffles on the skirting. “It might be more to the point to ask what’s not attached to your saddle,” she remarked as she searched for and finally found the medical kit. In addition to a clean knife, there was a needle and thread to sew the wounds and cloths to bandage it after she was done. There was also a jar of something Clyton said should be put on the wounds to help clean them, and a powder that could be made into a tea to lower the fever that Samina was undoubtedly going to have. At the moment she was still unconscious, which made cutting out the arrows and cleaning and sewing her wounds easier, but Maia could feel Clyton worrying about Samina’s lack of responsiveness. She could see that the woman had lost a lot of blood.

But there was nothing she could do about that, so she unsaddled Clyton and put the saddle on a fallen log.

The crows came swooping toward her, calling that her brother was home and looking for her. The vision of her brother working with the bandits flashed back instantly, filling her sight. My brother is a bandit. No wonder the villagers hate us. She shuddered. “I can’t go back,” she said to herself. “He’ll know that I know.”

:What are you talking about? Who will know that you know what?:

“You can’t understand the crows?” she asked. “They said that my brother wants me.”

:Maybe he could help us?: Clyton asked hopefully.

“He was the one who tried to grab your reins,” Maia informed him, “so I really doubt it.”

:Your brother is a bandit?:

“He attacked you,” Maia pointed out. “Even if he wasn’t working with the bandits, he doesn’t like animals, and he’s not all that fond of me. He doesn’t like work, either.” She frowned, considering her brother’s past behavior. “He’s always taken the easy way—I just didn’t realize how bad it had gotten.”

:It’s not just bad,: Clyton pointed out, :It’s getting cold—and dark. You’re not dressed to stay out all night, and the bandits got our pack mules and all of our supplies except what I was carrying. We need to get to the Waystation.:

“You’re very smart for a horse—”

:I am not a horse. I am a Companion.:

“—but you don’t have hands. With your leg injured, you can’t move around much, and Samina can’t be moved at all. Can you tell me how to find the Waystation?”

:Unless you can see in the dark, it doesn’t matter what I can tell you!: He sounded exasperated.

“I’m trying to help here!” she snapped back. “And I don’t have to see in the dark as long as I have friends who can.” The crows retreated to the tree branches as an owl floated silently out of the darkening sky to perch on the log next to Clyton’s saddle.

:It’s worth a try, I suppose,: Clyton sighed. :If I show you the path to the Waystation, can you show it to the owl?:

“We can try,” she said, mentally linking with both of them. It was a struggle, because the Companion and the owl saw things differently, but finally she was satisfied that she and the owl knew the way. She pulled out her fire starter, gathered twigs, and started a fire near Samina. She walked quickly around the edges of the clearing to get dead branches to keep it going. “Can you add the branches to the fire as it starts to burn low?” she asked. “We need to keep Samina warm until I can get back with blankets—there are some at the Waystation, right?”

Clyton nodded, looking subdued. He didn’t need to say anything; Maia knew he was in pain and worried about his Chosen.

“I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” she promised. “In the meantime,” she continued, “since you don’t have hands, I’ll leave you with someone who does.” She sent out a mental call, and a few moments later a raccoon poked his head cautiously into the clearing. “Dexter,” she said, “this is Clyton, and the lady is Samina.” She handed Dexter a clean cloth. “Could you wet this in the stream and use it to cool her forehead, please? Also, if the bandages start to come loose, fix them, all right?”

Dexter assured her he would take care of her new friends. Maia looked at Clyton to see if he could hear Dexter, but apparently he couldn’t.

She prayed to whatever gods might be listening all the way to the Waystation and back.

When she returned, staggering under a load that was as much as she could possibly carry, the moon was high, and the clearing was bright with its silvery light. Samina was awake and fretting, despite Clyton’s attempts to calm her. “I need my arrows,” she insisted.

“I should think you’d had enough arrows for one day,” Maia remarked. Samina tried to twist to face her, with a notable lack of success.

“I need my arrows!” she repeated desperately. “They’re in a case attached to my saddle.”

“Where else?” Maia asked ironically.

“I’m already getting delirious—I have to send the message while I still can!” Samina insisted. “I woke up and saw a raccoon nursing me.”

“Relax,” Maia said soothingly. “If all you saw is Dexter, you’re not hallucinating yet.”

“Dexter?”

“The raccoon. I had to leave for a while, and he has hands—in fact, he’s quite dexterous.” She ignored Samina’s look of disbelief. “I’ll find your arrows for you.” She went to where she had left the saddle. Clyton limped over to join her and shoved at a cylindrical case with his nose. She unfastened it from the saddle and took it to Samina.

“Thank you.” Samina opened the case and removed three arrows. One had a green band and the other two had yellow bands. With shaking hands Samina bent several of the barbs on the fletching of each arrow and tied the arrows together so that they didn’t interfere with the patterns in the fletching. “Clyton,” she said, “These need to go to the Healing Temple—you know the one.”

“Clyton can’t take them,” Maia said. “He was shot, too; didn’t you notice that he’s walking on only three legs?”

Samina buried her face in her hands and moaned.

“Does he have to be the one to take them?” Maia asked. “Or will they be enough of a message if they just get there?”

“They’ll be enough by themselves, but how else can we get them there? Can you take them?”

Maia shook her head. “I know a faster way. Clyton,” she asked, “exactly where is this temple?”

“You can hear my Companion?” Samina asked in astonishment.

“Yes,” Maia said. “He says I’ve got Mindspeech.” A view of a road and the temple at the end filled her vision. She passed it on to the nearest group of crows. “Do you know this place?” she asked them. “Can you find it?”

About a dozen crows spiraled down out of the trees to perch in front of her, assuring her that they knew exactly where to go. “Take the arrows then,” she told them, “and make certain that nobody on the ground sees them. I recognized my brother, but I don’t know who his friends are or where they live. Fly safely.”

One of the crows grabbed the arrows, and they took off clustered together. Even knowing that the arrows were there, Maia couldn’t see them.

Maia didn’t know how many days passed before the crows returned with a healer. Clyton’s leg was obviously hurting, and Samina, despite Maia’s—and Dexter’s—best efforts, became feverish and delirious. Maia collected several bruises trying to care for her. She wondered, when she had a moment to think, if she would have done a better job if she actually knew anything about healing. “Just keep her alive till the Healer gets here,” she told herself. “That’s what matters.”

Finally she heard the chatter of crows escorting the healer. A woman in green robes arrived in the clearing riding double with another person dressed in white and riding a white horse, presumably another Herald and Companion.

The crows were all talking at once, telling her all about their adventure, but Maia was too tired to care. As soon as she finished telling the Healer what little she knew and what little she had done and explaining to the new Herald what she knew about the attack, she fell asleep and didn’t wake for days. By then the military units had