One of Damn's books said that the elf vascular system was close to human. Aorta? Not a direct hit, or Cloudhunter wouldn't have been standing, and there was no arterial spurt.
Danny got Cloud's jacket open, cut awav his shirt. Cloudhunter's neck scarf was wrapped around his upper chest It was a hard silk, blue with points of light in it. Danny couldn't find a tear, and no blood seemed to have soaked into it; it was driven in A memory floated up, something about silk in wounds. The Mongols, that was it. They had worn tightly woven silk shirts. Arrows didn't tear the silk; they would still make wounds, but a tug on the fabric would bring the arrow out clean.
It would be worth a try-later, when they weren't under fire. 'I'm going to dress this just as it is for now,' he told Cloudhunter. 'If I try to get the bullet out now, you might start bleeding. That wouldn't be good, here.' At the edge of his vision, Danny saw some of the Outsider's workers shuffling about. Yeah, he thought, /'/ sure wouldn't. He pulled out the bandaging supplies, and a pair of angled scissors to cut away the excess silk.
'Don't try to cut that,' he heard Patrise say. Danny looked up, then felt the metal spring apart in his hand. The hinge rivet was sheared, and the lower blade clattered to the concrete floor.
'I guess not,' Danny said.
Mr. Patrise said, 'Don't worry about that now. You're doing very well. Please proceed.'
Danny said to Cloudhunter, 'I'm going to pin up your arm. You need to move as little as possible until I can see to it at the house. Okay?'
'Yes,' Cloudhunter said. His voice was thin and tight.
Danny reached to the bag, loaded a morphine cartridge into the hypo carrier. 'And something for the pain.'
Cloudhunter said, 'No.'
Danny hesitated. He could see the stress on the elf's face, in his eyes. 'Yes,' he said. 'Just for the pain. I won't knock you out.'
'It's all right, Cloud,' Patrise said, bending down. 'We're almost finished here.'
Cloudhunter nodded. Danny gave the shot. 'Thank you,' the elf said softly.
Patrise said, 'Rudy, Katherine, bag detail and follow with Stagger Lee. Where's Sam?'
'Went with Line,' one of the others said, and indicated the back of the warehouse.
Mr. Patrise tapped his stick. 'Hallow, can you follow them carefully?'
'I've been in fires.'
'But not firefights, I think,' Mr. Patrise said. 'However, you are no longer needed here, and you may be there. Go on.'
Danny gathered up his kit and moved toward the back of the warehouse. There were crates of empty bottles, coils of tubing, crates of God knew what. Through a doorway he saw a doctor's examining table with an IV arm board. That would be where the supply came from. There had been at least a couple of quarts in the glass tank. Losing two quarts of blood was fatal, if you were human. Maybe they pooled it. Or He felt a cold breeze. To his right a few steps was an open door. He looked through. There was an empty lot beyond, and in the distance a low stone wall, some trees beyond. He clenched his fingers on his bag and walked through the doorway.
'Dance with me, mister?' a woman's voice said, right in Danny's ear.
His spine froze and he tensed for a bullet or a blow, but there was just an instant of silence, and then the voice again: 'I've gotta go home soon, but I'd really like one more dance. You look like a nice fella. Please?'
Danny turned. A girl was standing just a few steps from him, wearing a long beaded dress that sparkled in the moonlight. She held out her hands. 'Come on, mister. Just one more. Before they miss me at home.'
Danny heard a grunt from behind. He turned. The wounded elf-woman lurched out of the doorway, toward him. Danny ducked to one side; his foot hit something and he lost his balance, tumbling over as the woman just brushed by him.
'Yes, you'll do,' the girl's voice said. 'Let's dance.'
Danny struggled to get up; his foot was caught in a root or cable of some kind. A hand touched his shoulder, and he twitched. 'Take it easy, Doc,' McCain said, and helped Danny stand. He pointed a finger. 'You find her like that, or did you take her down?'
The elf was lying face-up a few yards away. Her hands were clawed at her throat; she was absolutely still. The girl in the beaded dress was nowhere in sight.
'I didn't…' He tried to explain about the ‹; irl in w hire.
McCain looked into the distance, and said, 'Oh.'
'I know I saw her.'
McCain went to the fallen elf, drew one of his guns, aimed very deliberately between the woman's eyes, and fired. He put the gun away. 'I believe you,' he said, with no irony at all, and crossed himself.
'I don't get it.'
'Her name's Resurrection Mary,' McCain said, and tilted his head toward the stone wall. 'That's Resurrection Cemetery over there. Usually she's on Archer Street, but I guess it was a slow night.'
'Okay, but I still don't know where she went.'
'She got what she wanted and went back where she came from, Doc. What's the matter, don't you whistle in graveyards in Iowa?'
Danny stared.
'You go on back,' McCain said. 'Night's not over yet.'
When Danny reached the bottling floor, everyone was gone except for Mr. Patrise and Stagger Lee. Stagger was wiring up what were pretty obviously explosives. 'That's it, sir. Good night.'
'Good night, Stagger,' Patrise said. 'Come with me, Hallow.'
Danny and Mr. Patrise got into the big car. The woman Patrise had called Katherine and Cloudhunter sat in front; Katie drove them away. About half a block down, there was a muffled sound of thunder, and a shimmer of orange light behind them.
Mt the house, Danny took Cloudhunter to the infirmary. Mr. Patrise followed them. The Ellyll removed his shirt, showing a slender, very angular chest. By human standards, there wasn't much musculature, but Cloudhunter was certainly not weak; Danny touched his shoulder and felt wiry hardness beneath the skin.
He had Cloudhunter lie flat, got a pressure bandage ready in case of serious bleeding, and unwound the blue silk scarf. With a firm, even pull, it came out of the wound, displaying the flattened slug like a piece of jewelry in a shop window. The bleeding was minor.
Danny opened a tube of goldenrod salve, looked at it skeptical 1 v. Stagger Lee had made some pretty wild claims for the stuff;
Danny supposed it was at least an antiseptic. He rubbed some on the broken skin.
The oozing blood just stopped. The bruising began to fade, and Danny could see the edges of the hole crawl toward closure. He blinked, thinking he must be too tired to see straight, but there it was. With a nervous glance at Mr. Patrise. who was watching silently, halfway smiling. Danny applied a gauze dressing and reslung the Ellyll's arm.
'Do you think you can rest okay. Cloudhunter? I think that's what you need more than anything.'
'Call me Cloud.' the Ellyll said, and nodded. 'I will have some.. camomile tea.'
Danny laughed. 'My grandmother used to make camomile tea.'
'Was she wise?'
'Yeah.' Danny lied.
Mr. Patrise said. 'The tea will be in your room. Cloud.' He yawned. 'It's been a busy week. I think we'll all just relax for the next couple of days. Good night.' He went out.
Danny said. 'You'll be all right in your room. Cloud? If this starts to bleed at all. or hurt, call me.'
'I will. Doc. You have my thanks.''
'Oh. It's my job now. Here, don't forget your scarf.' He folded the blue silk, then felt the hard spot within it. 'You want the bullet?'
Cloudhunter stared at him in a way that was deeply unsettling.
'I. uh-I knew some people who'd keep things like that. Luck. I guesv
Silently, Cloudhunter accepted the piece of metal, closed his fingers over it.
Danny tried to think of something else to say. 'That's really beautiful silk.'
Cloud said something that sounded like 'Nancy.' Danny supposed it was a word in the elf language.
