one by one, with a tight beam of light and fire.
Before I could move again something struck me hard and I went flying backward, tumbling down the inside of our earthen mound. In shock I saw Penny rise up from where I had been standing, and I realized it had been her that struck me. She shouted something at me, but I couldn’t make out the words. She took a step toward me before the ballista bolt struck her down from behind.
It was a frozen moment of horror as I saw the wide bladed bolt head erupt from Penny’s chest. Crimson blood flew outward as it ripped through her and she stumbled and fell forward, shock and pain on her face. My mouth was open in a wordless scream as I ran back to her, but no sound came out. She lay in a heap, the thick wooden shaft had struck the ground first and her body slid slowly down the thick wood, toward the earth beneath her.
With strength I didn’t know I possessed I pulled her up, dislodging the spear head from the ground. I could feel her heart still beating but blood was pouring from the wound in a red tide. Somehow she was still conscious and her eyes met mine while her lips silently mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.” A second massive bolt whistled by as I awkwardly lifted her up and began running for the castle.
I became aware of Dorian and Marc running beside me, dragging what appeared to be Cyhan’s unconscious form between them. The enemy was swarming through our flimsy defenses on all sides now, forcing their way into the enclosure. Arrows from the defenders now on the walls flew out killing some of those that sought to reach us. Death was everywhere now but I had no time to spare for anything but forcing my legs to carry me faster toward the castle gate and safety.
What seemed to be an eternity passed as we ran for the stone archway, but in actuality it was only seconds. As we passed through men formed up within, holding spears to keep the invaders from entering till the last of our people had made their way in. A minute later the great doors began to close and the massive iron portcullis came down behind them with an echoing boom. Not daring to go further I eased Penny down and sent my mind out to examine her wound.
The internal damage was incredible. Her spine had been partly severed and a large artery in her abdomen was bleeding freely. Somehow her heart had been missed but one lung had collapsed and the other was damaged. Without pausing I sealed the artery to stop the loss of blood but I knew it was only a temporary measure, the organs it fed would soon die if I could not restore normal blood flow quickly.
Marc stood beside me and I looked at him with hope in my eyes, where my father had died for his absence, perhaps now Penny could be saved. “Please help her!” I begged. He nodded and I saw his focus move inward as he sought his Lady’s aid for Penny’s sake.
The cold voice that issued from his throat a moment later chilled me to the bone, “You have betrayed us wizard. Your bond is broken.”
I stared at him in shock, “She doesn’t have time for this. Please… you must save her!”
“She dies in your place, a fitting punishment for an oath-breaker. You should be dead as well,” said the voice of Millicenth without sympathy. Though the voice was hers I could see Marc’s face twitching as he began struggling with her internally.
“Damn you Millicenth! If you do not help her now I will see you and all your kin dead by my own hand!” I shouted at him. It was an empty threat, but I was beyond reason now.
“You have chosen your fate,” she answered. “We can only hope death finds you before Mal’goroth does.” Marc’s face was twisting now into a rictus of agony as he fought against his goddess’ will. Tense seconds passed and then I felt more than saw her leave him. He fell to his knees beside me, with despair written on his face.
“She has abandoned us,” he said in a voice that held no hope.
I ignored him and returned my attention to Penelope. As with my father, I was faced with an impossible task. The shaft had to be withdrawn while at the same time her artery and damaged organs were repaired. It wasn’t something I could do from the outside. I looked up at Dorian, “Cut the head from the shaft,” I said, pointing to the wide steel point of the ballista bolt.
Drawing his sword again he severed it cleanly with one stroke. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
“Something stupid, if it doesn’t work we may both die. I want you to count to thirty and then withdraw the shaft,” I replied. I turned to Marc, “Hold her for me, I’m about to let go.” He nodded silently and moved to brace her as I released her body. “Lay her next to me, so I can see her face,” I added. He did so and Dorian crouched behind her, his hands on the thick wooden shaft. Lying beside her I looked into her pale face and spoke one last time, “Start counting Dorian.” I added a few more words in Lycian and then the world vanished as my mind left my body, spiraling into the dying form of the woman I loved.
Pain nearly overwhelmed me as the signals from Penny’s torn spine tore at me. Agony coursed through me as I sought to balance myself, to find a quiet place within her. I could feel her heart’s labored beating as it worked sluggishly to keep blood flowing through her. The first thing I did was to block the onslaught of impulses coming from her torn nerves and damaged spine, giving myself a respite from the pain. Then I focused on the wooden shaft that passed through her body. It had gone through her liver and the steel head had severed the artery that fed into it. It had also ripped one lung open and cut into numerous other organs as it passed.
I had already sealed the artery, to prevent her bleeding to death, but it would need to be reconnected. I didn’t dare do any of that until the wooden shaft was removed however. While I waited I drew the blood from her damaged lungs and mended the large cut that was there. Then I felt a great pulling as the wooden shaft was drawn out. New pain shot through her body, threatening to drive me into unconsciousness with her. If I lost control now we would both die.
Drawing on a strength of will I hadn’t known I possessed I ignored the pain and began closing the wounds left behind as the bolt was drawn. The liver itself was fairly simple but the large artery gave me trouble. Blood began rushing outward as I fought to reconnect the two separate parts. Panic threatened to destroy my resolve but I held firm, until at last the artery was whole again.
Once that was done I began fixing the numerous smaller injuries within her abdomen, repairing smaller vessels and restoring her other organs. One thing that had been miraculously undamaged was her womb. As I focused my attention there a shock ran through me, for a second heart beat within it. She was pregnant. My intentional lie had been an unintentional truth.
The life inside was tiny but strong. I could feel something akin to fear coming from it. Reaching out I soothed it with my mind, trying to reassure it. You’re safe, daddy’s here, I thought to myself and the unborn child seemed to respond. Emotions I had never imagined before ran through me and I determined I would do everything possible to save them both.
Only one task was left to me now, but it was the most daunting. If Penny was ever to live normally again I had to fix her spine, but the intricate complexity of the nerves there were beyond simple comprehension. I began slowly sorting through the damaged endings, trying to match them with their proper mates but the sheer number was too much for my mind. Fear ate at my confidence as I realized I could never hope to fix the damage there.
I paused, focusing on the now steady beating of her heart. As I listened to it I heard again the deeper beating of the earth below us, a deep primal sound that had existed long before either of us had been born. Reaching out with my mind I called to it again, please help me, I can’t fix this, but if it heard me it had no answer for me. I had been a fool to think something so vastly different could help me to heal a human being.
I can hear you now Mordecai, came the voice again. The voice of the stone-lady, though I had no eyes to see her with.
I know your name now, I answered mentally. You were Moira Centyr.
Yes! her triumphant response came. I had never hoped to remember that name.
Can you help me? I do not know how to fix this, I told her.
No. You must do it, but I can show you how. Relax your spirit. The mind cannot heal something so complex, you must feel it. Send your feelings through her; they know where the nerves should lead. Use that sensation to make it as it once was. Thinking will only bring your effort to ruin.
I focused on her words and sent myself along the channels that represented Penny’s spine. Relaxing I felt a light welling up from within and sensations began to flow again from her feet to her brain. An age passed as I lay within her, bathing in the light and feeling my way through every nerve in her body. I found more damage than I had known was there, things that had previously gone unnoticed. I fixed those as well.
Eventually I knew it was finished and I lay exhausted inside her body. My senses had gone dark and I could no longer feel anything beyond her flesh. My mind drifted and I wanted nothing more than to relax and sleep. I could
