“As am I. I’ve heard of others of my kind serving with Wanderers, but I’ve never heard of a female Wanderer. It’s about time Verðandi selected a female.”
“Geez, everyone’s a feminist these days,” Rafe said. He turned and started toward the smoldering bodies near the road end of our clearing.
I hurried after him. I wanted to stay and talk with Maia. I knew nothing about hippogriffs, and I didn’t want to stay ignorant. However, all things in their time and checking out our attackers definitely took precedence over learning about my new familiar. My new familiar, I got a chill just thinking about it. Wow! Beast was just magnificent, and I’d been envious of Rafe ever since I learned that I was going to need a familiar too. It was like waiting until you were sixteen to get a driver’s license but raised to the nth power. Goosebumps formed on my arms just thinking about it.
I glanced back toward our familiars. Beast was the size of a grizzly with the personality of one. Maia was the size of a Clydesdale with magnificent plumage of copper highlighted feathers and hair.
But what set Maia apart was that she was mine! Hot damn.
I caught up with Rafe as he reached the first of the burned bodies. The smell was foul, and I wanted to cover my nose, but Rafe seemed to be tolerating the stench, and I wasn’t going to be the girl in this. If he could stand it, then so could I.
It didn’t take him long to determine that none of our attackers in this group had survived his response. I examined the bodies, several of which still smoldered, and could find nothing that would make me think they weren’t human. Some of these had been eaten away by the black smoke that Rafe’s night magic spell had produced. For those, there was no doubt in my mind that they had died horribly.
When Rafe stood and started toward the other group of attackers, I walked beside him. “Rafe, why are humans attacking us? I thought Wanderers only dealt with things outside the normal.”
Without breaking stride, Rafe said, “That’s right, we do. I don’t know why, but I’ll find out. I don’t like killing humans, especially when they might not have known what they were getting themselves into.”
“But they had shields. Then they were magic users?”
Rafe shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think someone generated the shields for them. Like my watch you’re wearing, the shield spell is etched into an object, and the user is taught how to trigger it. In this case, I don’t think they knew how to do anything more than turn the spell on and off. That’s why they starting failing after a few lightning strokes. Real magic users could have tried to strengthen their shields after each of my attacks, but these guys were nothing more than cannon fodder for someone.”
“Can magic users afford a private army?”
Rafe shrugged. “I have no idea. If a magic user wanted to build a fortune, then given enough time, I’m sure he could. But I’ve never had mundanes attack me in any kind of serious assault. These guys were heavily armed, and they must have thought they had a chance. That really pisses me off. Sending in cannon fodder while you make another attack is one thing, but to just throw this many lives away without a purpose…”
He didn’t finish, but I thought I understood what he meant. To send a score of people to their deaths without any chance seemed, well, un-American.
We were almost to the second line of bodies when I heard a groan. It was weak, but definitely coming from one of the people in the second group.
Rafe glanced around and then pointed. “Over there, that person’s core temperature is staying constant. The rest are beginning to cool.”
I followed his finger and then rushed over to the unmoving body that he’d indicated.
Kneeling beside the figure, I could see that there were burns on her face and head beneath a Kevlar helmet. One sleeve had burned away to reveal more burned flesh. The rest of the woman’s body appeared intact, but her boots were smoldering. I was surprised to see that it was a woman. I’d never thought about mercenaries as being anything other than men. Unless they weren’t mercs. What if they were U.S. soldiers? I really didn’t like the idea of killing those I considered my comrades.
I placed a couple of fingers against the woman’s throat and felt a pulse. It wasn’t strong, but it was regular. I looked up at Rafe. “She’ll probably make it. I don’t see any wounds other than the burns. What should we do with her?”
“Usually I’d just finish her off, but we need information. We can’t let people attack us like this without a response. We can’t respond without knowing who sent them.”
The woman moaned something and then her eyes opened. She saw Rafe and me bending over her and then she shut her eyes again.
“What’s your name,” I asked.
“What difference does it make? Just get it over with.”
I glanced up, questioningly, and Rafe shrugged.
“We’re not planning on killing you,” I said.
“Right,” the woman moaned. Her voice was weak.
Unzipping my jacket, I pulled Loki’s necklace from inside my blouse and slipped it off. I draped the leather cord over the woman’s head, eliciting another moan of pain when I touched her burns. I lifted her helmet from her head and shoulder length black hair spilled out. Speaking my healing spell, I placed my hands on the side of her head. Energy flowed from me into the woman. Amplified by Loki’s talisman, the spell began healing her burned flesh before my eyes.
The woman gasped and spasmed. “My God, what are you doing to me?”
“Relax, this will help you,” I said.
She struggled and tried to pull my hands away from her head. Then her hands were pushed over her head and held tightly
