32. Twenty-Nine

Twenty-Nine

The Rescue

T he iron tinge of blood filled the air and Asher's eyes flew open. With a gasp, he bolted upright, only to cry out in agony and clutch his side as he fell back down. He sucked breaths in through his nose, his teeth clamped shut. The sky overhead was filled with the engorged moon and millions of stars. It was completely silent, save the sound of water somewhere nearby.

He never should have led them through the pass. Lily was injured, and so was he, and all because he foolishly thought they would be better off facing demons than barbarians.

Slowly, the intense pain subsided enough that he could breathe in short breaths. He pressed one hand against the ground and slowly pushed himself upward, coaxing himself into a seated position with his back against a nearby boulder.

The horse stood where the rocks ended and grass began. It looked pathetic, skinnier than any horse he'd ever seen, and it nibbled desperately at the long, thick blades of grass.

Asher turned his head to look at Lily. Just a few feet away, she lay motionless. His mouth went dry. "Lily?" He licked his lips and tried again. "Lily!"

She didn't move.

Fear gripped his heart and he tried to crawl over to her, but his vision flashed and he stopped to catch his breath. He dragged himself to her side and nausea rolled across his tongue. His shirt he'd left on her in a pathetic attempt to stop the bleeding was already soaked through.

They needed help, and they needed it now.

Asher shifted into his tiger form and closed his eyes. "If anyone is near, can you hear me?" he shouted in his mind. "It's Asher!"

There was no response.

He was too far away from the city. In their current shape, they were at least another day's journey away. He needed to get Lily down into the valley. If they could find the river, they might be lucky enough to find a boat and take it into Vasha. The river led directly to the palace.

Asher changed back into his human form and pressed the shirt to Lily's side, his head throbbing to the point he had to close his eyes. Thinking was agony. Asher knew he couldn't get her back on the horse alone, but maybe he could get Lily onto his back somehow. If the horse knew this area, he would have confidence that it would take her to town on its own. But maybe the horse would wander close enough and others would smell her blood?

Asher couldn't rely on that.

He needed to swallow his own pain and get her help.

"I'm going to try to get you on my back, okay?" he said softly to her, as if she could hear and respond.

Again, he transformed but had to immediately lie down because another wave of nausea hit him. All he had to do was lie beside her, bite her wrist, and drag her onto his back as he stood...and pray the pain in his head didn't make him pass out again.

The first time he tried, he didn't even get her torso up. The second time, he couldn't figure out how to keep her centered without falling off. And then he scolded himself, because the easiest answer had just barely occurred to him. He needed to be in his human form, get her on his back, and then transform into his tiger form.

He returned to his human form but remained lying on the ground. How could he be so out of breath?

Asher's ears perked when he heard someone humming, and he leaned back up on his hand to get a better view.

Out of nowhere, Trayden broke out of the woods. He gave an enormous bear grin. "Took you long enough to come home!"

Asher smiled in relief. "Trayden! What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Looking for you, of course. And I'm glad I did. You look like, well, hell." He nudged his head toward the pass, hinting. But his smile dropped and his nose twitched. Trayden ran over and crouched beside his friend. "You're in really bad shape."

"Obviously."

Trayden looked at the wound to Asher's head. "You've still got your brains inside. That's good."

Asher rolled his eyes. "Can you help her, please? She's in worse shape."

Trayden helped get Lily off his back. "Who's the girl?"

Asher's eyes briefly closed. "Her name is Lily. She's hurt badly."

"How did you meet her?" He lifted Asher's blood-soaked shirt off her side and grimaced. "Wow."

"She . . . is the one who saved me."

Trayden let out a low whistle. "What kind of creature made those claw marks?"

"Something in Demon's Pass." Asher pushed himself up slowly until he was sitting again.

"I guess Mother was right to pack medicine and bandages, but that's not going to be nearly enough," Trayden mumbled as he rummaged through his pack. "I'm glad you've got a horse. We can ride it down."

Asher scoffed. "Did you actually look at it?"

Trayden lifted his head and looked from Asher to the horse.

It was little more than skin and bones.

"That's what you chose to escape with?" Trayden teased. "Surely, you could have found a better horse."

"It didn't look like that when we left." Asher rubbed his jaw, flaking off some of the dried blood. "We really need to get her to the river and get her washed up. If you have anything to sew her up with, we could try that too."

"How long has she been unconscious?" Trayden wrapped some bandages around her torso, moving her carefully as he did so.

He shook his head. "I was out too." The sky began to lighten and Asher heaved a sigh. "I don't know if she's unconscious from the wound or from overextending herself, though."

"Overextending herself how?" Trayden pulled out a blanket and wrapped it around her.

"She's a conduit. She was an apprentice to the wizard in the human kingdom."

Trayden looked up at him. "She uses magic? Neat."

He shook his head. "It's black magic, Tray," Asher said softly. "The horse. Lily used the life force of the horse to cast whatever spells she used last night to fight the demons. Her eyes went red and everything."

Trayden frowned. "I'll carry her. Can you walk on your own?" Trayden gingerly lifted Lily's form into his massive arms. She looked so small against him.

Asher leaned heavily on the rock before he steadied himself on his feet. "I can walk. Just...a little unsteady. My head..." He licked his lips again.

"Careful on the shale," Trayden warned.

They moved slowly with Trayden taking the lead but staying within arm's reach. Asher had to catch himself more than once. His leg felt like a stump attached to his torso. He could hardly move it on his own.

"Want to tell me how you met her?" Trayden asked. "Talking will help keep you distracted from the pain."

"The castle, obviously. She was put in charge of healing my shoulder."

"That's super clear. So if I walk into the castle, a pretty girl will help me too?" Trayden asked.

Asher looked up at him and rolled his eyes. He explained how he was taken to the dungeons and that Lily was sent to give him medicine to heal a wound from the human soldiers. He couldn't deny the distraction was needed, but no manner of distraction could stop him from the sensation of being exhausted.

He almost collapsed more than once, and Trayden had to catch him the second time. Even though Trayden said nothing, his eyes showed concern.

Just when Asher felt he could go no further, the trees broke, exposing the river. He dropped to his knees at its banks. Before he plunged his hands in the frigid mountain water, he spotted his own reflection. He looked more like himself now, his hair back to its natural black and white instead of the brown it had been in the human land.

He splashed the water on his face, which immediately made his eyes widen.

"Nothing like mountain water to wake you up, huh?" Trayden chuckled.

Asher scrubbed the blood from his face, hands, and arms while Trayden assessed Lily's wounds. He used his knife to cut the fabric around the wounds until there was a gaping hole big enough that he could give them a proper wash.

"She's at risk of infection," Asher said for him.

Trayden nodded. "They're...really deep. She needs a healer, Asher. And so do you. How'd you get that on your leg?"

"Cougar. It's going to take us hours longer to carry her home," Asher said softly. "Maybe we can take turns."

Trayden raised his eyebrow. "You don't think I can see your injuries too?"

"I'll be fine," he insisted.

Trayden shook his head. "Lily's wounds need to be stitched shut. She's losing a lot of blood."

"I don't suppose you have anything like that with you?" Asher leaned over Trayden's shoulder. He had looked at the wounds when he'd first seen her, but not taken the time to actually look at them. In the morning light, they were far worse than he'd first thought.

"My mom might have packed a needle and thread, but I doubt she was anticipating anything to this extent. And I'm really good at sewing buttons on, but I don't trust myself with someone's flesh. Besides, that's gross."

"Trust you to be grossed out right now." Asher looked at the river and the path and then forced himself to get back to a standing position. He grimaced and steadied himself on a tree.

Trayden looked over his shoulder. "The horse is following us."

The poor creature stooped to get a nice long drink of water.

"I'll get Lily on the horse. You need to ride it too."

"There's no way it can carry both of us," Asher objected. "Lily is more important."

"I can carry her." Trayden pressed the last of his bandages to Lily's side and tightened what he could before picking her up and standing.

Asher walked to the horse and groaned in pain as he dragged himself onto its back. "I don't suppose you have any food with you?"

Trayden handed Asher the knapsack, and Asher devoured one of the meat pies Trayden had packed.

Trayden raised his eyebrow. "I take it you're starving."

Asher paused. "Sorry. We didn't take any provisions with us when we escaped the barbarians."

Trayden's eyes widened. "Wait, barbarians? How did you end up with them?"

"It's a long story."

Trayden grabbed the reins of the horse, which barely fit its head anymore, and walked at a fairly brisk pace.

Asher swallowed. "My father. Tell me he made it home."

Trayden glanced back. "He's home. With a little viper kid. I sent out the fliers to find you, and they found your father and that viper boy the day before yesterday. They're both home."

Asher breathed an enormous sigh of relief. "How is his leg?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. Bashton says it looks disgusting, but we haven't been given any information other than that. Zeb wouldn't tell Bashton if anything is worse."

Asher nodded. "He'd protect Bashton from that. Did he at least get antivenom?"

"That I do know. Now, barbarians?"

Asher couldn't help a little smile because Trayden was an expert at diverting the conversation wherever he wanted it. "Lily was almost a wife, and I was almost her pet tiger. We never should have been in that situation. But I don't even know how they snuck up on us."

Trayden lifted his eyebrows. "You can't glaze over details, Asher. I need them all."

He appreciated the distraction, that talking helped him stay conscious, that he didn't think about Lily's labored breathing or consider that she might not survive her injuries. He told Trayden all about escaping the castle, being attacked by Yoresh and his men and kidnapped by barbarians, and then the attack in Demon's Pass.

A low roll of thunder echoed across the valley, and his heart sank.

Both young men looked up at the sky.

"At least it held out until I found you," Trayden said. "But judging by how dark those clouds are, we're going to get dumped on."

"We don't have time for rain." Asher glared at the sky.

Trayden started to walk faster, dragging the horse to keep up. "Then we continue until the storm forces us to stop."

"Get us to the river."

"River?" Trayden looked over his shoulder at him.

"If we can get to the river, we can take a boat," he explained.

"Ah. Brilliant idea." Trayden turned ever so slightly. "That is, assuming we can find a boat."

The rainstorm started off small, with little splattering of rain, a drizzle of wetness. But if it got any harder, they would get soaked to the bone. Lily couldn't be out in the rain too long. She couldn't catch pneumonia in addition to her current injuries.

Asher's blue eye closed as his leg twinged in pain.

They heard the ferocity of the rain before it hit. Like a rush of whispers, the storm began at one side of the valley and swooped across in a sheet toward them.

Asher turned his face away from the wind as the rain struck him.

"We can't keep going in this," Trayden said above the wind. "You'll both catch your death."

As much as he hated that Trayden was right, Asher knew they had to stop.

"She's shivering, Asher. Maybe we can find a low pine tree."

"We built that hut once, remember?" Asher suddenly said. "My father was trying to teach us how to use sticks to build shelters, and he taught us that one where we bury it under leaves. How long ago was that?"

"That was forever ago." Trayden looked around for any familiar landmarks. "We were near the river, but I don't think we were this far west."

"I agree. And if I recall correctly, there was a meadow of daffodils."

"This late in the summer, they're all dead."

Asher surveyed the area. "True."

That summer, his father had taught them how to gather long branches and tie them together at either end to create a somewhat flat wall. They'd made two of those walls, and his father demonstrated how they could lean the branches into each other at the top to create a little wooden tent. He also explained that they could cover it with leaves or underbrush to keep them warmer if they wanted. It wasn't anything incredibly fancy, but it had worked to keep them warm against the cold wind they'd experienced those two nights.

Trayden suddenly stopped and pointed. "Asher, the eyeball tree!"

Asher looked in the direction he was pointing and immediately recalled that the hut had been built beside it. "It's got to still be there." Asher slid off the horse, this time catching himself with his good leg, and limped over to the tree. He rummaged through the pile of wet leaves and other foliage that tried to reclaim the branches from years ago. The pulsing in his head slowly grew until he stopped and settled on his knees.

Trayden was suddenly on his knees at his side, Lily lying on the ground beside him, and began helping move debris until they uncovered the organized branches.

"Found it!" Asher tugged on the edge of the bundled sticks.

Trayden uncovered the opposite end, and together they lifted it. Asher steadied one wall while Trayden pulled up the second. Neither cared about all of the bugs they disturbed or the poor field mouse that had taken refuge there. They leaned the edges together at the top, creating a triangle of walls with the back and front open.

It was pathetic, but it was the best shelter they had. And luckily for them, the wind was hitting the wall and not creating a tunnel.

Trayden tossed Asher his pack. "I've got another blanket in there. I'll get Lily."

Asher climbed into the shelter and dragged out the blanket while Trayden carefully pulled Lily in with him.

Asher reached out his arms. "Hand her over." He took Lily from Trayden and laid her down in his lap. He didn't mean to, but he couldn't help it when his heart clenched in fear. She was pale and shivering from being wet. Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open.

Trayden scooted beside him in the tight space. He shook his head, flicking off as much of the water as possible.

"Tray." Asher scowled at him.

"What? You're already wet."

Asher shook his head and wrapped the second blanket around Lily. "She's in really bad shape," he whispered, keeping her in his lap. "Trayden, what if she dies?" His heart tightened.

A clap of lightning hit somewhere nearby. The force of it vibrated his chest, and the horse screamed before it bolted.

"No! Come back!" Trayden shouted. He started to scramble out.

Asher grabbed Trayden's ankle. "Leave it. Let it go in peace. It's not worth you catching pneumonia."

Trayden sat back down, and heaved a sigh before focusing his attention on Lily. "I'm concerned she hasn't woken through any of this."

Asher shifted Lily so her entire body was in his lap and his body was warming her the best he could. He was too, but how could he admit it aloud?

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked her." Trayden nudged Asher with his elbow.

Asher felt the back of his throat tighten in automatic defense. "I feel obligated because she saved me," he tried to rationalize. But Trayden was right, even if Asher wasn't ready to admit it quite yet. She had saved his life more than once. She was smart and strong. She was beautiful, inside and out. "I can't think about that right now. Maybe if I transform, I can keep walking and calling for help."

Trayden frowned and shook his head. "No. You stay here with her. I'll go and see what I can do." Trayden climbed back out. "I'll keep talking to you until I get too far away, okay?"

"Be safe." Asher transformed into his tiger form and curled up around Lily.

This rain is a nightmare, Trayden said in Asher's mind. I made it to the river, but there are no boats this far upstream.

Asher felt his eyelids growing heavy in spite of himself. How far away from the farms? Lily had stopped shivering.

I think . . . a long way? I'm running.

What if I close my eyes ... and I can't open them again?

Don't think that way, Trayden said firmly. You're not dying. And neither is she.

Asher looked at his leg. There was fresh blood seeping out from the claw wounds. Thank you for finding me.

Friends look out for each other, Trayden said. His voice was getting further away.

I'm starting to lose you, Asher said. His eyes closed.

I can't see the farms. I'm trying. You sound tired.

Mm hm.

Asher, did I tell you about Emery?

Asher forced his eyes open. You're still courting her? He couldn't help but wonder if this was an attempt by Trayden to keep him from falling asleep.

I really like her, Trayden answered. I think you'll like her when you meet her too.

Another lightning bolt cracked, followed by a third. That one made Asher flinch as the sound exploded through his head.

This storm can't pass quickly enough, Asher whispered.

A trickle of water began to crawl toward them from somewhere under the hut.

I found a boat. Asher? Can you hear me?