Heart Stalked (Song of the Sky Fallen Book 1) by Keri Ashe

Heart Stalked (Song of the Sky Fallen Book 1) by Keri Ashe

Author:Keri Ashe [Ashe, Keri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Portal Path Press
Published: 2023-04-10T16:00:00+00:00


JANNIK

“You need to drink more,” Grexi chided me. “Drive the poison from your blood.”

I grabbed the skin, managed to get some in my mouth, but most of it splashed across my face.

“There.” I handed her waterskin back. “Why is it so dim in here? Light a lamp.”

“It’s full morning. You need to drink more,” Grexi answered calmly.

I waved my hands around. “Get these gliders out of here. They’re annoying.”

The healer growled and walked away.

Watching her motion, my head spun, my gut churned.

Gritting my teeth against the deep itch in my injured leg, clenching my fists, I tried to endure, to ignore what I knew wasn’t real.

“Give me more of the bone knitter.”

Grexi didn’t face me. “You’ve had a full dose. Too much, and your joints will freeze.”

“I can’t bear lying here, doing nothing.”

“If you want to resume your duties as hunt leader, you’ll lie here until healed,” Grexi said. “Be still, if you ever want to run again. Are you in pain?”

Shaking, sweating, waves of throbbing ache rolled from the broken leg throughout me.

“No more pale berry. It’s giving me daymares.”

“Try to sleep, Jannik. I’m tired of hearing you whine,” Grexi said.

“A strange constant in the galaxy. The bigger the man, the more childish they are when they’re sick.” Sam appeared in the doorway.

She glowed in the light, catching my breath. Then something in my gut grew cold. “I don’t want to be seen like this.”

“Oh, be quiet, you big baby,” she said. “Who said I was here to see you?”

Grexi gave Sam a bemused look. It angered me. Why should they have such an easy comradeship, when she turned me aside at every moment?

“It would seem you have done healing before,” Grexi said.

“We had no real doctor—no healer—in my community.” Sam’s voice was tight, some unpleasant memory threading through her words. “When I was ten my mother assigned me the role of medic after the old one died. I had to take care of people as best I could,” she said.

Grexi gestured at me with her waterskin. “This one needs to drink. His body is too filled with potions. He thinks by trying to hold the poison within, his healing will pass more quickly.” A flicker of a smile crossed her face. “Think you can do anything about it?”

As I watched, Sam took the skin from her and approached the pallet.

I expected softness in her eyes, a quiet plea for me to drink.

Instead, her other hand darted out and she pinched my nostrils shut, then jammed the end of the skin in my mouth.

“Swallow,” she commanded.

What other choice did I have?

I drank until I sputtered, and she pulled the splashing skin away, then wiped my face dry with the blanket.

“Better?”

I was too busy avoiding choking to death to answer.

Sam handed the skin back to Grexi.

“You would serve well as an apprentice,” Grexi said.

Sam’s head angled to one side. “You have assistants. I’ve seen them.”

“Assistants, yes. I need an apprentice. A woman to pass my knowledge along to. I’m getting no younger, yet I haven’t found any with the proper temperament for healing,” she said.



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