Battle For Tristaine Part 21

The tw.a.n.g of the bolt's release reached Brenna above the war cries, as keen and isolated as a note plucked on the string of a terrible harp.

Jess was just turning in response to Shann's cry. Brenna forced an extra burst of speed out of her exhausted legs and threw herself at Jess. She tackled her hard and took her down.

Patana's crossbow bolt whizzed harmlessly past them both and struck Camryn full in the chest.

* 162 *

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Take me to Theryn."

Dana let out a long breath. "I can't do it, Brenna."

"Tell me how to make you do it."

Brenna was shorter than Dana by at least two inches, but in the tense air of the stable she seemed to be growing, in formidability if not stature.

"Look, keep your voice down." Dana glared at Rodriguez, who watched them from his post a few yards down the railing. "I'm sorry your friend got hurt, but like I said, there's nothing I can do for you. You can use the contents of that medical kit to help her, but that's it. Caster's orders," she said for the third time.

"We need to get this woman to Tristaine's infi rmary, under sterile conditions, with the right supplies, or she's going to bleed to death." Brenna's lips trembled, but her voice was steady as a rock.

"If you can't authorize that, then take me to Theryn."

Dana had heard this girl described as one of the fi nest Med Techs the City had ever educated, and she also remembered the way Brenna had fought during the war games. If Dana were honest with herself, she wasn't sure she could take her in a fair fi ght.

But this was not a fair fi ght, and there was nothing she could do for the wounded Amazon. Dana had to accept that reality, and so did her prisoners. She clenched her rifl e in both hands and met Brenna's fl ashing eyes.

"Okay," Dana said, "come with me."

Dang it! Dana fumed. What is it with these Amazon witches, some kind of d.a.m.n feminist mind control? She gestured to Rodriguez, who lifted the wooden railing that separated the stable from the soldiers.

* 163 *

Brenna ducked beneath it, then glanced back toward the Amazons gathered around Camryn. Kyla lifted her head and caught her gaze. Brenna had to grit her teeth against the desolation in her eyes.

"You taking this one up to Theryn's lodge?" Rodriguez said.

Brenna could smell liquor on his breath as she pa.s.sed him. The smell nauseated her.

"That's right," Dana answered dismissively. "As you were."

Brenna preceded Dana up the stairs that led out into the deserted arena. Her hands were tacky with blood, her arms streaked red from wrist to elbow. Now that she wasn't tending Camryn, Brenna could feel herself start to shake. When the mercenary named Dana took her arm as they crossed the rough ground of the fi ghting fi eld, Brenna dimly registered that her hold was supportive rather than cruel.

"Just what do you imagine Theryn's going to do about this?"

Dana knew her voice sounded angry, which was fi ne; she was. She never should have read that f.u.c.king journal; she was risking her entire f.u.c.king career. "Theryn's no doctor. Caster's the one calling the shots!"

"Shann's a doctor. A good one."

Brenna was walking fast, and Dana lengthened her stride to stay with her. "Theryn is not going to let you take that wounded prisoner to the infi rmary, and she's not going to let that Shann woman come back with us. Didn't you hear me? Caster was real specifi c tonight."

"I heard you. I have to try." Brenna folded her arms and waited as Dana keyed open the padlock of the outer gate, then went through it and out into the moonlit Amazon village.

Brenna was terrifi ed. She wasn't sure they could save Camryn, even if she and Shann had her in the infi rmary now and they had a double line of cross-matched blood donors waiting. But the reminders Jess had whispered to her in the stable rang true. Camryn came from strong Amazon stock. She was young and healthy going into this, and she had a warrior's heart.

Their quick steps sounded over the footbridge that spanned * 164 *

Tristaine's river, Terme Cay. Brenna glanced down at the black water that swirled beneath the bridge. It looked cold, fast, and merciless.

The silent village was fl ooded with the blue light of the full moon. If there were soldiers posted as sentries, Brenna didn't see them. She kept her eyes pinned on the lodge Theryn shared with Grythe, one of the larger, more luxurious cabins nestled in the trees.

Adrenaline fueled her up the four split-log steps to the cabin's ornate door. The mixture of fear and dread that gripped Brenna didn't eclipse her professional instincts, and she was grateful for that. Her practical goal kept her focused.

She was on a mission to secure the best medical care possible for an injured patient. The fact that the patient was Camryn, Kyla's adonai and Jess's second, her own adanin...

Brenna knocked, hard.

Dana's stomach hurt, and the ache didn't improve when her prisoner struck the door again, harder. They heard the neat click of a well-made latch, then blinked in the sudden light of the lamps and candles that fi lled the cabin. Dana was unpleasantly surprised. She hadn't expected to see Caster.

"Well, Miss Dana, I am less than pleased." Caster was dressed in a fl owing robe of silver silk, but her stylish hair was as carefully coiffed as ever. Her black eyes glittered as they crawled over Brenna.

"I'm here to see Theryn, Caster," Brenna said.

"Well, that leaves you standing on this quaint little porch all alone, then." Caster turned and strolled back into the cabin. "Theryn and that pretty little lunatic she beds have gone to fetch me a long-delayed dinner. They'll be back presently. Bring her in, Dana."

Brenna hesitated, and Dana had to nudge her gently. They followed Caster into the sumptuous lodge.

Dana closed the door and leaned back against it. She studied Theryn's ornate decor and fi ne furniture, and let out a low whistle.

This was by far the most luxurious cabin she'd yet seen in Tristaine.

She wondered if Shann's private unit was this grand. Somehow she doubted it.

* 165 *

Caster left Brenna standing on a fringed rug in the middle of the hardwood fl oor and reclined heavily on the loveseat. She lifted the jeweled eyegla.s.ses from the delicate chain around her neck and fi t them in place. Then she picked up a folded doc.u.ment from the neat stack on the table before her.

"Tristaine's mine yields a much higher quality ore than even City geologists suspected, Brenna." Caster smiled at her over her gla.s.ses. "The samples I'm taking back to the City along with my fi lm will please my funders a great deal."

"Camryn has a collapsed lung, Caster. I've stopped the external bleeding and bandaged the wound, but she needs surgery."

"Well, clinical medicine is hardly my fi rst fi eld, but if a chest wound isn't sucking any longer, you've patched any leak, yes?"

Caster went back to her review of the mine schematics. "Just treat her for shock, Brenna. The girl will be excused from the fi lming of the fi nal battle tomorrow, of course."

"She's hemorrhaging internally, and that bolt needs to come out. We need Shann, Caster. She's had years of experience with battle wounds."

"I'm sorry, dear. You know how I hate to lose anyone. But better this young Amazon, than your own dear Jesstin, yes?" Caster tossed the paper on the table and removed the reading gla.s.ses to examine her former a.s.sistant carefully.

"By the way, I underestimated you, Miss Brenna. You saved the life of your warrior-mate quite handily today. It's regrettable that you can't help poor Camrie now, though. Especially since she'd be fi ne and dandy tonight, had you not interfered. Does little Kyla blame you, too?"

"Listen to me, you spiteful City shrike." Brenna had stopped shaking, and her voice was low and hard. "I don't care how much you hate me or Jess. I don't care how long we've festered in your corrupt little mind. You're going to get your reputation back, and the City is going to get its silver. That's enough. Our friends don't have to die."

"Oh, sure they do." Caster lifted her eyegla.s.ses. "My killing your loved ones is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the Tristaine * 166 *

project, Brenna. Isn't that how the Amazons of old avenged themselves, dear? By slaughtering not only their enemies, but their families as well?"

Dana had studied history on the sly even though it was illegal, and she could have told Caster she was thinking of the Mongols, not the Amazons. But she wasn't about to correct her. The air between the two women fairly crackled with danger.

"We must take Camryn to the infi rmary," Brenna repeated.

"And Shann must do the surgery."

"No," Caster answered simply.

J'heika, rise.

Great, Brenna thought. If I ever needed coaching from spirits, now's the time.

But no instructions came, just a slow fl ood of sadness.

"Theryn realizes she must concede to my wishes in this, Brenna." Caster smiled at her. "She's smart enough and ambitious enough to know when to be fl exible with our terms."

Camryn.

"But you're welcome to stay until Theryn returns and try to work your feminine wiles on her." Caster t.i.ttered. "I'd love to watch that, Bren! Miss Psychotica Grythe would tear out your heart with her small, misshapen teeth."

Brenna turned. "Take me back," she snapped, and Dana scrambled after her.

The same inner pull that had alerted Brenna weeks ago in the glade, when the boar attacked, drew her to the stable now. But unlike the fi rst time, there was no urgency in this summons. Somehow she found that much more ominous than comforting.

They stepped down the cabin's log stairs and almost walked into Theryn and Grythe.

"Brenna!" Theryn steadied her glowering wife who was, as usual, draped over her arm. Both were laden with covered plates that emitted a heavenly aroma. "Dana, what's she doing here?"

Brenna pushed past the fi nely dressed couple, upsetting a platter intended for Caster. "Get out of my way, Theryn."

"Wait! Tell me about Camryn."

* 167 *

Brenna wheeled. "Just tell me. Did you order Patana to try to kill Jess, or was that her own bright idea?"

Theryn regarded Brenna with sorrow. "I had no knowledge of Patana's move against Jesstin, little sister. I promise you."

"Crossbows were banned from the fi eld, Theryn. Where did Patana get one?"

"I honestly don't know. She acted without my-"

"Is Patana fi ghting tomorrow?"

"I have no control over that." Theryn scrubbed one hand across her face, the fi rst natural gesture Brenna had ever seen the pretentious Amazon make. "I stood before the entire clan this morning, Brenna, and ordered a battle without harm. You saw me, you were there! Now, how is Camryn?"

"Camryn is dying, Theryn. She took a bolt to the chest today.

You saw her, you were there."

Brenna continued toward the arena, and Dana scrambled after her.

"Will you hang on, for crying out..." Dana fumbled with the keys to the padlock on the stadium gate.

Brenna waited until the hasp of the lock lifted, then pushed open the gate.

Dana caught her arm. "Here, take this."

She was holding out the small spiral notebook Brenna used for a journal. Brenna stared at her.

"Shann says to bring it up to date."

Brenna grabbed the notebook, shoved it into her pocket, and ran for the stable.

O.

Everything was so quiet, Brenna thought she was too late.

The soldiers were seated in their part of the room playing cards without much spirit.

In the stable, the bloodied straw had been cleared away.

Camryn lay cushioned on two blankets and covered by three more.

Her head rested in Kyla's lap, and she was conscious.

Most of the other Amazons weren't cl.u.s.tered around her any * 168 *

longer. They stood or sat, in groups of twos and threes, and stared at nothing. The stable was silent. No sobbing, or even anger, and Brenna could sense a feeling of peace and acceptance in the stable.

She refused to share it.

Only Elodia, Vicar, Hakan, and Jess still surrounded Kyla and Camryn. These were the faces Camryn wanted to see at the end. When Brenna knelt in their circle, Cam waved her fi ngers in welcome.