Sky Woman: Book One of The Empress Saga

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Enfri got back to her knees and crawled towards the girl that wanted to kill her.

"You're hurt," she said, her voice quaking. "Please, let me help you."

It was difficult to tell which was the more dumbfounded, Jin or Deebee.

Deebee pressed her clawed hand against the barrier. "Enfri..."

"You have to go, Deebee," Enfri said. "Fly away. I don't want you to die here, too."

Enfri lifted Jin's shoulders from the stone and got her turned onto her back. The assassin didn't try to fight her off, but she was in no condition to give more than a token resistance anyway.

There was blood all over the ground. The first task Enfri faced would be to close the wounds before Jin bled out.

"I won't leave you," Deebee said breathlessly. "I can't go through that again. Enfri, please."

Enfri did her best not to cry as she looked towards her guardian. "Fly, Deebee. I'm a sky woman. Let me do this."

With a mournful roar, Deebee tore herself from from the cave entrance and leapt away. The sound of her wings beating began to fade into the distance, and Deebee's bitter howls were left hanging in the air.

"I'm sorry, love," Enfri said after her. "Forgive me."

She knelt next to Jin awkwardly. The burn on her calf was throbbing in protest, and her spine was having none of it. Enfri let out a long exhale. The only thing left undecided was if it would be Jin who finished the job, or one of the others.

"Why?" Jin asked. Her voice was tight with pain. "Your dragon was right. You could have..."

Enfri shook her head. "You shouldn't have to ask why. You said yourself that I would do this."

Jin furrowed her brow in confusion.

"When you were joking around the campfire, Tarlus wondered if I would treat his eye. Even then, you said that I would."

"You..." Jin leaned her head back on the stone and closed her eyes. "Winds take me. You are a fool."

Enfri frowned. The nerve of some people. "You're saying you don't want my help?"

"Not that," Jin said in something just short of a groan. "Being close enough to listen. What were you thinking?"

Jin and Deebee had more in common than they thought. They were both incurable worrywarts.

Enfri only had a few bandages stashed in her dress pockets. She doubted they would be enough to stop the bleeding of that stomach wound. Enfri worked to undo the buckles of Jin's armor.

"Wait," Jin said, her voice fading. "There's a vial in my belt pouch. It'll help."

Enfri searched for what she spoke of. She pulled open a hardened leather pouch tied to Jin's belt and found several empty glass vials. One still had a viscous, blue liquid inside it.

"What's this?" Enfri asked as she turned it over in her fingers.

Jin reached for the vial and took it from her. Her hands shook as she uncorked it and drank the contents. Once most of it was gone, she sighed and let her hand fall. The vial rolled from her fingers and clattered across the stones.

"Jin," Maya's voice shouted. She and Dashar were running up to the cave entrance. Their bodies had reverted back to normal from the osteomancy. Maya collided with the interdiction and stumbled back. Her eyes traced along the edges of the entrance before settling on where Enfri knelt over Jin.