Hayden stood by the living room window of Ember Place staring out at the darkness and flickering lights of the city of Corinth. His golden-skinned mate stepped up silently and slipped a delicate arm around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder, her dark brown hair falling down his back. She tried to pull some stress from him down their mating bond but he was too wracked with guilt to be free of it.
"Had it been anyone else, Roedin would have found him months ago," Hayden barked. "He's been out there this whole time."
Sari stroked her hand through his clean-cut blond hair. "We didn't know, Hayden. It's not our fault. We looked. Everywhere."
Sari tried to console him but they both knew it was for show. They felt responsible. Their brother had been injured, suffering, and they hadn't been there for him. During the battle Hayden had seen Roedin attack the aerial soldiers and knew he was weakening. They all were. Hayden should never have ordered him to take on that legion on his own.
After months of searching, the pack had begun to accept the worst. Of course, there was always hope, but with no sign, no clues, no hints, and with no Whisperer to reach out into the dark places of the world, they had to continue with other matters. He was wrenched from his thoughts as his sister Adelyn stormed in.
Her long blonde hair was wild and loose and her normally soft green eyes were steely as she took in the room: Hayden and Sari standing by the window, their daughter Niamh seated on the couch with her face in her hands, and Arctos's massive form leaning on his knees and staring into the empty fireplace.
"What the hell happened?"
They all looked up at her, each processing their own thoughts, each waiting for the other to speak.
"His wing, did you see it? It was ruined," Arctos mumbled as he continued to gaze into space.
He ran his fingers through his short-cropped brown hair and dragged them down his face through his beard. In this moment he was not the intimidating bear-like captain of the city guard, he looked more like a cub who had lost his parents.
Niamh put her hand on his knee in reassurance. "We sent for a vet right away, a wing specialist. The vet will work with the surgeon and to save the wing."
Adelyn stomped in impatience with the lack of information. "And the human? There was a girl with him? What of her?"
Niamh pinched her lips and shrugged like she couldn't care less about what happened to the human.
Hayden inhaled deeply to stay calm and not snap at his sister. "We don't know anything, Adelyn. They're both unconscious and in rough shape."
"Should we send for a human healer? I think they're called shamans?" Sari looked between her husband and his sister for confirmation. None of them had experience working with human healers.
"For what? So a human shaman can lead us all in prayer to the earth-gods?" Niamh spat in disgust.
No one corrected her. They had no idea what a human shaman might do to help. Adelyn shifted on her feet, uncomfortably aware that as alpha primes they were supposed to have equal knowledge of all the species in their territory.
"Where would we even find one?" Adelyn asked. "Humans haven't been seen in the territory in centuries."
"I thought they were fighting," Arctos interrupted as he stood and walked to the unlit fireplace. "It looked like they were struggling against each other. And then she took that stick and raised it in the air. I knocked her away. Hard."
He crossed his arms on his chest like he was trying to hold the guilt inside. "But I think she was protecting him. I think she was aiming for the Mnoptera. I didn't know."
They looked to each other for answers but no one had anything to offer.
There was a soft knock on the door and Cora, the long-time housekeeper, stepped in.
"The vet has some news," she whispered, her eyes red from crying.
The vet was a young sapien, specializing in winged-faunids in addition to his regular surgical practice. Hayden only allowed him to work on his brother on the condition he was supervised closely by their most trusted surgeon, Petra. Now, he looked exhausted from his work, his dark eyes red and raw from draining his healing magic, and his chin length blonde hair damp with sweat.
He also looked terrified to be speaking to the members of the alpha pack.
"Petra sent me down to give you an update. She's still working on the human, but the Myotes is resting."
He stopped as if unsure whom he should be addressing, the whole group was hanging off his every word. He looked to Hayden and Adelyn.
"Alpha Primes, perhaps we should speak in private. Appropriate protocol is to discuss a patient's health with only immediate family."
Arctos stomped forward, "To hell with your protocol, tell us what is going on!"
Sari stepped between them. "That's not helping, Arctos."
Hayden nodded to the vet patiently. "It's alright Dellane, we are his family."
The young male gulped and fidgeted with his stethoscope as he began his update.
"Roedin has multiple minor cuts and scrapes and a large gash across his chest. It looks like it was caused by a short sword, or perhaps a dagger. It had been cleaned nicely and closed with crude but effective stitches. It looks like a recent wound, so Petra would like to leave the stitches in until he regains the strength to heal himself. She says that, whenever possible, sapiens should heal naturally, in order to train the body to take care of itself."
Dellane spoke as though he were reciting a text he had memorised for a future exam. His careful speech was grating on Hayden's nerves.
Niamh jumped in. "That's it? He arrived here spent and unconscious from some cuts and scrapes?"
"Niamh..." Sari murmured with a sigh.
Dellane was practically trembling now. "Um, well, no. There was also a minor wound in his abdomen, presumably from an arrow. But the major injuries were to his leg and wing. It took us some time to pull the cast off his leg. It was surprisingly resilient, made up of some mixture of mud and powder. It seems someone had tried to protect the leg while it was healing. The cast was clearly worn and faded, suggesting he had been wearing it for some time, but strangely the leg was still severely swollen and bruised. Petra found that while the bones were aligned properly they had only begun to heal. Based on the age of the cast, the bone recovery should have been much further along. It was a bad break, and he'll need to stay off it for a while. We'll have to wait until he wakes to find out what happened."
"The wings!" Arctos interrupted. "What about his wings?"
The vet gulped. "One wing has minor damage however the other suffered multiple breaks and the skin had been ripped off in places. I can't imagine how painful it must have been. A makeshift splint had been attached to the major bones but the fingers were too small to secure. There was some residue of an herbal poultice left on the wing. Perhaps someone was trying to encourage healing or control an infection. I've taken a sample to do some research."
Arctos sat down hard on the sofa. "But he'll heal?" he asked hopefully.
Dellane lifted his chin and nodded. "Yes, I believe I can repair the wings with some time and some extensive magic."
Arctos closed his eyes and put his head in his hands. Everyone as quiet as this information settled in.
"What about the human girl?" Hayden prompted.
"Yes, she's very sick. The venom from the Mnoptera sting is conflicting with the healing magic. The human body just isn't capable of handling that much poison, so Petra has been trying to draw it out. She sent me to find an herb. I'm not familiar with it because it's only useful to humans."
"Petra thinks she can save the girl with this herb?"
"It's hard to know. We've drawn some blood for testing. As well, her other injuries were difficult for me to repair. I suggested a human healer might be more appropriate but Petra insisted humans are not so different from us. I've patched her up but we don't know enough about human resilience to know if she'll survive."
Arctos was confused. "Other injuries? What other injuries?"
Dellane looked surprised that they didn't already know.
"She had some general scrapes and bruises likely from their arrival here, though that's just a guess right now. The tendons in her knee were damaged but they had already begun to heal, suggesting it was an older injury. Same with her shoulder, which had been dislocated as indicated by the healing around the joint. Her ribs were cracked but hadn't moved out of place so there was no damage to her lungs. I removed an arrow from her thigh. The blood was fresh and the wound had been aggravated from use of the leg while the arrow was lodged."
Sari reached for Hayden's hand. "She ran with an arrow sticking out of her leg?"
The vet shrugged but it was a reasonable explanation.
Adelyn raised her eyebrows. "I have to admit, I'm impressed."
"Do you still have the arrowhead?" Arctos asked. "We might be able to use it to figure out who they were running from."
"Yes, it's upstairs. I hope you are able to trace it back to someone..." Dellane's voice faded as he looked around the room nervously before clearing his throat again. "There are other scars and older wounds, some are very old. You should know: the injuries are consistent with torture. She has been beaten and her back is covered in scars." He paused and looked away from the alpha primes. "I know it's been outlawed for centuries, but she was likely a slave."
The room was frozen in icy silence. Arctos ground his teeth and Adelyn crossed her arms as if she were already plotting what she would do to the culprits. Even Niamh, with her heavy bias against humans, shook her head in disgust at the idea of slavery, or perhaps more so that someone would dare break a Common Law.
"They're on the brink of extinction and someone is using them as free labour," she fumed.
Dellane continued. "When I find the herb we'll make it into poultice and it will need to be changed regularly. If we can get the fever under control, she might have a chance."
Niamh and Adelyn followed the vet out of the room. Hayden resumed his place by the window, mulling over the information.
Sari squeezed his hand in reassurance. "I'll go up and get directions from Petra. We'll do all that we can. I don't want to have to tell Roedin we lost his friend.
Hayden remained silent.
Arctos looked over at him as tears soaked his beard. "How did we let this happen, brother?"