Shadow's Edge (Shadows Saga bk1)

Chapter 21- Predicament

Trixle could feel Emmett’s body slowing from exhaustion, and Marx had already started to fall behind. The sun had just begun to rise, lighting their path in a golden-pink glow.

The wolves stopped and Marx looked up through the leaves, smelling the air before collapsing to the ground. Trixle jumped off Emmett’s back before he dropped as well.

She went off gathering loose twigs and leaves to start a fire. She set the small pile of wood between the two wolves before calling on her powers to ignite the flame. Trixle pulled out a set of clothes out for they boys and waited for them to wake up.

The flames danced, fighting with each other and as Trixle watched the internal battle, she thought of the battle they had just left hours before. She let herself wonder about the odds of Mara’s survival. With creatures like that around, was it even possible for Mara to still be alive?

“I can’t think like that. She’s alive and we’re going to find her,” she mumbled to herself. No matter how close she sat to the flames, she couldn’t get warm. There was a permanent chill inside of her that could only be extinguished with the safety of home.

The sound of bones cracking and sliding into place cut through the silence. Emmett was lying on the ground, naked and unconscious. Trixle went over and put his jeans on for him.

She heard the cracking again and turned to find Marx also in human form. She pulled Marx’s jeans on and her eyes came to rest on the deep gash on his back. Instead of starting the healing process, it looked worse than before. It was bright red, and it appeared to be infected. She lightly touched the red skin around the wound and it felt a few degrees warmer than the rest of him.

Trixle frowned as she looked the injury over more carefully. She got up; looking between the two boys passed out on the ground, and prayed they would be all right while she went into the woods to find something to help him.

A half hour later she returned with arms full. She set down a bottle of stream water. She poured the water into Marx’s wound and placed her hands over the gash. The water began to glow and she felt Marx’s body tense as the fae magic and water worked together to cleanse out the wound.

She was glad Marx was passed out for the process; it wasn’t exactly a painless experience. Especially with a wound as bad as the one he had sustained. She picked up the leaves and flowers next to her and ground them together with two stones. She added a bit of water, mixing it into a paste before spreading it over the wound. The flowers and leaves she had gathered had certain properties that would fight off other infections and would help the healing process even though the werewolf genes wouldn’t help with a vampire Nightshade injury.

She cleaned off the scratch down Emmett’s face and went back to her spot by the fire. It had been a long day and night, and she didn’t expect the last of their trip to be any easier. The boys would need their rest to take them the rest of the way through the Nightshade territory.

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Zeldra had fought off sleep. She wasn’t about to put her life in the hands of a Nightshade that had already attempted to kill her once before. She sensed the group had stopped, but she waited before saying anything to Zander until she was sure.

An hour had passed without any movement, and she decided it was time to follow. She gently shook Zander’s shoulder until his eyes started to blink open.

“It’s time to move on.”

He sat up, running his hands through his hair, picking out the leaves. He started to make his way over to the Nightshade when Zeldra grabbed his arm.

“Can’t we just leave her? She won’t be able to wake up until nightfall. By then we’ll be long gone.”

“We could,” Zander said. “But she can help us. If we lead her to Mara, then we don’t have to do anything. She’ll take care of the job for us.” A wicked smile spread across his lips at the thought of getting rid of the witch in his way.