Fallen One (Book three of Alfireán age)

- Berserk healer? -

Pony pressed her face against the opaque shield, trying to look out at the river. Saying their trip through the forest had been a disaster would be an understatement. They'd barely left the road before a host of mutated creatures swarmed over them.

It was a sheer miracle they had survived.

And they wouldn't have if Olivia hadn't used her holy magic to burrow a hole into the ground. Trapped in the inner bowels of the earth, they had stayed in the darkness for over an hour as they'd tried to figure out what to do next.

In the end, Alf had set the entire jungle on fire. Then like some insane pyromaniac, he'd fed its flames as they followed in the wake of its destruction.

It was a mean and horrible thing to do to the animals in the forest, but Drake had insisted it was the only way. Pony shuddered as she thought of all the little, helpless creatures running in terror from the Dragon kin's natural disaster. And despite the prince's constant reassurance to the contrary, Pony couldn't help but wonder when one of Vackzilian's minions were going to pop up. The blood oath's may be stupid, but even they couldn't miss a whole forest on fire.

"The others are asleep sweetie," her eldest sister whispered, interrupting her thoughts.

Removing her face from the glistening blue barrier, Pony looked over at the tent where the grand champion rested. Tears welled up in her eyes; Zaphaniea had fainted halfway through the day and hadn't awoken since. Olivia had done what she could, but she'd been preoccupied with trying to keep them all alive. In the end, everyone had mistakenly tossed it up to the grand champion suffering from a bad case of heatstroke along with having used too much energy; after all, they'd been mere feet away from a blazing inferno, and the heat of the day had already proved unbearable.

By the time they'd made camp, Olivia had collapsed from exhaustion, and Silver and Drake had seen to putting her and Zaphaniea to bed.

Scarlett wrapped her arm around Pony's shoulder. "Maybe it won't be as bad as it was last night," her sister tried to reassure her.

Pony wiped away her tears and nodded. "Maybe," she said, her voice slightly hopeful, as Silver led the others towards the champion's tent.

The waning moon, shining through the charged shield, cast watery shadows over the barren, burnt land. Dust danced in the faint moonlight as their footsteps sent up plumes of ash while they crossed the short distance.

***

An hour and a half later, the tent lit up with a brilliant light as the three maids transformed back into their human form.

Silver knelt down beside the grand champion, blue light shining from her eyes while she examined her handiwork. After several moments, she looked up at Pony and shook her head.

Pony's heart sunk as the light from her sister's eyes faded away and complete darkness filled the void. "Let's try again," she urged.

A slight rustle of movement echoed in the tent as her eldest sister reached out and took her hand. "No sweetie. All three of us are already on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. I'm sorry, but there is nothing more we can do for her."

"But...," she muttered.

Fabric brushed against fabric and Scarlet wrapped her arms around her. "We just don't have the energy or the medical knowledge to help Zaphaniea anymore."

Pony stared into the blackness at her feet where the grand champion lay. On the surface, the woman was a self-centered, antagonistic, egotistical maniac, but on the inside, she was a scared little girl who, despite her fear, would do anything to help those in need around her.