“That’s your second name now,” Kyla warned Brenna. “Once Shann dubs you, you’re dubbed for life.”
“Well, I’m glad I was cutting when Shann dubbed me, instead of doing a rectal.”
Camryn tittered, and Jess dropped Brenna a grateful wink.
Brenna flattened her hands on her lap for a moment, and her gaze grew hazy as she concentrated, picturing the procedure. Cam was a patient now, and her patients got her best efforts. In spite of the quivering in her stomach, Brenna’s hands on her thighs were steady and warm. She drew on thin rubber gloves from the medical kit and smiled at the pale Amazon who reclined in Jess’s arms. “Guess I’m ready, if my victim is.”
“Wait.” Cam scowled. “I’m probably going to yell. Just so you know, and don’t freak when it happens.”
“Beware Amazon macha, Camryn.” Jess smiled at Brenna over Cam’s shoulder. “Remember Dyan and the rosebush. Scream your bloody head off if you want.”
“Okay.” Cam smiled agreeably at Kyla as she knelt beside her and took her hand.
It was a grueling twenty minutes for all of them.
Brenna had been right. It was a superficial wound, if any such trauma to human tissue can be termed superficial. The small-caliber bullet had penetrated the large muscle of Camryn’s left calf. Brenna understood healing at an instinctive level, so the procedure was largely common sense. But she was using rudimentary instruments, sterilized in boiling water and alcohol, and the work was harrowing and slow. Camryn was quickly coated with sweat, in spite of the late-morning chill, and so was her healer.
Cam cried out twice, and each time Jess’s arms tightened in comfort, as Shann braced her leg. Later, Camryn would claim that her worst suffering came from Kyla crushing her fingers the second time she yelled.
Only Shann and Brenna watched the extraction directly, both with rapt fascination. They worked together like a team long familiar with each other’s skills, Shann handing Brenna instruments and monitoring Camryn’s breathing and pulse. But Brenna was never unaware of the pain Cam was feeling. She gave them both breathers twice that Cam denied needing.
Kyla was paler than the patient by the time Brenna patted a sterile cloth over Cam’s leg to dry it before bandaging. Cam let out a long breath of relief, and her eyes drifted shut as she rested her head on Jess’s shoulder. Jess looked as spent as she did.
Shann eyed her sisters with pragmatic sympathy. “Are you going to faint, Kyla?”
“Oh, no.” Kyla’s voice shook as she played with Cam’s hand. “I’ll be fine, lady. I always look like this when bullets get cut out of my lover’s leg. It’s just nerves.”
Then she burst into tears, and Brenna and Jess exchanged weary smiles.
*
“I’m a felon,” Brenna murmured.
She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until she felt Shann’s hand on her shoulder. She started and sat up, and smiled at her self-consciously. “Sorry. I think I’m beginning to hallucinate.”
“It’s no wonder.” Shann’s rich voice was kind. “You’re exhausted, Blades. Why don’t you sleep for a while? I can finish this.”
“Aye, why don’t both of you sleep for a while?” Jess growled. “I’m as clean as I’m going to get, thanks.”
Jess was referring to the alcohol bath Brenna had bared her to the waist to receive an hour before. She had taken Camryn’s place on the pallet beneath the huge tree when her fever rose to the point that she couldn’t hold a coherent conversation. The mild summer weather made it possible for them to forego Caster’s musty tents, and sleeping under stars was always the preference in Tristaine.
Camryn and Kyla lay on a blanketed air mattress nearby, talking quietly. The wide bandage on Camryn’s leg glowed a ghostly white by the light of the small fire that crackled warmly in the center of their circle.
It was late, after midnight. Brenna had left her wristwatch somewhere under Dugan, and she missed the sense of order that knowing the time might have provided. As happened frequently now, when Brenna felt unsettled, she looked at Jess. This time, it didn’t bring the reassurance she’d hoped for. She was lying half-propped against the tree, still shaking with fever, even after a long, cooling bath. Brenna felt bleak with worry.
“I’d make you suck on a thermostrip again,” she said, touching Jess’s face, “but knowing the exact reading wouldn’t change much. I can tell it’s as high as it was an hour ago.”
Kyla lifted her head from Camryn’s shoulder. “Did you give her the teasel, Shann?”
“It was in the tea.” Shann fastened Jess’s shirt, then rested her hand on her warrior’s side. “That should help cool the fever, Jesstin. You’ll be on your feet again tomorrow, but there’ll be no traveling for a few days. You and Camryn both need time to recover. I’ve rarely seen such a daunting collection of dents and bruises.”
“We should have ducked, Jess,” Camryn said sadly.
“I know,” Jess sighed.
“But we’ll not want to spend any more time in the lowlands than absolutely necessary.” Shann surveyed the tents, and the small craters made in the dusty ground from dynamite blasts. “Once we’re able to travel, we can set up a base camp in the lower range beyond the next valley. There’s fish and game there to feed us, and it’s far enough from City eyes to be safe.”
“Well, you two better heal fast.” Kyla yawned, rubbing her cheek on Camryn’s breast. “We can only camp out down here, eating snared rabbits, for two weeks. We have to be home before the Festival of Thesmophoria. The thought of drowning out that lousy, lame little soprano Deidre in the midsummer music festival is what kept me from braining a Prison guard with a pot down there. The Festival’s great, Brenna. There are footraces, dances, a big feast.”
“And Kyla has the most beautiful voice in Tristaine.” Cam spoke with unabashed pride. “The artists’ guild snapped her up when she was ten.”
“Adanin.” Shann’s low voice was kind. “We can’t go home. Not yet.”
Brenna glanced at Jess. She lay still beneath the thin blanket, but her feverish eyes closed for a moment.
“Huh?” Camryn sat up, supported by Kyla’s arm. “How long is yet?”
“For several weeks, at least. The three of you are convicted felons, Camryn. City agents can legally enter Tristaine to search for us.” Shann’s voice was as gentle as ever, but Brenna was beginning to sense the aura of command that made her a leader of Amazons. “Our best chance is to lose ourselves in this maze of foothills and avoid their patrols.”
“Lady, we can’t hide from the City forever.” Cam’s tone was respectful, but color was filling her sallow cheeks. “They’re gonna come after us, but that’s why we need to go home, Shann. It’s not just us they want, it’s Tristaine.”
Kyla put a quieting hand on Camryn’s side.
“It’s all right, Kyla.” There was pride in Shann’s smile. “Dyan chose Camryn for Tristaine’s council for both her intelligence and her candor. But, Kyla, you’re troubled too, little sister. What are your thoughts?”
“I think that without Dyan, and you, and Jesstin, and Cam, our council’s going to be divided.” Kyla’s brow looked creased with worry. “But even if everyone agrees on how to handle the City, Tristaine looks to you for guidance, lady. Our sisters need you now, more than ever.”
“And when Caster nails a warrant for Shann’s arrest to the door of Tristaine’s main lodge, Kyla?” Jess’s soft burr drew their eyes to her. “Will our sisters turn her over without a fight? Will they give any of us over to the City?”
“So we’ll fight.” The muscles stood out in Camryn’s jaw. “It’s going to come to that anyway, Jesstin.”
“If it comes to that, adanin, Tristaine is lost.” Jess fixed the young warrior with her eyes. “Dyan knew that. We all know it.”
“Brenna, this affects you too.”
Brenna started when Shann rested her hand on her knee.
“You know our enemies well, and if you stay with us, your fate will be joined with Tr
istaine’s. Your word carries weight in this council, Blades, so speak your heart.”
Brenna glanced at Jess. “Well…I think we have time. Caster wants to avoid war too, for her own reasons. This Clinic study was supposed to discover some other way of defeating Tristaine, and we got out before it was finished.”
“We” has changed again, Brenna thought. Jess, me, and now these three Amazons. “We” is becoming Tristaine.
“So, for a while anyway,” she concluded, “Caster has nothing to offer the Military. And there’s got to be all kinds of uproar about our escape. The Clinic will have to do a lot of fast talking to keep the contract.” Brenna made herself meet Shann’s measuring look. “I think it’s safe to wait. It’ll be some time before the City can move.”
“I’m not saying we’re banished forever, sisters.” Shann looked at Camryn and Kyla. “But long enough to make it seem feasible that we’ve fled the County. We can go home when the City’s grip on the mountains eases and we can slip past their patrols.”
Camryn dropped her eyes and nodded.
“I can’t believe Deidre gets to sing my solo.” Kyla sighed and rested her head on Camryn’s shoulder again. “All right, Shann.”
“Thank you, adanin. And now, for our wounded, sleep will help more than anything else. I’ve never had much success at giving you direct orders, Jesstin, but I want you to obey a friendly request, all right? Lie still for a few hours.”
“Sure,” Jess mumbled.
“A friendly request.” Brenna smiled, pulling the blanket up over Jess’s chest. “That works with Amazons?”
“Sometimes,” Shann said. “Even Jess.” She rose gracefully to her feet and fed a few small branches to their dancing fire.
Camryn and Kyla lay down together, and soon their quiet murmurings drifted into silence.
Brenna measured Jess’s fever with her hand, then took her pulse. She was resting comfortably enough. Brenna was tired, but too wired to possibly find sleep.
“You must be in severe culture shock.”
Brenna blinked as Shann settled beside her again. “Me?”
Shann gathered her legs beneath her and leaned back on one hand to study Brenna. “Let me see if I understand what’s happened to you. You were a reasonably successful Government medic. You were assigned to Jesstin’s project, what, less than a month ago?”
Brenna nodded.
“So, in a few weeks, you’ve had your faith in your leaders dashed, you’ve lost your home and your career and any sense of security. And now you’re running for your life through a mountain wilderness with four strange women, one of whom you’ve fallen in love with, while people are blowing things up and trying to kill you.” Shann lifted an eyebrow and for a moment resembled Jess. “Is that about right?”
Brenna smiled. “I think you covered it.”
“You must feel like you’ve fallen in with some bizarre cult.”
Brenna winced. “Well, no, I hadn’t thought of that one, thanks.”
Shann laughed again and then covered her mouth when Jess stirred between them.
Brenna tucked the blanket around Jess’s long legs. “Shann?”
“Yes, Blades.”
“I don’t know how you feel about me being here.” She smoothed Jess’s hair off her forehead. “Jess asked me to come, but the rest of you weren’t counting on an extra body.” She hesitated. “A body that was on the other side, herself, only a month ago. I don’t know why any of you should trust me. I’m an outsider, basically.”
“You probably always have been, basically.” Shann shrugged. “That’s why most women seek out Tristaine. They come to us because they don’t belong in the City.”
“That’s what Jess said.” Brenna considered this statement silently for a while. She could have refuted the idea that she’d willingly sought out anything except an honest paycheck in the beginning, but she wasn’t even sure that was true anymore.
“Tristaine isn’t unique, Blades.” Shann brushed a pine needle off Jess’s arm. “At least we don’t think we are, communication between Counties being what it is. We believe there might be one or two clans very like Tristaine for every City in the Nation. Full of people who don’t fit in.”
“That’s what the City tabloids say,” Brenna said carefully.
Shann grinned at her. “Adanin, take your time. If you ever feel you must leave us, we’ll find a way to get you somewhere safe. Just let things happen at their own pace for now.”
“I’m trying.” Brenna cleared her throat. “I guess this is as good a time as any to draw a clean slate, wherever I end up. It’s not like I’m leaving a lot behind. Except for my sister, I have no family. I’ve always been good at my work, though.”
Shann nodded. “I wouldn’t have let you take the bullet from Cam’s leg if I didn’t believe that. I’d have done it myself.”
Brenna lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve done surgical procedures? I thought you worked more with vitamins and plants.”
“I use natural remedies, but a healer among warrior women gets far too much practice sewing her sisters back together.” Shann’s eyes were warm. “I asked you to help Cam because I wanted the others to know you have my trust.”
“Shann, you just met me.”
“Jesstin trusts you.” Shann’s long fingers stroked the warrior’s arm. “A woman capable of claiming this Amazon’s heart is worthy of our respect. You care very much for her, don’t you?”
Brenna stared at Jess’s still face, and she felt a sense of wonder. “Yes, I do. I’ve never…this is the first…” She gestured helplessly, searching for words. “And now it’s not just Jess, it’s the rest of you, too. I’ve never had friends…well, you’re becoming friends…” She trailed off.
“I often wish we hadn’t lost so much of our grandmothers’ language.” Shann brushed a lock of hair off Brenna’s forehead, and she felt a warm shiver. “Today, we only have remnants. We struggle with such paltry, inadequate terms for friendship, but the early Amazons had many ways of describing the bonds between women. I think I understand what you’re saying, Brenna. We’re becoming your adanin, too, right?”
“Right.” Brenna slumped in relief. “Thanks.”
They both looked down at Jess, who was tightening beneath the blanket, her brow growing tense.
Brenna shifted closer to her and slipped her hand beneath Jess’s hair to cup the back of her neck. “This helps her relax, sometimes.” Brenna kneaded the tight muscles at the base of Jess’s skull.
“Good. I used that touch to ease Dyan’s headaches, the ones my herbs couldn’t help.”
Brenna looked up at the touch of sadness in Shann’s voice.
“Did you know Dyan was my wife? I don’t know how much Jess told you about her sisters.”
“No. I knew you and Dyan were on Tristaine’s council, but not that you were bonded, Shann. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Brenna. I’m sorry, too. I wish you could have known Dyan.” Shann’s eyes shimmered in the firelight. “She’d snarl to hear us called ‘bonded,’ though. Another of those new Tristainian terms. Dyan was my wife, and I was hers. In the old language, the word ‘wife’ is a prayer, in and of itself. I’ve always liked that.”
Brenna smiled. “I like that, too.”
Shann looked down at Jess, who had relaxed again in the grass. “Why don’t you stretch out for a while, young Blades, just for a few hours? I’ll wake Kyla soon to take a second watch, and I can take third before your turn comes around. Sound reasonable?”
“Sounds fine to me,” Brenna sighed, already unwinding on the grass next to Jess. Shann spread the blanket to cover her as well, and Brenna grinned when she felt her tuck it securely beneath her side. “Does anyone in Tristaine ever accuse you of mothering them, Shann?”
“Frequently, and I’m honored by it. Our word for ‘mother’ is a prayer, too.” Shann bent and kissed Brenna’s cheek. “Now sleep, Brenna. That’s a royal command.”
*
She ran in the midst of
a herd of wild horses, surrounded by flying manes and large, liquid eyes rolling in stark terror. Then she felt, more than heard, the timpani of drumming hooves in panicked flight all around her.
Brenna and her stallion plunged headlong through the forest with the rest of the herd, and the acrid smell of the smoke finally reached her, as fire began to ravage the woods around them—
“Brenna.”
She came awake with a shuddering gasp, darting up on one elbow so fast she almost smacked Shann with her head. She felt Shann’s steadying hand on her arm, and she spoke as soon as she could breathe evenly. “Sorry! Sorry. What?”
“Everyone’s safe.” Shann’s voice was low and soothing. “It’s all right. Give yourself time to wake up.”
For an unsettling moment, Brenna craved a drink desperately, but the urge faded. Nothing like a heightened adrenaline surge to start the day. “Jess?”
“She’s better.”
Brenna put her hand out and felt a moment of panic, in spite of Shann’s words, to find the pallet beside her empty. She looked up at Shann, blinking.
“Her fever broke early in Kyla’s watch.” Shann was outlined in faint blue light, so sunrise must be close. “She’s had a solid six hours of sleep. That’s enough, until we get some breakfast down her at least.”
Shann helped her sit up. Brenna raked her fingers through her hair and craned to see Camryn’s face, half-covered by Kyla’s curling red tresses, on the air pallet nearby.
“Cam’s fine too, I’ve checked her.” Shann paused. “Adanin, Jess felt strong enough to stretch her legs a little, and I thought that was all right. But I’d rather she not be alone long.”
Brenna was already getting up, trying not to groan after another night on the damp ground. “Can you point?”
Shann nodded toward the dry riverbed. “She promised not to go far, so I expect the two of you back by lunch.”
Brenna offered a weak smile as she tied her sneakers. “Did you bring some of Tristaine’s coffee?”
The Clinic Page 16