Kay Hooper - The Wizard Of Seattle

It was nearly an hour later when Serena saw what she first took to be a pile of discarded clothing at the base of a tree near the edge of the forest. They were moving in that general direction, heading back toward the road that would lead them to the city, and her first thought was that somebody had tired of carrying laundry and had simply abandoned it.

"Look," she said to Merlin, nodding toward the tree. "I guess somebody didn't want to carry-" She broke off, frowning, and her steps quickened. "Richard, that isn't just a pile of clothing… is it?"

He didn't answer, because he didn't have to. Within seconds they were both kneeling on the ground, pushing aside dirty and stained tatters of cloth to find what was underneath.

"Oh, my God," Serena whispered, helping Merlin gently turn the girl over.

Her blond hair was matted and filthy, her face so swollen and discolored, it was impossible to guess whether her filatures were delicate or coarse. She was horribly bruised and bloody, her pale skin marked with deep lacerations that were unmistakable evidence of deliberate torture. There was hardly a place on her naked body that had escaped the awful abuse, and it was obvious she had been repeatedly and brutally raped.

"Is she alive?" Serena asked unsteadily.

Merlin nodded, his fingers grasping one of the girl's fragile wrists. "Barely. But she won't be for long."

The girl moaned, a thin sound of agony.

"We have to help her."

He looked at Serena, his eyes compassionate in a face of masklike self-control. "Serena-"

She shook her head, unwilling to hear whatever objections he had. Her voice was fierce. "We have to help her. I don't know enough to heal her, but you can. We can't leave her to suffer like this. Please, Richard. Please."

It might have been because it was the first time he had ever heard her plead, or it might have been his own pity for the dying girl, but in any case Merlin found he couldn't just turn his back and walk away.

He shrugged out of his pack and leaned over the girl. He placed his left hand gently over her forehead to remove her pain and induce a deep sleep, then moved the right to hover over her body. Slowly, pausing at each injury, his hand moved inches above her skin.

Serena watched, overwhelmed by his ability and skill even in her anxiety for the girl. As his healing energies touched the girl's poor wounded body, she was slowly, painlessly made whole again. Broken bones knit together, straightening her limbs. The burns on her fingers and hands were healed. The terrible bruises faded away to nothing. Rips and tears in her flesh sealed themselves, leaving only feint pink scars that would, Serena knew, be gone within hours.

Merlin's face tightened as his hand hovered over the girl's lower body, and he was still for a long time, concentrating his power there. The girl had suffered severe internal injuries, Serena realized, sickened by the thought of what she must have gone through.

Finally he sat back on his heels, gazing down at the girl. She was unmarked now, her flesh pale and smooth from her peaceful, lovely face to her delicate feet. She was obviously very young, probably not yet out of her teens, not so much frail as fragile. Merlin lifted his hand from her forehead and made a slight gesture over her, and the girl's clothing, clean and repaired, covered her nakedness.

Looking at Serena, he said, "She'll sleep for a few hours."

Unguarded because she wasn't thinking about hiding anything from him, too much of her heart shining through her eyes, Serena said, "Thank you, Richard."

Something flared in the depths of his black eyes, and for a moment it seemed he leaned toward her. But then he was rising to his feet, expressionless. "You do realize I might have changed history just now," he said conversationally.

Serena blinked. "But you said she was dying."

"Exactly."

"Then she couldn't have been the witness. I mean, if she died the first time-"

"Serena, every life touches other lives, sometimes in very dramatic ways. Her death may have been a direct factor in whatever happened here. Her survival could change everything, even in our time."

After a moment Serena shook her head. "I don't care. We couldn't just let her die."

Very gently Merlin said, "They're all going to die, don't you remember?"

She hadn't remembered, and the reminder was a shock. Of course, the entire continent was destroyed.

They were fairly certain that one person survived, but maybe only one…

Serena looked down at the peacefully sleeping girl and said, "At least she has a few more weeks now. That might matter to her, you know, it might make a difference. Maybe helping her to live is the single thing we should have done to fix whatever went wrong here." Her eyes raised to meet his. "That could be right, couldn't it?"

Unable to resist the appeal in those green eyes, Merlin nodded slowly. It could be true, after all. This girl's survival might be the sole occurrence that would mend the future society of wizards.

Or destroy it utterly.

"We might as well make camp," he said finally, accepting that it was too late to worry about it. "She'll sleep most of the day, and we should spend the night here. Tomorrow we can go on to the city."

"All right," Serena said. But before he could turn away, she added quietly. "This girl… she's a wizard. I can feel her power."

"Yes," Merlin agreed, "she's a wizard. And she apparently couldn't use her powers to protect herself. You'd better keep that in mind, Serena. We'd both better."

By midafternoon their camp was in place in a small clearing near where they had found the girl. A fairly wide stream curved around behind them, a deep ravine was on their right, and a fairly dense section of the forest was in front and to the left of the clearing.

Like any experienced woodsman, Merlin had chosen a place that would be difficult for anyone to approach without giving them warning, and provided the natural protection of the ravine and the stream.

"Why?" Serena asked when she realized.

"Because I'd rather be cautious," he replied. "Because we have a walled city to the east, a city apparently designed to keep something or someone out. And because we found a nearly dead wizard who, for some reason, couldn't use her powers to save herself."

It made sense to Serena, and she didn't question him further. And she didn't object when he made their camp look more primitive than it needed to, with two lean-to's made of branches and foliage for shelter, and a small fire to provide warmth. He had at least bowed to her request and conjured blankets that only looked primitive; they would insulate against the night chill far better than would the local variety.

The girl he had healed was sleeping peacefully under one of the lean-to's, lying on a bed of thick moss covered with one blanket while another was tucked around her. She hadn't stirred since they had moved her to the camp.

Merlin had conjured a pot of stew for their lunch, amusing Serena because she'd never known him to cook anything before-with or without his powers. She enjoyed the stew, eating with her usual appetite, and complimented him so solemnly that she actually got a laugh out of him.

"Why don't you go check on the patient," he said, taking her empty bowl away from her. "By now she might need food worse than she needs sleep."

Serena nodded and got up from the broad tree stump she'd been using as a seat. She shook out her skirts and sighed. "Damn this outfit. It weighs a ton and feels like burlap."

Merlin glanced over at her and then made a slight gesture, just a flick of his ringers.

Immediately most of Serena's discomfort disappeared. She felt inside the neckline of the shift and, surprised and grateful, said, "You lined it with silk. Thanks."