Jean Rabe - The Silver Stair

Slowly Jasper opened his eyes and saw with considerable satisfaction that the wound had closed and the man was breathing regularly. "Rest," he said. "An' keep your head down." He pushed himself to his feet and tended to the other man's arm. Then he cast a glance at the trees. "Don't know where those knights came from, but it's a good thing they came." Or we might all be dead, he added silently. He closed his eyes and felt for the warmth.

The knights continued to thrash about in the woods, spreading out and searching for the archers. Camilla snatched up an arrow and inspected the ground for tracks. The frozen ground was too hard for the attackers' feet to leave an impression. She cursed softly and started scanning for broken twigs, disturbed leaves, any signs of the attackers' passing.

Willum, a skilled tracker, was having no better luck. "Trevor saw someone-or something." He stopped his nervous humming to call to her. "He's gone after it!"

She knelt by the exposed roots of a ginkgo, found a small piece of fur. "Which way did you go?" she breathed. "And who are you?"

"Stay still, Mr. Andersen," Jasper urged. "Almost finished." He felt the warmth radiating from the second man's wound, could tell without looking that the flesh was mending. "It'll be sore for a while, but it shouldn't bother you too much. You'll be good as new soon." Much softer, he added, "If Goldmoon was here, she'd fixed you up like nothin' had happened." He returned to the female elf and frowned when he saw her bloodstained dress. He shook his head as he knelt at her side. "Told you to keep pressure on it."

I did, her eyes told him.

"Will she be all right?" asked the man holding her.

"Tell us she'll be well." This came from the man at her other side. There were more words of concern from the rest of the townsfolk.

The dwarf nodded reassuringly, then admonished everyone to continue to keep their heads down. There had been no more arrows or spears coming from the trees for several minutes, but the attackers could still be out there.

"Relax, Iryl," he said, attempting to make his craggy voice sound soothing.

"But you've got to see to Gair," she protested.

"He's next," Jasper said, closing his eyes and searching for his inner spark. "Only one patient at a time, an' you're my patient now. Relax. 'Sides, he's a healer, too."

"Nothing!" Willum stomped through the brush toward Camilla, his face red from the cold and from exertion. "No trace. No tracks. Ground's hard as-"

"I know." She thrust the arrow and bit of fur at him. "If there were snow on the ground, we could follow their tracks, determine their numbers. At least we chased them off. I'm going to see to those people. Some of them were hurt. We'll have to take them back to town." She headed west toward the trail. "Gather the men and follow me."

"There," Jasper pronounced, drawing bloody fingers away from Iryl's closing wound. "Wrap somethin' around that to keep it clean. Lost some blood. You'll be a little weak, but…" A moan from Gair cut him off. "Next patient."

Jasper was at the male elf's side by the time Camilla came out of the woods, headed in their direction. The dwarf glanced only briefly her way, then dropped to his knees and devoted his full attention to Gair. "Thought you said you were all right. Said see to the others first. Said you could heal yourself."

The elf's face was even paler than usual. "Are the others all right?"

The dwarf leaned over Gair's face. "Yeah, they'll be fine." He frowned when he saw how much blood the elf had lost. It pooled on the ground around Gair, soaking Jasper's trousers. "How'd you manage to catch an arrow, too?" There was one in his calf.

"Just lucky, I guess. It hurts."

"I'll bet it does. Hurt too much for you to concentrate. No wonder you couldn't heal yourself. Just lie still."

The elf offered a weak smile. "Can't move," he whispered. "I'm… I'm dying, Jasper."

"Quit arguin'."

The elf coughed, and the dwarf winced when he saw a trail of blood trickle down Gair's lower lip. The elf was indeed dying.

"You'll be fine. I'll fix you up like new." The dwarf's tone lacked confidence. He heard the lady knight approach, her armor clanking above the muted conversations of the townsfolk, heard her announce that the attackers had been chased off, but they should stay down a little while longer to be certain.

Jasper concentrated on his heart, listened for the rhythm that helped him focus his mystical energy.

The lady knight was expressing concern for the injured people, surprise at their mended wounds, asking them what had provoked the attack, did they see anything. None of them could provide any information.

He heard more clanging of metal as another knight approached. "Commander, Trevor went chasing after something. He doesn't answer."

"Find him!" she barked. "I want no one out there alone!"

"They're searching for him now!"

"Help them search. Everyone within eyesight. No one alone!"

The dwarf heard thrashing in the brush again as the knight returned to the woods, heard the clank-clank of the lady knight's armor as she came closer. More words swirled around his head, more questions from the knight about the unknown assailants, questions from the townsfolk about Gair's condition.

Jasper thrust the noise to the back of his mind, listened for his heartbeat, heard it grow loud enough to drown out the buzz of questions. Louder. Warmer. Capturing the warmth with his mind, he directed it down his arm. Not as warm as before, though he prayed to the missing Reorx that he could find the energy to stoke the heat. The dwarf was exhausted from healing the others, cursing himself for not seeing to Gair sooner and for not realizing just how badly the elf had been wounded.

Suddenly the heat was in his hands, the healing energy Goldmoon had taught him to use. Jasper moved his fingers to Gair's shoulder, felt the shaft of the spear. Not too deep. With one hand, he tugged it free, heard the elf groan softly in pain, and swore at himself for not cutting it out. The jagged stone tip tore the flesh. The other hand he held over the wound and focused the heat.

"So much blood." The dwarf said the words aloud, though he hadn't meant to.

"Dying," the elf repeated. "It's okay, Jasper. I'm not afraid. I'll be like Riverwind. Just wish it didn't hurt so much."

"Don't die on me!" the dwarf cursed. "I need someone to argue with. Delirious, that's what you are. Foolish talk. Don't you dare die." He fought to keep his concentration on the spell, focused on his heartbeat. Beneath his fingers, he felt the elf's heart beating weakly. Gair's breathing was shallow and irregular, and the elf had started to sweat despite the cold.

Suddenly the lady knight was kneeling next to the elf. Through squinted eyes, Jasper saw her take Gair's hand. She was saying something to him, words of encouragement, a prayer to Kiri-Jolith. "That's it," Jasper told her. "Keep him occupied. Stop all this talk of death."

Camilla stared into Gair's violet eyes. "Hold on," she said. "We'll get you to town." She felt him grip her hand tighter as he coughed again. More blood trickled over his lip. "You'll be all right."

The dwarf felt faint as he continued to pour his healing energy into Gair, stanching the flow of blood from his shoulder wound. His fingers drifted over the elf's chest and down his leg, finding the spear there.

"Need some help," the dwarf said. He heard feet shuffling over the ground and hands grabbing the haft. "Don't pull it out! It's barbed. Break it off. Close to his leg. It's all the way through an' into the ground. Use his sword if you have to."

Jasper directed his fingers lower and found the arrow in the elf's calf. He tugged it free and sent his healing energy into that wound. He felt the elf's whole body tremble.