Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) Jonathan Michael (red novels .txt) 📖

“Goose! Goose, what’ve you done?” I cry with hope. “Your over-confident ego has finally caught up to you this time. Goose, are you alive? Goose?”

His tunic is dressed in a crusty dark substance. Dry blood. I rip his tunic open and find it’s not his, thank Susy. I lean over him and place a hand on his cheek. Still warm. There’s life in him yet.

A burning question develops within me. Do I leave him here to continue my search for Jay? He’s alive, and I can come back for him later. But he’s vulnerable. I can’t leave him.

“Helios!” He hasn’t moved. Something’s wrong. Or is he just being lazy again? It’s becoming more apparent he’s been through one too many battles in his life and nears his end. Aside from his age, I know I am to blame. I have required too much of him.

I put Helios’ laziness to the side, and knowing Goose isn’t in any immediate danger, I retrieve the thunder torch. The dim glow is just bright enough to be useful.

Immediately upon shining the light into the wood, I see her. My body goes limp with the horrific visual. I’ve failed her. I want to keel over and die, my insides feeling like a ravenous dogfight. Instead, I hustle to the tree where Jaymes sways back and forth. She hangs upside down, naked, with a vine knotted at her ankles. Her clothes have been ripped off and discarded on the ground below. There is a severe laceration extending from her ankle to her under arm. The flesh is peeled back as if she is wearing a skin suit that hasn’t been fastened all the way.

I collect one of my blades and take one swift hack at the vine. She drops to the ground, and I cringe, wishing I’d been gentler. I place my head against her chest to listen for a heartbeat. Like Goose, life remains within her. Tears of hope fill my eyes, knowing I haven’t failed yet. But her flesh is cold. She’s closer to death than he is.

Her heartbeat has slowed significantly and is out of rhythm. Judging by the crusty crimson coating on her skin, she’s lost a lot of blood. I rub at my brow. I’m not capable of this challenge. I know my limitations. I can heal small wounds, not fatal injuries. Everything I know about the Lahyf and our talents is self-taught. Elder was always pushing me to experiment when we were children, but my curiosity never took me as far as the human anatomy. And the couple seasons I had at the Academy have all been washed away from lack of use. But I must try. I must.

I remove my thin leather gloves that would otherwise form a barrier and place my hands over the largest laceration at her rib cage where her skin is peeled back. I refrain from folding the flayed skin back into place so I can work the deeper tissue first. One less barrier will make a difference. The open wound is sticky with blood secreting from it.

With both hands pressed firmly against her, I close my eyes. An uncontrollable reflex causes me to jolt back as her pain surges through my hands and into my body.

I take a deep breath and return my hands to her abdomen, this time anticipating the pain. I can sense there are no bones or vital organs damaged in this region, only flesh and sinew. Visualizing the deeper cells first, I attempt to heal it from the inside out. Jaymes’s heartbeat accelerates with a steadier rhythm as her pulse flows through me.

It’s no surprise Healers are rigorous about getting rest. Feeling all of her stress and pain is exhausting. I can sense everything her body is experiencing.

Her blood vessels are reattaching, her nerve endings rekindling and her sinew restoring itself as all the suffering pours into my body and my energy retaliates into hers.

Enough of her pain seeps into me to exhaust my ability to continue.

My eyes spring open with high expectations. She remains unconscious. The lacerations covering her body don’t look any better, and she remains cold to the touch. How can that be? The pain…the ethereal feeling of her body revitalizing…how could the wounds remain so deep and so large? Not even the area where I made direct contact appears any different.

What am I missing? I shouldn’t have even attempted. I knew I wasn’t good enough, but still I tried, wasting time and draining my energy. Is it even possible for me to carry her out of here now? What was I thinking?

“Ugh.” A soft moan wheezes from Jaymes and her brow wrinkles.

“Jaymes!” I whisper in return. “Jay! Can you hear me? I’m going to get you out of here, okay? You’re safe. I will fix this, Jay, don’t worry. I will protect you.”

I gather her tattered clothing and shred it into long strips for bandaging her chest. I tear the fabric of my own shirt to use as a bandage for her leg and to wrap around her waist. Decency is imperative when it is your younger sister in a woman’s body.

“Helios, how’s your strength? Can you carry Jay back to the yurt? Home?” Oddly, he still hasn’t moved.

I gently cradle Jaymes in my arms, trying to avoid distressing her wounds any further. I place her on the ground next to Helios.

I nudge him just behind his shoulder blades with an open palm. When I pull away, it’s wet and sticky.

The other half of Life Bringer lies on the ground next to him saturated in blood. A cursed blade. It has had only one other kill since my father gifted me with its protection, and thus far it has only killed those closest to me.

Lost, I look up to the heavens, consumed by the red ambience of