The Autumn Republic

“If you insist. Just tell them to leave a blackened scar. It’s more roguish that way. And a pit of a conversation starter.”

“Hush, now,” Nila said.

“Look, if I stop talking, I’ll probably start crying. And I make it a point never to cry in front of women. Especially ones I hope to bed someday.”

“Is that so?” Nila climbed to her feet.

“Yes. Makes me look weak. Women can sense weakness. Oh, sure, some women say they want a sensitive man. But no one ever says they want a weak man.”

There were just two lances left. The sixth would come out easily enough, but like Bo said, that seventh would be tricky. It couldn’t just be dragged out at an angle by a team of horses. It might rip his leg off completely, and the shock might kill him. It had to be pulled up and out, as straight as possible. She looked it over carefully. She had no idea as to the material-some kind of metal, by the looks of it-but sorcery emanated from the thing. Earth sorcery, no doubt. With fire to make it hot, and air to throw it.

Bo kept talking to no one in particular. “By Kresimir, this’ll be a conversation starter. I can imagine it now. Some fop in last year’s fashion sitting in the tavern, showing a gaggle of women some scar and telling them he got it from a knife fight with a man twice his size. And then, Bam! I lift my pant leg and show them how the strongest Privileged I’d ever seen blasted a lance of sorcery-hewn metal through my kneecap.”

“You’ll leave out the crying part?”

“I’m not crying, I… What the pit are you doing?”

Nila ignited the fire around her hands. It came as easily as a thought and a twitch of her fingers, and she didn’t have time to wonder at that. She tapped the lance hesitantly. When it didn’t burn her, she grasped it with both hands, set her foot on the ground beside Bo’s leg, and pulled.

His scream almost made her lose her nerve, but she pulled harder, sliding the pole out of his knee like a needle through cloth. It came loose with a jerk and she fell backward, lance in hand, then tossed it away before she hit herself in the face with it.

Bo’s body spasmed as he was wracked with sobs. He jerked and screamed, curling on his side and clutching at his blackened ruin of a leg. She threw herself to the ground beside him and took him by the hand. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It’s out now!”

He wept uncontrollably for a few moments. “All right,” he said between sobs. “I’ll leave out the crying.” And he sagged against her.

Nila checked his pulse with one hand and then let herself slump beside him. He was still alive.

Guilt began to crowd her thoughts. Perhaps if she’d been here, she could have helped. She could have turned that Privileged into a lump of charcoal and… and who was she kidding? She was an apprentice. She would have been killed outright. Bo was very powerful, clever, and trained, and he had only barely survived the battle.

Where were the damned doctors? Wasn’t Taniel sending help? Where was he now? Probably going after his savage girl. After all the worry Bo had showed for him, Taniel couldn’t just stay here to comfort his friend who might be dying?

She looked down at Bo. He gave out a light whimper when she moved his arm out of the way of the wound. She could see through his kneecap.

Her stomach turned at the sight of it. Would he ever be able to walk again? She’d heard of healers who’d regrown whole limbs, but those had just been stories. This kind of damage seemed beyond what anyone could heal, no matter their skill.

She remembered rubbing her fingers together frantically at the Battle of Ned’s Creek and hoping and praying for the right combination of sorcery to bring down those men.

And it had worked. She’d killed thousands with a gesture.

Like from the stories.

Bo said that healers were very rare. That they took great skill. But maybe… maybe she could be something other than a killer.

Nila bit her lip and wiggled her thumb. The aether. That’s what she needed. She reached out for the Else.

“What the bloody pit do you think you’re doing?” Bo batted her outstretched hand weakly to one side. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I felt you reaching out for it. Are you mad? I… oh, pit, this hurts. I don’t know what’s in your head.”

“I thought that maybe I could just…” She shrugged.

“You could just heal me? You’re bloody mad, woman, and I’ll have no talk of that. Remember that the aether is a refined matter that creates and breaks bonds. You’re just as likely to make every particle of my body explode as you are to heal me.” Bo grimaced and let out a long whimper. “Now, promise me you won’t ever try to experiment like that on me. Ever.”

“I promise,” Nila said, feeling like a scolded schoolgirl.

“Good.” Bo let his head fall against the mud.

The crew with the horses moved off, leaving the final lance sticking from the ground, now that Bo was fully free. Three men came out of the night bearing torches. Two were the soldiers who had helped dig Bo out, and the third was a doctor.