His Hand In The Shadows

Chapter 38: Who Is He?

Ayla knelt beside Zayd, her white shirt muddy and red. She brought her hand to his forehead. Hot. Better than cold. She held his face, looking into his eyes. He was looking through her. His hands glued to the staff, half the circular head lodged in his abdomen. His purple tunic was sponging the blood. "Reyes!" she shouted. "Reyes! Take it out."

Reyes knelt before Zayd. He pulled the staff out and the blood came with it.

"It looks bad. Can you fix it?" Her breathing was heavy like she was the one bleeding out on the ground. She swore she could feel the pain of the circular blade lodged in her own gut as life slipped from her too. She wanted to switch places with him, take the pain for him. "What should I do? Do you need me to apply pressure?"

"No. I need to see it."

Ayla pulled up Zayd's tunic and undershirt.

Reyes examined the wound then marked two lines of his blood in his palm. "Krios onwent haquel cus." He held his hand over the wound.

Ayla tilted Zayd's face to her. "Look at me," she told him softly. He looked at her with heavy eyes. She clapped his face. "Zayd." Her touch softened as she ran her fingers along his face. "Reyes is healing you."

Zayd nodded.

Reyes worked from the inside out, repairing the muscle first, then rejoining the fat before stitching the skin back into itself. The blood faded as time unwinded.

She could feel relief taking her over. "You're okay." Ayla brushed his hair back from his face, his eyes regaining their light.

"All good." Reyes made it look easy but healing such injuries had taken years to master.

Ayla held Zayd's face with both hands. "How do you feel?"

He pulled her to him. Unable to hold on too tightly, he brushed her hair down. Color was returning to his face but he didn't speak.

Reyes flipped his hands over before his eyes trying to soothe the shakiness. Not looking at Zayd, he told him, "When I said to hold on to her staff, I did not mean for you to hold on to it with your stomach. You could have died, Zayd."

There was one part of Reyes Ayla could sympathize with and it was the part that wanted Zayd alive and well. She squeezed Zayd tightly against her but loosened her grip, scared he would hurt. He really could've died and the scary thing was he would have no regrets about it.

A painful smile formed on Zayd's face. "How else could I? She would never leave the staff with me otherwise." His voice was a quiet rasp, slowly returning to its former strength. He pulled Ayla's face to him "But you two... working together. I never thought to see the day. I—"

With a thud, Reyes fell to the ground.

"Is he dead?" Ayla asked Zayd. "Hey!" She slapped Reyes' face,a little too hard. "Reyes!" A smudge of blood appeared in the center of his stomach and started to grow. Ayla lifted his shirt. She gaped at the scars. Two curved incisions scars meeting at his right lower stomach. The first cutting across and the second stretching up to his ribs. 'His kidney.' Near his navel he had a slanted cut fading to his side like a sword's slash. On both sides of his ribs, two more slashes. 'Who could survive such damage? He really is a beast.' She shook as she lifted his shirt up further, looking at the slash across his chest and the two scars near his collar bones. She released his shirt suddenly recalling the matter at hand.

Her eyes lowered to his abdomen. Above his navel, blood was flowing from an odd cut. None like she had seen before. It appeared deep from the blood flow but the skin was holding itself together, only barely. The skin was tearing under the pressure, like buttons bursting from a tight suit.