Blood Runner: Book Three of the Empress Saga

CHAPTER FIVE

Rippling Moon took them all the way out of the palace proper and into the main courtyard. The grand entrance of the palace had only received the most basic of repairs, and its stonework remained blackened from fire damage. A collection of large tents filled the area, and imposing men and women hurried about. This was where the Lost Company now quartered themselves as the monumental task of securing Ecclesia, former capital of a fallen kingdom, dragged on.

The tent Moon brought them to was one belonging to the Lost Company's surgeons. These healers weren't the ones that had earned Enfri's resentment. Quite the opposite. She thought there was a lot she could learn from these six men. Battlefield surgeons carried a special brand of courage, possessing wits and mettle in astonishing quantity.

Also, in Enfri's brief chats with them, they had interrogated her for everything she knew of herbalism. That had proven a surefire way for the Lost Company's healers to endear themselves to her.

A number of soldiers and knights had curious looks on their faces. The sight of Jin carrying Enfri in her arms must have been an odd one. Even surrounded by goblins and dragons, Enfri felt like she stood out. Frightening.

Moon slipped inside the infirmary tent and past the surgeons. No one raised a word against it. She went to a low cot covered in fur blankets, but the man lying there was obscured from Enfri's sight.

Surgeon Cobrin barred Enfri and Jin's path into the tent. He was a ruddy man at the end of his middle-years, slender and wiry with long arms. His hair and curled mustache were both a dark burgundy with few signs of gray, and he wore an interesting apparatus about his head that could fix magnifying lenses over his eyes.

"What in the name of tides is she doing here?" Cobrin demanded of Jin. He leveled a calloused finger at Enfri's face. "Waves, but the Lady Yora was halfway into the grave just yesterday. Look at that dark skin! She just can't pull in enough sunlight at this latitude. No. Put her back, and make her rest."

Jin arched an eyebrow at him. "If you wish to debate it with her..."

Cobrin's eyes narrowed, and his voice went flat. "I'd rather man the stormbreak again."

The way everyone talked, one might think Enfri was a terror. She didn't much care for that reputation— completely unearned, she might add— though it was proving convenient.

Ignoring all this slander flying around her head, Enfri gestured for Jin to set her on her feet. "Is it true that the kith scouts brought Ban back with them?"

"Aye," Cobrin replied. His eyes darkened. "The Karst is in poor shape, my lady. He walked through Hell to get as far as he did. We've tended the worst of it, and the captain has always been a tough blaggard, but..." Cobrin scratched at his head. "Mayhaps you can see to him. His... well, I'll let you take your measure. This is outside of what they taught at the university."

"What sort of injuries?" Enfri asked while Jin kept a steadying hand on her arm.

"Broken bones, mostly," Cobrin said. "Exposure. Some frostbite on his feet and hands, but we've seen to that much."

"Ataxi and feywort?"

"Aye, but for a lad his size, I added an ounce of powdered nettle root into the mix."

Enfri logged that away to write down later. She'd rarely had much cause to treat frostbite before, and she appreciated Cobrin passing on his knowledge.

The surgeon grabbed a stool and placed it next to Moon by the sickbed. He held Enfri's hand to help her sit.

"Winds show mercy," Enfri whispered once she had a look at Ban.