An hour later, I was back with Aelyn on our wagon. We were entering a cleared area of meadows and low bushes. About half a stad ahead the trail narrowed again and paralleled a steep hillside on the right. To the left was the river, foaming over a set of cataracts. This would have been a dreadful place to meet the theranaq; the noise muffling their footsteps, and the river and hillside blocking any escape. I shuddered to myself.

  The slope was heavily forested, and I could see little evidence of life. I frowned and realized that I could not see the usual movements of small flying or climbing lizards. And there were none of the usual calls from small animals.

  “Aelyn,” I said, “do you have a pair of—” I grasped for the word for binoculars, “—far-seers?”

  “What are those?” he asked.

  “No matter.” I thought for a moment. My shields were typically a flat plane, but there was no reason they could not curve. I focused intently, and pulled up a small barrier, then shaped it into a convex lens. After a bit of effort, I should make out an inverted tree on the hillside. I scowled and formed a small concave lens behind the first. I had to move the two back and forth, and fiddle with the curvature, before I had a decent image. By this time, we were halfway across the clearing.

  I focused on the slope. At first. I saw nothing but trees, shrubs, and rocks. Then I picked out a straight line, conspicuous by its regularity. I followed it down and saw my first goblin.

  Its face was green, marred by jagged black stripes that extended from the temples to the chin. The teeth were sharp; natural or filed, I could not tell. It wore a rough leather vest and hooked to the garment were a couple of knives.

  I panned back and forth, and saw three or four more goblins, all stock still.

  “Aelyn,” I said urgently. “There’s an ambush up ahead.”

  His gaze snapped up to the hillside. “Where?”

  I pulled the crude telescope before him. “Look here…no, a little to the side. There.”

  “Shit!” He pulled a horn from beneath the bench and blew once. There was a short, harsh blatting noise. I could see the leading wagons pull to a halt. Aelyn reined Sella in and yanked up on a brake handle. He reached behind and pulled out a bow and a quiver full of arrows. He dropped off the wagon and headed up the trail. I followed him closely.

  Mast met us at the head of the caravan.

  “Report.”

  “Goblins,” said Aelyn. “Up the hillside. I saw at least two.”

  Mast looked at me.

  “I saw four,” I said. “And those were the careless ones.”

  Katrina appeared to my right with her Blade. I saw Aelyn move into a blocking position between them and me.

  “What now?” she asked.

  Mast jerked a thumb at me. “She sees an ambush,” he said. “We’re going to lager up and probe.” He pointed at the narrow trail ahead. “No way to defend ourselves once we’re in there.”

  She sneered and glanced at the hillside. “I see nothing from up here. How could she make out anything from a quarter stad back? We are wasting time.”

  Mast ignored her and swung his arm in a wide circle. His motion was repeated down the line of wagons, which began to form a crude circle. I saw Ryanth hop onto ours and chivy Sella over to the left.

  Katrina growled in frustration. “It’s completely quiet,” she said.

  “Too quiet,” They looked at me, and I shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

  For a moment, I thought Mast’s mouth twitched. He pointed at Aelyn and jerked his thumb towards the slope. “Push up there and see what you can stir up.”

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  “Wait a tock,” I said. “Can’t we just toss a fireball up there? The risk would be much less.”

  “Child,” said Katrina, “why don’t you leave the combat decisions to the combat Mages?” She jerked her head at the hillside. “Any idiot could tell you that the distance is too far for a fireball.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “This is my Blade we’re talking about.”

  She smiled spitefully and turned away.

  I pulled up a HEAT round. I could hear Aelyn saying something about heading back to the wagon but ignored him. I fed mana into the propulsion spell, and then into the detonator. I picked an aiming point just downslope from my last sighting of a goblin and fired the spell.

  There was a streak and a crack as the charge detonated at the base of a boulder. The group turned as one, and watched as the boulder shattered, throwing two goblins upwards, accompanied by pieces of a third. I winced and swallowed heavily as my gorge rose. Rocks and dust poured down the slope, and then the hillside came alive as a horde of goblins erupted from the brush and charged for the trail.

  “There you go,” I said. “What a friend of mine would call ‘reconnaissance by fire’.”

  Aelyn turned to look at me. His expression was unreadable.

  “Can you go back to the wagon please? And prepare to receive wounded?”

  “Sure,” I said. He turned towards the oncoming mob. “Aelyn,” I beckoned him in, and then kissed him on the lips. “Be careful.”

  I turned and walked away without looking back. I had to clench my hands to stop them from shaking.

  The beginning was difficult; I had to deal with three serious casualties at once.

  Jard was one of the first arrivals. He was pulled into the wagon by two other guards, both bearing superficial lacerations. Jard himself had a foot-long dagger or short sword embedded in the left lower abdomen. He lay on the stretcher, pale and shaking, and looked at me. He shook his head.

  “Don’t waste your time, Missy. This here is a gut wound. Seen what happens with ‘em. Ain’t got no chance.”

  “What do you do for a living, Jard?”

  “Fight.”

  “Well, I heal. So, let’s agree on something. I won’t tell you how to swing a spear, and you won’t tell me how to treat a puncture wound. Fair?”

  I put a hand on the dagger. “I’m going to pull this out now. Ready?”

  “You telling me it’s not gonna hurt?”

  “Jard. Are you an idiot? It’s going to hurt like a motherfucker.”

  He started to laugh and then cried out when I withdrew the blade. I sniffed it and smelt the odor of feces.

  “It penetrated your bowel,” I said. “This will take a couple of minutes.” I began to cast my spell. This time I looked deeper, into the abdomen and the retroperitoneal structures. I slowly became aware of a laceration in the sigmoid colon and then caught sight of a pulse of blood from the iliac artery. I wrapped my spell around each structure, sealing the wounds, and then passed the spell around the area to clean up the contamination. Finally, I closed the skin.

  When I raised my head, Jard was staring at his abdomen. He cautiously ran his fingers over the unmarred surface and then pushed gently. He raised his gaze to me.

  “Lady Circe—” he said, “—I. Thank you.”

  “Sure,” I said. I slapped him on the shoulder and motioned him off the stretcher. “Next!”

  As time wore on, the flood became a stream of wounded, and then a trickle, until no one else arrived.

  When I emerged from the wagon, the yellow sun was just over the edge of the ridge, and its blue companion only a little higher. A complex pattern of double shadows lay across the meadow from the light filtering through the trees. I saw Aelyn speaking with Mast and walked over to him. I took his arm, and turned him around in a complete circle, looking for any injury. There was blood on his right sleeve, and a green stain on the front of his shirt. He caught me examining the stains.

  “None of it is mine,” he said.

  I looped my arm through his and looked at Mast.

  “Leader’s conference,” he said. I could see a group of three Mages and their Blades striding up to us.

  “Where do you want me?” I asked.

  “Here. You’re our Healer.” His mouth quirked. “Toss a mean fireball, as well.”

  Katrina leaned into my personal space. Her glare was unchanged. Did that woman ever smile?

  “Where is it?” she said.

  “Where is what?” I was conscious of Aelyn by my side. His arm slipped from mine, and his hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

  “Your artifact,” She pointed at the hillside, where the scar of the HEAT round was still evident. “That made that—mess.”

  “Ah,” I considered her, “Well, for an artifact to cause that amount of damage—it would really only last one shot.” She stared at me. “Really: how could it survive more than a single discharge?”

  “Where did you get it?”

  “Originally? Well, you could say it came from Chai’Noch, via my mentor.”

  “Who is she?” Katrina leaned in, gaze intense.

  “Her name was Elandra. She died during an attack by the collared.”

  “How convenient,” Katrina scoffed. “As to the collared—they are a folk tale, nothing more.”

  I felt my temper flare. “Tell that to my previous Blade, you supercilious bitch.”

  Her teeth pulled back from her lips. “Watch your tongue, child. A Healer does not do well when she confronts a battle Mage.”

  “The goblins,” I said, “might disagree.”

  “Enough,” said Mast. He turned to Aelyn. “What of the goblins?”

  “Largely eliminated,” said Aelyn. “A few scattered. Not enough to mount a second attack.”

  “Good. Nonetheless—” he looked around the group, “—tomorrow we push out scouts at least two stads ahead. All of you—” he swept his arm in a circle “—rest tonight. If there is another ambush, I want you ready to receive it.”

  He looked from person to person. “Well, go.”

  Aelyn took my arm and gently pulled me towards the Elven wagons.

  “Let us go back to our people,” he said.