Brianna was looking down at him, her face bright red from cold and exertion. Her dark hair seemed like the exact opposite of the woman in his dream, and at first he resented her. Why had she been so insistent that he wake? Why couldn’t she just let him go?
“Oh, thank God,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up. I got the staff. .” She hesitated. “But it’s broken, Zollin. I don’t know if it’s going to work.”
She pulled the pieces of the broken staff from over her shoulder, like Mansel drawing his sword. Zollin reached up, and his arms felt so heavy it took all his strength just to reach for the staff, but he managed it. He could feel the magic inside the wood. If felt small, but it was there.
“I can feel it,” he said.
“You can feel the magic?” Brianna asked.
“Yes. It’s there. Do we have any more wine?”
“Only a little.”
“I need it,” he said.
She lifted his head and let the last of the wine dribble into his open mouth. The entire process was painful. Zollin’s head hurt, not just an aching pain, but it was sore to the touch, especially the back of his head. His neck was stiff too, and every muscle in his shoulders and neck seemed to cramp as he moved. He swallowed the wine and let the liquid warm him. Normally he felt the heat from the wine spread through his body, but this time it disappeared as it slid down his throat and into his stomach. He knew it was there, but he couldn’t feel it.
Then, clutching both pieces of the staff, he closed his eyes. He let the magic from the staff carry him. It was like floating on water. He let his mind dive deep inside his body. It was hard; the magic seemed weak, and Zollin didn’t know if that was because the staff had been broken or if it was simply because he had grown so accustomed to his own power, which had dwarfed that of the staff. Still, he was able to use the magic of the staff to feel his way through the muscle and bone and find the fractures in his back. He healed the bones and cartilage easily enough, but the damage to the delicate nerves in his spinal cord also needed to be healed. He had to sort through hundreds of hair-like tendrils, identifying each one and checking to see if it was broken or severed. If it was, he healed it only after finding the right pieces. It was slow and exhausting work, but eventually his spine was completely healed. His pain had increased with each connection he made, but finally he felt his own magic again. It felt like the only warm thing in his body.
He took his time making sure nothing else was broken or seriously damaged, but he found nothing else wrong. He was bruised all along his back and down his legs. He knew his skin was black and blue, and the muscles were stiff from lying on the ice for so long. But fortunately, the cold had kept the swelling down. He took a few moments to heal the spots where frostbite had set in. His toes were beginning to freeze, but with a touch of magic they warmed, the wasted flesh returning to life as his magic passed through them. All that was left to do now was to loosen the aching muscles, which he could do either using his magic or the old-fashioned way. But the sound of the dragon roaring and thrashing in the ice and snow not far away was all the motivation he needed to get moving.
“I think I can get up now,” he said to Brianna.
She had been watching him nervously. Time had seemed to pass so slowly as he lay perfectly still, each hand clutching a piece of his broken staff. When his eyes fluttered open she felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. Hope appeared like the sun after a long, terrifying night.
“Oh, let me get up,” she said.
Zollin waited while Brianna propped herself up on the icy walls. Her face was red with cold, and her eyes watched him nervously.
“I think I’m okay,” he assured her. “Just really stiff. My back was broken, but I healed it. You saved my life.”
“Of course I did,” she said jokingly. “What did you expect?”
“I don’t know,” he said through gritted teeth as he raised his knees. “I sort of thought I was going to die.”
“I would never let that happen,” she teased.
“Can you give me a hand?”
She stepped carefully down where his feet had been. It was the first time she had been in the hole and not directly on top of him. She held out both hands and he took them, letting the staff fall to either side of his body as she pulled him up. Every muscle screamed in pain. Bones popped in their sockets, and blood rushed to his head. Zollin swayed dizzily, shutting his eyes and holding onto Brianna until the waves of dizziness and nausea passed. Then he flexed each muscle, bending his legs and rising up on his toes. The muscles were sore, but still strong enough. His stomach burned with hunger and his mouth was dry.
“We need to get out of here,” he said.
“Can you climb?
“No, but I can get myself out of this hole.”
“The surface is all loose snow. It’s hard to move through,” she told him.
“Well, we can’t stay here.”
“I know, I just wanted you to be sure. I’ll go first and then you can follow me. That way you won’t have to break a trail. Where are we going?”
“Away from the dragon,” Zollin said. “I’m not strong enough for another fight.”
“Okay, that sounds like a good plan to me,” she agreed.
Brianna climbed to the top of their hole and peered out. She could see the billowing clouds of steam where the dragon was thrashing. It was a good distance from them, but she still felt a sense of urgency. She climbed out of the hole and began trudging through the snow. Zollin watched her go, then picked up their supplies. Just bending over was painful and reminded Zollin of how sore he used to get after spending days hauling wood with his father in Tranaugh Shire. Although they got most of their wood from a mill, there were times when Quinn needed a certain type of wood. They would go into the forest and spend hours felling a tree and then cutting off branches so that the trunk could be hauled to the mill. He would go to bed on those nights and then wake up feeling as if every muscle were in revolt.
Zollin picked up the two pieces of his staff. He felt the familiar crackle of magic as the power from the staff joined with his own. Then an idea formed, and he knew exactly what he would do with the staff. He tucked the pieces under one arm and slowly lifted himself using his magic. He felt heavy and his heart raced at the exertion, but he was soon out of the hole. The sun was up now, and as Zollin looked around he could see that there wasn’t much in the way of shelter in the canyon now that it was filled with snow and debris from the avalanche.
“This way,” Brianna said.
Zollin nodded and followed her.
Chapter 4
It was only moments before Zollin was gasping for breath. His body ached from fighting his way through the snow. He could hear the dragon behind him, but the beast’s frantic efforts were sounding farther away. Brianna set a very demanding pace even though she was breaking a trail through the snow that was sometimes waist deep. Zollin soon lost track of time and direction, his chest ached, and there was a sharp pain in his side. His legs burned, and he had to use the broken pieces of his staff to help him keep his balance on the uneven trail.
Zollin could feel a strange desire that was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Somewhere, deep inside his magic, he could feel an enticement drawing him. It was like the smell of cooking food to a starving man. He knew it was out of reach, and yet he couldn’t help but want to go. He felt like running to the source of the mysterious desire. He knew he needed to raise his internal defenses, but all he could think about was keeping up with Brianna.