He picked up speed and was running in a few steps. He would be here before I could clear my mind enough to fight back. I tried to push Cate away. If I was a goner, I wanted to save her. She wouldn’t move. Then something crossed my sight, streaking toward the Sidhe. Olan pulled up at the last minute and raked his talons across the Sidhe’s cheeks. He stopped and rubbed his hands against the wounds. I saw the blood drip through and his healing spell close the wound almost as quickly as Olan had caused it.
“Please get up, Quinn.” Cate’s voice in my ear was strained and I realized she was trying to lift me all by herself. “I can’t carry you and we need to go now.”
“Can you calm the pain? I can barely stand; if you can do something for the pain I’ll be fine. I will run.”
“I don’t have any strength left. I’m sorry.”
“You always were bad at conserving your strength.” I laughed, and then drew in a breath at the agony that tore through me. “Let me lean on you so I can stand.”
She knelt and I put my arm on her shoulder. Then she grunted and stood. “Okay, you run and I’ll be right behind you. Go to my place. The doors will let you in.”
“No, we go together.”
I looked at her; there were tears in her eyes. “Okay, you lead. I’m right behind you.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ll follow. If you fall down I’ll know and help you.”
“Okay, just run.” The Sidhe would need a few minutes to recharge after healing himself. I didn’t think spending that time arguing would be a good idea.
She stopped and threw a spell behind us and then gave me a little push. “I thought you didn’t have any strength left?”
“Shut up, Quinn. You know healing takes five times the energy that casting does.”
We made it past the three drug dealers. I couldn’t run, but if I held my arm close to my body, I could walk fast. I noticed the dealers started looking around to see who was chasing us. As if there was a signal, they faded off in different directions. Damn, if the Sidhe was going to chase us I was counting on the presence of humans to discourage him from attacking again.
Olan swooped past me and circled as if trying to land on my shoulder. My stomach rebelled at the thought of even his tiny weight. “Don’t you dare,” I gritted through my teeth.
He veered and landed on Cate’s shoulder.
“You can slow down. The Sidhe isn’t coming after you.”
I didn’t think of arguing, I didn’t really have the energy to run home. “What did you throw back there?”
Cate snickered. “It was a honey spell. I dumped two gallons of sticky mess on his head. He may have healed the wounds, but by now he’s covered in bits of bark and leaves and anything else he stumbled into.”
“Almost tempted to go back to see the mess,” I said. My energy was fading away, we needed to get home to my house, and I needed to rest. “But let’s keep going.”
I was moving so slowly, it took almost half an hour to get to my front door and then Cate had to go and set a chair just inside the front door. I collapsed into it and heard a groan spill from my lips.
“Do you have any willow bark?” Cate touched my shoulder. I knew she was being gentle but it sent fire through my bones.
“In the cupboard above the sink.”
“Any chocolate?”
“I didn’t know chocolate had healing powers.” I thought I knew all the healing plants; I’d needed them enough in training.
“No, dope. It’s for energy. I eat the chocolate and then I can fix your shoulder.”
I figured she was working really hard to stop herself from slapping me. “Sorry, I’m not thinking very clearly.”
She went to the kitchen to brew willow bark tea. I left the chair and stumbled into the living room and sat in my big leather chair. I tried to think what we could do next, and all that entered my mind was pain, I’m in pain.
“Here.” Cate handed me a mug. “Drink it in one swallow.
I looked in the mug, the liquid was thick. I’d never seen willow bark tea so strong. “It’s barely liquid.”
“You can moan all you want. You decide whether to drink the tea and feel better or not drink it and wait for your shoulder to heal all by itself.”
“Okay. Did you put any honey in there?”
“Yes, lots.” She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips, waiting for me to do something.
I took a deep breath then exhaled, tipped the mug to my lips, opening my throat and hoping nothing hit my tongue. I could smell the bitterness of the liquid. It hit my stomach and I felt warmth rise first in my stomach then in my bones. “You put something else in there.”
“Yep, you’ll feel sleepy in a minute.”
My eyelids drooped and the last thing I saw was her stepping forward with her hands reaching for my shoulder.
Chapter Seventeen
The sun was shining in my eyes when I opened them again. I couldn’t see Cate anywhere, but I was still in my chair, and my shoulder didn’t hurt. Well, not quite as much. The pain was now at the level of a twinge. I rotated my shoulder and was surprised it worked.
My energy level was almost back to full. I got away from that fight better than I expected. “Coffee I need coffee.”
“What?” Cate’s voice came from my bedroom.
“I said, coffee, would you like some?” The thought of Cate in my bed made me feel a bit weak. “How are you feeling?”
She came into the kitchen pulling her hair into a ponytail and yawning. “Yes, please. I feel fine. Before you put the coffee on, do you have any food? If not, we should go out for breakfast. We need to get a good meal in us or we’ll collapse at the first sign of resistance.”
I opened the cupboards and took down a tin of steel-cut oatmeal. “This will do it. I’ll make the coffee, will you make the oatmeal?”
Cate took the tin from me and poured water in a pot. I measured out the coffee and put the espresso maker on the stove. I could tell the oatmeal would be heavy so I checked the fridge. “Here’s some cream. And I think there’s some dried fruit in that container.”
Between us we got breakfast on the table without any injuries, but I realized she was right. Just getting food on the table had made me tired and more than a little dizzy.
“I’ve never used up so much of myself. How long will it take us to get back to normal?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. And, even if I did know, what if I said a week? We can’t wait. I think if we just eat every few hours, we can keep our energy high enough to do what needs to be done.”
I marked a luck rune on the table. If we ran out of energy, then we might as well give up now. There was no point in annoying the Sidhe if we couldn’t bring the point home.
“What did you put in that tea? It healed my shoulder like a miracle.”
“It wasn’t the tea. I just put you to sleep so I could examine your shoulder.” She held her coffee cup up to me in salute. “I’m impressed you managed to get home. Your shoulder was dislocated. No permanent damage but it must have been a lot of pain. I popped it back in while you were asleep.”
“Thanks.” I felt like a big he-wizard.
“Olan is gone.” Cate picked a sliced of dried apple out of her oatmeal and chewed it.
“He does that. I remember him raking the face of the Sidhe but I don’t remember anything after that.”
“How do you know when to worry about him?”
“I don’t worry about him. Nothing can hurt him for long.” I was starting to feel the benefit of the coffee and oatmeal.
“But he can be hurt, right. Can we do this without him?”
“You don’t know Olan. He can be as much hindrance as help.” I felt mean saying that, he’d saved my life after all. “I mean he has his own agenda, like everyone.”
“I’m still worried.” Cate finished her oatmeal and put the bowl in the sink.
“Okay if he doesn’t show up soon, we can try to seek him. I’ve got some good seeker spells I haven’t tried.”
Cate smile at me and I felt warm all over. “I’ve been thinking,” she said.