Believe: The Complete Channie Series (123 page)

“It was a stinging spell. Actually it was
three
stinging spells.” Diego narrowed his puffy eyelids at the trips then turned back to Josh. “Nothing but time can heal a magical injury.”

Liz’s injuries were much more serious than Diego’s and Josh had healed her. This shouldn’t be too hard. He closed his eyes and imagined his magic flowing over Diego’s skin, reducing the swelling, soothing the pain.

Diego gasped then sighed, long and loud. “Thank you.”

Josh opened his eyes but they immediately rolled into the back of his head. He didn’t pass out completely, but he was too dizzy to stay on his feet.

Diego caught him before he hit the ground and placed him on the cot he’d been occupying. “Savvy, go find your Aunt Wisdom and tell her Josh passed out.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re white as a ghost.”

Wisdom insisted Josh spend the night in the medical tent. She also insisted on giving him an IV.

“I thought you healed people with magic.”

“If I used magic for every little problem, I’d be too drained to handle a real emergency. You’re exhausted and dehydrated. I’m willing to bet you’ve got low blood sugar too. An IV will take care of your dehydration and low blood sugar, but more importantly, it will keep you tethered to this cot where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Ow!” Josh glared at her as she tried to thread the needle into a vein on the top of his hand. “Have you even done this before?”

She bit her lip as she wiggled the needle back and forth. She jabbed at his vein again. “There! I knew I could do it.”

Josh laid back and tried to connect with Channie through their bond.

Wisdom smacked his arm. “Cut that out.”

“What?”

“You are dangerously low on magic. Keep that bond shut until I tell you it’s okay to use it.”

“Can you really see it, or are you just guessing?”

“I can see it.” She adjusted the drip rate on his IV then left to check on her other patients.

Josh waited until everyone was asleep then reached out to Channie again. The glow from their bond was weak, like a flashlight under a blanket. She was asleep, but still reachable. Not comatose, like she’d been after he used the be-calm spell on her.

He kept his own grief buried and let her love flow into his heart. It wasn’t enough to heal the ragged hole left by Shep’s death, but it helped. Sometime in the middle of the night, Josh felt the presence of another mage. “Hunter?”

“Yeah. Can we talk?” His voice was ragged, as if he’d been shouting…or crying…for hours.

Josh sat up and scooted over, making room for Hunter to sit beside him. His IV tugged at his hand, but it was nothing compared to the way Hunter’s pain tugged at his heart.

Hunter wrapped his arms around his stomach and rocked forward. He took a long, shuddering breath. “How’d it happen?”

Josh didn’t want to relive Shep’s death, but if it helped Hunter deal with it in any manner whatsoever, he owed it to him. He glossed over the gory details and emphasized Shep’s courage. “He didn’t hesitate. He just ran for the gate, intent on saving the hostages.”

“Did he suffer?”

“No.” Josh’s eyes filled with tears as he remembered the shocked look on Shep’s face. “I tried to save him, but…Tim stopped me.”

Hunter twisted sideways to look at Josh. “You tried to save him? How?”

“With magic.” Josh stared at his hands and picked at the tape over his IV. He couldn’t look at Hunter. “But I wasn’t strong enough.”

“I’m glad Tim stopped you.”

Josh looked into Hunter’s eyes and frowned.

“I saw Shep’s wounds while I was dressing his body. You couldn’t have saved him, even if you’d poured all your life into him.” Hunter leaned into Josh, resting his head against his shoulder. “All that would’ve done was kill you, too.”

“So…you’re not mad at me?”

“Not anymore.” Hunter sighed then sat up straighter. “At first, I thought that if you hadn’t asked me to stay behind, I might have been able to shoot the son of a bitch before he killed Shep.”

“Maybe you would have.”

“I don’t blame you for Shep’s death. There’s only one person to blame and that’s Dominance.” Hunter clenched his jaw so tightly, Josh could hear him grinding his teeth. “Just promise me that when you kill her on solstice night, that you’ll think of Shep.”

For the first time since learning he was a mage, Josh actually believed he’d have the courage to kill his own grandmother.

“I promise.”

When
Wisdom removed Josh’s IV the next morning, she told him he could use his heart-bond to connect with Channie, but to take it easy. “No more than five minutes once an hour.”

“Thank you for the advice.” He had no intention of following it. He’d told Hunter about Wisdom’s orders last night and Hunter had simply put a pillow over Josh’s chest, blocking the glow.

He always felt her love, but he also felt her fear. She’d been kidnapped and was being held hostage so it was only natural that she’d be terrified. Josh poured love and comfort through their bond for hours, even though it drained him. He didn’t relax until Channie finally drifted off to sleep. He kept their connection open, even as he slept, but shut it down when Wisdom entered the tent to make her morning rounds.

She wiped the site of Josh’s IV with moonshine then stuck a band-aid on it. “I want you to eat two meals today. The Cumberland Mountain mages are bringing more food and medical supplies next week, so don’t argue with me.”

“Is everyone else getting two meals today?”

“All the Black Mountain refugees as well as the men that rescued them are.” Wisdom shoved a green pouch into his hands. “Eat.”

Josh glanced at the label and read, ’chicken enchilada.’ His stomach growled. He must be starving if the thought of eating a MRE could make his mouth water. He swallowed then grabbed Wisdom’s wrist before she could dart out of the tent. “We need to talk about you going behind my back and telling our best fighters not to volunteer.”

“I merely pointed out the likelihood of high casualties and that since you were asking for volunteers, participation was optional.”

“If you want these people to accept me as their ‘general and future king…’ Josh stood up and folded his arms across his chest. “You can’t do crap like that.”

“You’re right.” Wisdom nodded—shocking the hell out of Josh. “I’m not used to being second in command.”

Josh had planned on making Tim his second, but Wisdom had more experience. As long as she stopped trying to undermine him, and didn’t use any more death pledges, she was the logical choice. Everyone was already used to her being in charge.

After licking the inside of the MRE pouch clean, Josh decided to go check on Prudence. He wanted to do it without Wisdom’s knowledge…or interference. He strengthened the stinging spell on his backpack and left it in his tent. He didn’t want the Book of the Dead to set her off again.

He greeted the men guarding her cage then raised his shield and crept closer, as if approaching a dangerous animal. He kept his voice low. “Hello, Prudence.”

Her eyes shifted back and forth in her head before locking onto his gaze. “What do you want?”

The fact that she was talking to him instead of screaming obscenities was a huge improvement. “Do you know who I am?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re that bicycle racer that Channie’s been drooling over.”

“I’m her husband.”

Magic charged the air, but it didn’t feel threatening. Prudence grabbed the bars of her cage and pressed her face between them. “Where’s Channie? I want to see my baby girl.”

Josh didn’t want to remind her that she planned to kill Channie. “She’s not here.”

“Where’s Abby?”

“She’s…not here either.” Did she really not remember murdering her daughter? Maybe Wisdom’s treatment plan involved memory suppression. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“I’m sick.” Prudence smoothed her hands over her wispy, white hair. “But I’m getting better. Wisdom says I have to stay here until I’m healed.”

Josh smiled at her as relief washed over him. Tears of gratitude blurred his vision. He wouldn’t have to kill her after all. “Just keep listening to Wisdom and do everything she says. Okay?”

“Will you come see me again?” Prudence reached for Josh through the bars of her cage. “I’m so lonely.”

“Sure.” He took her hand in both of his and was surprised by how fragile it felt. Her skin was as dry and thin as paper. It was hard to believe this was the same person that had flung herself against the bars of her cage just a few days ago, trying to kill him.

“Bring Channie and Abby with you when you come back. I miss my girls.”

Josh turned away, unable to meet her gaze. He hurried down the trail and nodded at the guards as he passed. He was glad that Prudence was better and even happier that he wouldn’t need to kill her, but he’d never be able to trust her, even if she released Channie from the death pledge. What if she relapsed? Channie would never be safe as long as her mother was alive. Panic squeezed Josh’s chest. He picked up the pace and broke into a jog, then took off at a dead run. He skirted the main camp and ran around the lake.

He missed his bike, but running was the next best thing for stress relief. By the time he made it back to camp, his sides heaved. Sweat ran down the indentation of his spine and pooled beneath his arms. His clothes clung to his body. He ran a hand through his sweaty hair then cast a cleansing spell on himself. He was as clean as if he’d just showered, but the spell didn’t revive him the way soap and hot water would have. He was no longer sleep deprived, but he was exhausted. What he needed was a couple of hours alone in his tent, connected to Channie through their heart-bond. But when he rounded the corner, there was at least thirty people crowded around the front of his tent.
What the hell?

“Mr. Veyjivik! Mr. Veyjivik!”

Josh sprinted to his tent. “What’s wrong?”

A middle-aged man spit a stream of tobacco juice onto the ground. “You’re late.”

Josh ran through the day’s schedule in his mind, but came up blank. “Late for what?”

“Arbitration.”

“Huh?”

“We been waiting for you to get settled in, but it’s been nigh onto three weeks now and some of us is tired of waiting.” The man’s mouthful of chewing tobacco, coupled with his strong accent, made it difficult to understand him.

“Okay…” Josh searched the crowd for a familiar face. He recognized a couple of people as Black Mountain refugees, but he didn’t even know their names. “What can I do for you?”

The crowd surrounded him, shouting at him and each other, vying for his attention.

“Hey!” Josh held up both hands, palms out. “Settle down. I can’t understand any of you. One at a time.”

They paused for a moment then shouted even louder as they jostled and shoved each other, trying to get to the head of the line.

Josh put his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

Everyone froze.

“That’s better.”

Tim seemed to appear out of nowhere. Quite a feat, considering the man’s size. “Need any help, Valor?”

“Can you organize these people?” Josh ran a hand through his hair. “Apparently, I have office hours.”

Tim nodded and lifted the flap of Josh’s tent. “Ms. Wisdom keeps the Book of judgments in a box under the cot. Go ahead get set up. I’ll send the first whiner inside whenever you’re ready.”

Josh was relieved to find the “Book of judgments” was a simple, non-magical journal. He stacked two crates together to make a desk and sat on the end of his cot. It didn’t exactly put him in a “power position” but he didn’t feel like standing. He found a pen and entered the date at the top of a new page.

“Okay, Tim, I’m ready.”

At first it was entertaining. One man was upset because another man’s dog had gotten his coon hound pregnant. The accused was upset because the other guy refused to give him the pick of the litter as a stud fee.

“How do you even know which dog got yours pregnant?”

“On account of them pups being the ugliest dang things I ever seen.”

“Spot might be ugly, but he’s got the best nose of any dog here.”