Bound. Jen Colly

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СКАЧАТЬ across his back, some thick knots beneath his flesh left behind from where a demon had twisted a knife. The fact that the Gatekeeper had been stabbed and weakened hadn’t been a surprise to anyone. The strategy itself was calculated and logical, but Savard couldn’t get over the brutality of what they’d done. Demons hadn’t just weakened him beyond the point of putting up a fight. They’d sliced through his hamstrings, rendering his legs completely useless.

      Help hadn’t reached the Gatekeeper in time, and once it had arrived, Steffen was not the first priority. Lives were saved first, broken bodies salvaged second. In the time it took to tend to him, his wounds had closed over and mended, his badly damaged tendons fusing together incorrectly. Steffen limped and would likely do so for the remainder of his life.

      Savard stepped through the doorway of the clinic’s rehabilitation room. Mousy, sweet Elin sat on the floor facing Steffen, coaching him as he looped a stretching band around his foot and wrapped the ends around his wrists.

      Elin was the closest thing they had to a doctor. Her father, Dr. Murrell, had been killed in the attack, and she’d stepped in without being asked. Several citizens had opposed her filling the gap, not because she was a woman, but because she’d been a respectable woman who’d known how to use a sword and had killed at least one demon in the attack. Unacceptable to the aristocracy, shocking to everyone else.

      With her parents dead and society shunning her, she had nothing left but the clinic. Thankfully most of the Guardians didn’t seem to care one way or the other about her ability to use a weapon. As long as she could patch them up and keep them going, they were happy, but then came the problem of Steffen. Every night she diligently worked with him to stretch and strengthen his marred tendons. Every night, Steffen fought her, just as he did now.

      Steffen pulled his body forward and his face contorted with the effort, but he only pulled harder. Elin caught that same reaction and knelt at his side, facing him.

      “You can stop,” she said gently. When her persuasion failed to make an impact, she tried again. “Steffen, that’s enough.”

      Steffen refused to look at her, or obey. Instead he twisted the bands tighter around his hands, increasing the tension. Elin’s eyes widened, and she drove her shoulder into his. Her knees dug into the mat as she surged forward.

      Steffen grunted, her strength an unexpected surprise. She nearly had him sitting upright, completely out of the stretch, but then he regained his balance and pushed back.

      “Are you trying to land in my lap?” Steffen snapped.

      “I don’t like you that much.” Elin kept him propped upright as best she could, her shoulder still wedged under his. “You push too hard and you’ll split your hamstrings wide open again.”

      Steffen clenched his teeth, unwilling to give up the fight. Time to end this.

      “Steffen,” Savard called from the doorway. His presence startled them both, but neither relented. “Let her do her job.”

      “I don’t want to be here, Captain,” Steffen said, his jaw clenched.

      “But you are.” He dropped to a crouch before Steffen’s hunched body.

      Steffen glared at him. “I want Ivan away from my gates.”

      He’d reached his limit of what he’d take from Steffen, just as Elin had. “Work with Elin. Until she clears you, Ivan is my Gatekeeper.”

      Steffen’s lip twitched, but he didn’t speak. He suddenly straightened, forcing Elin to reach out for the ground to catch her balance.

      Elin rolled her shoulder, worked out her stressed muscles as she stepped between them and faced Steffen.

      “Wait in the office. I’ll be right in to wrap your knees. We’re done for today,” she said quietly. Steffen struggled to his feet, then limped into the next room. The door slammed shut, and Elin spun to face Savard. “You shouldn’t have done that, not with me here. He has so little, at least give him his pride.”

      “So I should give him his pride and leave him with no legs, or worse, no life?” He paused, lowering his voice, but not the intensity. “He’s my Guardian and I want him back. That gate is the only leverage I have, and I’ll use it any way I must to save his life.”

      “He’d really go into the sun over his legs?”

      He nodded. “I’ve nearly lost him in the past over less.”

      Elin brushed back a mess of stray hairs dangling loose from her braid. “I’ll do what I can for him.”

      “I’m certain you will.” He glanced around the room, making certain they were alone. “How’s Navarre?”

      “I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.” Elin plunked down on a nearby bench and rubbed her forehead, trying to hide the sudden pang of sorrow at the mention of her father, but Savard had noticed her drawn eyebrows and quivering chin. She took a long breath, then cleared her throat. “Dad taught me to pull out what didn’t belong, sew up anything gaping, set bones immediately, and that tendons are a bitch. The rest I’m making up as I go.”

      “I’m not asking for a miracle, just your best guess. Will he live?”

      “He’s nowhere near conscious. Blood pressure is crazy low. The skin hasn’t healed. I don’t think it’s even trying.” Elin lifted her shoulder slightly. “If I had to guess, I’d say Navarre hadn’t fed regularly, or recently. His body pulled him into a healing sleep with so little blood in his system that I didn’t expect him to live this long. But if his heart healed correctly with what he did get, he might survive.”

      “I’ll take might. Thank you, Elin.” He gave her a short nod and left the room.

      Several feet from the clinic door, his radio crackled. Ivan’s voice broke through for the second time in an hour. “Savard?”

      “Go ahead,” he said into the radio.

      “I’ve got one guy in the trees,” Ivan said, his voice steady.

      “Ours?”

      “Not sure. He’s hesitating.” A breath later, Ivan changed his tone. “I don’t like it.”

      “Who’s with you?”

      “Osric,” Ivan said.

      “Good. Call in Nico and Tarmon to cover the gate. You and Osric bring our visitor to the council room.” He was already on the move. “If he doesn’t come to the gates, then go get him.”

      Chapter 4

      Balinese

      Keir lifted a gnarled branch over his head and ducked beneath it. Not two feet past the branch, he stepped over a mass of dense underbrush intruding onto the narrow pathway. This was taking time, and sapping his sanity. Marching down the middle of the old country road and up to the front gate had been out of the question, but right now he’d gladly take the exposure over branches in the face and tree roots grabbing at his feet.

      Needle sharp pain jabbed his outer ankle, whipped around the front of his leg. He gritted his teeth and looked down. Stopped by the reaching arm of a thorn СКАЧАТЬ