Bloodfire Quest (The Dark Legacy of Shannara, #2)(57)

They were silent for a moment, mulling this over. “What are you going to do?” the boy asked her finally.

“I don’t know. That’s what the argument was about. Do I go back into the Fangs and find the Ard Rhys, or do I stick around here and help the Elves fight off the demonkind that are breaking free? Aphen will go off with her sister to find something called the Bloodfire so the Ellcrys can be saved. She wants me to stay here and do what I can for her people. It’s a difficult choice. I’m still thinking about it.”

She looked at him, her fierce face tight and hard. “I can tell you one thing, Railing Ohmsford. You are not going anywhere until that leg heals. And that will take weeks unless you do what I tell you.”

He stared at her, not at all sure where this was going. “What do you mean?”

“Mirai has a level head on her shoulders. She will likely exercise better judgment than you when it comes to helping your brother. So I want you to promise me you will listen to her and do what she says when it’s time to go after him. Do that, and I’ll see to it that you’re healed. Today.”

He straightened up at once. “You can do that?”

“I can and I will. Do I have your promise?”

He nodded quickly. “You do.”

“Don’t give it lightly and don’t think you can go back on your word and not pay a price for doing so. Mirai is loyal and will stick with you on this, but if you betray either her or myself, you will live to regret it. By giving me your word now, you are promising that no matter what happens, you will do what she tells you.”

“I’ll keep my word,” he said. He couldn’t imagine going up against Mirai, in any case.

She held his gaze for a long moment. “Good enough. Come with me.”



They retraced Seersha’s footsteps, moving at a pace that allowed Railing to keep up. They had gone only a short distance when they encountered Mirai coming toward them. Railing tried hard to hide what he was feeling just at the prospect of having her close again.

“Where are you off to?” she asked, coming up to them. Her eyes shifted from one to the other. “Is everything all right?”

“I doubt it,” Seersha replied. “But I’ve told Railing we might at least do something about his leg. Is Aphen still at the cottage?”

Mirai nodded. “Is your argument with her over?”

“Over and done. She’s my friend. I reacted badly. But that’s in the past. Want to come along?”

The three of them continued walking, Mirai linking her arm in Railing’s to give him added support as they went. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said.

She gave him a smirk. “So I can nurse you back to health, no doubt. What does Seersha have in mind for your leg?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t said.”

“Are you rational today?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that during the entire trip back here, you did nothing but rant and rave about how you were going back for Redden and no one could stop you and anyone who tried would regret it. That, and a lot of other wild nonsense. I was tempted to agree when Austrum threatened to bind and gag you.”

At the mention of the big Rover’s name, Railing felt his mood sour quickly. He remembered Austrum kissing Mirai. He remembered how she had failed to do anything about it afterward, not even warn him against trying it again.

“He would have regretted it,” he muttered.

She gave him a quick nudge. “Why don’t you stop trying to be so fierce? I like you better when you’re gentle.”

“I don’t feel like being gentle.”

“Which is something you should work on. Like Redden has.”

He didn’t know where that came from, but he didn’t feel like pursuing it and let the matter drop.

When they reached the Elessedil sisters’ cottage, they found Arling gone and Aphen packing clothes and making up a list of supplies for the journey. She told them she had already visited with Cymrian, who had appeared not long after Seersha left, and he was already off collecting an airship crew for their flight. She greeted Seersha effusively, and they apologized to each other immediately. Railing stood by awkwardly until the conversation turned to him.

“Railing needs his leg repaired if he’s to be of any use either to himself or to the rest of us,” Seersha announced. “We can’t afford to wait around for it to heal normally, so I think a little magic is in order. You are the best at this sort of thing. Will you give it a try?”

Aphenglow looked at him, and Railing at once felt the difference in their ages and maturity. She wasn’t that much older, but her confidence and poise so far surpassed his own that it made him feel like a child.

“Is that what you want?” she asked him. “For me to use magic on your leg?”

He nodded. “If you can heal it, yes.”

She glanced at Seersha and then at him again. “Magic of this sort works best on others. I can heal you more easily than I could heal myself when I was injured at Paranor. Unfortunately, it won’t hurt any less.”

They placed him on Mirai’s bed in the spare room, loosening his clothes and making him comfortable. Aphenglow cut away his pant leg all the way up above the knee of his bad leg and took off the splints and bindings. When his leg was completely revealed, she gave him something to drink and then a bitter-tasting root to chew that immediately made his mouth go numb and eventually his body and limbs as well.