From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(83)
Granted that is not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen I sincerely doubt cutting it off is going to help you much, Marrow remarked in a dry tone.
“I’m not going to cut it off, though, despite what you say, I think it might in fact be an improvement if I did,” Jala replied easily, her eyes narrowing as she examined the lumps under her skin that lined her palm as well as the back of her hand well past her wrist. “I don’t understand why he left it like this,” she said with a sigh.
Pulling on her magic she deadened the nerves in her hand and carefully pressed the tip of the dagger at the edge of one of the lumps. The blade was still razor sharp and cut through her flesh with ease. Pale droplets of blood began to well around the shallow cut and Jala stared down at them with a frown. The blood didn’t seem quite as golden as she remembered it being. Making a note to ask Neph about it later, she pushed the matter aside for the moment and continued to pry at the lump until it at last gave free and dropped to the table with a solid thump. Setting the dagger aside, Jala picked up the lump carefully and turned it over in her fingers, brushing the blood away from it. Holding it up to the light of the window she nodded slowly as she recognized a chunk of one of the focus stones.
Two weeks ago you would have thrown up at just the thought of cutting chunks of your own flesh out. Now you are examining it like a child that’s found a new bug, Marrow said as he moved closer and tilted his head to get a better look at her hand.
“The question is, why would a healer leave chunks of debris in wounds?” Jala said with a sigh. Setting the stone aside, she focused on her magic once more and willed the cut to heal. She felt the spell take hold and watched in annoyance as the skin started to heal and then split back open as the magic failed. “Well that could be the reason,” she mumbled, raising her hand for a better look at the wound. It was, of course, possible that she had missed some of the stone fragments from the cut. Carefully she wiped away the pale blood and examined the wound critically. With a sigh she pulled on the magic once more and tried to sense for anything foreign in the cut, but the spell once again failed.
Having issues? Marrow asked with a feline grin. He was seated by her feet now and seemed to be finding rather too much enjoyment in the expressions playing across her face.
“Aside from my smart ass cat? Not really,” Jala murmured in response as she let out a sigh and stared down at the wound.
It’s going to be really embarrassing when you have to go to the same healer that fixed that hand the first time and ask him to fix it again, Marrow smirked.
Jala glanced up at him and fixed him with a withering glare. “I’ll cut it off before I do that,” she informed him dryly. Leaning back in her chair she held her hand up before her and forced herself to focus on the threads of magic. It took longer than she expected, but eventually the strands and weaves of magic came into focus and she smiled faintly. The difficulty was obvious now. Surrounding each fragment of stone was a broken web of magic. The flux of the broken webs was simply disrupting her spells. So, if she removed all the fragments entirely and then tried to heal, it should work. Grimly, she picked up the dagger once more and began carefully to pry the stone shards from her hand.
That makes perfect sense. You can’t heal the first cut so you continue to carve yourself up. Brilliant. This way you won’t have to ask him for healing as you will be passed out on the floor from blood loss, Marrow said with a shake of his massive head as he settled back down to the floor, his yellow eyes intent on her every move.
Jala smiled faintly again but ignored him. It took too much focus to maintain her view on the webs of magic to spare time for chit chat with the Bendazzi. The tiny pile of gem fragments grew steadily on the table until her hand was slick with blood and she could no longer see the flux of magic shrouding her hand. There was still a rough lump on her palm however, but there were no strands of magic attached to it. Pursing her lips once more Jala shrugged. What was one more cut to heal? As carefully as she had removed the rest she pried the last ridge from her hand and heard it hit the table with a light tap. Setting the dagger down once more, she picked up the object and held it toward the light. It hadn’t sounded the same as the focus stones had when it hit the wooden table. She wiped the blood free with her thumb and stared down in shock at the pale white fragment of bone. It was smooth on one side and slightly rounded and far too wide and thin to be part of her hand.
What is that? Marrow asked curiously, standing up for a better look.
“I think it’s part of her skull,” Jala said quietly as she dropped the fragment down to the table and pushed it farther away from her. Shuddering slightly, she looked down at Marrow. “Now that is truly disgusting,” she said with a shake of her head.
And carving your flesh to pieces isn’t? Marrow asked in amusement.
Jala raised an eyebrow at him and stuck her tongue out. “I know, very mature, but also very appropriate,” she said with a sniff and began the process of healing her hand once more. She could feel the flesh knitting with her magic and watched with approval as each of the bloody patches healed over with fresh new skin. “Much better,” Jala said slowly turning her hand over for a better look. “One last thing to do,” she added, letting her voice trail off as she picked up the dagger once more and brought it down hard across the jagged nub of her finger slicing the tip neatly off.
Oh and the skull fragment is disgusting. Ugh, Marrow snapped as he backed away from the table quickly.