Beauty's Beast(40)

“He’s ashamed of me.” She glanced away, twisting her index finger absently. “I offered my love. He doesn’t want it.”

Alon glanced at her drawn face and then away again. His sister’s pain only amplified his own.

“They are not for us. We are not like them,” he said.

“But they are our soul mates.”

His face felt tight as he held on through the gut punch of pain. He did not know how he managed the words, for they took more courage than the battle.

“They can’t be. You heard Nagi. We’ll never cross.”

“You still believe that? But we must have souls.” Her voice rang with pain and desperation.

“Then why could Nagi not harvest them?”

“But I saw some of our kind die today. We do die.”

“Were any of the fallen restored?”

Her eyes went wide.

He hated what he had to say to her. “Did you see their souls?”

Aldara fell silent then gave a shake of her head. “But the smoke and the dust. Perhaps...” Her words fell away and they stared at one another. Aldara’s pretty blue eyes filled with tears. “If we have no souls, then when we die, there will be nothing.”

“Better that than the Circle.”

“More reason to savor this Living World. More reason to seek some joy.”

“Not if it keeps her from finding her true mate.”

“But she fought beside you, right out in the open for everyone to see. She left her people to side with ours.”

“She fought with us because she rightly believed that without our help the Skinwalkers and the Spirit Children would fail. She did not fight for us. She fought for the Balance.”

“Are you sure?”

“Certain.”

* * *

Samantha’s body burned and her joints ached. Someone was carrying her. Then she was lying still on soft bedding, a blanket covering her. A kiss pressed to her forehead, his scent earthy and familiar.

Her eyelids were so heavy she could not open them. She let herself sink back into darkness, escaping the pain.

The chanting woke her. She knew the chant. Her father had taught her this one for the healing of wounds and fractures. She blinked her eyes open. Her head was turned to the side, so she saw the bloody gash on her shoulder closing. The battle came back to her in a rush. She sat up and found herself in the circle and Blake performing the healing ceremony.

She scrambled to her feet and touched her cloak, finding that the energy to change the skin into jeans and a blouse was so taxing she swayed and toppled.

Blake caught her elbow. “I told you to stay with our forces. God, Sammy, you almost bled to death.”

Bled to death? She clutched her belly. The babies. Were they all right? She didn’t know, but the fear chilled the marrow of her bone.

“Sammy? Lie down before you fall down. You look terrible!”

She’d know, wouldn’t she, if she’d lost them? She crumpled back to the ground, dropping to her knees, one hand across her abdomen.

“Alon?” she asked.

“He dropped you here and went back to help the others. Retrieving souls.” Blake gave a shiver of revulsion.

She rubbed her forehead, feeling dazed, as if she’d been roused from a deep sleep. “What happened?”

“Nagi almost won. Would have won if not for the Ghost Children. You were right, Sammy.”

He told her all that had happened, assured her that their parents were safe. But many had died in the battle.

“Alon turned all of Nagi’s forces to our side, and he and the others have worked all day to restore the lost souls, ours included. He even organized the order for restoration, commanding that the healers be saved first. Sammy, without him, we’d all be dead.”

Samantha tried to take it in. She had known they couldn’t beat Nagi without the Ghost Children. But she had no idea how important they would be after the battle.

Souls. She pressed a hand to her clammy forehead. Had he retrieved all the souls or just hers? Had he saved their babies or had their tiny spirits slipped away with the night mist?

Samantha heaved. Blake rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’d better get Mom.”

“Where is Alon?”

“In the Ghostling camp.”

She had to find him.

“Samantha, we need your help. The injured.”

All she wanted was to see Alon, to be certain that this was not what she thought, that he had only brought her to her family to be healed. But her heart clenched with rising dread. Had he abandoned her?

“Dad sent Nicholas with an invitation to a treaty meeting. He has suggested that the three Halfling races sign an accord.”

“The Spirit Children will never sign it,” said Samantha.

“They might. They aren’t feeling so superior today. The Ghost Children frightened them before. Now they are terrified that they will rip out their souls.”

“I have to see him.” She pushed off the ground, rising to her feet, but swayed and fell back down, her head spinning.

“Sammy?”

“Dizzy.” She closed her eyes and still felt as if the ground were swaying.

“Because I can’t restore the blood loss. I can only fix what you still have. The buffalo are caring for the most grievously injured. Rest a bit. When you feel up to it, join us on the battlefield.” He released her hand and easily scooped her up, carrying her to a blanket beside rows of other Niyanoka. She closed her eyes against the dizziness and fear.

“Here’s Mom,” said Blake.

Samantha opened her eyes to see her mother striding toward her, looking exhausted, but her smile warmed Samantha to the core.

Her mother hugged Samantha and then pulled back to sit beside her in the flattened grass. Michaela Proud pushed an errant strand of hair from her child’s face.

“I watched you and your father from the hilltop. You two are likely to frighten me to death.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Her mother narrowed her eyes on Samantha, giving her an assessing look. “Are you?”

Samantha nodded and looked away.

Should she tell her mother about the pregnancy? Somehow she knew that if she spoke her fears aloud, they would gobble her up. She pressed down the panic. But what if their souls were out there on the battlefield?

She had to go look. Maybe it was not too late. Maybe...

“There is much to do. The Naginoka have ceased retrieving souls. They say too much time has passed. The healers are working to save the injured, and your brother and I are seeing to the humans.”

Samantha sank back to the blankets. Too late. If they were out there they had already crossed. Samantha began to cry.

Her mother nestled her against her breast. “Oh, child. I know you are weak, but there are those who need us. Some of Nagi’s ghosts have taken possession of the wounded humans. We have to dispossess them.”

Samantha had waited all her life to be able to use her gifts. Now here was the chance, and she was too weak and heartsick to sit up. “I’m coming.”

She managed to sit up and swayed only slightly.

Her mother offered some water. Then she helped Samantha to her feet. Samantha, Blake and their mother headed for the battlefield.

“The buffalo are helping us but Sebastian called a halt. It is no longer safe, even for them. We have to accept that not all can be saved.”

“Are any of the Ghost Children still finding souls?” She clung to unreasonable hope, holding it like a soap bubble.

“No. Trying to save them will only kill the buffalo. We must help them cross over.”

Samantha walked unassisted to the battlefield and worked beside her mother, expelling evil ghosts with the help of her medicine wheel, which focused her dwindling energy.

“Like pulling dandelions,” said her mother. “Some of them are stubborn.”

Her mother’s smile faded when she looked carefully at her daughter.

“We’ll manage the rest,” she said.

Samantha shook her head, too weary to argue.

“Go to bed, Samantha, before you fall over,” her mother ordered, using the no-nonsense tone Samantha remembered well from childhood.

“I’m too old for you to order me to my room, Mother.”

They continued on past sunset, the Ghost Children, the Seers and the owls. The Ghost Children were clearly better at expelling evil ghosts, but too impatient to deal with the confused souls whose bodies were beyond retrieval and who needed assistance to find the Spirit Road. Expelling Nagi’s evil ghosts from human hosts did not draw any of their energy. In fact it seemed to give them strength.

The minutes and lives ticked away.

The Skinwalkers, now in human form, shepherded the frightened, confused humans up the hill to the Memory Walkers and Peacemakers, who would help them return to their lives without any recollection of this terrible day.