CHAPTER 30
TREETOPS, EQUILAN
HAPLO REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS TO FIND HIMSELF SURROUNDED-NOT BY
tytans-but by everyone he’d met in this world, plus what appeared to be half the elven army. Groaning, he glanced at the dog.
“This is all your doing.”
The dog wagged its tail, tongue lolling, grinning, relishing the praise, not realizing it wasn’t. Haplo stared at those hovering above him. They stared back-their gazes suspicious, dubious, expectant. The old man, alone, regarded him with intense anxiety.
“Are . . . are you all right?” asked the human woman-he couldn’t remember her name. Her gaze went to his shoulder. Timidly, she reached out a hand. “Can we do … anything!”
“Don’t touch!” Haplo said, through clenched teeth.
The woman’s hand darted back. Of course, that was an open invitation for the elf female to kneel down beside him. Sitting up painfully, he thrust her aside with his good hand.
“You!” he said, looking at Roland. “You’ve got to help me . . . put this back!” Haplo indicated his dislocated shoulder, hanging at an odd angle from the rest of his body.
Roland nodded, crouched down on his knees. His hands moved to take off Haplo’s shirt, the leather vest he wore over it. The Patryn caught hold of the human’s hand in his own.
“Just set the shoulder.”
“But the shirt’s in the way-”
“Just the shoulder.”
Roland looked into the man’s eyes, looked hurriedly away. The human began to gently probe the injured area. More elves moved closer to watch; Paithan among them. He had been standing on the fringes of the group surrounding Haplo, conversing with another elf dressed in the torn and bloody remnants of what must have been an elegant dress uniform. Hearing Haplo’s voice, the two elves broke off their conversation.
“Whatever’s underneath that shirt of yours must be something special,” said the elf woman. Aleatha. “Is it?”
Roland cast her a dark glance. “Don’t you have somewhere else to go?”
“Sorry,” she answered coolly, “I didn’t understand what you said. I don’t speak human.”
Roland scowled. He’d been speaking elven. He tried to ignore her. It wasn’t easy. She was leaning over Haplo, exposing the full curve of her round breasts.
For whose benefit, the Patryn wondered. He would have been amused if he hadn’t been so angry at himself. Looking at Roland, Haplo thought that this time Aleatha might have met her match. The human was strictly business. The human’s strong hands grasped Haplo’s arm firmly.
‘This is going to hurt.”
“Yeah.” Haplo’s jaw ached from gritting his teeth. It didn’t need to hurt. He could use the magic, activate the runes. But he was damn sick and tired of revealing his power to one-fourth the known universe! “Get on with it!”
“I think you should hurry,” said the elf standing near Paithan. “We’ve beaten them back, but it’s only for the time being, I’m afraid.”
Roland glanced around. “I need one of you men to hold him-”
“I can do it,” answered Aleatha.
“This is important,” Roland snapped. “I don’t need some female who’s going to pass out-”
“I never faint . . . without a good reason.” Aleatha favored him with a sweet smile. “How’s your cheek? Does it hurt?”
Roland grunted, keeping his eyes on his patient. “Hold him fast, brace him back against this tree so that he doesn’t twist when I pop the bone in place.”
Aleatha grasped hold of him, ignoring Haplo’s protests.
“I don’t need anyone to hold me!” He brushed aside the woman’s hands. “Wait a minute, Roland. Not yet. Let me ask . – -” He twisted his head, trying to see the elf in the elegant uniform, interested in what he had said. “Beat them! What- How? . . .”
Pain flashed through his arm, shoulder, down his back, up his head. Haplo sucked in a breath that caught and rattled in his throat.
“Can you move it now?” Roland sat back on his haunches, wiped sweat from his face.
The dog, whimpering, crept to Haplo’s side and licked his wrist. Gingerly, biting his teeth against the agony, Haplo moved his arm in the shoulder socket.
“I should bandage it,” protested Roland, seeing Haplo struggling to stand. “It could go back out again, real easy. Everything’s all stretched inside.”