In the aftermath of the battle, J.B., Doc and Jak dragged the bodies of Joe’s warriors up the steps and into the sacrificial cave. They placed Blood-sniffer’s corpse there, as well, after wrapping it in a robe taken from the cadaver on the ziggurat.
The three of them had gone to backtrack Joe, searching for the method he used to jump the chasm. Ryan knew they couldn’t bear to see Krysty in pain, and they welcomed the opportunity to perform a task, any task, so they wouldn’t have to consider the likelihood of her death.
With Sisoka’s help, Mildred carried Krysty over to the base of the ziggurat, laying her on a pallet made of pelts taken from the throne. Ryan was too numb to thank Sisoka for throwing the ancient spear and saving his life. He knew that if Krysty died, Sisoka’s effort wouldn’t make much difference to him.
One part of Ryan’s mind accepted the inevitability of death. He had become accustomed to inevitables over the course of his life in Deathlands, but one inevitable he could never accept was Krysty being taken from him. It was impossible to imagine his life without sharing it with hers.
Ryan took a deep breath and shook his head angrily. Pain jumped around the walls of his skull. He recognized the symptoms of shock, and he wasn’t surprised by them. The ulna and radial bones of his wrist were shattered, and his arm was dead up to the elbow. The bullet had missed major veins and arteries, but the delicate network of nerves was damaged. Neither he nor Mildred had any idea if the damage was permanent. She hadn’t had the time to give his wound more than a cursory examination.
Standing up, moving away from Krysty, Mildred led Ryan aside. Her dark eyes misted. “The arrow is too deep, too close to her heart. It can’t be withdrawn without major blood loss and organ damage. If she’s moved, the arrowhead will open up arteries, and she’ll bleed to death internally.”
“Something can be done,” he said.
“In an operating room, with decent equipment and a staff of specialists and heart surgeons standing by, yes. But not here.”
“Yes,” Sisoka said quietly. “Here.”
She had drifted close to them, voice and eyes soft. “The heart of the Grandmother will heal her heart.”
Mildred scowled at the young woman. “No more mystical rants, please. This is a surgical matter, not a ceremony for the corn to grow straight and juicy.”
Ryan managed to push away a little of the pain and lethargy. “Wait, Mildred. Krysty said Sisoka’s ancestors exerted their force of will on the geofire to change their physical surroundings.”
“So?”
“Mebbe we can exert our own force of will on it to keep Krysty alive, to heal her.”
Mildred’s brows knitted skeptically. “We’d be laying her life on the line.”
“It already is,” Ryan replied darkly.
He looked at Sisoka. “You know how to do this?”
“The technique has been known and practiced by my people for ages. But all of us must take part. There must be no resistance to the chosen intent.”
“There won’t be,” Ryan promised.
J.B., Doc and Jak returned within the hour. They had followed an out-thrusting finger of rock that crossed the chasm and gone on through the tunnels for a recce.
“Joe’s warriors are gone, chilled or run back to the forest city,” J.B. reported. “The Wolf Soldiers are coming back, even though their camp is burned out. I managed to get one of them to understand Joe was dead, and they’re marching on the city to retake it.”
Doc and Jak were carrying waterskins and food wrapped in cloth, which they had managed to salvage from the remains of the camp.
“Good thinking,” Ryan commented.
“I assumed we would be unable to leave for a time,” Doc replied.
“How Krysty now?” Jak asked.
“She’ll live,” Ryan answered. “But all of us will have to work at it. I’ll let Sisoka explain.”
The woman assembled everyone around the well and told them what to do. Kneeling on the golden wafers, they stooped over and pressed their foreheads against the crystal disks. Though there were a few complaints, primarily from Doc regarding his back, everyone complied. J.B. was the most skeptical, but he restricted his disbelief to a raising or lowering of eyebrows.