Free Talon: The Windwalker Archive (Book 1) by Michael Ploof Page B

Brekken’s headless body. Blood dripped from the spike creating a ring of red in the snow as he went.
    “ Who here claims Bjodja?” he roared. The only reply came from dogs off in the distance.
    Fylkin opened his arms wide. “Come forth and challenge the Vald; change your stars if you can.”
    N o one stepped forth, and a sneer crossed the chiefson’s face. His eyes fell upon Talon who, like the others, was frozen in place; but, unlike the others, he looked into the big Vald’s eyes. Fylkin stared him down until Talon looked away. With a swift crack of the whip, the team of four horses led him west.
    Talon crawled to Jahsin’s side, joined by Akkeri. He gingerly turned his friend over and Akkeri wiped the snow from his face. Talon’s heart sank when he saw the way Jahsin’s head lolled.
    “ Jahsin, wake up, wake up!” Talon began to shake him.
    Akkeri’s hands stopped him, “Look,” she said, pointing toward the bubbles of blood in his nostrils growing and retracting as he breathed.
    Talon sighed with relief and Jahsin groaned in pain. His head rolled back and forth and his eyes op ened groggily. As awareness hit him, he jolted and scrambled back from the two.
    “ Relax, Jah; it’s over now,” Talon promised.
    “ Over?” his friend asked, holding the side of his face. “Then how the Feikinstafir you still alive?”
    Majhree had been watching from the crowd; she shuffled over, regarding them with a sideways glance, bent as she was. “Best you three get gone and quick; c’mon!”
    Talon helped his friend up , and together with Akkeri, they followed Majhree to her house of healing. Talon and Jahsin were led to beds opposite each other and Majhree went on to inspect Akkeri’s face. She clicked her tongue and shook her head.
    “ I done seen it all, girl; what kind of fool thing you do?”
    “ It worked,” Akkeri replied.
    “ And you’re lucky it worked; don’t pretend like you planned the whole thing,” said Majhree, turning Akkeri’s head to the side none too gently. The girl shrugged and regarded Talon with a mischievous grin.
    Had she planned it all , he wondered.
    “ Let’s see where the whip really hit you,” Majhree said, searching her person.
    “ Here,” Akkeri showed her, indicating a spot near her shoulder.
    “ You clever, clever girl.” Majhree could not help but laugh.
    She went to tending to Akkeri’s face and turned on Talon and Jahsin with an angry eye. “What you two have to say for yourselves?”
    T hey shared a glance, not quite knowing what to say.
    “ That’s right, nothing, ’cause there ain’t no excuse for stupid,” she said, glowering.
    The two boys lowered their heads in shame, “yes, ma’am.”
    “ I’m sorry, Majhree,” Talon confessed.
    “ You right you are! Next time a Vaka raises his hand to you, you best be standin’ still. Anybody with two good ears best listen! You nearly got yourself and your friends killed tonight. A miracle they don’t come for you still.”
    Dread cre pt over Talon and Majhree saw it on his face. “Ah, but I care too much,” she sighed.
    She finished up Akkeri and sent her on her way, but the girl moved past her rather than to the door. “I’m helping,” she said and came to Talon’s side. She began to help him out of his clothes, having to wet the coarse fabric to peel it from the dried, dirty wounds. Talon shuddered with pain and his head spun as she gently pulled the fabric from his wounds; he was convinced the skin had gone with it. When finally he was down to his underclothes, Akkeri and Majhree began to pour strong whiskey over the wounds. Jahsin put a stick wrapped in leather in Talon’s mouth for him to bite on and offered a strong hand to squeeze.
    Talon passed out long before the work was through.
     
    He awoke the next day and the pain came rushing back to him. He shuddered beneath his coverings and gained control of the pain. Akkeri was there with a damp cloth once again, and Talon thanked the gods for the