Free Felling Kingdoms (Book 5) by Jenna Van Vleet Page B

performing the same action and bending the leg at the hip. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, Head Mage,” he said and wiped his hands on his tunic.
    “That’s why the floor in here is wood.”
    “Easy clean up,” the man grinned. “Let me fetch you some water and get t’at leg cleaned up.”
    He rose and left. Somewhere down the hall, Gabriel heard Lace let out a cry. He did not think he could go to her without help, nor could he leave Pike alone until Lael arrived.
    Ailin brought him a mug of water, and wiped the leg with a cloth. Halfway through his water, Lael finally ran in with a look of bewilderment as he took in the scene.
    “It that—is that Pike Bronwen?” he gasped. “What happened to you? What happened to him ?”
    Gabriel laid a doldrums pattern on Pike and pulled the metal off him. He crumpled it into a ball. Pike slumped to the ground unconscious.
    “What…did you just manipulate metal?” Lael whispered. Gabriel nodded and suddenly his name screamed throughout the infirmary. “Who was that?”
    “Lace.”
    “What happened? Was she injured?”
    “No,” Gabriel paused and looked away. “She’s in labor.”
    Lael’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know she…” he looked at Gabriel. “You—oh—oh! Oh….” He flushed red and averted his eyes. “Oh, my.”
    “That’s a story for another day that will never come.” Gabriel lifted himself off the chair, and Ailin jumped to his feet to grab his arm.
    “Head Mage,” a woman ran in, “we’re going to need you for this one,”
    He nodded and slowly walked to the hall.
    “Please take Pike to the incanted cells and make sure he is well guarded. Adjourn the Council for the rest of the morning.”
    “Of course.”
    Gabriel shuffled down the hall, feeling the chill of blood loss grip his face with every breath. He could hear Lace weeping, and her cries drove him faster.
    She was propped up in a bed surrounded by three female Mages as they rushed about. Her legs laid up on pillows as one Mage inspected her progress.
    “Explain,” Gabriel stated as he stepped in. Someone grabbed him a chair and positioned it beside the bed.
    “There was internal ripping that caused the amniotic sack to break. We have patched the bleeding, but the baby has to come out soon,” an older woman he knew as Myria replied. “Her pelvic channel is very narrow though. I don’t know if the baby can make it without assistance.”
    “The baby is twenty-seven weeks.” Gabriel said, and Lace looked at him with a surprised expression. “It’s going to be small.”
    The Mage looked back under Lace’s dress. “I don’t know if it will be small enough.”
    Gabriel swooned as blackness covered his vision, and he felt a hand straighten him before he fell.
    “It’s not that bad, Head Mage,” a woman grinned.
    “He lost a lot of blood saving the girl,” someone retorted.
    “I’m fine,” he muttered and braced himself on the bed. He laid a delve pattern onto Lace’s stomach, but a delve only showed damage, not the internal workings. He did not know if there was one.
    “Myria, get blankets and strip her,” Gabriel commanded. “I need to see the stomach and hips.”
    “Of course, Head Mage,” the older woman nodded, and they carried out his orders. He closed his eyes and leaned forward with his head wrapped around his forearms. His body was a mixture of terribly hot and freezing cold as it fought to keep blood to his head. “Done, Head Mage.”
    Gabriel straightened slowly and with great care rose to his feet, perching on the edge of the bed. He seized Void and laid the reveal-pattern that would show any wound healed by Spirit. But instinctively he changed it and touched her arm.
    Rather than her skin illuminating white, it slowly faded and became transparent, giving way to a bone structure surrounded by gray muscles, and finally a curled baby.
    “Oh my stars, I’d never,” Myria breathed.
    Gabriel ran through his medical training while visually measuring the