Free The Healing Wars: Book III: Darkfall by Janice Hardy Page B

sliced my skin, behind me this time. I dropped, rolling toward the person who cut me. A push and he was down.
    I looked for more.
    I’d lost my sister. They’d stolen her, ruined her. She was supposed to be a Healer , not a killer.
    They’d stolen everything from me. Tali, Mama, Papa, Grannyma. The life I should have had, the family I should have kept. They’d made me do things I’d promised I’d never do.
    I grabbed the last pynvium-armored man. He screamed next, but no one else. They were all lying on the street, in blood, in pain.
    “Nya?”
    I spun, hands out. Danello stepped back, hands up.
    “It’s just me!”
    “Danello?”
    “We have to go.”
    “But Tali—”
    “Is waiting for you on the boat, just like I promised. You can’t help her if you get caught.” Someone groaned and he jumped. “We need to hurry.”
    I nodded, suddenly too exhausted to speak. We ran along the dock. Few lamps were lit, barely enough for us to make our way. It was quiet, just the swish of waves curling around the pilings and the creak of wood from the boats. Quenji stood on the dock ahead next to the fancy skiff decorated in green and gold.
    A League skiff.
    I jumped in.
    Aylin raised the sails as Quenji tossed off the bowline, and we drifted away from the dock. Canvas flapped and took hold, and we were moving, out across the dark water and into the night. Dangerous, sailing at night, but it was safer than staying in town.
    I sat on the bench and cradled Tali’s head in my lap. Lanelle stared at her, her face twisted in fear and pity. Soek sat next to her.
    “How did you get here?” I asked Soek.
    “I ran when Betaal and the others went after you. Danello saw me and I helped him get Tali to the boat.”
    I smiled. “Thank you for that.”
    “We shouldn’t take her with us,” Lanelle said, still watching Tali like she was going to jump up and try to kill us.
    “Tali stays with me.”
    “Nya, I’ve seen what being an Undying does to people. When she wakes up she’ll—”
    “Shut up, Lanelle,” Danello said. Not mean, not angry, just a quiet order.
    She looked at him but stayed silent.
    Danello took the rudder while Aylin worked the sail. The lights of the dock fell away until I couldn’t see Tali’s face anymore.
    I moved to her side and started removing Tali’s armor. Moonlight caught the underside, which glittered silver, and not from the moonlight.
    Every piece was lined with silvery metal. What had the Duke called it? Kragstun. The same metal he’d used to make the cuffs that had forced Takers to do what he told them to do. Made me do what he told me to do.
    Was that how he made the Undying? Forced them to kill?
    Tali gasped and jerked upright, arms swinging. She lunged off the bench right at Lanelle.
    “Ahhh!”
    “Tali, no!” I cried, diving for her.
    Lanelle threw herself sideways, and the skiff rocked. Soek grabbed Tali, held her around the waist as she kicked and screamed. He staggered, Tali writhed, and they both fell to the deck.
    “Grab her, get her!” Lanelle pointed, jumping around like we’d turned snakes loose.
    Quenji and Soek grabbed Tali again and held her down.
    “Tali, it’s me, it’s Nya.” I tried to get close but she was struggling so hard. “Tali!”
    She ignored me, or didn’t hear me—maybe didn’t even know who or where she was. I kept trying, my throat hoarse by the time she wore herself out.
    “Can you hear me?”
    She stared at me, eyes shimmering. There was nothing in them but moonlight.
    “She doesn’t know who I am.” I could barely get the words out. She was gone. Really gone. My heart felt just as hollow.
    I wanted to hug her, tell her it would all be okay, but that was a lie. She wouldn’t let me hold her, clearly didn’t even want me to touch her, and it might not ever be okay again.
    I’d failed my sister.
    “You need to tie her up so she doesn’t hurt … herself,” Lanelle said softly. “If she goes overboard, she could drown.”
    I squeezed my