Part 15 (1/2)

Tah none of the wounds were i, Tam's thick pelt was ripped and torn in at least a dozen places from his head to his tail, and a number of the wounds extended deep into the flesh itself Infection, if not loss of blood, could cause the wolf a slow, lingering death The wounds had bled freely and that was good, for the dead flesh tha' gathered in the jaws and teeth of the hyenas was rotting and putrid and could cause disease and death even if the bites healed over

Mika knew that he needed to clean the wounds thoroughly and then dress the salve or Tam could sicken and die

First, it was necessary to find shelter, for even though there were no gnolls in sight, it was best to re place Mika chose an ancient blue spruce that towered high above him He crawled under the broad skirt of the tree and found that, as he had hoped, there was ample room beneath its branches Over the years, the lowest li a corant branches draped around hi the wolf, who allowed himself to be picked up like a small cub, Mika noted a stout witch hazel bush and re lotion After he built a small fire next to the base of the trunk, he stripped several handfuls of leaves fro that would function as a container There was nothing Nothing at all

Deteraze fell on his own leather boot, not exactly the best recourse, but one did hat one had He quickly crushed the leaves between two rocks and dureen mess into his boot, then filled it to the ankle ater fro the leather to remain in the stream until it was saturated both inside and out

When the boot had absorbed as much water as it could, Mika propped it over the fire with a tripod of green sticks While he waited for the water to heat, he washed the strip of sweat-stained silk in the strea boil, and Mika let it stew until the air was thick with the sharp fragrance of the medicinal leaves before he removed the boot from the fire

”Well, old boy, this won't do much for my boot I just hope you don't suffer any ill effects My brother always said my feet could be used as lethal weapons Phew! It certainly sh”

Mika's tone was jovial and confident, but inside, he was aching Thoughts of Veltran-oba suddenly filled his mind He remembered their friendly banter with a sense of acute loss and wished that his brother were here with hi his lips constantly, nervously, as the sharp aroma filled his nostrils He looked at Mika out of the corner of his eye and his head

”Cally as he stroked the wolf between his ears and scratched his throat ”You knoouldn't do anything to upset you unless it were necessary You have to trustme now”

The words, the tone, or both seemed to soothe the wolf, but Mika wanted to be certain he wouldn't snap in fear or pain He rued about in his supplies and filled the tiny bone pipe with crushed wolf'sbane and lit it Trying not to inhale, he cupped his hand behind the wolf's head and blew the smoke directly into Taitated heartbeat slowed and his pupils dilated He was as ready as he would ever be

Dipping the silk cloth in the hot liquid, Mika began swabbing out the wolf's wounds with the hot herbal brew Soon Tarant fluid which pooled beneath hiround

Mika worked quickly, packing the clean wounds with the thick healing salves and stitching the jagged edges of skin together in the worst instances, while keeping the wolf cal signs of recovering from the effects of the wolf'sbane Mika hastily filled the pipe again and, taking a deep pull of the narcotic smoke, blew it into the wolf's nostrils Unfortunately, he had forgotten to hold the smoke in his mouth and had no sooner exhaled the last of the shout his own body Shrugging mentally, he took another pull on the pipe and blew it eneral direction Just to ain However, Ta, so he was forced to smoke it all himself

It took hi Then he rean cleaning the wounds on the other side One of the hyenas had seized Tale had pulled the flesh as well as the skin away froer joint The flesh on either side was already swollen and discolored

Ta at the led flesh and felt the need to fortify himself ”Only a puff,” hedreaerated caution and once h!” he said with a shudder as he rinsed the horrible wound with the cleansing liquid ”Now I knohy I didn't want to do this for the rest of rateful that he had learned the skill, for without it, his friend would surely have died

At last the awful injury was cleaned and the worst of the mutilated flesh trimmed aith his knife Mika packed the rereat deal of flesh still exposed, and Mika knew that it had to be covered or it would attract insects that would lay their eggs in the flesh Mika sighed and smiled, then wrapped the pink silk cloth round and round the wolf's tail and tied it in a knot Tam would not be pleased and would do his best to remove it, but with luck it would stay until a scab had forh trunk of the spruce, the branches co out the outside world The small fire had warmed the space, and he was tired and his head still ached He stared into the fire and blinked His eyelids drooped, then closed, and he drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep

Chapter 16

MIKA WAKENED SLOWLY Everything hurt His head throbbed and his eyelids were thick and swollen His throat was dry and his stole joint was stiff and sore And he was cold He groaned in roans and whimpers of his own Mika sat up and rubbed his head, which was now scabbed over with dry blood His hands and arms were covered with Tam's blood and his body was rank with old sweat He could feel a line of blisters beginning to rise under the edges of his tunic at neck and shoulders

Mika flexed his ar the muscles complain at the s his head fro his tail, but even that small effort was too much, and he stopped after one feeble wave

”By the Great She Wolf, if we feel this terrible after such a little encounter, pray the Gods we never have to go into a real battle,”Mika's voice, whickered softly

Mika crawled out fro branches and looked around carefully The day was dark and grey A dense rain-swollen cloud cover hung over the ridge, obscuring its upper reaches froht Mika stared up at the almost vertical drop, frankly astonished that they had descended it safely No sane person would purposely choose that route unless he had a death wish

The roan was tossing his head impatiently, and as Mika untied hiently in the chest with the flat of his head Mika shook his own head in quiet a as he had been walking and never had he viewed a horse as anything but an uncomfortable but necessary means of transportation He had known of nomads who had an almost mystical relationshi+p with their horses, but he had never felt such war the roan to the strea hirass Then he tended to the princess

She was beginning to look a little shopworn, Mika reflected as he untied her from the horse He supposed that it was partially his fault for leaving her draped over the horse overnight After all, there were liic spells Even one cast by the best of ically suspended But even the best spell didn't extend to clothes and dirt

The princess's hair hung down over her head, all dusty and dirty with muddy drops where the horse had splashed water Her dress was filthy and wrinkled and had torn in several places Maybe she would look better right side up, Mika mused

But she didn't The princess was definitely a mess, and of course, she was still sound asleep

”This is getting tireso her over his shoulder and tottered toward the streaht”

Mika sat the princess down at the edge of the strea yet another strip off her gown, he dipped it in the cold water and rubbed it over her face The water ran in er looked quite so attractive

In fact, the whole princess thing was beginning to pall She was about asto a lecture on the oldenwort

Other questions now presented themselves Now that Recknass and Hary were dead, what about the mission to ransom the princess?

And where would Mika take her if they ever got to Eru-Tovar? Hoould he locate the ician dehed and shook his head All of these new proble about the of the princess as a lost cause and turned his attention to his own needs Stripping off the sweat-stiffened leather tunic, his single re boot, and his loincloth, he waded into the strea Mika found a sinkhole near the edge of a greenery-hung bank and sub there until he felt the last of the tension ease from his body, as well as the multitude of aches and pains

After a while, he moved to a more shallow location where a layer of white sand lay thick on the floor of the stream This he scooped up by the handful and rubbed over his body till his skin tingled and squeaked beneath his palle on his back, letting the current wash away the blood and the gri the still painful bruise

His skin was puckered and blue by the ti, knowing that they would dry stiff and unbending

Naked, his dripping clothes tucked under his ar his clothes over several of the lower branches, restarted the fire, and added sh to take the chill out of the air, but not enough to cause sh the trees

Tam stood shakily and nosed his way out fro very odd in the cold light of the ed the princess under the shelter of the spruce and took stock of their situation

It seemed reasonable to expect that some of the drivers and nonoll arical to assue assortnolls, hyenas, trolls, hyenadons, and no to either escape or kill each other