House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,43

away from the path he had chosen. He would have killed us.”

Cai rushed over to Tara to assess Tannin’s condition.

“No,” Lopt whispered when he saw Tannin’s body on the ground. “We cannot let him die.”

When he and Astra rushed over and saw Tannin’s mangled body, Astra put her hand over her mouth and gasped. “Quickly,” she said. “We need to get him into the lake. It has healing properties that may be able to help save his life.”

Lopt gingerly picked up Tannin’s body and walked with him to the lake as the others followed. Tara walked at his side with one hand on Tannin’s chest the whole time. She didn’t think to go back and get Button. She didn’t think about her brother’s dead body in the middle of the forest. The only thing she could think about was making sure Tannin did not die. Lopt walked straight into the lake with Tannin’s limp body in his arms. He stood with him, holding his head above the water, as Tara wept quietly and watched the shallow rise and fall of Tannin’s chest.

When they got back to the hollowed tree, Astra was busy making poultices to pack his wounds, and Tara was cleaning Tannin’s cuts and magical burns with a wet cloth. Cai and Lopt had gone outside to talk about the fate of the nine realms if Tannin ended up not surviving his injuries. They had started the discussion inside the tree, but then Astra hushed them and told them to go out of Tara’s earshot before continuing their conversation. After she had finished the poultices and helped Tara pack them onto the deepest cuts, she left Tara alone to be with Tannin and went outside to join the discussion with the others.

Tara sat beside Tannin and looked at his battered body. They had removed most of his clothes so they could reach his wounds to pack and stitch and lay herbs upon. The only covering he had now was a piece of fur that hid his loin. His skin was bruised, and his muscle was cut almost down to the bone in some places. Rolf’s magic had mangled him. Tara wiped the dried blood away from his mouth with a rag and cried. As long as he was still breathing, there was hope. But his breathing seemed to get slower and harder to hear with each passing breath. She brushed his thick, chestnut hair from his brow. It was matted with sweat as his feverish body tried to fight and repair itself. Her hand brushed against the front of one of his horns as she did so. She reached up and ran her hand along his horn. It was so smooth and hard, so beautiful and powerful.

Tara burst into tears as she held his horn in her hand. “How could I have been so stupid and so awful,” she cried. “How could I not have known how much I would love him.”

She cried until she had no more tears left and then stared at him and pleaded with the universe to heal him and open his eyes until she could no longer see clearly. Finally, she curled up alongside him and tucked herself underneath his arm. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his faint heartbeat until exhaustion took her into a deep sleep.

It was such a strange dream. She felt as though she were awake and running through the forest as if everything was fine and calm. Except Lopt and Astra and Cai were not there. Somehow it was just her. But then she heard a delicate little giggle as if butterflies could laugh. She turned around and saw the most beautiful little girl running toward her. The girl had a rich tawny complexion, dotted with lacy freckles that made her look as though the constellations in the night sky had formed into a person. Her wild dandelion-colored hair flew behind her as she ran, and her deep-olive eyes were wide with wonderment.

“Mama!” she hollered with giddy excitement as she jumped up into Tara’s arms, nearly knocking Tara in the face with one of the little curved horns on her head.

Tara woke up with a start and looked immediately to Tannin, hoping he would somehow be awake and that her dream was a vision of good fortune. But when she saw he was still in the same dire condition as before, she burst into tears again and cried until she collapsed onto his chest and