I need to know what's wrong with it so I can choose the correct color for the injured body part. Usually, the aura can help me diagnose that. But with the heart... Wait. The answer was in the question. The body part was the heart!
Except that was tricky too. The only color with connections to the heart is red and that's mostly the emotional aspect, not the actual muscle. Concerning the heart itself, the only thing red could do for it was make it beat faster and that wasn't what this heart needed. So, what then? The heart is a muscle and the color green strengthens muscles—the shade spruce, to be specific. Plus, green is the color of Earth magic. It was perfect! And green should go first. I wanted to take care of the sickness before it spread.
“Okay, I think I'm ready,” I said to Everan.
He squeezed my hand supportively. I focused on the spots of oily black and spruced them up (sorry, I couldn't resist). It worked; spruce consumed the sickness, then vanished into the thick yellow like a pea dropped into thick soup. But there was so much black. I narrowed my focus—and therefore my magic—into a point and injected spruce into every black boil like a syringe full of penicillin. Over and over, I speared the black with spruce until sweat rolled down my back and my hands began to shake. Everan squeezed my hand to remind me of the power available to me. I could feel it pulsing from his palm, ready to be taken. But I had only begun to heal the Heart of Earth. If I had to pull on his power now, I might not get through the yellow. I decided to stay the course on my own.
I didn't try to fuel myself from the oily black. I'd learned my lesson from the mountains and also, I wasn't sure feeding on sickness was such a good idea. Concentrating on the black spots individually helped a little. I was able to take little breathers between. It went a lot slower than a normal aura sweep would take but this wasn't a normal aura. It wasn't the size of a mountain but it might as well have been, it was so saturated with color. By the time I finished clearing the blackness, I was nearly drained, and I knew it would take much longer to scrape through the layers of yellow that remained.
I let go of Everan's hand and fell forward into a bend, my palms pressed against my knees to support me. I panted, the breath sawing out of me as if I had just run a marathon, and tried not to vomit. Then, as I stared at my feet and Everan rubbed my back, something miraculous happened. The dry, powdery dirt beneath my boots moistened and darkened into rich soil as blades of grass burst through. Wildflowers sprouted and bloomed and the scent of decay blew away on a fresh breeze. I allowed myself the briefest of smiles.
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and straightened warily. Bargests emerged from the treeline, hundreds of them. They came forward, their stares focused on the tree. I followed their gazes and felt my eyes widen as I watched the trunk fill in like an inflatable pool toy and the branches rise toward the sky like arms raised in jubilation. Tiny buds appeared on those rejoicing limbs and then unfurled into broad leaves. The knights behind me made sounds of wonder as the tree—this keeper of the heart—blossomed into its former glory. The Bargests gave a growling shout that turned into a triumphant howl.
“You did it!” Mahar declared. “You healed the tree! Our queen has done what even the God of the Forest could not do! Hail, Queen Amaranthine!”
The Bargests took up the cry and my name echoed through Raeventar.
Chapter Eighteen
“Stop!” I shouted.
The meadow went silent, every eye focused on me in shock.
“The healing was only the beginning and it was the smallest part of what I need to do,” I said. “There is still a taint in the heart and it's the thickest stain on an asha that I've ever seen. I don't know if I can remove it. I'm nearly drained as it is.”
“You have me.” Everan took my upper arms in hand as he faced me stoically. “And you have the other kishanos. There will be enough power for you.”
“I don't know, Ever,” I whispered and glanced back at