chunky sounds as the ghosts methodically removed the limbs from Artemis—and from Diana too. Another of Herne’s huntsmen and the pack of hounds had subdued Diana, while Flidais looked on with approval.
Oberon, is she alive? Are you okay?
Relief shuddered through me and I paused to collect myself. I had been so worried that she’d been killed outright, as Tahirah had so long ago.
Thank you for staying
with her. Ask her to drop your camouflage and her invisibility so I can help. It’s safe now
. I resumed walking and tried to shake off the clouds in my head.
he said as I drew closer.
Where are you? Bark, please
.
Oberon barked and appeared at the same time off to my left. He was standing watch over Granuaile, who had an arrow in her, just underneath her ribs and slightly left of center. Blood welled around the shaft and she clutched it, tears streaming down her cheeks and her breathing labored as I arrived.
“It hurts so much, Atticus,” she gasped, the last syllable hitching in her throat. “I didn’t think it would hurt this much.”
I lay Fragarach on the ground as I crashed to my knees next to her. Oberon made room. “You have to find your nerves and block them,” I said. “Remember the binding? Block the pain signals. You shut off the electricity down there and then you can get to work.”
She winced. “Gah, I can’t believe I forgot that!”
“Shock makes you forget a lot of things. I didn’t remember it until recently myself.”
“You’re hurt?”
“I’ll heal. And so will you.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Okay. I can do this.”
“Absolutely.”
She took a few more quick, shallow breaths, closed her eyes, then spoke the binding I had taught her. She sighed in relief when it worked, then smiled weakly at me through watery eyes. “Ohh. That’s so much better. Thanks.”
“Sure. Now we can melt these out of you.”
“No. I already looked. The head and shaft are synthetic composites. We can’t unbind them.”
“Fuck.”
“No, this is good. It’s good, Atticus.”
“What?”
“I needed this. I needed to get hit hard and learn how to heal from it.”
“But you can’t heal with that thing stuck inside you.”
“We’ll get it out. Go deal with the Olympians.”
“They’re down already.”
“There will be more very soon, and you know it. Hermes and Mercury at the very least.”
“But—”
“Atticus. Seriously. I’ve got this.” She reached across with her right hand, clutched my shirt, and gently pulled me down to her lips. She kissed me and then said, her eyes mere inches from mine, “I’m stable inside and comfortably numb. I’m not leaking stomach acid or anything, and I have the internal bleeding stopped. All I need is for you to get me the hell out of here. You have a plan for that, right? Tell me you have a plan.”
“I have a plan,” I said, and remembered that it was true.
She smiled, new tears sheeting down from the corners of her eyes toward the tops of her ears, and I went all melty. “I knew you did,” she said. “I’ll do better next time. Now go.”
I rose from her lips but froze before getting to my feet, seeing the arrow again and the sodden bloody circle on her black clothing. I couldn’t leave her there. Some very old instincts told me that was impossible.
Granuaile heard and laughed once before she realized that was probably not a good idea with an arrow in her diaphragm. “Atticus, go. I’ll be invisible and safe enough for a while. Don’t worry about me.”
I ducked back down and kissed her again. “All right,I’ll go. But only because you would kick my ass if I stayed.”
“Take Oberon with you. He doesn’t want to stay here.”
Is that true?
She wants to deal with this alone. That’s okay
. Speaking aloud, I said, “All right, let’s do this.” Oberon trotted next to me, tail wagging, and I gave him some love.
Thanks to Herne and his boys, Artemis and Diana had been turned into copies of the Black Knight, resting faceup on the forest floor with no arms and no legs. Their limbs were nearby but not close enough to heal, and I could see that, beyond the initial squirt of ichor, the Olympians’ remarkable regenerative processes had stopped the bleeding
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