THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

mask, the severity of my injuries written in the worry lines creasing his forehead. “Got to get you out of here before that thing bleeds out and you drown in croggle blood.”
    “Doubt I’ll make it. Go. Save the child. But–” I drew another rattling breath. “Please...let my friends go.”
    Zilya’s face popped into view. Confusion scrambled the color in her eyes. “You should have let that scout die.”
    I breathed out, “Couldn’t let that beast...kill anyone.” 
    “He’s an enemy .”  She placed her hands on her hips. “Why would you help a tek? Protecting your own?”
    “No.”  I scowled at her, gritting my teeth when Callan pressed harder. “Can I just die . . . in peace?”
    Callan’s gaze never left mine when he said, “Leave her alone, Zilya.”  Then he told me, “You will not die...yet.”
    Now that Zilya had pointed out how I’d, once again, protected their enemy, I wondered if Callan wanted the honor of killing me himself.
    I closed my eyes, trying to separate myself from the pain snaking through every inch of my body.
    The cries of a child approaching forced my eyes open to find Etoi hovered in my line of sight. She told Zilya, “I think this little one is reacting to the Sphere. He already has a rash on his arms and legs.”
    Callan kept his hands in place, applying pressure that tortured me as he turned to address Zilya over his shoulder. “Where’s the prisoner?”
    “Tied to a tree.”
    “Take the child to Jaxxson.” 
    “What about her ?”
    Now I’m her again? I fought to stay alert when all I wanted to do was close my eyes and withdraw from the jagged ache clawing my stomach. Had Callan been telling the truth that I wouldn’t die? 
    Callan shook his head as if debating with himself. “Leave her with me. We’ll follow once she can walk.”
    He expects me to get up and walk? After losing a couple of quarts of blood and with a gaping wound?
    As usual, Etoi had an opinion. “This one killed a fully grown croggle. She protected a tek. Why save her?”
    Hmph. I’d graduated to ‘her’ then back to ‘this one.’ At this rate, I’d be ‘it’ next.
    Callan still pressed on the wound.
    I hissed, nauseous from the streaking pain. 
    The struggle to figure out something warred in Callan’s face. “How’d you kill these croggles? Our spears can’t pierce the hide of a grown one, but you stab him in the foot and he dies.”
    Something I could do better than warrior-guy? Sweet , as Tony would say.
    Throat dry and fighting dizziness, I opened my hands but couldn’t lift them from where my arms had flopped to down beside me. “With these. Not sure how it works.”  I took short breaths, which was all I could handle. “I feel an energy. . . then I think about...what I want to happen. That’s how I killed the flower vine that...attacked Tony. Just worked.”  My eyes fluttered closed. Too much effort to keep them open.
    No doubt they’d think I was insane and lock me away in that isolation unit forever...if I lived.
    “Wake up,” he ordered.
    I didn’t want to, but forced my lids halfway open, just enough to see the blurry image of Callan still kneeling next to me and arguing with Zilya. “She doesn’t wear her hair like the tek-nah-tee females and no obvious marks on her body.”
    Zilya glared an easy message to interpret. She didn’t want Callan discounting her theory that I was the enemy. “We’ll discuss this later, but no matter how great a warrior you are, you risk someone like her using that power to kill you.”
    Looking up at Callan, I tried to speak, but it came out as a whisper.
    He leaned closer to me. “What?”
    Licking dry lips, I whispered, “My word...as a warrior. I will not use my power against you.”
    The respect that had shined in Callan’s eyes earlier took on new meaning now. He believed I was not tek-nah-tee or at least he had reservations about condemning me. I could see it.
    He said nothing to me, but he told Zilya, “Get moving. The child needs Jaxxson. I’ll deal with this. That’s final.”
    Did I have the beginning of an ally in Callan? An alliance that might help Gabby and Tony once I made it back to the village. 
    If I made it back. 
    “The blood still flows too fast,” Etoi pointed out in a smug tone. “The decision of her fate may no longer rest in your hands. Staying here may draw another croggle.”
    He snarled something at Etoi I didn’t get and scooped me into his arms.
    Bad move. Pain ripped