“The wall doesn’t have a heartbeat.” Sam frowned at it. “Wait, Menehem?”
They both had concussions, no doubt. Nevertheless, I jabbed a finger toward the temple, illuminated by floodlights. Three dragons had wrapped themselves around it while others flew in wide circles, spitting at people on the market field. “And the lights aren’t on there. Let’s go, both of you. Is Orrin around? Whit or Sarit?”
Sam shook his head. “They were somewhere else.”
I didn’t know whether to be relieved or afraid as I helped Sam and Stef to their feet. They were both taller than me, so I wasn’t much use for keeping them upright as we staggered over debris, but I tried.
On the way to the north guard station, where there’d be medical help, we told anyone who’d listen that they’d be gone forever if they died tonight. Several came with us, but even more didn’t believe us and kept fighting. Some who hadn’t been hurt yet went to spread the word.
Sam had sylph eggs in his coat pockets. When sylph got too close, I trapped them, but mostly the shadows seemed to be looking for escape.
Finally we made it to the guard station, where people shouted orders and others ran to obey. I led Sam and the rest to the medical station tucked in the left side, the cots on wheels all brightly illuminated and surrounded by machines. I helped everyone onto cots while medics and less-injured patients rushed to help.
“What happened to them?” a girl asked. She looked about nine years old, and her trying to sound authoritative in her tiny voice might have been funny in other circumstances. She climbed onto a stool and eyed me distastefully. “What happened to you?”
“I don’t know. Sam and Stef were on the wall. I think they were both unconscious.” I couldn’t watch while the girl and her assistants took care of my friends, so I ran to the window and stared at the temple, willing the light to come back on.
Menehem staggered across my view. I shouted his name, but when he looked my way, half his face was blackened and blistered.
“What happened?” The question of the night.
“Sylph,” he said. “Mad at me for bringing them here. In eggs, if you were curious.”
I was too exhausted to be surprised. “Did you bring the dragons too?” I’d read a lot about the old wars, but none had ever had both dragons and sylph. Nothing in or out of Range liked the sylph, no matter how powerful an ally they’d be.
“No.” He coughed and squinted beyond me. “That was just good timing. I see you found Sam.”
I wanted to leave Menehem to suffer on his own. But I couldn’t. “Come inside. We’ll get a medic to look at your face.” I took off for the door as the fighting waned outside. The whine of vehicles and bang of cannons dimmed. Shrieks of dragons grew and faded as they fled over the guard station and north, chased out of Heart and Range by a flight of air drones.
When Menehem was safe in a cot, medics shooed me away so they could work. I lingered, listening to groans and curses, catching only glimpses of him between the medics’ bodies while he confessed his sins. At last they stood back, blood soaking their white smocks, and said there was nothing more they could do.
His shirt had been cut away, and gauze covered most of his exposed skin. The rest was angry red. He grimaced, but painkillers ran through a tube into his arm. “Sorry, Ana,” he rasped.
“Tell me what you know.” Not what I wanted to say, but he looked ready to die, and I couldn’t ask whether he ever cared that he had a daughter. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“It’s too late.” Menehem gave a weak smile as the guard station walls crackled and a loud pulse filled the room, then dulled into white noise. “See you in another life, butterfly.”
I shivered. How did he know?
He died before I had a chance to ask.
I stayed for only a moment longer, a miasma of emotions tumbling inside me. Then I turned away and wove through the mess of patients to find Sam.
His eyes were closed, but machines beeped comfortingly and he murmured, “Hi, Ana. What was that noise?”
“Janan is back.” From the corner of my window, familiar templelight filled the sky. I touched Sam’s wrist to feel his pulse, just for reassurance. Blood had been cleaned away from his face and arms, revealing bruises and the laser burn from a couple of weeks ago. The latter was still bandaged, and IV fluid dripped through a tube into his near arm. I couldn’t find anywhere burned by acid, but when I blinked, I saw the huge dragon head hovering over him. If I’d been just a little slower . . . “But don’t die just because it’s safe.”
“And leave you alone with my piano? Not a chance.”
Mindful of cuts on his face, I leaned over and brushed a kiss across his lips. He smiled wearily.