Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to Danner.
    “Dan…” he choked
off, his voice parched. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Danner. Please.
Please try.”
    With a nod,
Danner moved closer and knelt down next to the blood-drenched paladin. All
question of Danner’s prior use of his immortal heritage vanished; whatever
irritation both men felt toward each other was washed away by necessity and
sympathetic concern.
    Danner was, at
best, inconsistent when it came to healing. He either met with stunning success
or abysmal failure. It had been remarked that he should only take on the
terminally injured, because he would either heal them completely or kill them
outright, leaving them no worse off than they otherwise would have been. The
best healers in the Prism might have been able to save his life, though
not his hand, but none of the paladins present had anywhere near that sort of
strength. Having seen Garet’s torn body and felt the pain within him, Danner
knew there was no other hope for the Red paladin. If he failed, Garnet’s father
would die.
    No, I will
NOT fail! I will not let him down again! he thought, gritting his teeth in
determination. Danner forced himself to relax and out of the corners of his
eyes, he saw translucent blue feathers flicker back into existence.
    A feeling of
peace and holy power flooded through Danner’s body, and he closed his eyes and
allowed himself the briefest of moments to let the sensation soak into him. A
cleansing fire coursed through his veins, burning away his fears and
irritations and replacing them with serenity and strength as he focused on his
intentions. When he opened his eyes, Danner was somehow unsurprised to see a
faint blue nimbus surrounding his hands and forearms.
    Ignoring the
murmurs behind him, Danner leaned over Garet and laid his softly glowing hands
on the Red paladin’s chest. Immediately, he felt the pain and agony contained
in Garet’s broken, human body, and Danner hissed involuntarily as he shared
some of the pain himself. His lips parted as he silently whispered a healing
prayer, reaching inside of himself and touching the immortal power, his āyus, [8] hoping
that font of holy strength would aid his healing.
    He continued to
pray, probing Garet’s body with his healing power and willing it to repair the
damage, visualizing what needed to happen. For a few agonized moments, nothing
changed, and Danner despaired. Then, slowly at first, bones began to shift and
realign themselves where they had snapped or been torn apart. Muscles stretched
and repaired themselves, as strong and powerful as they had ever been. Flesh
grew over wounds as they healed themselves, sealing the once-deadly injuries
and leaving nothing more than broad pink scars as evidence.
    Finally, Danner
turned his attention to the injured hand. As he lifted Garet’s limb, the blue
nimbus surrounding his hand stretched out and enveloped the bloody stump and
the hand still hanging on by a few shreds of torn sinew and bone. Danner
grasped the two severed parts in his hands and held them together.
    A river of blue
energy poured into the bloody juxtaposition, flared briefly, then was gone.
When Danner let go of the hand, Garet’s arm fell limply across his chest,
bloody but whole once more. A thick trail of pink, hairless skin jaggedly
encircled Garet’s wrist where the two pieces had been rejoined.
    Danner stumbled
to his feet and his wings flickered briefly and then dekinted out of sight. He
took one staggering step, then fell forward and collapsed into Garnet’s hastily
extended arms. Fighting against a weariness as deep as his soul, Danner looked
up and saw tears in Garnet’s eyes as he looked first at his father, then down
at Danner.
    “Thank you, my
friend,” Garnet whispered. “Thank you.”
    - 2 -
    Later that
afternoon, Michael watched over Danner as their friend slept fitfully. Danner’s
face was tightened up in concern, or perhaps even fear, and he occasionally
thrashed around in his blankets. Twice he