Steel's Edge Read Online Free PDF Page B

inside, and onto the spare bed. Éléonore pulled her woolen trousers aside. A small red bullet wound gaped in her thigh.
    â€œMelanie, get the first-aid kit.”
    â€œI am, I am.” The witch went into the kitchen
    â€œIs the bullet out?” Éléonore asked.
    The girl nodded.
    â€œHow did you get shot?”
    â€œThere was a boy . . .” Her voice was weak. “With a broken arm. I tried to heal the break, and his father shot me.” Surprise and outrage vibrated in her voice.
    Healing magic was really rare, almost unheard of. Éléonore frowned. What in the world was she doing here in the Edge?
    Melanie popped in the doorway with a first-aid kit. “If you can heal, why don’t you fix the hole in your leg?”
    â€œCan’t heal myself,” the girl told her.
    â€œI think you’re lying,” Melanie said, passing the kit over.
    The girl raised her hand. Her fingers brushed Melanie’s age-stained arm. A faint stream of golden sparks flared from her fingers, sinking into Melanie’s skin. The dark liver spots melted.
    Ã‰léonore gasped. Melanie stood frozen.
    The girl smiled, a sad, sagging curving of lips. “Can I please have some water?”
    Her leg was still bleeding.
    â€œGet her some water, Melanie.”
    â€œWhat am I, a servant?” Melanie went into the kitchen.
    Ã‰léonore unscrewed a bottle of rubbing alcohol, poured some on the gauze from the kit, and pressed it to the wound. The girl jerked.
    â€œYou’re from the Weird, aren’t you? What are you doing here in the Edge?”
    â€œI had to leave,” the girl said. “I had a horse and money. Somebody stole it. I tried to earn more, but nobody will let me heal them. I tried to help this man’s child, and he shot me. He shot me! What kind of insane place is this?”
    â€œThat’s the Edge for you.” Éléonore squeezed some Neosporin from a tube onto the wound. “We don’t take kindly to outsiders.”
    Melanie reappeared with a cup. The girl drank in big, thirsty swallows. “Thank you.”
    â€œWho shot you?” Melanie asked. “What did he look like?”
    â€œTall man, red hair . . .”
    â€œFace like a weasel?” Melanie asked.
    â€œMore like a stoat,” the girl offered, her voice weak.
    â€œMarvin,” Éléonore and Melanie said in one voice.
    â€œHe’s our resident paranoid nut,” Éléonore continued. “The man can’t sit still in church because he’s scanning the ceiling for black helicopters.”
    â€œWhat’s a helicopter?” the girl asked.
    â€œIt’s a big metal contraption with a propeller on top. The police in the Broken use them to fly around.”
    â€œWhat’s the Broken?”
    â€œOh, boy.” Melanie sighed.
    â€œThe place you came from is called the Weird,” Éléonore said. “You passed through the boundary to get here, a magic barrier, right?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWell, now you’re in the Edge, between the worlds. On the other side of the Edge, there is another magic barrier, and past it there is another place, just like the Weird, except that world has no magic.”
    â€œThat’s why it’s called the Broken,” Melanie said. “If you go there, it strips the magic off of you.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, it has no magic?” the woman asked.
    Ã‰léonore continued working on the wound. The bullet had entered the thickness of the girl’s outer thigh and exited two inches later. Barely more than a graze. Marvin couldn’t hit a herd of elephants if they were coming straight at him. “What’s your name?”
    â€œCharlotte.”
    â€œYou sleep now, Charlotte. Don’t worry. You’re safe. You can stay here until you feel better. Nobody will shoot you here, and we’ll have plenty of times to talk about the Broken and