Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One Read Online Free PDF Page A

whispered prayer
for forgiveness, she touched his cheek to communicate she hadn't meant to cause
him pain.  The spirit-light she could sometimes see surrounding all living
creatures revealed the man drifted between the world of the living and the
dead.  Only his will to survive was keeping him alive.  She must work quickly!
    “I will pull,” she
used her hands to accentuate her words and touched the spot where his legs
disappeared beneath wreckage, “but you must pull out your own legs.” 
    “Is ea.”   He nodded his assent. 
    She positioned herself
behind his head and threaded her forearms through his armpits.   The man
groaned in agony as she pulled with all of her might.  Moving his legs of his
own accord, he shifted just far enough to free himself from the wreckage before
losing consciousness again.  She rolled him onto his side to gain access to the
exit wound. 
    “He has the wings of
an eagle!” 
    Protruding from his
back were enormous, muscular wings, blackish-brown to match his hair.  One was
bent at an ominous angle and soaked with blood, the other appeared to be
intact.
    “Thank you for giving
me strength to free him,” Ninsianna said as she staunched his blood.  “When you
sent me a vision of a man with wings, I thought you wished to convey this man
is blessed by the gods.  I had no idea you were being literal!”
    Grabbing her needle
and thread, she stitched the exit wound, and then moved onto the next most
critical injury.  His wing had snapped just below the knee joint and part of
his bone stuck though the skin.  She slid the bone back into the skin and
manipulated it until it slid into place, speaking as she worked even though she
doubted that he could hear her.  She grabbed the spear she'd ripped earlier
from his chest and used it to splint his broken wing.  His left wrist was bent
at an unnatural angle, signaling another break.  Thankfully the bone didn't
protrude. 
    “It's a good thing
you're unconscious or I don't think you would let me do this to you!” Ninsianna
said.  His wrist made a cracking noise as she yanked the bone and snapped it
back into place.  “Not that you have a choice!” 
    She fashioned another
splint and then moved on to the next less serious wound.  His legs were intact,
but he had a nasty gash in his skull.  The man's hair was cropped short in a
manner she had never seen before, but it would still be in the way.  She used
her obsidian knife to shave that portion of his scalp before stitching up the
gash, speaking the entire time to anchor his spirit in the material realms so
he would not pass into the dreamtime.
    “I would go to my
people to get help,” Ninsianna pressed yarrow leaf into the sunken hole in his
chest to stem the bleeding.  “But Chief Kiyan is away on a trading mission and
left Jamin in charge.  If Jamin had kept his promise, I would have gone with them. 
It's lucky for you that I woke up and realized what a big mistake it
would be to marry Jamin because otherwise I wouldn't be here to help
you.”
    Clearing debris, she
made the man as comfortable as she could.  One of Mama's recommended treatments
for a man who had lost so much blood was to drink.  She dribbled water into his
mouth and stroked his throat to coax him to swallow as he drifted between here
and the dreamtime.  He didn't appear to understand her language, but Ninsianna
knew it was the sound of a shaman's voice and intent of the speaker which
mattered, not the actual words, while Mama had taught her to use her touch to
anchor the badly injured.  She spoke to the stranger with no expectation of an
answer, the same way she always spoke to She-who-is
    “It's a seven hour
walk back to my village and it will be getting dark soon," Ninsianna
stroked his cheek.  "I don't think it's wise to leave you alone with your
spirit so close to crossing into the next realm.  I' will stay with you until
you are strong.”
    The man's skin felt
cold and clammy.  She pressed