Filed to story: The Chosen Saga Novel PDF Free
“You really came?”
“Of course, we came for you Firebug, now can River heal you hand? You burned your arm pretty badly.” Mac kneeled on the other side of Korine.
“No, Korine first.”
“She’s gone, firebug.”
“Don’t say that, her spirit is still there, I don’t have all my strength to Keep her here, but she’s there. Please, she has Sarcan larva inside of her, but she’s there. Save her.”
“If she has Sarcan’s then she could still be alive.” Mac looked at River and gestured him to be at her head. “I will need you to heal as I go, but we need to burn them out of her.”
“Okay, how?” River knelt as Araiya looked on.
“I will send flame into each of the burrows and burn the larva. I will yank them out and you heal the hole up. They have already eaten a lot so it will take all of your power.”
“Understood. Let’s do it. Araiya, I know you don’t care but we won’t be able to focus with you bleeding next to us.”
“Yes, whatever, just heal her.”
Water, can you stop me from bleeding until the guys save my sister.
Anything for you, young mother.
Thank you, Warryn.
Araiya watched on as Mac inserted a finger covered in flame into each little burrowed hole. After a few moments, he pulled out a dead larva. The holes, previously dark and bloody, slowly covered with new skin, and the colour slowly returned to her face, and finally she took in a breath.
“I can heal her face too, get rid of the scars.”
“Can you-“
“Not the flame, take the rest away but not the flame in the brand.” Korine opened her eyes, which had started to tear.
“Why Kora, you could be totally free of the scars.” Araiya leaned in.
“I will never be free of these scars Yaya, and I don’t wish to be. I want to remember what he did, what they all have done. I never want to be beautiful again. I never want to be with another man, as long as I live.”
“Kora?”
“You saved me.” Korine heaved herself up and into her arms. “You really did it, you saved us Araiya.”
“I..”
Korine grabbed her face in her arms and kissed her forehead and then hugged her again “I never doubted it for a second. We have to leave.” Korine looked around and saw the fire twister around them. “Araiya, you need to release the storm. No matter what happened, there are still innocents around us.”
“There are no innocents here Korine.” Araiya’s anger flared as she stood and viewed her storm. “Not after what they have done to you, to us.”
“Araiya, that is not our place, you know better than this. Mother taught us better than this. Only the Goddess judges us in the afterlife. We do not know if they were held, like we were, or worse.” Korine struggled to her feet with River’s help. “Araiya, look at your mates.”
Araiya looked back on the men standing around them, even Talon was there, and in his eyes, she saw the utter devastation. And in that realization, that she wasn’t the only one hurting, her flames guttered and went out. She raised her hand toward Talon and instead of skin she saw muscle, and Araiya bent over and vomited.
River rushed over and pushed her skin back in place and healed her, weaving on his own feet from all the power he had burned through.
“It’s alright, lamb. Your hand is alright.”
“I don’t care about my hand; my body is ruined by scars anyways. It just caught me off guard that I did that to myself. That I was able to do that to anyone.” Araiya looked around at her destruction and vomited again. The acrid smell of burnt flesh in her nose, the bodies that were turned into black brittle husks of what or who they had used to be had sent her over the edge.
“I did all of this?” Panic edged her voice. “I killed all of these people?”
“Araiya, there weren’t many people with us. Just a few soldiers and Donal’s inner circle, plus father.”
“The soldiers…”
“Were ones who enjoyed working with Donal, they used to grope us when we were transported, remember?”
“Donal?”