Page 32 of Fang & Fury

Nodding, Ailsa left Rùn’s side and moved over to the fire pit, knelt, and picked up a small, sharp-edged stone and a curved piece of blackened metal.

Meanwhile, Fern stripped off her jerkin. Underneath, she wore a sleeveless woolen tunic.

“Let me have a look at that.” Kayla crouched next to her, brow furrowed.

Fern gave an irritated click of her tongue. “I can manage.”

Kayla snorted. “Just let me help you. That wound is deep and needs careful tending.” She glanced around. “Do you have any vinegar in here?”

“No.” Fern thrust a stoppered leather bladder at her. “Here’s some strong wine … it’ll have to do.”

Watching Fern and Kayla interact, Ailsa swallowed a rueful smile.

Fern could try to fight, but she’d be no match for Kayla’s bossiness. Ailsa remembered how swiftly Fern had recovered from that serious injury in the autumn. Her mentor didn’t know just how quickly Shee healed. All the same, it was clear Fern needed help. In the silvery lamp light, her face was drawn and pale.

“I’ve got some moss to apply to the wound afterward.” Her voice held a brittle edge now, as she gave herself over to the tattooist’s ministrations.

“That’s good,” Kayla replied. “Do you have any clean strips of linen?”

“In that sack to the right of you.”

Ailsa started striking the flint against the steel, watching the shower of sparks cascade over the tinder.

Meanwhile Fern’s growled oath echoed through the cave as Kayla started to cleanse the wound.

Kayla murmured a curse of her own. “It looks like a burn … like someone branded you.”

“That’s what iron does,” Fern replied between clenched teeth.

“Aye, it’s nasty.”

“Don’t fuss,” Fern replied brusquely. “Just pack it with moss, bind it overnight … and it’ll be half-healed by morning.”

“What?”

“Shee heal faster than we do, Kayla,” Ailsa spoke up, not looking away from her task. The tinder was smoking now, and she blew gently on it then, coaxing the fire to life.

Kayla eyed Fern warily at this yet said nothing else. Ailsa had told her about Fern while they’d been held captive, but hearing about the Shee and meeting one at close quarters were different matters.

Flames now licked through the bark in the fire pit. Ailsa sat back on her heels and watched them grow before carefully adding pine sticks. Already the fire’s warmth caressed her cold, clammy skin.

Eventually, she glanced Fern and Kayla’s way again to see her mentor wrapping a clean linen strip around the huntress’s upper arm.

“What manner of light is that?” Kayla murmured, motioning to the lantern beside them.

“It’s Moon Fire … a moss that only grows in Sheehallion,” Fern replied. “It glows in the moonlight … and that’s when we harvest it.”

“But you lit it so fast?”

“All it takes is the warmth of someone’s breath to bring it to life. We use it to light our homes … but it gives out little heat.” Fern nodded then to the hearth Ailsa had just lit. “Not like the kind of fire you’re used to.”

“What about the smoke?” Kayla asked with a frown. “Won’t it alert them to our presence?”

Fern shook her head. She then lifted her chin, peering up at the shadowed stone ceiling far above them. “There’s a cleft in the rock up there … and the wind is driving east, which means they’re unlikely to smell it.”

Taking this in, Kayla tied off the bandage and moved back. “There … done.”

Fern’s lips curved. “Thank you.” She motioned then to the far end of the cave where piles of hay sat. “You can see to your horses over there … they were dauntless today.”