wrath of the Sea Queen (232 page)

"
S
he was stabbed in the shoulder.  It's a large wound, and she lost a lot of blood before we arrived.  I was able to slow the bleeding, but not stop it.  She
's unconscious
.  Please Colonel
, s
he
needs help as soon as possible,
"
Ben replied, his
voice
laden with worry
.

"
Maybe I can do something.  I'm a trained field medic
, and I have
seen more than my fair share of war wounds. 
I might be able to patch her up
well
enough to
hold her over
until a real doctor can look at her. 
May I try
?
"
  Colonel Franks offered.

Ben nodded his agreement, and the Colonel moved to work on Salma's shoulder, grabbing a med
ic kit from a pack hanging
on
a spike
on the wall nearby
.

Vin stepped outside to
assess
the scene on the beach.  He
located
Jeremy
and a few others
trying to
get the
agitated
crowd under control
. 
The chaos seemed to be building.  Several of the
protestor
s even beg
a
n to pull large rocks off the ridge and hurl them at the guardsmen. 
While the Colonel's attention was
focused
on Salma, Vin
slipped
out to offer Jeremy his assistance.  As he worked his way along the ridge of the cave trying to reach Jeremy's side, Vin used his gift to push the protestors
toward
the road, herding them like sheep.  His
unannounced
aid allowed Jeremy and the other
guardsmen
to
finally
begin to rein in the
bedlam
.

Vin turned away from the ridge when he was about fifteen feet from the water,
maintaining his
confining
wind around
the protestors. 
T
he sooner this was under control, the sooner Salma
c
ould get the help she needed.  He watched the crowd as they continued to mill about. 
O
ut of the corner of his eye
, Vin spotted Scott near the back of the group
.  The redhead was
sneaking
along the outskirts of the mob's wavering position
and
head
ing
toward the hotel. 
Vin also
noticed
the
familiar,
wrapped bundle under his arm.

He
tracked Scott's progress and began to move parallel to him, intending to intercept him before
he could reach his destination.  Vin called t
he wind and
pushed
Scott down the beach as he moved
,
closing the distance between them. 
Vin wanted
to retrieve the Book of Elements before he
enacted a slow
punish
ment on
Scott for
the harm he had caused his family
.  Not only that, but Vin was
also
certain that Ben would want a hand in d
ishi
ng out that
r
etribution.  Vin planned to hold Scott until Ben could join him.

Unfortunately,
fate turned against
Vin
yet again
.  O
ne of the
rocks thrown wildly by a
protestor
struck
his
unprotected
fore
head
and sent him r
eeling. 
Oddly, Vin thought to himself that h
is head seemed to
be a popular target this week.  He
staggered backward and
then
fell to his knees dazed.  A se
cond protestor saw Vin fall and, spurred by the mood of the crowd, broke away
from the
mass
to run
up
and
hit him twice across
the
shoulders and
lower
back
with a baseball bat. 
A third
protestor
joined the spontaneous attack and kicked Vin in the ribs. 
He
fell forward
and
then
rolled
onto
his back in
the
slushy
sand
so th
at he could see his attackers, catching sight of other feet headed in his direction as he moved.  If he didn't do something to put an immediate stop to this, the attack would quickly turn brutal.  Vin concentrated through his haziness, and b
oth
the man with the bat
and the one who had kicked him were
suddenly flung forcefully
down the beach and
out into the waves as if caught by a gale-force wind. 
The others who were approaching rapidly turned away. 
Scott disappeared into the crowd
during the distraction
.

Vin laid on the sand waiting for the pain in his head and back to subside.  As he lay there with the rain falling on him,
Vin
looked
up
at the black clouds overhead and
was reminded o
f C
a
eli
's
dream.  Both he and Salma were hurt, as
C
a
eli
had known
they would be
, though she had never told them the specific details of the injuries
.  Wh
at
was
happening to
C
a
eli now? 
Was sh
e
being
confronted with
the choice she
ha
d been dreading
?  If so, then
Vin
was hurt much worse than he realized, and Salma would be teetering near the brink. 
One of their lives supposedly lay in the balance of C
a
eli’s choice. 
As he tried to pull himself together, Jeremy's blurry face c
a
me into view above him.

CHAPTER
53

C
a
eli
tried to stay calm as she waited.  In her dream, Rika always stepped out of the water
after
C
a
eli
moved away from the
shore
line
. 
She did not have to wait long
for the
dark-haired lady
to
emerge. 
She
appeared as
her long-time friend, Lara, but C
a
eli was not
deceived
. 
Rika
was in
control
.  Lara was not herself
, and
C
a
eli's s
adness for her
former
friend tugged at her heart.

"
Do not pity her.  She chose this union in return for the friendship and favors only I could grant.  You would have been wise to do the same,
"
Rika
respond
ed
to C
a
eli's unspoken thoughts.

"
Why have you brought me here?
"
  C
a
eli asked aloud.

"
You know why; so that I can
collect your payment.  I upheld my end of the deal, and your payment is due.
"

"What payment?  I d
id not
mak
e
any deal with you," C
a
eli
knew what Rika wanted, but c
ould not pinpoint
how
Rika was attempting to
validate the bargain
.

"
Come now.  You are smarter than th
is
, C
a
eli.  You have already figured out that the boy belongs to me.  I made a deal with his mother.  He was supposed to return to me on his third birthday,
and
that is long overdue. 
One way or another, I will not permit him to reach another birthday outside of my care.  Max
was not supposed to survive th
e plane
crash, but you interfered.  I sent my collector to retrieve the child, and you interfered a
second time
.  I would say you made a very clear choice in both instances, wouldn't you?
"

"Yes, I did.  I made a choice, not a bargain."