Swallowing Darkness   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Corporal Lance yelled as she handed her rifle to Gregorio and rolled up her window. "Close your window, we gotta move!"

"Why?" Gregorio asked.

"Wizards. You don't think when you're doing spells." She started the engine and we started forward. "Raise your damn window!"

"If you raise the window, I can't do this spell," I said.

"The bomb is still going to go off."

"You said it couldn't hurt this car," I said.

"You're our protectee. I'd rather not take the chance."

She eased us forward, and started angling around the truck in front of us. The radio was asking why we were moving. The word "bomb" seemed to galvanize everyone. Engines roared to life, and unfortunately, there was confusion. Too many people had fallen to the illusions and tricks, so there were just a few moments of confusion while they sorted who would collect the people who were hurt or dead. Seconds only, but seconds count.

I don't know what I had thought would happen. I simply put the bomb inside Siobhan's body. Had I thought that her flesh would be enough to contain the explosion? I think I had, but I was no solider. I wasn't truly even a warrior. I made the mistake of someone whose main ability is magic. I didn't think of the physical, and suddenly the physical was all there was.

The concussion of the bomb rocked the Humvee, splattering it with bits of flesh, bone, and shrapnel. My window was open. Something smashed into my right shoulder and upper chest. I was rocked backward, thrown onto the seat, and ended on the floorboards.

I'd lost my grip on Aben-dul. I managed to yell out, "Don't touch the sword, whatever you do! Don't let anyone touch the sword!" I forced myself to get up and grope for the hilt. If Gregorio or Lance touched it, they'd be turned into what Conri and Siobhan had...

Gregorio's face was over me. "You're hit!" She turned back to the driver. "She's hit. The princess is hit!"

I just kept trying to reach the sword. It was as if the world had narrowed down to me getting the hilt back in my hand. I couldn't let them touch it. They wouldn't know. They wouldn't understand.

Gregorio ripped my cloak away. I crawled back up on the seat as Corporal Lance drove us over the uneven road. My hand closed on the hilt as I felt Gregorio behind me. "I have to see the wounds, Princess, please."

She'd climbed into the back with me. Her hands were bloody as she reached for me. I turned from her, and used every bit of concentration I had left to slide Aben-dul into its sheath and set the locks.