Life and Death

The tense mood in the cave hung heavily in the air. It was so thick I could hardly breathe so I removed my wooden mask and the cloth one beneath.

I felt like a stab in the heart when I looked at Reyas with my qi sight. Her qi core was empty yes, but there was not one but two. The second qi core twinkled at me and I could only think of one thing it could mean.

"I think she's pregnant," I said. I could see the tiny core now that hers was dim, but it must have been there for a while. There were next to each other and now only the tiny one shone.

The shaman ignored me and Gisael stared.

"Feed her some qi," I said. "She will die without it." I crawled the last to her. Several of her bones were broken and their shape was all wrong. One collarbone pierced her shoulder and the other was dislocated.

"You live," the shaman said and spat. "Good now help."

"If you set the bones I can try and stitch them together," I said.