Father Desmond Porter's Arc

Chapter 4 of 7

Desmond climbed out of the cavern into hard sun. His shoulder burned under the tied sleeve. He kept the shard in his good hand and the humming panel in his coat pocket, pressed against his ribs. The chapel lay across the flats. He walked fast because the Vael would come again once the bodies were found. He crossed broken ground and passed a dry wash, and then he saw the ruin ahead. A weathered building leaned on a heap of rubble along its left side. Its door hung open. Bricks lay scattered in the sand. Black scoring ran up one wall. The fight was recent. He smelled cordite and something sour under it. He drew up behind a low stone and watched. Nothing moved. He counted to twenty, then crossed the open ground with the shard low against his leg. He found her in the rubble by the door. Brown hair, matted with dust and blood. A cut ran from her temple into her hair. Her leg was pinned under a fallen beam. She was breathing. He knelt and said her name low, though they had never spoken face to face, only through the trader chain that carried messages between camps. Elina Cross opened her eyes and did not know him at first. He showed her the shard and said the word they had agreed on. She nodded once. He braced his good shoulder under the beam and lifted. She dragged her leg free and cried out through her teeth. The leg was not broken clean. He tore a strip from her sleeve and tied it above the worst of the bleeding. He got her up. She could put weight on it if he took the other side. He put her arm across his bad shoulder and made himself carry it. They left the ruin and started across the flats toward the chapel. He watched the sky for scouts and the ground for tracks. She asked about the wings. He said they were still on the workbench. He said if she could walk another hour they would both be inside the door before the Vael came back. She walked. They made the chapel by late light. He shut the door behind them and slid the bar across, and the humming panel in his pocket kept buzzing against his ribs.