Archon Read Online Free Page B

nasty piece of barbed metal, but the shaft was smooth and straight, so he started with that. He separated the wooden shaft from the arrowhead and slid it smoothly out of the wound. He was relieved to find that it didn’t hurt at all. But when he released his psi, the pain came flooding back.
    “Taemon?” Amma’s voice was tinged with anxiety. “Are you okay?”
    He nodded, but even that slight movement made him nauseated. “How’s Mam doing?” he asked.
    Amma craned her head to see into the backseat. “It’s hard to say,” she said. “She’s still unconscious, but she looks a little paler, maybe.”
    “I’m not sure I can remove the arrowhead,” he confessed. “If I try to drag it backward through the flesh, I could lose consciousness before I finish.” Just saying the words made him light-headed.
    “I wish we had some kind of pain medicine,” Amma said. “Just enough to help you concentrate on driving.”
    “You’re right,” Taemon said. “The pain’s the problem right now, not the arrowhead. If I can make it to the colony, the healers can take care of the rest.”
    “What do you mean? How do you plan to stop the pain without medicine?”
    But Taemon wasn’t listening. He sent his awareness deeper into his shoulder, and then all the way to his brain. He wasn’t sure exactly what caused pain, besides the wound itself, but it must involve his brain somehow. There had to be something that triggered the effect, something that set off the blaring alarms that translated into pain. He couldn’t say exactly what he was seeing in his shoulder and in his brain. He had no words for it. But when he thought he knew what to do, he used every last squinch of discipline to calm himself for one more burst of psi. After this, he would either stop the pain or pass out trying.
    Holding the image of what he desired in his mind, he gave the command:
Be it so!
    And the pain was gone.
    No, not just the pain, he realized. His shoulder was numb. It was an odd sensation, but infinitely better than the blinding pain.
    He felt his body unclench and relax.
    “What happened?” Amma asked. “I don’t see the arrowhead.”
    “I had to leave it in there for now, but I figured out how to dull the pain.”
    Amma looked worried. “You really shouldn’t do that. Nerves are very complex things, Taemon, and you could cause a lot of damage if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
    “Nothing the healers can’t fix, I’m sure,” he assured her. “At least I can drive. That’s what’s important.”
    Amma didn’t look convinced, but another moan from Mam distracted her. “Let’s get you both to the healers as quickly as possible.”
    About a mile away from the colony, Amma pointed to the side of the road. “Pull over and park the quadrider there. We can walk the rest of the way.”
    “What? Why?” Taemon asked. “That will take too long.”
    “It’s a good idea,” Drigg said, leaning forward and rubbing sleep from his eyes.
    Amma looked pointedly at Taemon. “Think about it. How are we going to explain you driving this quadrider? I don’t think you should tell people about your psi. Not unless you have a way to bring it back for everyone. . . .”
    “No! I can’t do that.” The Heart of the Earth had made it clear his decision was permanent. But Amma was right. She was terribly right. People would despise the one person who still had psi. What would they do? Imprison him?
Execute
him?
    “We can rest a while if you need to,” Amma said. “Until you’re ready to walk.”
    “I’m ready now.” Taemon opened the doors with psi. “Mam needs a healer.”
    They arrived at the colony twenty minutes later, on foot. Drigg carried Mam, and Taemon tried to appear normal as he walked beside Amma. But the numbness in his shoulder was starting to worry him. He could barely feel the fingers on his left hand, and when he tried to make a fist, his fingers would curl only partway. What if Amma was right, and he had been