When the level of magic was sufficient, he sent a small probe into Quentin’s ravaged body to measure the damage. Red shards of pain ricocheted back through him, and he withdrew the probe quickly. Fair enough. Investigating a damaged body without adequate self-protection was not a good idea. Shielding himself, he tried again and ran into a wall of resistance. Still humming, he tried coming in through Quentin’s mind, taking a reading on what his cousin was thinking. He ran into another blank wall. Quentin’s mind seemed to have shut down, or at least it was not giving off anything Bek could decipher.
For a moment, he was stumped. Both attempts at getting to where he could do some good had failed, and he wasn’t sure what he should try next. What he wanted to do was to get close enough to one specific injury to see what the magic could do to heal it. But if he couldn’t break down the barriers that Quentin had thrown up to protect himself, he wasn’t going to be able to do anything.
He tried a more general approach then, a wrapping of Quentin in the magic’s veil, a covering over of his mind and body both. It had the desired effect; Quentin immediately calmed and his breathing became steadier and smoother. Bek worked his way over his cousin’s still form in search of entry, thinking that as his body relaxed, Quentin might lower his protective barriers. Slowly, slowly he touched and stroked with the magic, his singing smoothing away wrinkles of pain and discomfort, working toward the deeper, more serious injuries.
It didn’t work. He could not get past the surface of Quentin’s body, even when he brushed up against the open wounds beneath the bandages, which should have offered him easy access.
He was so frustrated that he broke off his attempts completely. Sitting silently, motionlessly beside Quentin, he continued to hold his cousin’s hand, not willing to break that contact, as well. He tried to think of what else he could do. Something about the way in which he was approaching the problem was throwing up barriers. He knew he could force his way into Quentin’s body, could break down the protective walls that barred his way. But he thought, as well, that the consequence of such a harsh intrusion might be fatal to a system already close to collapse. What was needed was tact and care, a gentle offering to heal that would be embraced and not resisted.
What would it take to make that happen?
He tried again, this time returning to what was familiar to him about the magic. He sang to Quentin as he had sung to Grianne—of their lives together as boys, of the Highlands of Leah, of family and friends, and of adventures shared. He sang stories to his cousin, thinking to use them as a means of lessening resistance to his ministrations. Now and then, he would attempt a foray into his cousin’s body and mind, taking a story in a direction that might lend itself to a welcoming, the two of them friends still and always.
Nothing.
He changed the nature of his song to one of revelation and warning. This is the situation, Quentin, he sang. You are very sick and in need of healing. But you are fighting me. I need you to help me instead. I need you to open to me and let me use the wishsong to mend you. Please, Quentin, listen to me. Listen.
If his cousin heard, he didn’t do anything to indicate it and did nothing to give Bek any further access. He simply lay on his bed beneath a light covering and fought to stay alive on his own terms. He remained unconscious and unresponsive and, like Grianne, locked away where Bek could not reach him.
Bek kept at it. He fought to use the magic for the better part of the next hour, maintaining contact through the touching of their hands while trying to heal with his song. He came at the problem from every direction he could imagine, even when he suspected that what he was trying was futile. He attacked with such determination that he completely lost track of everything but what he was doing.
All to no avail.
Finally, exhausted and frustrated, he gave up. He rocked back, put his face in his hands, and began to sob. All this crying felt foolish and weak, but he was so weary from his efforts that it was an impulsive, unavoidable response. It happened in spite of his efforts to stop it, boiling over in a rush that left him convulsed and shaking. He had failed. There was nothing left for him to try, nowhere else for him to go.
“Poor little baby boy,” a voice soothed in his ear, and slender arms came around his neck and pulled him close.
At first he thought it was Rue Meridian, come down to the cabin when he wasn’t looking. But he realized almost before he had completed the thought that it wasn’t her voice. Gray robes fell across his face as he twisted his head for a quick look.
It was Grianne.
He was so shocked that for a moment he just sat there and let her hold him. “Little boy, little boy, don’t be sad.” She was speaking not in her adult voice, but with the voice of a child. “It’s all right, baby Bek. Your big sister is here. I won’t leave you again, I promise. I won’t go away again. I’m so sorry, so sorry.”
Her hands stroked his face, gentle and soothing. She kissed his forehead as she cooed to him, touching him as if he were a baby.
He glanced up again, looking into her eyes. She was looking back at him, seeing him for the first time since he had found her in Castledown. Gone were the vacant stare and the empty expression. She had come back from wherever she had been hiding. She was awake.
“Grianne!” he gasped in relief.
“No, no, baby, don’t cry,” she replied at once, touching his lips with her fingers. “There, there, your Grianne can make it all better. Tell me what’s wrong, little one.”
Bek caught his breath. She was seeing him, but not as he really was, only as she remembered him.
Her gaze shifted suddenly. “Oh, what’s this? Is your puppy sick, Bek? Did he eat something bad? Did he hurt himself? Poor little puppy.”
She was looking right at Quentin. Bek was so taken aback by this that he just stared at her. He vaguely remembered a puppy from when he was very little, a black mixed breed that trotted around the house and slept in the sun. He remembered nothing else about it, not even its name.
“No wonder you’re crying.” She smoothed Bek’s hair back gently. “Your puppy is sick, and you can’t make him better. It’s all right, Bek. Grianne can help. We’ll use my special medicine to take away the pain.”
She released him and moved to the head of the bed to stand looking down at Quentin. “So much pain,” she whispered. “I don’t know if I can make you well again. Sometimes even the special medicine can’t help. Sometimes nothing can.”
A chill settled through Bek as he realized that he might be mistaken about her. Maybe she wasn’t his sister at all, but the Ilse Witch. If she was thinking like the witch and not Grianne, if she had not come all the way back to being his sister, she might cure Quentin the way she had cured so many of her problems. She might kill him.
“No, Grianne!” he cried out, reaching for her.
“Uh-uh-uh, baby,” she cautioned, taking hold of his wrists. She was much stronger than he would have thought, and he could not shake free. “Let Grianne do what she has to do to help.”
Already she was using the magic. Bek felt it wash over him, felt it bind him in velvet chains and hold him fast. In seconds, he was paralyzed. She eased him back in place, humming softly as she moved once more to the head of the bed and Quentin Leah.
“Poor puppy,” she repeated, reaching down to stroke the Highlander’s face. “You are so sick, in such pain. What happened to you? You are all broken up inside. Did something hurt you?”
Bek was beside himself. He could neither move nor speak. He watched helplessly, unable to intervene and terrified of what was going to happen if he didn’t.