Chapter 36

The King put the cloak next to Ayla, and it was only then that she saw the blood on it. Scar's blood.

"I will burn it as soon as I can get you a new one," the King said when he saw where Ayla was staring at.

When his fingers moved to unbutton her jacket, Ayla put her left hand on top of his, stopping him, "What are you doing?"

"I have to get you out of the jacket to look at that shoulder. And the sooner I look at it, the sooner we can look for Nixx. And Spirit."

Ayla stopped protesting as the King took her jacket off.

A hiss of pain left her mouth as the King helped her out of the jacket, leaving her in a tunic.

"Kerra, distract Ayla while I take a look at her shoulder."

The snowcat approached Ayla and purred loudly while the King touched her shoulder. It hurt badly. She might have screamed.

"I am sorry!" the King said. "But I have good news and a bad one. The good one is that it is not broken. The bad one is that it is dislocated, and I have to put it in its place."

Ayla paled, "It's going to hurt?"

The King nodded, "I will try to make it as painless as possible."

He pulled out a piece of leather from a messenger bag he was wearing and gave it to Ayla.

"Put this on your mouth and bite it. Don't move while I put your shoulder back."

As soon as Ayla put the leather in her mouth, the King popped her shoulder back. She bit down hard as the pain faded away.

Once her shoulder was in its place, the King took a healing potion from his bag.

"Drink this," he said as he handed her the vial. When Ayla frowned, the King added, "It is a healing potion."

Ayla drank and gave him back the empty vial. The King picked up the dagger that Nixx gave to Ayla. He arched an eyebrow as she took it from him and put it in its sheath.

"Now we look for Nixx and Spirit," Ayla said and reached for her jacket.

"Let me help you, t'xoria."

Once she was dressed, Ayla started yelling, "Spirit! Spirit!"

She hoped that somehow the horse had stopped running close by and would return if he heard her voice. A minute later, she called the horse again.

A few minutes later, when she didn't hear any sound, Ayla felt her heart breaking. But she would not give up. She would find both Nixx and Spirit. "Spirit!" she yelled as hard as she could. A few moments later, she heard a neigh coming from behind her. Ayla spun around, and there it was! Spirit was running towards her. Tears pricked in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

The horse stopped in front of her, and Ayla put her forehead against the one of Spirit, "I thought I lost you too!" Then lifting her head, she said, "We have to find Nixx!"

"And this horse?" the King asked.

"This is Spirit. Nixx gave him to me. Are you coming or staying?" she asked, still not looking at him.

"T'xoria! You are hurt and in no condition on riding right now!"

Ayla turned and faced the King, "I am going to get on Spirit and go look for Nixx. You can come with me or wait here. But I am going. He helped me when I needed him, and when he needed me, I left. And I already lost too much time."

While Ayla tried to mount but failed because her right shoulder still hurt. The King approached her, put his hands around her waist, and lifted her.

"We will look for this Nixx, and we will find him. I promise," the King said, and then he whistled hard.

Moments later, Runner appeared from within the forest. They rode together in silence because Ayla was too worried to talk. Kerra ran next to the horses as they got closer to the place, Ayla last saw Nixx.

Her heart drummed and drummed while fear filled her heart. She couldn't – wouldn't accept the fact that Nixx was no more.

A lifetime later, Spirit stopped in the spot where Nixx fell to the ground. But there was no one there.

"Nixx!" Ayla shouted.

There was no reply whatsoever.

"Nixx!"

The King dismounted and went to take a look at the snow.

"There are some tracks in the snow – from a horse, a set of footprints of a man, another of a woman, I think. And I also see some blood on the snow. But there is something strange about this," the King said and looked at Ayla. "It is as if he vanished into the air."