"Not if Trina does it," I said. "And not with that knife."
Gabe pulled another knife from his vest and held it out to Trina. I didn't know if it was cleaner than hers, but I was certain it could not be dirtier.
"Trina's the only one with any medical training," Simon said, keeping firm hold on my hands. "It has to be her."
"I'm cutting near the spine." At least Trina seemed to be taking this seriously, though that was hardly enough to give me confidence in her. "Hold still, Kestra, because one wrong move and you're either paralyzed or dead."
"Have you ever done this before?"
"I've seen it done."
"Are you serious?" I shook my head at Simon and tried pulling away. "This is madness!"
"Having a tracker in your neck is madness," Tenger said. "Now put your head down."
Gabe placed a stick between my teeth, and Tenger dumped something that smelled like alcohol over the back of my neck. My dress soaked up the extra liquid, leaving me with a cold chill that caused me to shiver. No, it wasn't the alcohol. I was too terrified to breathe.
"It's all right." Simon's voice was calm but his eyes spoke otherwise. "I'm here."
No part of this was all right. None of this was right at all. I felt the edge of the knife against my skin. It was sharp, but Trina's grip was sure. Whatever it meant for me, she knew exactly where she would start.
"Hold still," Trina said.
I screamed from the first cut, biting down on the stick to mute it, and Simon squeezed my hands tighter. A second cut followed, even deeper. Nausea enveloped me as lights flashed inside my tightly closed eyes.
"I see it!" Trina said. "It's the same ball used for Ironheart soldiers."
Gabe handed her something that she used to retrieve the tracker. That part was far more painful than the cut had been. My nails dug into Simon's hands and I couldn't feel him squeezing back anymore, though he must have been. Tenger poured more alcohol into the wound, which nearly made me leap from my skin. Gabe knelt beside me to steady my body's shaking.
Trina leaned down to show me the tracker, which I looked at but didn't really see. It struck me as similar to a small marble, but I wasn't focusing anymore.
"It's out," Trina said. "I've got to seal the wound."
"Gabe, go destroy the tracker." Tenger was already fading from my view. Everything was fading, nothing but gray corners moving inward. "I'll help with this."
I'd never know exactly what happened after that. Before I passed out, the last thing I heard was Simon telling me everything would be fine. Did I trust that?
I had to.
When I awoke, I was lying on some cut pine boughs, which I supposed were meant to be a sort of cushion while I slept. A cloak was spread out over me, one I'd never seen before. I vaguely wondered how long I'd been here. The sun had risen, and yet it didn't feel as if any time had p
assed.
Simon, Tenger, Trina, and Gabe weren't far off, but they were huddled close together in quiet conversation. With an unsteady hand, I felt around for the sword I had found in Silven. It was gone, which was no surprise. One of them would have taken it while I slept. Next, I felt the back of my neck. I had expected the bandage would encircle my neck entirely, but they had sealed it against my skin with some wax. Trina was the first to notice my movement.
"That's a Corack technique." Her smirk was triumphant. "As long as we keep the wound clean, if we seal it afterward, there's almost never any infection."
Then I remembered Darrow. And suddenly, I didn't much care whether I got an infection or not.
Simon walked toward me. "From what we can tell, most of Silven was destroyed, but the battle has ended. The soldiers have left. We're safe, for now."
"Where's the tracker?"
Gabe smiled, obviously proud of himself. "I couldn't break it, so I fixed it to a branch and sent it down river. The armies will be following that stick for miles."
Simon crouched beside me. "How do you feel?"
Even shrugging hurt. "Like someone who hates me just mined the back of my neck."