With her shields open, she felt the magic suddenly drain away, vacating the creature as if it had never been there at all. Its eyes, which had been closed, opened, but they didn’t react to the changing light. The deer was dead.

  She dismissed her sword and knelt by the deer’s back, placing her hand on its side. With her shields open, she let her power flow into the creature. The skin was much thicker than that of an average deer, partly explaining why the weapons had such a hard time penetrating the hide. But there were also changes that couldn’t be explained by thick skin. The actual morphology of the skin had changed. It was far tougher, more damage-resistant than was usual.

  The changes didn’t stop there. Below that, Shasta found extremely heavy musculature, more so than the average deer, and exceptionally dense, strong bones. Everywhere she looked, there were changes, some of them small, some of them larger, like the changes to its hide. Whatever had caused all of this had altered the deer at its most fundamental level. Even the brain was different. The alterations were so vast that other than the shape of them, she wouldn’t have called this creature a deer at all.

  Shasta severed her connection to the deer. Until she examined the others she didn’t have enough information to draw conclusions, but if they all had the same changes, that would bear a great deal of thought.

  With Nissa busy trying to separate herself from Gwen, and Cord trying to make sure both of them were all right, Shasta steered clear. She went back to the deer she and Cord had shot and repeated the examination. As with the other one, every part of it was changed. While the brain alterations weren’t as severe, everything else was mirrored almost exactly.

  Standing up, she surveyed the scene. During the fight, her focus had narrowed, and she hadn’t realized the full scope of the destruction. Half a dozen elves were scattered around holding legs or arms, having suffered some type of injury in the attack. At a quick glance, she recognized Mack, Bliss’s partner. Ayla, Meron, and Delilah were starting to move the injured to a central area so they could be treated. Bliss stepped out of the café, a basket of clean linens in her hand, and headed for her husband.

  The remaining four deer were scattered around. Even though they looked dead from here, Shasta wasn’t taking any chances. On her way down the street, she retrieved her bow.

  She methodically worked her way from deer to deer. Each of them had the same pervasive changes. Yet when they died, the magic drained away. Without the opportunity to study the dying deer, she might not have known they had in fact been infused with magic. The only question that remained was if the changes had been intentional.

  With the elves moving the injured off the road, the scene on the street turned macabre. It wouldn’t be improved when she started necropsies. “Delilah, may I have a word?”

  Delilah turned away from directing Meron to help Embath inside. “Yes?”

  “The deer. I’ve done a quick examination, but I’ll need to do a more thorough one. Can we move them off the street?” She pointedly turned and looked around.

  Delilah’s eyes jumped from one dead deer to another. Her lips pressed into a thin line. “That would be for the best. There’s an old barn we use for storage behind the town hall. I presume that would be acceptable?”

  “Yes.” It was far better than having them delivered to their house. The smell of decay wouldn’t stay outside.”

  “Gwen! Meron!” Delilah called.

  Meron said a few words to Embath and headed over. Gwen patted Nissa’s shoulder and pointed at the library before joining the three of them. Gwen and Meron stood side by side waiting for Delilah to speak.

  “Could the two of you move the deer off the street? If memory serves, the tractor and flat trailer will fit in the community barn. Load up the deer and move them in there. Shasta and Cord need them for their investigation.” Almost as an afterthought, she added, “It would be a great help.”

  Gwen shrugged. “Sure.”

  “The tractor and trailer are already in there from moving the last deer,” Meron said. “It shouldn’t take us long.” After a cursory nod in Delilah’s direction, he turned to Gwen. “Best get to it.”

  Shasta glanced at Delilah, who didn’t appear inclined to say anything. She hurried to say, “Thank you. Cord and I appreciate it.”

  Gwen smiled. “It’s our home. We want to help.”

  “No trouble at all,” Meron added. The two of them turned and jogged down the street.

  “Anything else?” Delilah asked.

  Shasta shook her head. “Not that I can think of.”

  With a cursory nod, Delilah went back to directing elves.

  Realizing she hadn’t seen Cord since they’d killed the last of the deer, Shasta scanned the area for him. With how similar the elves were in appearance, she focused on their posture and how they moved. He wasn’t between her and the library. She pivoted and spotted him kneeling beside the deer he’d shot three times.

  Hearing footsteps approaching, Shasta turned around.

  “Shasta, you said you can heal, correct?” Cicada was always easy to pick out from the crowd. Unlike the rest of the elves here with their variations of blonde hair, hers was dyed bright turquoise.

  “Yes, but I’m not the most skilled.” Shasta turned her thoughts away from the deer. They would be here later, and she could run more tests. “I thought Nissa and her sister Shiloh were the best healers?”

  “Ayla has gone to get Shiloh, but there’s too many for Nissa to see to.” Cicada lowered her eyes, looking rather fixedly at her boots. “I grow crepe myrtles because I’m a bit of a failure as an elf. It’s the only thing I’m truly good at. And growing plants in general. We all came here because we aren’t the generalists elves have a reputation for being.”

  When Godric had mentioned the town being specialist, she’d been thinking about fighting, not healing. While her skills weren’t enough to be valuable in most elven communities, she had to remember this wasn’t most communities. “Where do you need me?”

  Cicada led her to the library. In the past, the window blinds would have been pulled low, only letting in a bit of light so that inside it always felt like evening. They kept a fire going even in summer, and between the soft chairs and an ample selection of books, it was a lovely place to relax.

  Today the blinds and windows had been opened, letting as much light and air in as possible. Injured elves were being set in chairs, laid on the ground, and one or two were simply leaning against the wall.

  “Who’s the worst?” Shasta asked. She propped her bow against the window and swung her backpack around, reaching for healing charms. What she lacked in healing ability she could make up for with a bit of magic.

  “Mack.” Cicada pointed to the back of the library. “Bliss helped move him to the couch.”

  “I know where it is. Thank you.” Shasta smiled politely at Cicada and threaded her way through the room. The couch was in front of the fireplace, and the back of it blocked most of her view, but she could see Bliss leaning over, tending to her partner.

  Shasta rounded the side of the couch. Mack was on his back, his right foot propped up on a pillow. He was as white as the napkin Bliss was using to blot his forehead. Shasta set her pack on the ground and forced a friendly smile. “I hear you got hurt. What happened?”

  “One of them kicked me square in the chest.” He closed his eyes and slowly inhaled. When he looked at her again, the pain lines on his face were deeper. “Broke through my ribs. Not cracked; I can tell they’re completely broken. The bones separated, but I don’t have the ability to put them back together.”

  Normally, elves could heal cracked ribs or even broken ones, but with this type of an injury, even elves needed some help. “We’re in luck. I can hold them together, and I’ve got a major healing charm here that can do the rest. A drop of blood from you and the charm will be good to go.”

  Mack moved his head just enough to be considered a nod. “Do it.”

  Bliss moved back, giving Shasta room to work.

  Shasta knelt next to him and took his hand in hers. He winced. She gently turned it over to see raw skin on the heel of his palm from scraping across the bricks. It was still seeping blood. She rested the back of his hand in hers, and with that connection, she let her power ease into his body.

  He had a number of strained muscles and bruises, and he’d been right about his ribs. Three on his right side and one on his left were broken and in danger of puncturing his lungs. If she pulled them in place now, it would hurt, but if she was too slow when she activated the charm, it would use most of its energy realigning the ribs rather than healing him.

  She took a deep breath and quickly rubbed the charm into the wounds on his hand before curling his fingers around it. As it flared to life, she focused on the ribs and yanked them into place.

  Mack’s chest moved, and he made a strangled sound as if he wanted to scream, but he couldn’t breathe deeply enough to vocalize. Through his movements, she kept the ribs where they belonged, not letting them do any more damage. She could feel the magic racing through him, and as soon as it collided with his ribs, it leaped into action, knitting the bones together and relieving his pain. Some of the magic also traveled down his leg to where he’d sprained his ankle. The magic healed that too.

  Shasta eased her hold on the ribs. When they didn’t move, she released them entirely, letting the magic do its work. When she opened her eyes, she saw the pain on Mack’s face had eased. His hand was still clenched around the healing charm.

  “He looks better.” Bliss bent over and brushed a strand of hair off his forehead.

  Shasta backed away. “He’ll be fine.”

  Mack opened his eyes and smiled at his wife. He was still smiling when he looked at Shasta. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” She picked up her pack and looked for the next patient.

  On the other side of the library, she spotted Nissa tending to Ashling. Only a few feet away, Embath was lying on the ground with blood oozing from his leg. Shasta knelt next to him. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  Embath shifted to look at her and winced. “I was trying to get away when I fell. One of them stepped on me.”

  Shasta slid a small knife out of her pocket. She flipped it open and cut his pants from ankle to knee. Inside was a gruesome wound. Embath’s leg was visibly distorted, and the deep laceration was losing blood. Eyeing the pool of blood under the elf and the current rate at which he was continuing to bleed, she could tell that most of his healing abilities were going into maintaining blood volume rather than fixing the wound.

  She placed her fingers gently against Embath’s ankle. As her power flowed in, the damage it revealed was worse than she expected. Not only was the fibula broken, but the tibia had a long fracture line, with a chunk displaced. The soft tissue injury would need at least as much attention as the bones, and likely more.

  Shasta pulled her power back into herself and considered the problem. She couldn’t heal all of it, especially not with other patients to see. Normally, she would use a major healing charm and augment its healing with her own powers. However, she’d used the only major healing charm she had with her on Mack. Digging in her pack, she found a moderate and a minor healing charm. Between the two of them and her abilities, she should be able to help the elf. That would leave her with one more moderate healing charm and several minor ones to help the rest of the patients.

  “I can fix this, but it won’t feel good.” Shasta met Embath’s gaze.

  He made a face that typically would have accompanied a shrug. “It hurts now, so likely anything you do will be an improvement.”

  “I hope you still think that in a few minutes.” She touched his ankle again. Her power slid through his body until it surrounded the damaged areas. Like with Mack, she was going to have to race the charm to ensure Embath benefited from its full potential.

  Focusing on the bone fragments and where they should be, Shasta surrounded them with her power, preparing to put everything in its place. With her right hand, she picked up the moderate healing charm and swiped it through the blood on the floor before holding it against Embath’s thigh. As quickly as she could, she yanked the bone pieces into place. Embath screamed and jerked. She gripped his thigh harder, holding the leg in place so she could keep the bone fragments steady.

  A second later, the charm was in full effect, and Embath’s tense muscles relaxed as it effectively blocked the pain. At the same time, the bones began to knit back together. Unfortunately, the charm was burning itself out more quickly than she anticipated.

  The rate of bone growth slowed, and there were still a few cracks when the charm sputtered out. While that was disappointing, it had also repaired some of the tissue damage, and everything was in the right place. Shasta tossed the charm aside and reached for the next one, again dipping it in blood before setting it on Embath’s thigh.

  The charm picked up where the previous one had stopped, accelerating the bone growth enough that it was no longer cracked. Even though it would be some time before the bones were at full strength, they were stable. Shasta released her grip on his leg but stayed in contact with Embath so she could sense the charm’s progress. While she watched, the charm stopped the bleeding and began healing the long laceration before running out of power.

  She examined Embath’s leg again. It wasn’t completely healed, but he should be mostly pain-free, and his body would be able to complete the rest of the healing in a timely fashion.

  With a tired sigh, she lifted her hand away from his ankle. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better. I hope I never again feel pain like I did when you pulled the bones into place.” Embath reached out, catching her hand. “Thank you.”

  She squeezed his fingers. “You’re welcome.”

  Someone cleared their throat behind her. “Excuse me.”

  Coming to her feet, Shasta turned. Ayla was standing with a woman who had a mix of Gwen and Nissa’s features. Shasta extended her hand. A red smear caught her eye. Glancing down, she realized her hand was bloody. She quickly pulled it back. “Sorry …”

  “I’m Shiloh, one of the tree sisters.” Shiloh nodded at her, not able to shed the worry lines at the corners of her mouth. “Ayla and I found something you need to see.”

  “Now? I need to help the injured.” Shasta motioned toward the rest of the library.

  “Nissa will tend to them,” Shiloh said firmly. “You need to see this.”

  “Give me a minute to wash up.” They nodded, and Shasta headed for the bathroom in the back of the library. On the way, she passed two elves with simple breaks, and after cleaning up, she gave them a better look. None of them appeared to be as seriously injured as Mack or Embath.

  Reassured, she collected her pack. Only Shiloh was waiting. “Where’s Ayla?”

  “She’s going to bring Cord.”

  Shasta squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She should have thought of that. “Thank you.”

  Shiloh shrugged. “You should both see it. Ready?”

  “Yup,” Shasta answered.

  Shiloh led her out of the library and toward the middle of Main Street. Gwen and Meron were busy loading deer onto a flatbed trailer attached to a green tractor. Ayla and Cord were waiting near the tractor. Shasta tipped her head to the side, motioning for Cord to join her. He fell into step next to her, and Ayla joined Shiloh a few paces in front of them.

  Shasta looked up at her partner. “Any idea what this is about?”

  “I was hoping you would know.” He sighed. “We need to talk about those deer too.”

  She nodded. “That can go next on the agenda.”

  Shiloh and Ayla took a right, heading down the narrow lane that bisected Main Street. The area between the buildings to the field beyond should have had a barricade blocking it. She leaned closer to Cord. “I thought you checked the barricades last night.”

  “I did. There was one here.” He frowned.

  Shiloh and Ayla stopped, stepping to the left, giving Cord and Shasta a clear view of the space between the buildings. Ayla pointed at narrow slits on the ground. “I saw this on my way out of town. I was with the group that built this wall. We pounded stakes in so we didn’t have to move the bricks. Those holes are all that’s left.”

  The space between the buildings was completely empty. There wasn’t a single board left of the wall. If not for the holes, Shasta would never have thought there’d been a wall here. She squatted down for a better look. A splinter was wedged into one of the stake holes.

  She moved back, giving Cord a chance to see it for himself. So far, they’d put most of their effort behind the assumption that the deer were an accidental creation. Some magic had gotten lose and was morphing them. The only inconsistency with that theory was that no other creatures had shown any evidence of change. Usually, magic wasn’t so discriminating.

  However, deer couldn’t pick up a fence and carry it away. They lacked the thumbs. Someone, likely from this community, had dismantled it, giving the deer a way into town, but no visible exit for them to escape through. That gave them the chance to do maximum damage.

  “We found the fence, or what’s left of it.” Shiloh pointed toward the back of the buildings.

  They left the narrow path between the buildings. Shasta gave the place a cursory look. She certainly didn’t see anyone around, but that hardly meant this was a private conversation.

  The small pile of wood stacked against the back of the building scarcely looked like a fence. By the neat stacking of the wood, it looked like the entire fence had been dismantled. As she got closer, the sun catching on a bit of metal drew her attention to a pile of nails at the far side of the stack of lumber.

  Disassembling a fence without being noticed was hard enough. Removing nails was a different matter. It was usually a lengthy and loud process. But … it was possible the wood had pushed the nails out on an elf’s command.