To Whatever End (Echoes of Imara Book 1) by Claire Frank Page B

painful step, away from the river.
    Her mind felt numb and nothing seemed to exist but the dirt under her feet. She forced herself to keep moving despite the violent shivers that wracked her body. A noise in the distance caught her attention, the sound of running feet, a body brushing past leaves and underbrush. She dragged her foot forward and leaned into her step. Her leg finally gave out and she collapsed to the forest floor. The footsteps raced closer, but her hazy mind was too weak with exhaustion to Wield.
    A sharp bark rang out through the trees. She pushed herself up to her hands and knees as something darted in front of her. She blinked hard and looked up through her bedraggled hair. A large dog jumped around her, dark brown with a bushy black tail, tall pointy ears, and a long muzzle topped with black. He barked again, turning as if he called to someone, and circled back around to sniff at Cecily’s face.
    “Beau?” she said, her voice hardly more than a breath.
    Beau barked and shuffled around her on his huge paws. He leaned in to sniff her again and let out a low whimper in his throat. She clenched her teeth and lowered herself to the ground, still shaking. “Good boy, Beau,” she whispered, her voice rattling with her shivers. “Go get Merrick.”
    Beau barked again and she heard a voice calling back to him through the trees. “Beau!” Footsteps rushed toward her and she forced herself to keep her eyes open. “Oh gods, Cecily?”
    She felt something soft settle on top of her and strong arms pull her up off the ground. “Merrick?” she said.
    “Stay with me,” Merrick said. “I’ve got you.”
    “Daro,” she whispered.
    “Okay,” he said, “but we have to get you warm.”
    Cecily tucked herself into him, leaning her head against his shoulder, and rocked to the brisk rhythm of his footsteps. She drifted in and out of consciousness as he carried her. Occassionally, she felt him shift her weight in his arms and he spoke to keep her awake. After what felt like an eternity, they stopped and he slowly lowered her legs to the ground, keeping one arm around her. As she wavered on her feet, he opened the door to his cabin and ushered her inside.
    Her teeth chattered painfully and her body shuddered as he pulled a chair up to the fire and draped it with a thick blanket. He unfastened her belt, helped her pull her freezing wet clothes off, and tossed them to the side. She winced as he pulled her tunic over her injured arm. He quickly wrapped the blanket around her and lowered her into the chair.
    “Where’s Daro?” he asked.
    She tried to sit up. “I don’t know,” she breathed and clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering.
    “Okay, sit back now,” he said, his voice soothing as if he were speaking to a nervous animal. He gently pressed her back into the chair. He tucked the blanket around her and tossed more wood on the fire. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes.
    She heard the sounds of Merrick bustling about the cabin as she warmed next to the fire. Her shivering subsided as the heat melted into her body.
    Merrick crouched down next to her and lifted her injured arm from inside the warm blanket. She felt his fingers gently press the skin around the wound but the effort to open her eyes was too great.
    “This is going to hurt,” he said. He held her arm out straight and gripped her wrist with a firm hand. She felt liquid trickle down her shoulder and flinched. “I know,” he said, his voice gentle, “but I have to clean it.” Her eyes fluttered open as he dabbed the wound with a cloth and the blistering pain began to dull. He pulled out a needle and she closed her eyes again. “It’s deep. I have to stitch it closed.” She nodded, set her jaw and held her arm still.
    He dabbed a poultice over the stitches and wrapped her arm in a bandage. Her tight muscles relaxed as the heat of the fire soaked into her. Her shoulder ached, but it was no longer the searing pain of an open