Page 87 of The Ranger

He looked at her through his own tears and let the hammer fall from his mouth. “Th-thank you -f-f-for b-being here. A-all of -y-y-you.”

Wilfred knelt on the other side of him. “We’re here for ya, Markhel.”

“Aye,” Paddy said, peeking through his fingers. He let his hands drop then looked out the window. “I don’t think anyone heard him. No one’s coming this way.”

“Good,” Sheriff Tom said. “This would be kinda hard to explain. But I would like to know where the Bergs are.”

“B-b-breakfast,” Markhel said. “I came h-here to...” he never got to finish. Another wave hit and he shut his eyes tight against the pain. On the one hand, this was a good thing. The Call was in full force and would worsen, but he didn’t think Maida would call more than a few more times. The question was, why was her Call so powerful? One would think she was full Muiraran. But as far as anyone knew, her father, Major, only had a small percentage. Unless she was... different somehow.

“Is it over?” Paddy asked as he left the window.

“Markhel?” Grandma said gently. “Is that it? Do you sense anything else coming?”

He drew in a shuddering breath. “I do not know.” He straightened, breathing hard. “Maida...” The word came out an anguished rasp.

His companions looked at one another. “If’n the Call does this to him, “ Sheriff Tom said. “Then what’s it gonna do to Maida?”

“Markhel?” Grandma said. “Do you know?”

He swallowed, took another breath, then closed his eyes. “It is h-hard to say. But I think, this is her f-f-first full Call. She is singing f-for the first time.”

Wilfred scratched his head. “Wow, don’t that beat all. I can only imagine the chaos happening at the Triple-C right about now. Maybe we ought to take him out there.”

“Or they can,” Paddy said and nodded at the door.

Markhel sensed Vale and Makama making a bee line for the sheriff’s office. Good. He tried to turn but couldn’t manage it. “I am weak...”

“I should think so!” Grandma griped. “The way that thing just beat you to a pulp.” She got to her feet. “Makama, can you do anything for him?”

“Markhel,” Makama said and knelt beside him. “How bad was it?”

He fell over in a heap.

“I’d say pretty bad, darling.” Vale put a hand on his leg. “We should get him off the floor.”

“There’s a cot in the jail cell,” Sheriff Tom said. “He can rest there.”

“Good idea. Makama, take his legs?”

She grabbed his ankles as Vale got his hands under his arms. “If anyone would like to help now’s the time.”

“Paddy and Wilfred helped get him up while Sheriff Tom opened the door to the cell area. He then opened a cell, and the four carefully carried him inside and laid him on a cot.

“Rest now, ya hear?” Grandma said. She went into the other cell, grabbed a blanket, and spread it over him. I’ll fetch a quilt from home. Maybe then you’ll stop that confounded shivering.”

Markhel tried to look at her, but it was too hard to open his eyes. “Thank you, G-Grandma.”

“Don’t mention it. Sleep if you can and when you wake up, we’ll get some hot food in your belly. In the meantime, Vale, Makama, I’d get out to the Triple-C and see what shape poor Maida’s in. If she did that Call of hers in front of anyone, they either think she’s gone round the bend, or they have.”

“Good idea,” Vale said. He took Grandma by the hand. “Thank you, all of you. We appreciate it.”

Wilfred made a face. “I thought the two of you were supposed to be watching over him?”

“That’s true, but we, um, were… feeding,” Vale admitted with a blush.

Makama went just as red.

“So, you leave the table,” Paddy said with a snort of disgust.