Sebastian watched Falcon lead the knights out against the monster with apprehension. That thing hadn’t been in his vision, and frankly the parts of his vision yet unfulfilled were vague and still unclear. The brawny knight clearly interpreted it to mean mortal danger to Sebastian and took responsibility for Sebastian’s welfare on himself.

  “You’re the one who had the vision Sir Peregrine keeps going on about, aren’t you?” A knight with a strange looking hooked spear came up behind Sebastian. “He didn’t mention that you were a healer, too.”

  “God has blessed me with visions of the future and the gift of healing so I can help others,” Sebastian answered absently. His eyes widened as he tracked Falcon slashing his way through the army of ogres like they were blades of grass. The flickering lights of the fires burning through the city made him look like he was fighting the hordes of hell itself. “God’s providence placed Sir Peregrine in our path. If we priests were entrusted with the protection of the hospital, the ogres would have overrun it by now.”

  “Sir Peregrine has a gift both for inspiring people, and defending them.” The knight gestured with his spear as Falcon cleared a path to the nearest cursed beast. “Plus, they say that no Knight of the North Star has been defeated in battle.”

  Sebastian held back an undignified snort and the cruel observation that the rest of Falcon’s order fled before that legend could be disproved. Instead he made the sign of the cross and thanked God for leaving them Falcon as the warrior took a knee beneath the rearing beast and drove his sword up into its underbelly. Falcon smoothly avoided the falling beast, wrested his sword free of its carcass, and dispatched its rider with his axe.

  “You’ll want to stay back, Father.” The knight blocked the doorway with his arm. “Now that the beast has fallen, the ogres are likely to make a final desperate run at the hospital. I’d rather not face Sir Peregrine if he returns high on blood lust to find his holy good luck charm has been harmed while he was out.”

  “I’m not a good luck charm.” Sebastian muttered, hesitating just a moment to obey. His eyes were fixed on the almost artistic grace of Falcon weaving between ogres and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.

  The next moment Sebastian was being shoved backward into the vestibule as a wave of ogres washed over the knights outside. Falcon disappeared beneath the wave, overcome by the rush of ogres charging the hospital with a riotous cry. The knight with a spear engaged the front line, but was quickly driven back as the ogres flooded the vestibule.

  Sebastian pressed back against the wall, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible as the battle raged around him. He was a healer, and had no interest in fighting. In fact, Falcon and the knights outside probably needed him. He was reasonably confident his vision meant he wouldn’t die today, and he’d rather not tempt God, but it was no longer any safer in the vestibule than outside, and his skills were more needed outside. He waited until the fighting flowed away from the doorway and made a dash through the opening. The inconsistent light of the burning buildings and chaos of the battle around him aided him as he ducked past a pair of ogres with swinging swords and made his way to the nearest fallen knight on his way to Falcon.

  The fallen knight’s arm had been severed. Reattaching the arm was easy, urging the man’s body to replenish the blood lost was a bit more tiring. Sebastian placed both hands on his knees when he was finished, took a deep breath, and thanked God for his sustaining grace to continue healing well beyond his normal limit of strength. He’d lost count of how many he’d healed already tonight, but he was certain he’d passed the point when he’d usually be unconscious by now.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He ignored the healed knight’s look of terror as he flexed his healed arm at the elbow. Sebastian was responsible only for how he used his gift, not how others received it. The next knight Sebastian came to was an easy cut across his thigh. Sebastian healed him and sent him back into the battle. Sebastian wondered if he’d be healing the knight again tonight as he made his way to the place he’d seen Falcon go down.

  Falcon lay motionless on the cobblestone, his pinched face illuminated by the flickering flames. The red glow made the blood streaking the knight’s body seem black. Falcon didn’t respond when Sebastian approached, which was concerning enough. If the knight had been conscious, he’d have lost his mind over Sebastian’s presence on the battlefield.

  Sebastian knelt beside the large knight, assessing his wounds. Not that it took a physician to see the gaping tear through mail and flesh to Falcon’s abdomen spilling his entrails to the ground was beyond human aid. Sebastian chewed his lower lip. He’d never healed an evisceration before, but his vision clearly showed that Falcon survived this battle, so he had faith God would enable him to do so now.

  “I told you to stay inside.” Pain laced Falcon’s voice and clouded his eyes. His grip on Sebastian’s wrist was a weak imitation of his anger-fueled hold when Sebastian had insulted the Knights of the North Star earlier in the day.

  “God wills otherwise.” Sebastian pulled his arm free without difficulty and made the sign of the cross, praying for both healing grace and peace in the midst of the battle still raging around them. Great Physician, my own strength is spent, and this would be beyond my skill regardless. Increase my gift to heal John Peregrine as foretold in the vision You gave me.

  “This isn’t going to feel good.” Sebastian warned as he gently pulled the damaged mail and clothing away from the wound and laid his hand on Falcon’s blood slicked stomach beside the wound. Falcon’s entrails spilling from the open wound would need to be placed back inside his body, the muscles repaired, the skin closed over the wound, and his body purged of corruption that might cause putrefaction.

  “Hate to tell you, it already doesn’t feel good.” Falcon hissed in pain. “Anybody tell you your hands are like ice?”

  Sebastian hummed a vague acknowledgment. His healing gift numbed the pain much like ice on an injury, which would be uncomfortable as he started repairing Falcon’s internal injuries. Satisfied he had managed the pain as well as possible, Sebastian gently pushed the viscera back inside his body and held it in place while he prayed for healing over the tissues that held it in place.

  Falcon fell silent as Sebastian worked, as still as death except for the ragged rise and fall of his stomach under Sebastian’s hand. Sebastian assumed the wounded knight had slipped into unconsciousness as he worked to knit the muscles closed, his attention narrowed to the six inch injury and little beyond.

  “Sebastian!” Falcon damaged muscles clenched beneath Sebastian’s hand as the knight scrabbled for his axe, his eyes fixed on something behind Sebastian.

  Sebastian turned quickly to face the threat, a trio of ogres armed with weapons stolen from the men they’d killed. Unarmed himself, with Falcon’s half-healed wound rendering the knight unable to lift either axe or sword, Sebastian raised both hands to heaven and did the first thing that came to mind.

  He prayed.

  “God of heaven and earth, as you aided Joshua in battle, aid us now!”

  A clap of thunder split the sky and echoed through the close-set buildings. For a moment, the rumble was a physical, palpable thing, like a giant heartbeat pounding through the veins of the city streets. The peals of thunder were followed by a rush of wind that snuffed out flames and kicked up clouds of dust in its wake. The city went silent, even the clash of swords stilled for a solid second. Then, as one, the ogres crumpled to the street as if the wind had stolen the life from their bodies as it passed. The thud of falling bodies and clatter of weapons hitting the cobblestone seemed a muted echo of the previous thunder.

  And Sebastian collapsed with them.