“I hope ya can run fast,” Callum said. “Because just as soon as Morgan is well enough to stand, he’ll come after you.”

“Oh, please hurry,” Sadie whispered. “He’s bleeding to death.” She turned to the priest.

“Isn’t there something you can do?”

Both Callum and the stranger—Sadie realized he was Morgan’s brother, Greylen MacKeage—looked at the priest with Sadie. Father Daar slowly shook his head. “My staff was destroyed, and so was the waterfall. There’s nothing left.”

Faol suddenly appeared, limping over and washing Morgan’s face, whining and pawing at the boulder.

“Get that beast away from him,” Greylen said harshly, moving to kick the wolf.

“Nay,” Father Daar said. “He’s only worried about his son.”

“His son?” Greylen whispered, his face paling as he snapped his eyes back to the priest.

Daar turned red in the face. “I’m guessing, MacKeage. But I have a notion Duncan’s been visiting us this summer,” he said, waving at the wolf.

All four of them turned to stare at Faol, who was now looking at them with unblinking green eyes. He whined again and pushed at the boulder with his nose.

Greylen and Callum went back to work. They were suddenly joined by another pair of large, strong-looking hands, and Sadie looked up to see an older man, with red hair and graying beard, putting his weight into the boulder.

“Ian,” Greylen said. “Be ready to pull him out the moment there’s room. Woman,” he snapped, looking at her. “Help him.”

Sadie quickly moved more debris out of Ian’s way, making room for Morgan to be pulled free. With a lot of grunting and another fair amount of cursing, Callum and Greylen put their backs into the task. The boulder moved mere inches, and Ian roughly pulled Morgan free of his prison, continuing to drag him until his feet were clear of the boulder.

Sadie immediately crawled to Morgan and ripped open his shirt. Blood gushed into her hands.

Greylen grabbed her by the shoulders again and roughly set her to the side. “You’ve done enough to him. Get her out of here, Daar.”

There was such anger emanating from Morgan’s older brother that Sadie backed away on her own. She wiped her husband’s blood on her pants and turned to Father Daar.

“There has to be something we can do. What about the magical water? Th-that puddle’s still shimmering.”

The priest slowly made his way to the puddle, bent down, and stuck his finger in the water. He looked up to where he’d been standing when she and Eric had arrived. Sadie followed his gaze. The cherry tree he’d been trying to break was splintered into a thousand pieces. He looked back at her.

“You can get there better than me, girl,” he whispered. “Go look for a cherry burl in that mess. The tree’s been growing in blessed water for more than two years now. Maybe some of the magic is hiding there.”

Sadie crawled over the rocks to the far edge of what had once been the pool.

“Find a big burl!” the priest shouted. “From the root if ya can.”

It took all of her strength, but Sadie was able to dig a knot free from the roots of the cherry tree. She hurried back to Father Daar and handed him the small piece of wood.

“This is all I could find,” she whispered, anxiously glancing toward Morgan.

Greylen had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around Morgan’s wound. He was now checking Morgan’s legs for broken bones. Sadie looked back at the priest.

He was frowning. “I don’t think it’s enough,” he said, sadly shaking his head. “It’s wanting the strength of the water and my old staff. Already I can feel it losing its vitality.”

Sadie reached out and touched his arm. “Please. We have to do something. We’ll never get Morgan to town in time.”

The moment she touched him, Daar’s eyes widened in surprise. He covered her hand with his own, his mouth suddenly lifting into a smile.

“It’s in you, girl,” he said in a voice filled with awe. He turned to face her and touched her with both hands, holding the knot of cherrywood against her skin. “There’s magic left. It’s here,” he said, turning her right hand palm up. “In you.”

“What do you mean?”

“When ya were healed,” he told her, rubbing her unscarred palm with his finger. “The burl dissolved because its energy went into you.”

“And—and I can give it back?”

“Aye,” he said, looking into her eyes. “Ya can.”

“And I can heal Morgan?”

“Aye. I’m thinking it should be possible.”

That was all she needed to know. Sadie jumped up and ran to her husband, pushing her way past his lethal-looking brother. Greylen stood up, took hold of her shoulders, and shook her.

“Ya’ve done enough,” he snapped.

“I can do more!” she shouted, giving him a direct glare. “I have the wizard’s magic in me.”

He released her as if burned, stepping away and looking at the priest who had walked up beside them. Father Daar nodded.

“She has, MacKeage,” Daar confirmed. “Your brother healed her with my own magic.

She’s carrying the energy of my staff in her body.”

Greylen looked torn between wanting to believe it was possible and not wanting to let her anywhere near his brother.

“Please. Bring him over to the water,” she entreated, taking the small cherry knot from Father Daar and walking to the water herself. “At least let me try,” she added, holding out her hand. “He—he’s my husband.”

Again, Father Daar nodded confirmation to Greylen. “Aye, MacKeage. I married them myself just yesterday.”

Greylen scanned the destruction around them, then looked down at his dying brother.

He bent and picked Morgan up and carried him to the small puddle of water. Callum and Ian quietly followed. Faol trotted past her and around the puddle and lay down with a whine, his nose touching the water.

Sadie stepped into the puddle and sat down, holding open her arms to receive Morgan.

Greylen gently settled him on her lap.

Father Daar came over and crouched beside her. “There’s just one wee little problem, Mercedes,” he whispered.

Greylen and Callum and Ian leaned closer to hear what the priest was saying.

“What’s that, Father?” Sadie asked, not caring if they did hear.

“The magic… well… I don’t know what will happen to ya, when ya give it up to your husband.”

Sadie snapped her gaze to his. “Will I go back to when I was shot?”

Father Daar nodded hesitantly. “Aye, that is possible. But I don’t really know.” He shrugged. “I can’t predict what the energy will do when passed through a mortal.”

Sadie realized all three men standing over her were collectively holding their breath, waiting for her decision. They couldn’t know that there simply was no decision to make.

She didn’t care if she bled to death right here in this puddle. She was not letting Morgan die.

She took the cherry knot and held it against Morgan’s chest, brushing the hair back from his face with her other hand.

“No, girl. Hold the burl with your right hand,” Father Daar instructed. “That will have the most powerful energy.”

Sadie switched hands but hesitated, holding the knot just off Morgan.

“Wh-what will happen?” she whispered. “How do I know I won’t kill him? Look what happened to this beautiful place when Morgan had your cane. What if all I create is just more destruction?”

Father Daar was shaking his head before she finished her question. “The wood is only a conductor of energy, Mercedes. Morgan was desperate and angry when he held the cane, and it was his wrath the magic brought down on us. But you’re yearning for something good. Ya won’t kill him.”

Sadie set the knot of cherrywood over Morgan’s wound, closed her eyes, and wished with all her heart for him to be healed.

The palm of her right hand suddenly started to warm. Light arced around her, filling her head with colors. She started to tremble as her whole body tightened with prickly heat.