An excerpt from Chapter Two of SWIFT:
[Ivy] was still wrestling with the question when she noticed the stranger extending his injured arm toward her, wincing all the while. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I told you. Help me, and I’ll help you. Just do as I say.” He hesitated, then added with obvious reluctance, “Please.”
Ivy sighed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Take my hand, and slide your other hand under my elbow.”
Suppressing her distaste, Ivy reached out and took his limp, white fingers in her own. She had half expected to find his skin cold and slimy, as a spriggan’s ought to be—but his hand was warm, even feverish, in her grip. Gingerly she slipped her other hand beneath his swollen joint, feeling the dislocation. “What now?” she asked.
“Hold my elbow steady,” said the prisoner between his teeth, “and pull my wrist toward you. Not too fast, but—aaaaah!” There was a sickening pop beneath Ivy’s palm and he staggered against her, gasping. But when he lifted his head again, the relief on his face was close to ecstasy.
“You have my profound gratitude,” he breathed, flexing his arm. “So does this mean we have a bargain?”
Ivy’s thoughts and feelings were in a tangle, and she had no idea how to reply. Had she really just helped one of her people’s oldest enemies? What would happen to her, if anyone found out? She sat down heavily on an outcropping. When she’d left the cavern looking for answers about her mother, she’d never imagined it would turn out like this.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.”
***
And for the rest, you’ll have to wait until 1 March 2012! :)
