Janice Hardy - Darkfall

“What about the Governor-General?” I asked, fishing for more information. “Isn’t he doing anything to stop it?”

“They say he died the first day. That’s what set off the riots.”

But why would Baseeri revolt against the Gov-Gen or the Duke?

“Are there a lot of those soldiers in that blue armour?” I said. “I’ve never seen them before.”

The server gulped. “Just the one. He came over with the Healers. That was the last ferry out of the Isles. Lots of smaller boats docked after that, but nothing since last week.”

Danello looked puzzled. “The Healers are just staying here?”

“Seems like it.” He shrugged. “They’re making good money, and it’s not safe to go back to the Isles.”

I’d met plenty of folks who’d take advantage of such a situation and see it as a way to earn some fast money, but not Soek. Maybe the soldiers were forcing him to do it.

“Is there any way into Geveg?” I asked.

“Not unless you wanna swim.” Another customer called, and the server hurried off.

“Did you see his face when you asked about the Undying?” Aylin shuddered. “I think finding someone willing to take us over there just got harder.”

We’d be fools to wander in blindly. We had no idea which isle belonged to who, or who we needed to speak to and warn about the Duke.

“We need more information about what’s going on over there,” I said.

Danello nodded. “How do we find out?”

“Soek? We need to rescue him anyway.”

Everyone looked at each other as if they hoped someone else had a better idea.

Danello sighed. “Yeah, we can’t leave him there. And he’ll probably know what’s going on better than anyone else here.”

“We’ll need a boat too,” I said. “Quenji, see if you can trade the horse or wagon or both for one, even for a day or two.”

“Can’t we steal one?”

“As long as it’s not a fisherman’s boat. He can’t support his family without one.”

Quenji rolled his eyes but nodded.

“How do we talk to Soek?” Danello asked. “They’ve got him guarded pretty well.”

Aylin huffed and added more sugar to her coffee. “He’s a Healer. We hurt somebody.”

“Help, I need help!” Danello carried me into the common room at the traveller’s house, blood running down my face. I groaned and feigned delirium. My scalp stung from the cut Aylin had made, but heads bleed easily, and we needed to put on a good show.

People gasped and pointed. A woman behind the bar called out to a boy who was washing mugs.

“Go get the Healer, hurry.”

Patrons cleared an old couch near a window and Danello set me down. He paced, wiping his upper lip and brow like he was afraid I was about to die right in front of him.

“I can’t help if you won’t let me through,” Soek grumbled.

He shoved through the gathering crowd, shooing them back with a sharp twist of his hand. He looked at me and his eyes widened, but he covered his surprise quickly. “What happened?”

“She fell,” Danello said, waving his hands about as he spoke. “I told her not to walk on the fence, but she did it anyway and she slipped and fell and hit her head on, oh, I don’t know what but it was hard. Her head made this awful cracking noise.”

“That’s bad.” Soek turned to the crowd. “Stop gawking at her. Go back to doing what you were doing before she got here.”

The Undying was also in the room but standing back watching the crowd. I didn’t see the other soldier or anyone else.

“Now, let’s take a look.” Soek pulled over a chair and sat down beside me. He put one hand on my wound and the other on my forehead. My scalp tingled and the cut hidden in my hair closed, but he frowned.

“She cracked her skull,” he said. “Some brain bruising there as well. You’re lucky you got her here in time.” He turned to the Undying. “I’m going to need the brick for this. The orb won’t be enough.”

The Undying hesitated, glancing at his pynvium armour as if debating whether or not to use it rather than go back upstairs. It was either full or he wasn’t allowed, because he sighed and headed for the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”

Soek nodded, then turned back to me, dragging one hand through his red hair. “Saints, Nya, you gotta get me out of here,” he whispered.

“We will. What’s going on?”

He took a deep breath. “I was over here on a farm run when the fighting started. The soldiers wanted to go back, but Keeper Betaal wouldn’t let us. She’s selling heals at twice the cost and pocketing the money. She’s paying off the soldiers, so I don’t think she plans on going back.” He swallowed. “Or letting me go.”

“Who’s Keeper Betaal?”

“One of the Luminary’s new ‘administrators’. Glorified thug is more like it.”

“Is anyone else with you?”

“No. Just soldiers and Betaal. When I questioned her, she said she had an Undying and wondered if she really needed two Healers.” He gulped. “I stopped asking questions.”

Thumps sounded on the stairs. “He’s coming back,” Danello said. The Undying appeared. A woman followed him, also in Healer’s green, but not a uniform I’d seen before. Two additional soldiers walked behind her.

Soek’s expression changed to grave concern like any good Healer’s. He took the battlefield brick of pynvium and placed his hands back on my head. No tingle this time with nothing to heal, but he made a show of it anyway. He pretended to push the pain into the pynvium and handed the brick back to the Undying.

I fluttered open my eyes and sat up, swaying a bit.

“There you go – all better now.” Soek stood and stepped away from me.

“Wait,” the woman in green said. I held my breath. “She didn’t pay.”

I looked at Danello. I didn’t know how much he had, but if heals were double now, it couldn’t possibly be enough to cover what Soek had pretended to heal. It probably wouldn’t even have covered healing the actual cut.

“It was an emergency,” Soek said. “She would have died otherwise.”

“Then you should have let her die.”

“Keeper Betaal—”

“You know the law, Soek, and I’m tired of you bending it. This stops right now.” She folded her arms and scowled at me. “Taking a heal you can’t pay for is stealing – and punishable same as any other theft.”

Danello fumbled through his pockets. “I have some money, not a lot, but you can have it all.” The gratitude in his voice was utterly faked.

Keeper Betaal glared at him. “A pittance won’t buy your way out of this. Arrest them,” she told the two soldiers.

The Undying was still holding the battlefield brick, and odds were it held lots of pain. Could I reach it before the Undying stopped me?

Flashing that pynvium would alert the Duke I was here. So would shifting. He was on his way anyway, so it might not matter, but if more assassins were looking for me, they’d find out exactly where I was. I had no idea if Quenji had a boat yet, so we might not be able to escape even if I did flash it.

“Keeper Betaal, please,” Soek said. “She was dying.”

“So? She would have died if we weren’t here. And now you’ve wasted pynvium on a freeloader, so someone who could afford it won’t be able to get the help they deserve.” She sneered. “You probably just cost someone else their life.”

The soldiers grabbed Danello and me. They checked us both for weapons, took our knives, then hauled us out of the traveller’s house and towards a small brick building sitting by itself not far from the docks. Bars lined the windows. It was probably the only jail in the marsh farms. The farmers tended to take care of criminals in their own way.