Red Madrassa: Algardis #1 (24 page)

“It’s almost as if we went through a portal, just like getting into the Air Green,” Sitara whispered. She sounded loud in the sudden silence.

Sidimo nodded. “I think we
did
go through a portal!” responded Maride excitedly. “I felt all tingly!”

“So maybe that’s how we got to the Ameles so quickly,” growled Vedaris.

Hearing the voices again, they pushed on through the now-open forest, climbing a small hill. The noises were coming from the other side. Frowning, Allorna crept forward, motioning to her friends to stay quiet and low to the ground. They moved to the crest of the hill and peeked over. It was a convoy passing by‌—‌a wealthy one, by the looks of it. Allorna caught sight of flags flapping in the breeze and nearly groaned aloud.

It’s a royal convoy!
she thought frantically.
What are they doing here? Prince Sebastian isn’t supposed to arrive until late summer.
Then she had an even darker thought:
Are they here to arrest me?
Maride, crouched by her side, was practically hyperventilating at the possibility.

Sitara began to ask a question and Allorna shushed her harshly. She motioned for them to lower themselves back down the hill. When they all reached the base, questions abounded in everyone’s minds.

*****

Sidimo, of course, had recognized the royal banner. His only concern was whether he’d be tried as a fugitive or an accomplice. Maride was practically whimpering as he crouched on the ground; he knew what his fate would inevitably be. Meanwhile, Vedaris and Sitara were looking at their frazzled companions with some confusion.

Allorna sighed and decided it was time to come clean. “They’re here to arrest us,” she said quietly. “Maride,” she said with a quick glance at the stricken boy, “Was accused of murdering his fiancé three months ago. He was imprisoned in a gardis tower. We… I”, she quickly corrected after a glance at the anger on Sidimo’s face, “believed he was innocent.”

“Hold it,” Vedaris commanded, raising a hand, palm outward. “You
believe
he’s innocent.”

Sitara commented faintly, as if slightly in shock, “I’ve been living with a murderer this whole time?”

“Oh please,” Sidimo growled. “You all know Maride as well as anyone by now! Do you believe he could possibly have murdered someone, even by accident?”

Looking almost as shocked at Sidimo’s defense of him as at Sitara’s comment, Maride protested, “Now hold on! I didn’t kill Damian‌—‌I had no reason to!”

Sidimo sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. “I believe you, Maride, I really do. But what evidence did they have against you?”

“Rumors and conjecture.”

“And that’s it?” asked Vedaris quietly.

“From some powerful people,” Maride added reluctantly.

“I know how that goes. But still, you could have said something before.” Vedaris glared around at all of them. “You’ve scared poor Sitara half to death. And now‌—‌”

At that moment, they all heard a disturbing noise; it sounded like a wounded animal. The keening sound came from their right, sudden and persistent but rapidly growing weaker. With wary glances at each other, they went to investigate.

It was a man with an arrow in his chest.

Sidimo swiftly moved in to aid him, but he could already see that the wound was practically beyond his abilities to heal. Pink-flecked blood gurgled from the man’s mouth; the arrow must have punctured a lung.

Allorna came forward, staring in shock‌—‌not at the man’s horrible wound, but at the badge at his waist. He was an Imperial watchman! Her father
never
sent them out except on matters of grave importance. She chewed her lip, a nervous tick that she thought she’d gotten rid of, but there was no other choice; even if the man was here to arrest her, she had to do her duty.

And besides, she recognized him. His name was Mikkelwite, and he’d been a friend once.

She dropped to Sidimo’s side. “What can I do?” she asked.

Sidimo’s attention was focused on the wound. “I’m not sure if you can do anything. Or if I can,” the young healer said hollowly. “His heat level is dropping, and the wound needs to be cauterized.” He looked around. “Can someone come around and lift his head and shoulders? I need to stop the rush of blood to his head and see the wound properly.” At least, he
thought
that was what he should do.

Maride paled at the idea of all the blood, but Sitara rushed forward to do as instructed. Sidimo gave her a quick smile and said, “Now we need to stop the flow of blood from the arterial veins out of the chest wound. Vedaris, come over here, please.”

As the young Sahelian responded, Sidimo directed him to kneel over the unconscious man’s torso. Sidimo said, “I’m going to need you to pull out the arrow while I stop the blood loss.” Vedaris gave an affirmative nod as he stared down at the wound. The torn and bloody flesh didn’t bother him; he had seen much worse on the streets. Absentmindedly he muttered aloud, “What’s all this black fog I see?”

Sidimo directed a sharp look at him and said, “Where?”

“Around the wound,” said Vedaris. “It’s spreading.”

Meanwhile Maride, not wanting to be useless, had taken up vigil close to Sitara, but staring outward at their surroundings, keeping watch. He commented quietly, “He’s going to be out for a while. There’s something affecting his mind…‌like a drug.”

Allorna, on the opposite side of the fallen watchman’s body from Sidimo, turned to Maride and asked, “What do you mean?”

Maride hesitated to tell her; he really hadn’t wanted anyone to know that he could do this, but he said, “I, I can feel the edge of his thoughts, okay? He’s deeply unconscious.”

Allorna cast Maride a sharp glance, but decided to discuss his newly discovered mind-reading abilities at another time.

As a Deathkeeper, Sidimo could tell that poison was flowing into the wound; he even knew how long it would take before the man’s system shut down. But he couldn’t
see
the poison…‌though perhaps Vedaris could. As he prepared to close off the ends of the torn veins around the wound, Sidimo asked Vedaris to show him how far the black fog had spread.

When Vedaris indicated a small portion around the lung and some small tendrils that had spread further, Sidimo muttered, “It’s as I suspected. The poison hasn’t completely overwhelmed his system. There’s still a chance.”

Sidimo took a calming breath and looked up at his companions. He said, “Here’s what we have to do. Allorna will break off the head of the arrow in his back. Vedaris is going to pull the arrow shaft out of his chest and keep an eye on the poison. I’ll temporarily block the blood flow out of the affected area. Maride will keep an eye on his mental state.”

Sidimo paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, “The next steps are some of the most crucial, particularly for Maride. If his brain looses too much blood, he may live but his mind will die, which is why you need to keep an eye on his mind. Allorna will cauterize the wound. And Sitara will keep a steady flow of air into the sealed lung.”

Allorna shut her eyes quickly and sent a quick prayer to the gods: “Heaven help us all.”

All five of them were pale, nervous, but determined to do their parts. They got to work; and they all held their breaths until the sharp snap of the arrowhead parting from the shaft reverberated through the clearing. At Sidimo’s nod, Vedaris carefully pulled the arrow shaft back through the opening in the watchman’s chest. As he did so, he noticed more blackness leaking from the shaft into the body. The black fog dispersed as soon as it made contact with blood, but there was nothing he could do about that. He noted the dispersal to Sidimo absentmindedly.

Sidimo, aware of the rising poison, did what he could to block the blood loss. There was nothing he could do as the poison spread through the man’s body. He asked Allorna quietly, as he rearranged the torn flesh, to lightly cauterize the wound to stop the intense blood flow. Carefully, she called up a blue flame into the palm of her hand‌—‌about a tenth the size of the flame she normally used, and searing hot. Lowering her palm carefully over the area Sidimo indicated, she proceeded to burn the flesh closed.

Sitara had already selected a tiny bit of breeze, the size of a quill, from the sky to flow into the man’s mouth. She asked Maride to monitor his mental state as she did that; she knew if the watchman became distressed, that meant the air flow might be too intense. As they closed up the wound, Maride stood up. He was careful to keep monitoring the watchman, but he had heard something: a rustle of leaves nearby. It wasn’t coming from the direction of the convoy, which had been passing them even as they stumbled down the hill, but off to the right.

Out of the trees walked a young man; Maride could see that he wore the badge of the gardis. Vedaris looked up from the wound in ire. He could smell another person, and wanted to know the identity of the idiot interrupting his concentration. To his annoyance, he saw that it was the gardis from the market. Without really thinking about‌—‌it was Vedaris, after all‌—‌he said caustically, “What? Are you following me now?”

The young gardis crouched by the head of the watchman with Sitara, who hadn’t turned around from her duty, to his right and behind Maride. “No,” he said shortly. He noted that the youths were attempting to save the man’s life in a brief glance, and with surprise also noted that they were doing a pretty good job of it.

Standing up, the gardis unclipped his silver badge from his waist, raised it to his lips, and said, “Tenase‌—‌Gardis, Section 3, Sandrin. I’m about two miles south of the Madrassa on the Imperial Way. There’s an injured guardsman and five youths here. I need a healer’s aid immediately. Over.”

A moment later a male voice replied, “Madrassa Central responding. Healers out. Expected time, 4 minutes.”

After that, there was nothing more to do but wait. Tenase said nothing; and although worried about a multitude of things, neither did the five youths. They continued with their ministrations.

When the two pegasi-born healers arrived, things moved quickly. They checked the imperial watchman’s vital signs, instituted emergency aid, and bundled him onto the tarp spread between the two pegasi.

The Initiate who came with them, Thoth‌—‌the Ansari from earlier‌—‌told the five youths to follow him. He carried with him a temporary portal. The portal was a rare article imbued with Residual Magic, which would allow its bearer to jump from place to place within a certain range and for a limited number of times.

When they arrived back at the Madrassa, the five youths noted glumly that the pegasi had already arrived with their patient as Thoth guided them into administrative headquarters. Vedaris, sharp-eyed, said quietly to his companions, “It seems the day isn’t over yet.”

They noted the warning in his tone, and looked over to see that the standard bearers for both the Duke of Carne and the Imperial gardis stood in the hallway. “Dreck,” muttered Sidimo, too tired to care about language.

Headmaster Masadi motioned for all of them to follow him up the stairs into the Administrator of the Citadel’s office. It did not look good for them. As they entered, Vedaris, Sitara, and Allorna had an almost defensive look about them.

Maride noted silently that the Duke of Carne was present, as was the Commander of the Imperial Guard and a tall man behind a rather large desk, a man who must be the Administrator of the Citadel. Thoth stayed with the group, but Masadi excused himself to tend to the fallen imperial watchman, Mikkelwite.

Allorna raised her head and strode forward. She was determined not to let her friends take the fall for this‌—‌any of this. She said, “Commander, Duke Arnis, and Administrator: I take full responsibility for the actions which led to the destruction of the tower back in Sandrin…‌and… and for breaking an accused murderer out of jail.” Her hands were clenched tightly at her waist. At that moment, she looked every inch the proud but scared 15-year-old girl.

Maride began to protest, “But she didn’t do it all on her own!” He ignored Allorna’s caustic look, and continued, “I said before that I didn’t kill my fiancé, and I didn’t! But…‌but I did deceive Allorna into breaking me out and helping to bring down the tower.” His voice shaking as he continued, “I’m sorry, but she didn’t know what she was doing, and I will answer for those crimes.”

Not to be left out, Sidimo stepped forward and said resolutely, “And I as well.”

The Administrator stared at them with an unreadable look on his face. The Commander of the Imperial Guard was stone-faced and stern, and the Duke just arched an eyebrow curiously. Sitara and Vedaris, for their part, stood tense and quiet behind their friends.

Sitara was squinting at something to the left of the Commander. Allorna noted that out of the corner of her eye, but thought Sitara was staring at her father’s uniform…‌until Sitara took a hesitant step forward, and Vedaris grabbed her wrist harshly. On the streets an ordinary city watchman would hit a girl who stared too blatantly, never mind the drecking Commander of the Imperial Guard.

What they didn’t know was that Sitara could see a second aura hovering near the Commander’s shoulder. It was very hazy, like a second shadow. She squinted harder, but nothing more solid appeared. She wondered…‌and then she felt Vedaris’ touch.

As soon as he grabbed her, Vedaris cursed loudly and for a long time. The power that surged from him to her popped a visual barrier. This time, since she knew what to look for, Sitara felt and saw the moment the cloak fell from the person it surrounded. It had happened again: the stupid veil trick.

Vedaris’ curses were so strong that Sidimo, Maride, and Allorna turned to look at him in amazement. Vedaris knew who this was; you had to before boarding any ship destined to dock at the Windswept Isles for passage to Sandrin.

After a long moment of silence, Duke Arnis said, “Maride. Turn and look.” Maride did so, looking like he wanted to break down sobbing on the floor. He had imagined guardsmen would appear at a silent signal from the Commander, ready to arrest him for his crimes; or worse, the Inquisitor might come to question him. But Maride nearly collapsed when he saw who it really was. His gasp had Allorna and Sidimo quickly turning to see what Vedaris and Sitara already saw.