Chapter 12 - Healers Gift (2075 words)

  That first week, I did hold out, but barely; Leigh wasn’t the one who had worked me so hard. I worked myself hard. I had to get that time out to find the library again and rescue my Mom’s journal.

  That meant more time with Asled, more working, more everything.

  Every muscle ached, my hands were blistered and raw despite the calluses I’d developed over years of survival. But physical pain was something I could manage, something I understood. What truly exhausted me was the constant vigilance - pretending to adapt while planning escape, memorizing details without appearing to study them, measuring loyalties without revealing my own intentions.

  If I’d something to draw in, I would have made myself a map of the facility. But I thought that would get me more attention if someone found it.

  Returning to our bunks one night, after we’d spent the time talking in the gardens, we found James and his lackies outside the furnace housing.

  “What’s wrong?” Asled asked Leigh as she made her way to us.

  “Someone’s told him they’ve seen mana trails in the bunks.”

  “Mana trails?” I asked confused.

  James ordered the three with him and their dogs, not dogs into the building.

  Asled leaned down as Leigh moved away. “Mana trails could mean anything,” he said. “But they suspect that someone in the bunks is hiding a skill, something.”

  “Hiding?” That made me even more glad I’d nothing of mine here. Mom’s journal would have no doubts be the first thing taken.

  “Yeah, though I don’t know how anyone can hid it if they have the gift its usually explosive enough everyone knows.”

  The notion that mana could leave trails, be detected, fascinated me. Mom’s journal had mentioned nothing about this. It suggested a level of sophistication to this power that we’d never guessed at during our years of isolation. What else didn’t we know about the system? What other disadvantages were we operating under?

  It was approaching 10pm and the nights were getting cooler, my jacket wasn’t thick enough and I shivered.

  “Here,” Asled offered me his coat shrugging out of it.

  Should I have taken it, maybe not, but I did and stopped shivering. He didn’t even seem phased by the cold at all.

  The growls and noises coming from inside the building were rough, smashing glass.

  “They’re wrecking the place,” I said.

  “They really must have found something then.”

  But even at 11pm and an hour in the cold they hadn’t come out. “This is ridiculous,” Leigh said and stomped inside.

  Several more minutes later she came out and pointed at me.

  I shrank back. “They’re in your room,” she said. “But they can’t find or see anything. Do you have anything to say?”

  “No,” I shrugged. “You know I’ve not. We came here with next to nothing.”

  She nodded, and then going back inside started shouting at James, in the next minutes the lackies and dogs were out and so was he. He strode straight up to me even though Asled stood in his way.

  “If you’ve been talking to or seeing your brother in any way, you’ll only hurt him.”

  “Reece?” I said. “How could I talk to him? He’s the other side of the compound. You won’t even let me see him.”

  James glared at me, then with a shove, pushed past Asled. “Get inside,” he ordered or we’ll throw you all in the jail for being out after curfew.”

  “That’s your fault,” I said to his back.

  James spun around, grabbed hold of my shirt, and yanked me off the floor. Damn he was strong. I chocked on the smell from his breath.

  Asled was fast, too fast for James, and his fist planted the bully in the jaw, knocking him off his ass and dropping me in the process.

  James’s lackies and dogs were upon Asled in seconds, he could do nothing to protect himself, his bare arms taking the brunt of the attacking raging animals.

  Leigh and the others were quick to drag the dogs back. I had his jacket off and even though James was ranting and screaming, Leigh was doing more than her fair share.

  I moved on instinct, falling back on the countless impromptu medical treatments I’d performed for Reece and myself over the years. You don’t survive in the wilderness without learning how to handle wounds. My hands worked methodically, efficiently, even as my mind raced with fury at James and concern for Asled.

  My own jacket was off as everyone else stayed back. I ripped my shirt off and tearing it into strips wound them around his arms.

  Other people were rushing into the courtyard now, and the dogs were pushed well away from us, so was James. Maggie stormed in. “The hell is all this?”

  Leigh and James stood before her, heads low.

  A young man came to us, and only when I felt someone touch my shoulders did, I look up into soft grey eyes. “We’ve got him, here, you need this.”

  The young woman smiling at me pulled Asled’s jacket over me. I was shaking with the cold though I didn’t feel it. “Come with us,” she said.

  Leading the two of us away, the young woman introduced herself. “Sal,” she said. That’s Jonas. We’re on night watch. Lucky Jonas is here.”

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  “Why?” I asked.

  “He’s the better healer,” she said.

  The hospital ward was not as sterile as where my Dad would have worked, but the walls were white, and clean, and everything had a shiny sparkle even if run down.

  Asled moaned as he sat on one of the beds and Sal indicate I sit on the other. “I’m okay,” I said. “They didn’t get me.”

  “I’m just making sure. You are covered in blood.”

  I hadn’t even noticed. But I was, Asled’s blood—on seeing it again I dry heaved.

  Blood itself didn’t bother me - couldn’t bother me after years of hunting, skinning, and processing game. But this was different. This was human blood. Asled’s blood. Spilled because he’d defended me. The reality of it hit differently, carried a weight that animal blood never had.

  Sal reached for a bowl for me, but I wasn’t sick it had been a long time from dinner.

  When I glanced over at Asled his face was scrunched in pain, but Jonas had my makeshift bandages off, and was cleaning the wounds. Blood dripping from them.

  “Can I get a hand?” He asked.

  Sal moved to the side closer to me. Asled only then let out a moan. “Gods,” I said seeing the wounds. “He needs his arms.”

  “He’ll be fine by tomorrow, though he won’t forget the pain.”

  “I can’t hold both arms still while you work,” Sal said and looked at me. “Come.”

  “Me?”

  “We need your help, yes.”

  I slid off the bed, “What do you want me to do?”

  Sal put Asled’s hand in mine. “Just hold him straight.”

  “That’s it?”

  Sal moved to the other side and did the same as I was, just holding his hand, pulling it straight.

  Jonas moved to his head, and gently lay both hands on either side. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” Sal said.

  Jonas looked to me. “You ready?”

  “I don’t— I—”

  “I’ll go slow,” Jonas said. “Just hold on, and don’t let him fold his arm at all.”

  I had no idea how they thought I would be strong enough to hold onto Asled. But when Jonas started, I was awestruck.

  Blue light spread from his eyes, down his face, neck and then his arms into his hands, and then into Asled.

  I’d seen Reece’s lightning and remembered Mom’s fire, but this was different - controlled, purposeful, constructive rather than destructive. In that moment, I understood that mana wasn’t just about combat or destruction. It could heal, create, protect. The system that had remained frustratingly inaccessible to me suddenly seemed even more valuable, even more worth understanding.

  The cuts and wounds on Asled’s arm started to glow blue and he redness of his blood faded, his large cuts turning paler and then closing.

  Asled though let out a scream. “It hurts!” His eyes locked with mine, and when he tried to pull his arm back, I just held on.

  “I know,” Sal said. “Hang in there. It won’t be long.”

  The more Asled screamed the more I had to force myself to hold on, my legs were braced, feet apart and I was putting my whole weight into it.

  Asled was strong, so strong. Even Sal struggled.

  The blue light dimmed, and I looked to Jonas, his face white.

  Sal moved to him as he almost collapsed. “I got you,” she said. When she moved away with him, I turned to Asled, whose hand I was still holding onto, tightly.

  His brows furrowed as I was about to pull away, but he put his other hand on top of mine. “Please don’t, don’t leave me.”

  I swallowed and moved to perch on the side of his bed, he scooted up a little, so it was easier.

  “You feel better?” I asked.

  “No,” he admitted.

  I wasn’t sure of doing it, but I put my other hand on his, and when he smiled, I could only smile back.

  Unexpected warmth flooded through me at the simple contact. How long had it been since I’d touched someone with gentleness, with comfort as the goal rather than survival? Years, probably. Not since Mom died. Physical contact had become so rare that this simple gesture felt momentous, disarming in its normalcy.

  “I didn’t think they’d attack one of their own,” he said. “They shouldn’t have.”

  “James is an ass,” I said.

  “He’s dangerous,” Asled said. “So are those men he’s with.”

  Sal returned a moment later, and noted out hands. “He’ll be in here overnight, no returning to the bunks for you. I need to watch you.”

  “Can I stay?” I asked.

  “You’re not returning either, they’ve locked the yard down for now, everyone is tucked in. So pull up the other bed, and I’ll keep an eye on the both of you.”

  I moved to do exactly that, but Asled was reluctant to let go. Sal moved away and came back with a wash bowl, she then fetched another. I washed my own arms and got into a fresh shirt. Only noticing Asled was watching out the corner of my eye. I put the jacket on the end of the bed.

  “I’ll get them washed and repaired.” Sal said. “Don’t worry.”

  “Repaired?”

  Sal showed me the huge bite marks in the arms. “They didn’t just go for Asled, you got in the way.”

  “Shit,” Asled said. “I’m glad you had that on, they’d have ripped yours and you to bits like me.”

  “They would have,” Sal said and left us.

  I climbed onto the bed, and put my head back intending to sleep. When Asled reached for my hand again, I let him and entwined my fingers with his.

  ***

  Asled and I were split up the next day and I sulked, but threw myself into the work.

  Leigh stopped by and explained it was just better for now, but he hoped to put us back together when things had calmed a bit.

  I’d asked about Reece every day, but she had nothing to tell me.

  Each day without news of Reece felt like another failure on my part. I’d spent years protecting him, never once letting him out of my sight for more than a few hours. Now days had passed with no contact, no information. Was he safe? Was he frightened? Did he think I’d abandoned him? The questions were a constant weight, heavier than any coal shovel.

  Now, I stood atop the furnace buildings, the sun setting in the distance. I’d caught glimpses of Reece, but nothing more solid.

  Leigh sat next to me, prompting me to look. She nudged my flask for me. “Drink,” she insisted.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I forget.”

  “You can’t afford to forget, down in those furnaces, the water you carry is your life.”

  I kept nodding at her every time she told me this, every few hours, every single day. For her, it was a lifeline. For me, it’s just another shackle. Just one I couldn’t do without. I drank deeply, relishing in that cold water.

  It was a prize more than gold to most here. I’d seen more than a few looks at it as I’d walked the yard to the food halls. Leigh told me to hide it, but everyone knew those in the furnace had one.

  “You’ve really not held back at all,” Leigh said as the shift swap came to relieve us. “You could have gone easier on yourself. To whom are you trying to prove something? Cause it ain’t me, kid.”

  I’d gotten a little more used to her calling me kid, but I still didn’t like it.

  I couldn’t tell her the truth - that working until exhaustion was partly strategic. The harder I worked, the sooner I’d earn privileges. The sooner I’d earn privileges, the sooner I could retrieve Mom’s journal and find Reece. But there was more to it than calculation. The physical exertion helped quiet the constant anxiety, gave me something immediate to focus on besides all the things I couldn’t control.

  “Have you heard anything about Reece?” I asked.

  Leigh shook her head sadly. “If I start asking questions about him, they’ll start asking me more about you.”

  I sighed. “You think he’s okay?”

  “He’ll be fed better than you, schooled with the best about the arts.”

  Leigh never mentioned mana—she called it—the arts.

  It didn’t seem very arty to me, but I let it slide. In the distance, I could see other darkened black spots. It was almost as though nothing penetrated those areas at all, not even the last rays of the sun.

  “What’s in those really dark areas?” I asked and pointed to what I thought was the closest one.

  “Those?” Leigh shivered. “You don’t want to go anywhere near those areas. They hold darkness like you’ve never met before. Terrible monsters, no light at all.”

  The way she said it triggered my instinctive curiosity - the same drive that had compelled me to map unsafe territories, to understand what threatened us rather than simply avoid it. Knowledge was survival. But there was a difference between healthy caution and recklessness. I filed the information away - areas to avoid, or at least approach with extreme caution if necessary.

  I stared at that closest one, though, and something inside it moved. Maybe Leigh was right; it wasn’t worth looking at or even thinking about.

  Leigh pushed herself up, “Come on, let’s get to the mess before everyone else. Get some of the good cuts of meat this time.”

  I smiled at her, and as I stood, I caught a glimpse of something. Eyes. Bright, glowing red eyes stared straight at me from within that dark spot in the forest. I held its eyes for a moment, transfixed.

  “Come on!” Leigh called. “I’ll not wait for you.”

  Quickly, I shoved myself up and ran after her. “Sorry.” I panted. “Thought I saw something.”

  Leigh looked back the way I’d come. “I hope to all hells you didn’t kid.”