Blood Song (30 page)

“His heart stopped beating,” she explained. She kept at it until blood began to flow from the man’s mouth. “He’s gone.” She moved back from the bed. “Fetch a trolley from the store room and take him to the morgue. It’s in the south wing. And clean the blood from his face. The family don’t like to see that.”

Vaelin had seen death before but her coldness took him by surprise. “That’s all? There’s nothing else you can do?”

“A cart weighing half a ton ran over his stomach turning his guts to mush and his spine to powder. There is nothing else I can do.”

The second badly wounded man was brought in by the Realm Guard in the evening, a stocky fellow with a crossbow bolt through his shoulder.

“Sorry sister,” the sergeant apologised to Sherin as he and two fellow guards hauled the man onto the table. “Hate to waste your time with one such as this but we’ll get hell from the Captain if we turn up with another corpse.” He gave Vaelin a curious glance, taking in his dark blue robe. “You appear to be in the wrong House, brother.”

“Brother Vaelin is here to learn how to heal,” Sherin informed him, leaning over the stocky man to examine his wound. “Twenty feet?” she enquired.

“Closer to thirty,” one of the guards sniffed proudly, hefting his crossbow. “And he was running.”

“Vaelin,” the sergeant murmured, his glance turning into a stare of scrutiny as he looked Vaelin up and down. “Al Sorna, right?”

“That’s my name.”

The three guards laughed, it wasn’t a pleasant sound and Vaelin instantly regretted leaving his sword in the cell that morning.

“The Boy Brother who beat ten Crows single handed,” the younger guard said. “You’re taller than they said.”

“It wasn’t ten…” Vaelin began.

“Wish I’d been there to see that,” the sergeant interrupted. “Can’t stand those bloody Crows, strutting about the place. Hear they’re making a plan of revenge though. You should watch your back.”

“I always do.”

“Brother,” Sherin cut in. “I need cat gut, needle, probe, a serrated knife, redflower and corr tree oil, the gel not the juice. Oh, and another bowl of water.”

He did as he was told, grateful for the chance to escape the guardsmen’s scrutiny. He went to the store room and filled a tray with the required items returning to the treatment room to find it in uproar. The stocky man was on his feet, backed into a corner, his meaty fist clamped around Sister Sherin’s throat. One of the Guardsmen was down, a knife buried in his thigh. The other two had their swords drawn, shouting threats and fury.

“I’m walking out of here!” the stocky man shouted back.

“You’re going nowhere!” the sergeant barked in response. “Let her go and you’ll live.”

“I go inside One Eye’ll have me done. Stand aside or I’ll wring this bitch’s n-”

The serrated knife Vaelin had fetched from the store room was heavier than he was used to but it wasn’t a difficult throw. The man’s throat was clearly open but his death spasm might have caused him to snap Sister Sherin’s neck. The blade sank into his forearm causing his hand to open by reflex, allowing Sherin to collapse to the floor. Vaelin vaulted the bed, scattering the tray’s contents across the room, and felled the stocky man with a few well placed punches to the nerve centres in his face and chest.

“Don’t,” Sherin gasped from the floor. “Don’t kill him.”

Vaelin watched the man slumping to the floor, his eyes vacant. “Why would I?” He helped her to her feet. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, pulling away. “Get him back on the bed,” she told him, her voice hoarse. “Sergeant, if you could help me get your comrade to another room.”

“Be doing the bastard a favour if you had killed him, brother,” the sergeant grunted as he and the other guardsman helped their fallen comrade to his feet. “Hanging day tomorrow.”

Vaelin had to struggle to get the man off the floor, he seemed to be composed mainly of muscle and weighed accordingly. He groaned in pain as Vaelin let him fall back onto the bed, his eyes flickering open.

“Unless you’ve got another knife hidden,” Vaelin told him. “I’d lie still.”

The man’s gaze was baleful but he said nothing.

“So who’s One Eye?” Vaelin asked him. “Why does he want you dead?”

“I owe him money,” the man said, his face slicked with sweat and lined with pain from his wounds.

He recalled Frentis’s tales of his time on the streets and the wayward throwing knife that had caused him to seek refuge in the Order. “Your tax?”

“Three golds. I’m in arrears. We’ve all gotta pay. And One Eye hates those that don’t pay with a passion.” The man coughed, staining his chin with blood. Vaelin poured a cup of water and held it to his lips.

“I have a friend who told me once about a man who lost his eye to a boy with a throwing knife,” Vaelin said.

The stocky man swallowed the water, his cough subsiding. “Frentis. If only the little sod had killed the bastard. One Eye says he’s gonna take a year to skin him alive when he finds him.”

Vaelin decided he would have to meet with One Eye sooner or later. He looked closely at the crossbow bolt still buried in the man’s shoulder. “Why did the Realm Guard do this?”

“Caught me coming out of a warehouse with a sack full of spice. Good stuff too, I’d’ve made meself six golds at least.”

He’s going to die for a sack full of spice,
Vaelin realised.
That and stabbing a Guardsman and trying to choke Sister Sherin.
“What’s your name?”

“Gallis. Gallis the Climber they call me. Not a wall I can’t scale.” Wincing, he lifted his forearm, the serrated knife still embedded there. “Looks like I won’t be doing that again.” He laughed then convulsed with pain. “Any redflower going, brother?”

“Prepare a tincture,” Sister Sherin had returned with the sergeant in tow. “One part redflower to three parts water.”

Vaelin paused to look at her neck, red and bruised from Gallis’s grip. “You should have that seen to.”

Momentary anger flashed in her eyes and he could tell she was biting back a sharp retort. He couldn't tell if she was angry that she had been proved wrong or that he had saved her life. “Please prepare the tincture, brother,” she told him in a hard rasp.

She worked on Gallis for over an hour, administering the redflower then extracting the crossbow bolt from his shoulder, cutting the shaft in half then widening the wound and gently pulling the barbed point free, Gallis biting on a leather strap to stifle his cries. She worked on the knife in his arm next, it was more difficult being closer to major blood vessels but came free after ten minutes work. Finally she sewed the wounds shut after painting them with the corr tree gel. Gallis had lost consciousness by then and his colour had noticeably paled.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” Sherin told the Sergeant. “He can’t be moved yet.”

“Can’t wait too long, sister,” the sergeant said. “Got to have him in front of the magistrate for the morning.”

“No chance of clemency?” Vaelin asked.

“I’ve got a man with a knifed leg next door,” the sergeant replied. “And the bugger tried to kill the sister.”

“I don’t recall that,” Sherin said, washing her hands. “Do you brother?”

Is a sack full of spice worth a man’s life?
“Not at all.”

The sergeant’s face took on a deeply angry tinge. “This man is a known thief, drunkard and redflower fiend. He would’ve killed us all to get out of here.”

“Brother Vaelin,” Sherin said. “When is it right to kill?”

“In defence of life,” Vaelin replied promptly. “To kill when not defending life is a denial of the Faith.”

The sergeant’s lip curled in disgust. “Soft hearted Order sods,” he muttered before stalking from the room.

“You know they’ll hang him anyway?” Vaelin asked her.

Sherin lifted her hands from the bloodied water and he passed her a towel. She met his eye for the first time that day, speaking with a certainty that was almost chilling: “No one is going to die on my account.”

He avoided the evening meal, knowing his actions would only have added to his celebrity and finding himself unable to face the torrent of questions and admiration. So he hid himself in the gatehouse with Brother Sellin, the aged gatekeeper who had greeted him the previous morning. The old brother seemed glad of the company and refrained from asking questions or mentioning the day’s events for which Vaelin was grateful. Instead, at Vaelin’s insistence, he told stories of his time in the Fifth Order, proving that a man did not have to be a warrior to see much of war.

“Got this one on the deck of the Seaspite.” Sellin displayed an odd horseshoe shaped scar on the underside of his forearm. “I was stitching a wound in a Meldenean pirate’s stomach when he rears up and bites me, nearly down to the bone. It was just after the Battle Lord had burnt their city so I s’pose he had good reason to be angry. Our sailors threw him in the sea.” He grimaced at the memory. “Begged them not to but men’ll do terrible things when their blood’s up.”

“How did you come to be on a war ship?” Vaelin asked.

“Oh, I was Fleet Lord Merlish’s personal physic for a number of years. He always had a soft spot for me since I cured his pox a few years before. A right fine old captain he was, loved the sea like a mother, loved all sailors, even had respect for the Meldeneans, best sailors in the world he said. Broke his heart when the Battle Lord burnt their city. They had a mighty row about it, I can tell you.”

“They argued?” Vaelin was curious. Brother Sellin was one of the few people he had met who didn’t initially refer to the Battle Lord as his father, in fact he appeared blithely unaware of the fact, although Vaelin suspected the old man had been in service to the Faith for so long that disassociating its servants from their family connections was simply second nature.

“Oh yes,” Sellin continued. “Fleet Lord Merlish called him a butcher, a killer of innocents, said he’d shamed the Realm forever. Everyone who heard it thought the Battle Lord would draw his sword but all he said was ‘Loyalty is my strength, my lord.’” Sellin sighed, sipping from a leather flask Vaelin suspected contained a mixture not dissimilar to what Brother Makril had called Brother’s Friend. “Poor old Merlish. Stayed in his cabin all the way home, refused to report to the King when we docked. He died not long after, his heart gave out on a voyage to the far west.”

“Did you see it?” Vaelin asked. “Did you see the city burn?”

“I saw it.” Brother Sellin took a deep pull from his flask. “I saw it all right. Lit up the sky for miles around. But it wasn’t the sight of it that chilled you, it was the sound. We were anchored a good half mile off shore and still you could hear the screams. Thousands, men, women, children, all screaming in the fire.” He shuddered and drank again.

“I’m sorry, brother. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Sellin shrugged. “Times past, brother. Can’t live in ‘em. Just learn from ‘em.” He peered out at the gathering dark. “You’d best be getting back elst you’ll not get a meal tonight.”

He found Sister Sherin in the meal hall, eating alone as was her habit. He expected a rebuke or outright rejection when he sat opposite her but she made no comment. The kitchen staff had placed a good selection on the table but she seemed content with a small plate of bread and fruit.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing at the array of food.

She shrugged so he helped himself to some ham and chicken, gulping it down ravenously, drawing a plainly disgusted glance.

He grinned, taking guilty enjoyment in her discomfort. “I’m hungry.”

There was the faintest ghost of a smile as she looked away.

“No one eats alone in the Sixth Order,” he told her. “We all have our groups. We live together, eat together, fight together. We call each other brother with good reason. Here things seem to be different.”

“My brothers and sisters respect my privacy,” she said.

“Because you’re special? You can do what they can’t.”

She took a bite of apple and gave no reply.

“How’s the thief?” he asked.

“Well enough. They moved him to the upper floor. The sergeant put two men on his door.”

“You intend to speak for him at the hearing?”

“Of course. Although it would help his case if you spoke as well. I feel your word would carry more weight than mine.”

He washed down a mouthful of ham with some water. “What is it, Sister, that makes you care so much for one such as him?”

Her face hardened. “What is it that makes you care so little?”

Silence reigned at the table for a few moments. Finally, he said, “Did you know my mother trained here? She was a sister, like you. She left the Fifth Order to marry my father. She never told me she had served here, she never told me about this part of her life. I came here seeking answers, I wanted to know who she was, who I was, who my father was. But the Aspect would tell me nothing. Instead she paired me with you, which I think was an answer in itself.”

“An answer to what?”

“Who my mother was, at least. Perhaps partly who I am. I’m not like you, I’m no healer. I would have killed that man today if I could, I’ve killed before. You couldn’t kill anyone, and neither could she. That’s who she was.”

“And your father?”

Thousands, men, women, children, all screaming in the fire... Loyalty is my strength.
“He was a man who burned a city because his king told him to.” He pushed his plate away and got up from the table. “I’ll speak for Gallis before the magistrate. See you at the fifth hour.”

In the morning it transpired that their presence at the magistrate’s court would not be necessary; Gallis had escaped during the night. The guards had entered his room on the top floor to find it empty and the window open. The wall outside was nearly thirty feet high with hardly any visible hand-holds.

Vaelin leaned out of the window to peer at the courtyard below. “Gallis the Climber,” he murmured.

“With the wounds he had he shouldn’t have been able to walk.” Sister Sherin moved close to inspect the wall outside. Vaelin found her proximity both intoxicating and uncomfortable but she seemed unconcerned. “I’ll never know how he managed it.”

“Master Sollis says a man doesn’t know his true strength until he fears for his life.”