Forgotten (20 page)

Gregor let loose another of those unnerving laughs. Kaie watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye, every second a struggle not to launch himself out of the cot. He didn’t know if he would run for the door, or throw himself at the Rit in a fury. Either one was wrong.
Stupid.
He was weak and injured. He would fail. He wanted to move, though. So badly it almost overwhelmed his better sense.

“You’d be surprised how well that man can communicate. No, actually, you wouldn’t be, would you? You probably figured him out the moment you first saw him. But I was surprised. And he made it very clear: he wouldn’t hurt what was his, so long as I gave him something of mine.
And I…
I don’t have anything but you.”

Kaie was startled by the sounds that came next. At first, he thought he was mistaken, but the more time that passed the more certain he became. Gregor was crying.
Sobbing.

“It was so clear once,” the Rit gasped. “Our world is so damn gray. But this, this was clear as any crystal.
My great rebellion.
Freeing my men, saving Hudukul, maybe even all of Jorander, from the great empirical monster at its door.
Now it’s all so… tainted.”

Gregor cried quietly for a while longer. Kaie listened. When the Rit finally pulled the mask back on and stood, he was relieved. This glimpse, this insight, it was worse than anything else Gregor did to him.

“I wish I could hate you,” the Rit whispered as he faded even deeper into the shadows of the hospital. “Part of me does. But it’s not enough. It’s not pure. Nothing is pure anymore.”

“Do you have any peppermint?”

Two years, five months, four days and a bit over two hours since he last heard that voice in person.
7,975,296 seconds. Or, Kaie corrected hastily, nine days. He couldn’t forget about the five he lost to Gregor’s bargain. That brought it closer to 8,407,296 seconds. Give or take a few thousand. Still, he knew it. Knew it well enough that it didn’t matter how low it was. Maybe if he didn’t remember that dream, or if the boy wasn’t on his thoughts so often lately, Kaie might not remember it instantly. But he did, and he was, so he knew.

“Peppermint?
Headache?”

“No,” the boy answered, his voice dropping an octave. “It’s for my Master. His bowels have been distressed since we left Lindel.”

“Hm.
I see. I’m afraid I don’t have much. The soil here isn’t great for growing, and it’s far too dry. My harvests are rather small. I used most of my last batch to make a medicine for the migraines that have been plaguing the Ninth Rit this past week. But you are welcome to what I have left.”

“Thank you Mistress.”

“I’m no mistress. I haven’t even paid the Family price yet. You can call me Doctor, if you want. Or, better, Alex.”

Kaie could almost imagine the smile on the boy’s face. Soft and meek, almost pathetic enough to believe the kid was nothing but the proper little slave.

“Vaughan?”

He didn’t mean to call out, not really. Whatever Vaughan was doing here, Kaie knew he couldn’t help the boy. He couldn’t even help himself. But he couldn’t let the one connection to his life before slip away. Not yet.

The hospital grew quiet, and for a second Kaie thought he was wrong. Or that he scared the kid off. But, just as despair was taking hold, the slumped, spindly figure appeared in his room.

“It’s Kale,” he said quickly, hoping the man was quick enough to figure out the game. “Do you remember me? We met when my father took sick, and Lady Autumnsong offered your services?”

Vaughan’s watery eyes blinked, but he nodded. “Yes.
Kale.”
He turned, and Kaie saw that the doctor was right on his heels. “Forgive me, Alex. But do you think…”

Her eyes shifted between them slowly. Kaie was afraid she was on to their lie, but after a moment she nodded. “Sure. I don’t see the harm in a visitor. Just see that you don’t let him move around too much. And don’t give him anything. I’m not saying you don’t know your craft, but I do know mine. I won’t have my treatment compromised because I don’t know what herbs he’s been taking.”

Vaughan tilted his head in acknowledgement. “You have my word.”

That settled, the doctor sent him one last glance,
then
vanished back into whatever lay beyond the shadow of Kaie’s doorway. Vaughan waited a few moments longer before dropping down to his side.

The boy’s face split into a huge grin.

“
Mian
corre
nia
tuloak
!
Nia
tu
horinda
balla
!
Alive!
Alive,
and here with me like the
Jhoda
itself summoned you!
Mia lo
novara
miam
sant
yah
tuloak
!
What in the Abyss are you doing here,
Bruhani
?”

Kaie smiled, a sharp pain informing him that his nose wasn’t the only part of his face still recovering from the abuse it took. It wasn’t his first split lip, and it didn’t feel like a bad one, but it didn’t help his mood any. “I could ask you the same, but I’m going to guess you arrived with Lady Autumnsong and her son.”

Vaughan
nodded,
eyes wide as though surprised by Kaie’s simple deduction.
“Peren too.”

Kaie’s breath caught on a knot in his throat. His eyes misted as the panic rose in his chest. He didn’t
want to
think about her. She didn’t belong here, in this awful city of vipers. She couldn’t be here.

“Keegan?”
He squawked, his voice unrecognizable.

Vaughan dropped his head.
“Gone.”

Kaie sat up so suddenly his head swam. Giving it no attention, he reached out for Vaughan’s shirt with his right hand, only noticing the boy still wore the one-shouldered attire of a Lindel slave in as much as it gave less fabric for him to hold on to. “What do you mean gone?”

Vaughan made no effort to fight loose of his hold. He didn’t meet Kaie’s eyes either, though. “He’s safe. As safe as possible, I mean. He’s hidden. I was… not there when it happened. I know what I promised, but Lord Peter took me with him to
Shibad
. I couldn’t do anything to stop it! And when I came back… I’m sorry,
Bruhani
. I failed you.”

“You said he’s safe?”

Vaughan nodded. “Peren wouldn’t let him go otherwise. She won’t tell me what happened, or where she sent him. She… I think she expects you to go rescue him. The way she talks about you… It’s like you’ve only been gone a few days.”

He didn’t know how to feel about that. Kaie spent so much of every day trying to forget her. “Why is she here?”

The boy hesitated. “She was… taken into the Lady Autumnsong’s care. That happened while I was away, too.
I’ll send her here. She’ll want to see you
.”

“No!” Kaie startled himself with the vehemence in the word. Vaughan’s eyes lifted to his, and the kid’s brows knit. “I don’t want her to see me like this,” he covered quickly.

Vaughan relaxed, almost smiled, and gently removed his shirt from Kaie’s grasp. “You won’t have much luck stopping that. Once she knows you’re here,
nothing
will stop my sister from finding you.”

Kaie knew he was supposed to smile, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Silence stretched between them past the point of discomfort.

Vaughan was right. She was here, and she would find him. It would be real, not one of the fantasies he only let himself think about as he drifted off to sleep each night. She would look at him, with those spooky eyes of hers, and see right through him. She would see what they did to him, what he let them do to him, and she would turn away. Maybe she would cry, cry for the man he was when he left her.

That was, quite suddenly, unacceptable. For the first time since waking up in the hospital, Kaie was absolutely certain how he felt about what happened, and knew what he was going to do about it.

“So what
are
you doing here?” Vaughan asked again.

“Working o
n my whittling.
It’s a hospital.
W
hat the fuck do you think I’m doing?” Kaie snapped. He scratched at the cut in his lip absently, sorting out all the elements that would need to be aligned in order for his plan to be remotely feasible. “Where are you? In the city, I mean. If I wanted to find you, where would I look?”

Vaughan did a very convincing impression of an owl, his eyes as wide as bowls. “Lord Peter is staying with Lady Autumnsong in some politician’s manor.”

“Councilor Losen.
I heard.”

“You… You heard?
How?”

“That doesn’t matter.” It was possible he was being unfair to Vaughan. It didn’t matter. All that mattered now was the plan. “I don’t know where it is.”

“It’s just north the merchant’s district, on the waterfront.”

He nodded. He could find that.
Maybe.
He didn’t actually know where the merchant district was. But he could probably find the waterfront. He found the barracks, after all. “And you’ll be there? If I come for you in the next day, that’s where I’ll find you?”

“Yes,” Vaughan answered slowly. He glanced around the room, as if he was looking around for someone who might overhear their conversation. “Are you going to tell me why you’re asking?”

“No.” Peren was a problem. But he couldn’t leave her. Not with the city about to explode in a rebellion. “Is she staying there too?”

“Yes, of course.” Vaughan didn’t need to ask who he meant. The man’s
mouth worked as if he was chewing on something. “You’re not going to hurt her again, are you?”

Kaie turned his head to the ceiling and dropped back down on the cot. “I don’t know. I never wanted to hurt her at all.”

Vaughan’s hand dropped on his arm. Kaie jerked away from the touch so violently the cot almost tipped over. Remembering the pain from last time, he quickly moved to set it to rights.

“Sorry,” Vaughan murmured, sounding for
all the
world like a kicked puppy. “It just… it looks like you’re hurting.
I can help.
”

“I am,” Kaie answered. He pressed his lips together. He didn’t want the thought of being touched to fill him with dread. That wasn’t normal, and he desperately wanted to be normal. With a deep breath he nodded. “Do it.”

He held his body rigid.
A tingling
warmth spread out from beneath the boy’s fingers. At first it felt nice, pleasurable even. Then it became insistent, like the prickles in his leg when it fell asleep and feeling started returning. His arm, especially, seemed to be a focus for the sensation. It grew even more intense. A second later, it was the pain of the break all over again. Kaie could feel the boot pressing down on his arm. He tried to cry out, to bring the doctor barreling into room to put a stop to the whole thing, but his voice was gone. All that came out of his open mouth was a strangled puff of air. Then, quickly as it started, it was done.

Kaie sucked in a deep breath, surprised to discover that there wasn’t even a twinge of pain in his nose or his arm. He lifted his hand to his face, finding even his lip repaired. Hardly daring to hope, he sat up again and unwrapped the dressing around his side – using both hands ably – afraid to see the scars.
Except there were no scars at all.
The skin there, in between patches of green gook, was pink and new and utterly unmarked by the slightest blemish.

“Gods…” he gasped.

Vaughan ducked his head again. “I tried not to do too much… I knew I shouldn’t, with that woman caring for you.
Especially not your face.
But the
Jhoda
knows
,
I couldn’t stand to see you like that. It won’t… she’ll know what I did.”

Kaie grinned and let out a breathy laugh. He was tempted to hug the slender man. “Thank you.”

Vaughan smiled again, his eyes dancing.
“
Vishanu
asa
lo
tuloak
.
I’m glad I could help.” His mouth began moving again, just as before, in the chewing gesture. It didn’t last as long this time. “
What else can I do?
”

Kaie let go of the smile with a slow sigh. His giddiness over the healing faded quickly. “Just be there when I come for you, Vaughan. Whatever it takes, just make sure you’re there.”

“I will. I swear, I will.”

Kaie didn’t waste any time. Vaughan was right, the doctor would notice the changes, and it would cause trouble. It didn’t matter if there was
a Namer in the city
the reaction to magic wouldn’t be positive. Even Gregor’s most loyal soldiers wouldn’t appreciate the idea of a mage in their midst. Even Judah, who was actually one of them, recognized the need to hide. He wasn’t about wait to see how
doctor
Alex dealt with it.

Kaie slid out of the cot and crossed the small room, hugging the wall as he went. He could hear Alex elsewhere in the building, but the shape of the place made it hard to tell where. Her voice echoed around the curved walls that the Huduku seemed so fond of. He crouched in the doorway to his room, trying to guess at the floor plan as much as watching for the doctor.

The trouble, he decided, was that he didn’t go into enough places. The manse was as different from this building as the hospital was from the shack he and Peren shared. And the barracks Judah stayed in was originally a warehouse, not designed for aesthetics in mind. He suspected that there was a commonalty to the homes, as the exteriors were all shaped the same, and each one seemed have the same number of windows. But this was his first house.

He would give anything for some semblance of a sense of direction. Anything that would give him some idea which way the street might be.

Alex was humming. It seemed to be coming from one side of the house more than the other. Good enough. He took a deep breath, locked his excuse for walking about firmly in his mind, Kaie stepped out into the main room.

There were more cots.
Lots of them.
They were all empty. Back when it was a house, the room probably served as a dining room. The circular walls made the place feel almost cozy, while the great domed ceiling still gave the impression of endless amounts of space.

Directly across from his room was another doorway. The humming was definitely coming from that direction. For all he knew, the opening led to the only other room in the house, and he was about to stumble into the doctor. Still, there was nowhere else to go.

He moved forward, resisting the urge to drop into a crouch, run across the room, or stay against the walls. If Alex did come in, such behavior would give him away. She might be helping him, but Kaie doubted she would be willing to let him escape on her watch. He felt bad, bringing down trouble on her after everything she was doing for him. But he didn’t see any other choice.

The room on the other side of the doorway did not, thank the gods,
contain
the doctor. It was significantly smaller than the one he just crossed. Several crates were stacked against the rounded walls. Green leaves poked out from a couple, probably filled with herbs. Opposite from him, there was yet another doorway. It was where the humming was coming
from. More importantly, to his left there was an actual door. It was circular and painted bright green.

Kaie moved slowly now. This was the first part of his escape he couldn’t explain away. If Alex raised the alarm too soon, his whole plan would fall to pieces around him. He needed to be lost in the city before she realized he was gone. Gregor might be able to figure out where he was going. He needed to be there and gone before the Rit learned any of it.

He didn’t bother praying. He begged them for help, when Silvertongue was hurting him, and the only answer he received was the man’s horrible hissing laughter. If the gods were listening, all he could only count on for was suffering. Instead, Kaie took a deep breath, counted to five, then darted for door. It pulled open easily and without any noise. A second later, he was sucked into the bustle of the city.

Kaie knew he stood out. No one spent more than a handful of days in the desert without learning the need to keep themselves covered. The long gown he wore was the smoothest thing he could possibly imagine, and so light it might as well be air, but it offered no protection from the sun. It was the same garb all the servants wore, and came down only to the lower part of his calf, just above his knees. Even if it wasn’t drawing curious looks from all the people around him, it left too much of his skin exposed. Fair as he was, it wouldn’t take much time for him to get sun sick. He needed a change of clothing.

Without an iron penny, save the one around his neck, that was something of a problem. He was forced to follow along with the crowd for some time before he found what he was looking for: a line of clothes hanging in an alley low enough that he could reach it. Pressing against the bodies around him, Kaie made his way over and pulled them down as furtively as possible. There was no doubt people saw it, but no one raised a cry over the stolen attire. He jerked on the pants and long, dark green cloak as quickly as he could, taking great care to position the hood to hide as much of his hair as possible. By the time he returned to the street, no one was paying him any mind.

The city was not as he remembered it. Or, rather, it was, but with a new layer added.
One that distorted the crowded, colorful streets of only a week ago.
Now there were piles of refuse scattered about in every corner. It was not limited to the inorganic, either. Kaie spotted bodies, living and dead, amid the trash. The smell was trapped amid the cramped and twisted pathways, and threatened to bring bile spilling past his lips with every turn. It took every bit of self-control not to gawp at the changes made in such a short amount of time.

It didn’t take Kaie long to find the source of these changes. In the years since taking Hudukul, Gregor never made any effort to assert his military presence in the city. He knew the people were upset enough, and didn’t want to risk open revolt when he was trying to form an alliance. Now, however, there were men and women in uniform at every corner.

The surge of traffic gave them all a wide berth, but Kaie drew close enough to
to
see that none wore the iron fist on their shoulders, which would mark them as part of the Twelfth. Instead, there was a small golden star. He didn’t know enough about the Rits of the empire to identify the sigil, but he realized the meaning easily enough. The Twelfth wasn’t the only
force controlling Hudukul anymore. The speed of the transformation was astounding, but not unexpected. Gregor made no secret of the Urazian forces approaching the city, and they both talked at length about what would happen when one arrived.

With luck, the new conditions would reinforce the idea that the Ninth Rit was the best chance
the for
people of Hudukul. It could be the catalyst needed to cement the alliance and finally give Gregor the strength of position he needed. Or, and Kaie feared more likely, it would reinforce the hatred the people hid beneath their friendly words and cooperative smiles.

Finding his way to the barracks was easy. It seemed he chose a very fortuitous day to set his plan in motion. A ship carrying goods from some nearby nation was just arriving, and everyone in the city was eager to see it dock. The push of the crowd drew him straight to the river in little time at all. His path from there was a little more challenging, as he was pushing against the flow of traffic, but not unmanageable. By the time he crossed one of the many bridges spanning the water, he was recognizing the signs filled with foreign words and strange pictures from his previous trips.

He paused in front of the bright red door to the first barracks building. Judah would be inside.
Maybe Tovan too.
It was even possible that they would help him. Gregor wasn’t likely to share what happened. The Rit was too private for that. If even one man agreed to help now, it would make the whole plan so much easier.

He scowled and moved on. It didn’t matter how much easier they could make things. They weren’t needed, not yet. Bringing them in would mean trusting him.

Four of the waterfront warehouses were converted for military use, as well as four along the wall and two near the manor. They were just points on a map he didn’t have access to. The building used for the barracks was the key he needed.

The next two doors were blue. One was dark, the other bright. The next door was dusky yellow. That was the one he wanted. Three doors down from the barracks, with
an
yellow door. Both Gregor and Judah mentioned it. Kaie remembered the words like they were burnt into his mind. It was the place he was supposed to be.

He couldn’t see any soldiers. That seemed odd, but he wasn’t going to take it for granted that they weren’t around. He slowed, ignoring the unpleasant comments from the people walking behind him, and scanned the area. Kaie found another of
Hudukul’s
endless side streets just another two buildings down. He slipped down it and, as he expected, found himself in a courtyard very similar to the one with the broken statue; it was almost identical.

The woman in the fountain had both her arms, though her head was missing. There were more red letters scrawled across her breasts, though they looked different than those on the other statue. Despite the risk every minute he was visible, Kaie leaned forward to brush his fingertips against the angry writing. It was too much coincidence that the two courtyards would be so alike. The markings, the broken statues, they could be markers; signposts for anyone navigating the passes.

Hoping he was right about the correlation, Kaie bent down. Crouched over where, in the other courtyard, the door to the passes opened, he pressed his fingers against the street. Inch by inch, he searched. He was prepared for the search to take as long as his hunt in the kitchen did, but this time the reward came quickly. The slat of street tipped down, the other end lifting just enough for him to get his other hand around it and lift up.

Kaie hurried down another perilous staircase. As he came to the bottom, he thought he caught a glimpse movement ahead of him. He entered the pass cautiously, but didn’t see anyone else.

By his estimation, nearly three hours were gone since he left the hospital. Gregor would surely know of his escape and, if the Rit suspected where he was going, could be close by now. So, hoping no Huduku was about to come up behind him and plunge a knife into his back, he entered the main pass.

It took a second to get his bearings. He couldn’t see far enough ahead to determine if the main pass ended at the river, but that wasn’t necessary. Kaie counted each step he took, taking care to match his stride exactly with how he walked above.
23 steps to reach the end of the side street.
Then a left turn.
106 steps to get to the building with the yellow door.
He found another staircase close by and headed up again.

Just like in the manse, the pass ended in a wall. He pushed against the bottom and, sure enough it swung open easily. The smell of unwashed bodies hit him hard enough to make his eyes water, but he pushed forward. He wasn’t sure what the room on the other side was intended to be, but now it contained swords and spears piled up with no more concern than the garbage in the streets.

The next room was huge. It was too large for the walls alone to support the weight of the ceiling. There were several posts scattered throughout to assist that purpose. And the room was full to bursting.

Panic held Kaie in place as he waited for one of the hundreds of heads to turn in his direction. When none of them did, he looked a little closer.

Hollows.
Each and every one of them.

Kaie expected them here. It was the Hollow house. This was where they all ended up while they waited for some battle that would send them to the front lines and kill them off in droves. But he never imagined that there were so many. And this was just the Twelfth! Gregor turned away as many as he could. If this was a smaller amount, there would have to be thousands in all the Urazian armies.
Maybe hundreds of thousands.
It was almost beyond his comprehension.

How could there be so many? Why would they do this to so many people? It didn’t make sense. With an available pool of recruits this large, the Namers shouldn’t be so scarce. Judah implied that there weren’t more than a few hundred scattered throughout the Urazin Empire. They were wasting a massive numerical advantage, destroying so many. But even if the interest in power wasn’t there, they were tasked with controlling the slaves with magic.
He knew first-hand they weren’t as successful at that as they could be. Why would they give up such opportunity? Why was the Empress allowing so many weapons being turned into nothing more than a living shield? Even if the Namers didn’t see it, surely one of her Rits realized the potential.

He almost gave up his plan there. It was more than just the impossibility of finding a single Hollow amidst all the filthy bodies milling around the one room. These people all used to be a part of a family. They were once just like him.
Unwashed, underfed, with little more than scraps of clothing to spare them some small amount of dignity.

For the first time since waking up in that miserable cell back in Lindel, Kaie realized how unimportant he was. His need to be free, to have his quiet little family, even his plans for revenge, they were small. This was the real evil of the empire: allowing – facilitating – the destruction of so many for no purpose. Nothing Kaie
could do would
ever be enough to avenge this one room. And it was just the smallest part of the atrocity.

Distant grunting brought him back to himself. He heard it when he first walked in, but it took him a while to realize what he was listening to. Someone was fucking in this house.