Chapter 9 : Casualties

Location Southern Healing Clinic, Waterless Shore, Blue Wave Territory
Time Morning 1900 hours (46 hours before dusk)

“Surely this many people didn’t fall sick in the last two hours.” remarked Maiho as she counted the patients in the waiting room.

Laivo commented “Some patients don’t mind waiting a little longer if they can get you instead of your mother.”

“Is that why the number of patients turning up on my shift has slowly but steadily increased over time?”

Laivo rolled her eyes. “Word gets out. Shall I send the first one in?”

Maiho pointed over her shoulder without looking. “That one. I can feel his pain from here.”

“Bozzak?”

Maiho turned to look at the patient who stood hunched over protecting his abdomen. He had enough colour that his pain rolled off him and set her teeth on edge. “The rat faced boy who used to call me names and hit me on the arm?” The large solidly build man didn’t look very like the skinny, obnoxious boy that Maiho remembered.

“Until you broke his nose, I don’t remember him bothering you after that.”

“Can you believe that my mother made me apologize to him? Send him in anyway, if you don’t he’ll give me a headache.”

A little distance helped with the second-hand pain she was feeling as she entered the inner temple of the clinic. She strode to the blue crystal altar wishing she could lay down on it. The pain in the back of her head increased. She spun around to see Laivo helping Bozzak into the inner temple. She never had this problem with non-Singer caste members.

“Senior Healer Telvra treated me, curing the pain, but afterwards the pain came back worse than ever, “ Bozzak was telling Laivo.

Laivo whispered something in his ear causing a startled expression to cross his face. “I greatly regret if the misbehavior of my youth caused you distress. I am very sorry, “ said the suffering patient.

Maiho blinked at this. That certainly wasn’t the way she remembered him talking. “You are going to owe me a favour.”

“Anything; just stop the pain.”

Maiho and Laivo guided him to the altar and helped him “Oh, I would heal you no matter what. The favour is for not giving you pointy ears or earlobes that hang down to your knee or - “ a smile lit up Maiho’s face as she paused, “have you ever wondered what you would look like as a girl?” Bozzak’s expression as he sank into the crystal altar was priceless. Maiho sighed with relief as his pain eased it was only then that she realized that she hadn’t sung the activation song.

“You couldn’t really do any of that could you?”

“Changing the shape of the ears should be easy. Changing him into a girl would require several sessions.”

“Could you make me beautiful?” Laivo asked wistfully.

“You are already beautiful.”

Laivo reddened. “Do you really think so?” she asked.

“Of course. You are the prettiest girl I know.”

Laivo turned away and muttered, “Except for Feibu.”

Maiho ignored this and started lecturing “Bozzak’s pain is caused by inflammation of a small organ that is located near where the small intestine joins the large intestine. Within Bozzak’s colour there exists an image of how his body should be. I call it the template which is a woodworking term. I could use this template to force his body back to a more normal state. However if I did this his symptoms could re-occur, he could even die if the small organ ruptures. If however I alter the template so it does not contain this troublesome organ, then apply the altered template to his body, we will see a more permanent solution to this problem. The book from which I obtained this procedure insisted that the patient suffered no harm from the removal of this organ.”

“That sounds very interesting, but I need to go back to the greeter’s desk.”

“Wait, can you get your cousin Carele to fill in for you?” asked Maiho.

“Why? This doesn’t have anything to do with one of your crazy schemes does it?”

“We need to start on your training. I obtained permission from the Village Council to start you as a trainee healer.”

“No, No, No! I can’t believe you would do this to me. Didn’t it occur to you to ask me first before you involved me in one of your insane ideas?” cried Laivo as she stormed out of the inner temple.

“That could have gone better, “ Maiho muttered as she applied herself to healing Bozzak. As she altered his template she resisted the temptation to give him a ratty nose and buck teeth. By the time she had finished imposing her will on his flesh, enough of the crystal energy had leaked into her to give her a spring in her step and a brighter outlook on life. She helped Bozzak off the altar and out the door.

In the waiting room Laivo was still giving her dark looks, stomping around muttering to herself, and persisted on avoiding her throughout the shift.

With each patient Maiho absorbed more vitality. Laivo prioritised the patients, sent them in when their turn came, and collected chips from those that could pay. However whenever Maiho tried to talk to her she always found a reason to be somewhere else. Laivo had enough colour that Maiho couldn’t put her out of her mind. She was a constant ache in Maiho’s head. She couldn’t read emotion as well as physical sensations, but whatever Laivo was feeling was turbulent, unsettling and distressing.

Maiho had had enough and was just about to grab her by the neck and haul her off to a consulting room for a talking to, when two blood covered blue wave tribesmen staggered into the clinic.

Laivo rushed over with bandages. With the pressing urgency of the patient’s condition she seemed to have temporarily forgotten that she was avoiding Maiho.

“What happened?”

“An explosion in Stink Street. Some chemist’s experiment gone wrong.”

Maiho took one look at the wounds and told Laivo. “Get our archer friend and meet me in the inner temple.”

“Why do you need an archer?” Asked the one with the wounded arm sounding alarmed.

“That’s just her nickname,” she said as she hoisted the man with the gut wound over her shoulder. She had picked up enough vitality during the shift that his weight was no problem.

The shock of seeing her pick up his friend like he weighed nothing drove away his worry about what she requested of Laivo.

Marching into the inner temple she tipped the seriously injured man into the altar. The other man gaped in astonishment.

“The crystal just flowed like water.”

“Yes, it does that.”

“But, when your mother heals -”

“Yes, my Mother is less flashy. It’s just a matter of style. It doesn’t mean anything.” Maiho lied. “The altar will keep him stable. Why don’t I have a look at that arm?” She steered him over the side of the room.

“What do they call you?” she asked.

“Nolwark.”

“And your friend is -?”

“Why do need you know?” Nolwark asked.

“It would hardly be professional to greet him when he wakes with ÔHey you! Almost dead guy.’”

“He’s called Maksim.”

“And how did you get these wounds?” she asked.

“As I said before there was an explosion. Why all the questions?”

Maiho reached behind her, she drew her sword and had it at his throat before he had a chance to react.

“Those wounds were not produced by an explosion. I suggest you start telling the truth.”

Laivo and Nargre burst into the inner temple.

“You are very fond of pulling that out and waving it about, aren’t you, “ noted Nargre.

“The village councilors are attacking each other.”

“What did you do?” accused Nargre.

Maiho was about to say something biting when she realized it probably was her fault. “You’re not being helpful, “ she complained. “This man, Nolwark and his friend Maksim came in with needle wounds.” Seeing that they did not understand she continued. “They were injured by a very dangerous, very rare Singer weapon, one in the Song Master’s possession.” She turned to the wounded man, “You attacked the Song Master.”

“Who is to say he didn’t attack us?” argued Nolwark.

“Don’t annoy me, “ warned Maiho. “You two got off fairly lightly I am guessing you were at the back. How many people are lying dead in the corridors?”

Nolwark tightened his lips and looked away.

“How many of you attacked Huglek?” Maiho persisted.

Nolwark shook this head then yelped as Maiho’s sword darted forward and nicked his ear.

“Ten, there were ten of us, “ Nolwark answered hastily.

“So there are eight dead tribesmen lying in a pool of their own blood stinking up the passageways.”

“I don’t know. Maksim and I just ran. The girl hit and Menfus with some sort of crystal rod and they both went down, then three of the guys nearest to the song master exploded in a shower of blood. We knew it was time to get out of there.”

“The girl, was she thin with long hair, narrow face, small breasts and a spiral stone necklace?”

“Yes, she was supposed to be his wife.”

“She is. Why did you think you could get away with threatening a Singer?”

“We never used to have any problems.”

“SO you have threatened Singers before?”

“Logwan had to be reminded every now and then to share the profits, the greedy dastard.”

“And Logwan put up with that? Viune would have to torn you apart.”

“Viune was before my time and Logwan is certainly no Viune. I never had a problem putting the scare into someone before you and your parents.”

“You threatened my parents!” shouted Maiho

“Huuurgk!” Nolwark gurgled as his face turned purple.

“Maiho! He’s not going be able to talk if you kill him, “ urged Laivo.

Dimly through the red haze of her anger Maiho realized that her left hand was gripping Nolwark’s neck underneath the jaw. She relaxed her grip and tried to calm her rage. Nolwark fell to his knees and started wheezing as he struggled to fill his lungs.

Maiho opened and closed her hand reflexively. She was surprised she had that much strength so soon. It was only a third of the way through the shift and her skin was barely tingling. Perhaps she had underestimated how much vitality she was holding.

“You can’t just kill everyone who annoys you, “ growled Nargre.

“So speaks someone who shot her lover in the stomach with an arrow, “ returned Maiho.

“You going to bring that up every twenty tocks? It’s getting tired fast, “ shouted Nargre.

“You two stop it. If I understand the situation correctly we have bigger problems, “ pleaded Laivo.

Maiho glanced at Nargre semi-apologetically. “I know I have a temper, just try not to poke the wolf with a stick.”

Nargre face twisted in anger and it looked like Nargre might say something that they would all regret, when they were interrupted by Huglek bursting into the room. He strode into the room with a limp figure cradled in his arms, which he laid on the altar, oblivious to the fact that the altar already had an occupant.

Maiho gently tapped Nolwark’s head against the wall. It was exactly the wrong thing to do and could give him concussion or even kill him, but she desperately needed one less random variable in the complex situation. She couldn’t spare the time to think about him.

Delayed by dealing with Nolwark, Maiho had barely made one step to cross to altar when Laivo reached them. Raeha had a crossbow bolt penetrating her chest, protruding just above her right breast. She was pale and her chest was not moving. Huglek was sobbing. Laivo had her hand on Raeha’s neck checking for a pulse. Like a bad dream Maiho knew what she was going to say.

“I’m sorry - “ Laivo began. ÔDon’t!’ Maiho mouthed at her. But Laivo wasn’t looking in Maiho’s direction. “She’s gone.” Laivo finished.

Huglek knelt down bringing Raeha’s hand to his lips. “I will make them pay. I swear to you I’ll make her pay, “ he said raggedly.

Looking at Huglek’s ravaged face, Maiho wanted to tell him that she hadn’t given up, that she was going try and restart her heart. However she couldn’t do it. Giving him hope when the odds were so slim was impossibly cruel.

Huglek turned away and stepped towards the exit. Maiho with a silent apology to Maksim, pulled him out of the altar from the side and let Raeha sink into the altar. The altar had been healing Maksim slowly even without Maiho’s direction, using his template as a guide to the healing. She hoped that would be enough to stabilise him. However Raeha’s body was on an altar and there was no way, no matter how hopeless things seemed, that Maiho was not going to use that altar to try and heal her.

Expanding her senses Maiho could see that Raeha’s template was fading from her colour. The altar recognized her body as dead flesh and tried to absorb her. Maiho strengthened her template and forced the altar to see the strengthened template as reality and to make it reality.

Maiho opened her eyes and removed a message crystal from her waist pouch and tossed it at Nargre, “Use this to talk to me, “ she gasped through clenched teeth as she divided her attention. “Follow him quickly. I think he’s going to Huifa’s.” Maiho doubted Thiona was involved as she was all talk and no action which meant the Ôher’ that Huglek was going to make pay was Huifa. There was so much more she needed to tell Nargre. However neither of them had the time. Nargre would just have to figure it out on her own.

Maiho turned her attention back to Raeha. Her template rippled and distorted under the stress. She channeled the energy of the healing into Raeha’s body, imposing her will on template and body, forcing them to become one. At first the energy poured out of the body as fast as Maiho funneled it in. However she managed to restart the heart and then keep it beating and the healing started to take. Stabilizing Raeha seemed to take forever, but finally she felt confident that her heart should keep beating without assistance. She brought Raeha out of the altar until she was lying on top.

Her own body felt numb and so light she felt in danger of floating up in the air. As from a distance she heard “You saved her. No other healer could have done that.”

“I am not sure I did. We will know when she wakes. If she wakes. I’m not sure she will be the same person. It was so hard to hold on to her, “ explained Maiho. Her own voice felt as it belonged to someone else.

“You need rest and food. It’s third meal.” said Laivo. “I’ve sent everyone home. I told them it was because of the emergency. Urgent cases only.”

Two guards slid a stretcher underneath Raeha. Maiho wondered where they had come from. They had not been there before. They seemed to be afraid of something. They lifted Raeha off the altar. Laivo lent in close and whispered “Not a word.”

“No one would believe us anyway, “ said one of the guards with a nervous glance at Maiho.

“Take her to the third consulting room, “ instructed Laivo.

Maiho knew there was something else she had to do. She glanced around the room and saw more guards and two more stretchers.

“Bring me Maksim.”

“You don’t have to. He’s stable. Besides he’s a criminal.”