CHAPTER FOUR
Disclaimer: I don't own Jing King of Bandits
Jing's eyes opened slowly. He was on a bed, not his bed in the mine dormitory, but a different one. The mattress had more give, and the sheets had a lavender scent to them and were softer, not as crisp.
He looked up and saw white, white corkboard ceiling, white squares of light set in the ceiling to provide illumination, and white crown molding on the edge where the wall met the ceiling.
"So, you're finally awake, eh, sonny?" A voice, cracked with age and tinged with amused glee, came from Jing's right hand side. He turned his head on the feather pillow to look.
A wrinkled hand pulled away at a curtain in the same institutional white, which separated their two beds. Jing was in a hospital.
The hand belonged to the owner of a wrinkled, weathered face, out of which two sharp, pale blue eyes looked at him appraisingly.
"Who're you?" asked Jing, and winced as a sharp pain roared through his head. Raising his hand to the offending area, he touched the soft cotton gauze of a bandage.
The old man harrumphed. "I'd take it slowly if I were you, sonny boy," he told Jing. "I heard the doctors say you had a concussion."
"It's Jing, and you still haven't told me your name."
"It's Whisky, Whisky Sour is my name," the old man told him.
"So, what are you in for, Whisky Sour?"
The old guy snorted and shoved the curtain all the way back, revealing a leg in a cast propped up on pillows. "Busted my darned leg tripping over a rake some fool kid left on the lawn."
"Sorry to hear it," Jing returned dryly, "but I meant why were you sent to the diamond mines?"
"Oh that. Curfew violation. I was out drinking with friends and lost track of time. I was more afraid of what my wife'd do to me if I didn't get home than I was of getting caught. That woman has a temper on her like you wouldn't believe!" A slow smile broke over the old man's lips. It was a smile that seemed more nostalgic than cynical.
"The Cerberus dogs swooped me up and I've been here ever since." He sobered. "I haven't seen my wife in ten years."
He stared past Jing out the window set in the wall by Jing's bed, but Jing could tell he wasn't really looking at the manicured lawn with the trimmed hedge outside, but looking into his memories. "I'd give anything to see her again," Whiskey said under his breath.
"Being late doesn't seem like much of a crime," Jing said, breaking the silence that was beginning to drag on.
Whisky snorted. "Crime, you say? There is no real crime in Zenithria, not since the Dark Lady took over anyhow. In the first year any criminal with brains fled. Everyone's too scared to commit any real crimes, and have been for years. Fifteen years she's ruled and I've not heard of any murderers, arsonists, or rapists coming through here since I got stuck here ten years ago. Thing is, any infraction of the Lady's rules is considered a crime. One guy is here for accidentally taking a box of paperclips home from work!"
"Paperclips?" Jing repeated, his eyes reflecting his disbelief.
"Yeah, paperclips." The old man huffed in disgust and wiggled his back against his pillows to get more comfortable. "We've got so many so-called criminals in here that there isn't enough work for them. When I first got here, I worked ten hour shifts, now we're down to six hour shifts. I had three doctors fighting over who got to treat my broken leg because they're so bored with nothing to do all day since hardly anyone gets hurt. The trolls and ogres do all the heavy lifting around here."
At that moment, the curtains at the foot of Jing's bed were thrust aside and two nurses came into his room area.
"Mr. Whisky Sour! Are you bothering our newest patient?" Asked the one on the left, a buxom blonde with green eyes and freckles.
"How are you feeling today, Mr. Jing?" asked the other, a shorter girl with chin length brown hair and dark brown eyes, carrying a tray of food. "I brought you some lunch, in case you were hungry. It's soup and bread. Would you like me to feed it to you?" she asked hopefully.
"That's OK," answered Jing, struggling against his pounding headache to sit up.
"Oh! Let me help you!" cried the blonde. She rushed forward to plump his pillows up behind him, creating a backrest against the headboard.
"Hey, now. What about me? Have my two favorite nurses forgotten me already?" teased Whisky.
The blonde turned with a smile. "Of course not! But you've already had your lunch, and besides, you told Maitai and Daiquiri that they were your two favorite nurses yesterday." she told him chidingly.
"Yes," said the brunette, placing Jing's tray on a bedside stand that swiveled over his lap, making sure that the tray was the proper distance from his torso. "And Mr. Jing here is new to the hospital, so he needs lots of attention." She smiled brightly. "It's tomato bisque with pumpkin seeds, and the bread is a nice healthy seven grain roll, perfect for roughage."
"Er, thanks," said Jing. He glanced at the brunette sitting expectantly on the edge of his bed.
A rapping noise came from the window. Jing, the girls, and Whisky Sour all turned around to look.
"Oh, it's that silly bird again. He keeps trying to sneak in!" exclaimed the blonde nurse and walked over to flap her hands at the window and make 'shoo'ing noises.
"If it's alright with you, could you let him in?" asked Jing.
"But he's a bird!" said the blonde.
"His name's Kir, and I promise, he won't bite." Jing told her, biting his tongue to keep from listing the things the bird could and would do instead. He'd have to tell Kir to behave himself.
Shrugging, the blonde lifted the window sash and let Kir in.
"Whew! Do you know how hard it's been keeping away from that troll-patrol? They're all over the place!" ranted the diminutive bird, flying over to land on Jing's blanket coated feet and leer at the brunette who stared at him with wide eyes.
"Hiya toots, what's your name?" he asked the girl.
"Kir, these are my nurses. Be nice," warned Jing.
"Me?" The bird raised a wing to his chest in mock dismay. "When have I ever not been nice? I'm always nice. Just ask anyone how nice I can be."
The brunette gave a nervous giggle and slipped off Jing's bed.
"Cute bird. Is he your pet?" drawled Whisky Sour.
Jing stopped Kir's retort by clenching his toes under the bird's grip. Kir huffed, but ignored the old man's remark.
"So ladies, how long have you worked here?" Jing asked casually, and picked up a bit of bread.
The blonde answered. "Three years. We were both nurses at Mercy General Hospital in town. We were late for our shift and they caught us Jaywalking, so here we are." The girls exchanged sad smiles.
"How is it working here?"
The brunette girl tucked a stray hair behind her ear and answered. "It's OK, I guess. We don't get paid, but the room and board is free, and it's not like they give us much to do when we are on duty. If you mess up here, you just have to work a double shift to make up for it, since they can't fire us or dock our pay."
"It's a lot less stressful than Mercy General," the blonde admitted. "But I really miss seeing my other friends and my family." Her eyes began to fill with tears, which started the other girl tearing up as well.
Unable to take the crying, Kir hopped to the foot of the bed to remonstrate. "Ladies, ladies! No more tears, Kir is here! I'll cheer you up! What do you like, jokes? Stories? I can sing for you!"
"That won't be necessary, Kir." Jing told him dryly, before turning back to the sniffling nurses. "If you don't like it here so much, then why not leave?"
The girls frowned. "No one leaves."
Whiskey Sour snorted. "Doesn't mean they haven't tried, they just always get caught. Give it up, sonny boy. You're here to stay."
o-o-o
White again. Jing saw white when he cracked open his eyes. This time when he woke up in the hospital there was no pain, only a sudden return to consciousness.
"Fancy seeing you here." Whiskey Sour's voice came from the bed next to his and Jing saw the old man grinning at him from over the edge of a tattered magazine. "Told you it was stupid to try to escape. And you missed breakfast, too."
Jing smiled at him. "Who said I was trying to escape?"
Whiskey Sour harrumphed. "You got Sirened, kid. Soon as the doctors check you out, you're up for a triple shift. Try escaping again and they'll change your job assignment to deep cleaning all the toilets for a month."
Shrugging, the younger boy glanced around. "Where's Kir?"
"The bird? He woke up before you. I think he's chatting up the nurses." The old man dropped his magazine across his legs, reached for a cord by his bed, and yanked on it. A bell rang outside the room and immediately two nurses entered the room.
They were both about five feet two inches tall and had dark hair and eyes, but there the resemblance ended. One was thin and delicate looking with soft black hair that fell around her face in wisps, extending in graduating lengths from her bangs. The other was buxom and well curved, with thick black hair tied back in a ponytail that bushed out in back of her. In her arms, against her chest, she cradled Kir like a baby. Kir lay contentedly on his back, wings crossed over his chest, and clawed feet pointed up in the air. Upon seeing Jing, he sat up and flew from the girl's arms to land at the foot of his bed.
"Hiya," he greeted his partner, preening a bit when Jing glanced over his shoulders at the nurses coming toward them.
"Kir!" scolded the buxom one. "You shouldn't be flying yet, you just woke up! You mustn't overextend yourself like that!"
The bird gestured dramatically with one wing in her direction. "Babe, just one minute in your arms was all it took. I'm as good as new!"
The nurse blushed as she and the other one made it to Jing's bedside.
"This is Daiquiri," said Kir, pointing to the blushing girl, "And the other beauty is Maitai."
Maitai dipped into a short curtsy and smiled gently.
"Yep, my two favorite nurses!" Whiskey said.
Daiquiri laughed, her blush beginning to fade as she stepped over to plump up his pillows. "You say that to all the nurses."
"Well, you're all my favorites," Whiskey told her. "You brighten an old man's day."
"I hope you'll still think so after this, it's time for your physical therapy. Excuse us." The nurse smiled apologetically and pulled on the curtain, closing Whiskey Sour's bed off from view.
"What did my poor old broken leg ever do to you?" groused Whiskey.
They began a familiar teasing banter that Jing tuned out as he concentrated on the other nurse.
"I'm a bit thirsty, could you get me a glass of water?" he asked her.
Maitai curtsied again. "Yes, sir. At once, sir." And with that, she left the room.
"Nice girl," commented Kir. "Daiquiri told me she used to be a parlormaid in a mansion, until she was framed for theft."
"Framed?" Jing let his eyes drift to the doorway where Maitai exited.
"Yeah, the owner of the mansion had a son who had his eye on Maitai. I guess his rich girlfriend didn't like it and accused her of stealing a brooch when the son was away. Guess that's one way to get rid of your rival. Daiquiri's here because she made a mistake filling out an accounting form and they thought she'd embezzled funds from the hospital where she worked. Poor kids."
Jing's eyes darkened. "So many tragedies…" He shook himself and looked at Kir. "So, did you figure out the range?"
Kir nodded and lowered his voice. "Best I can guess is the Siren's are posted about fifty yards apart, and they got both of us when we got fifty yards away from them." Kir ruffled his feathers in disgust "Fifty yards! How are you supposed to make time with a babe who can put you out like a light before you get within reaching distance of her?"
"I think that's the point," Jing told him dryly. "Someone hasn't left much to chance. The sirens' ranges overlap, so there's no way of slipping between them. We'll have to go to Plan B. Do you remember where they are?"
Kir grinned and tapped his head with his wing. "Sure I do! It's all up here."
"Good, because I think we're about to start our triple shift now," Jing said, nodding towards the doorway where Maitai scurried, glass of water in hand, ahead of two doctors and a grim faced ogre, sent to take him back to the mine.
o-o-o
Glenlivit came on shift just as the third and final leg of Jing's punishment shift began. He took his seat quietly next to Jing at the sorting table.
"You didn't come home from the hospital, and then I heard you tried to escape. What happened?"
Jing glanced over at the troll by the door and lowered his voice. "What happened was, I've come up with a plan to break out of here. Are you in?"
Glenlivit snorted, and stared up from the rocks on the table in front of him to glare at Jing. "Are you crazy?" he whispered back. "You just got stuck with a triple shift and you want to try it again?"
"A triple shift isn't the end of the world," Jing told him dryly. "Besides, I didn't do it for you. I did it for Campari. She's waiting for you in Nadiria."
Glenlivit's hands went still on the ore in front of him. His fingers closed around a piece of rock and gripped it. "That's not fair. I know I'll never see my sister again. I've made my peace with that." He blinked angrily and threw the rock back into the bin on the center of the table, then drew his hand back to wipe at his eyes. He turned away from Jing to hide his face.
The bandit stared at Glenlivit's back for a second, then reached back into the bin to retrieve the rock the boy threw there. He tapped his co-worker on the shoulder and when Glenlivit turned back around he showed him the rock. Nestled in the center gleamed a small black diamond.
"What's not fair is not trying to get back to her. I promised Campari I'd get you out, and I will. Trust me."
Jing saw hope warring with despair in Glenlivit's eyes, then the boy reached out, took the rock from Jing and threw it over his shoulder into the 'keeper' basket. "I'll do it," he said, and with a last look, got back to work.