As you know I didn't like the way I did the chapter the first time. I re-
did it, and I am much happier with what I got. Please read this one and
tell me what you think.
For those who don't live in the US, you declare bankruptcy by filing for chapter 11. I couldn't pass it up!
Disclaimer: Valdemar, Velgarth, and everything in them belong to Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. I own only my original characters and story, nothing else. This story is purely for entertainment purposes only, no money has been or will be made from it.
(Filing for) Ch. 11 Rev. 1.1
Once in awhile there is a really bad day when a huge rock falls out of the sky and smacks you right between the eyes. Usually this may only happen once or twice in a person's lifetime. Me, on the other hand, I get to have it happen to me on a semi-regular basis. If it isn't being forced to kill my own brother, it's my partner and the love of my life almost killing herself taking a cut meant for me. I have mentioned to you how much I hate my life, haven't I?
All I could feel was Roxy lying limply in my arms. All I could see was the blood, black in the moonlight, seeping through the hastily made bandage. All I could hear was the constant chiming of the Companions' hooves and my own harsh breathing. My entire world was Roxy, was her wound and the slowly seeping blood that soaked her bandage.
I have no longer have any idea how long it took to get to the Palace. I retain the impression of twisting streets, pools of light in the dark streets, and the Herald's hand gripping my shoulder. At some point we must have passed through the Palace gates and into the grounds. Around about then I realized that we had slowed down to a canter.
As the Companions dropped to a stately walk large building appeared in front of us. Herald Target helped me dismount with Roxy then turned to the other Herald and started talking to him in a low voice as we entered the building.
Herald Target rang a bell and within moments a couple of Healer Trainees dressed in a light green uniform appeared. Target told them that I needed a Healer and the boy ushered me to a room just off the main hallway as the girl dashed off down the hall. I glanced back once and saw that Herald Target was standing in the hall talking to the other Herald.
The room typical Healer's room of the legal type I've seen once or twice. There was a table in the center to examine a patient, there were a set of shelves containing herbs and things, and a basin and jug of water in the corner for scrubbing on a counter. I set Roxy down on the table while the Trainee walked around lighting some bright lamps. He visibly started when he saw her, I guess the boy must have just assumed that she was a bundle of cloth. I glared at him when he glanced curiously at me but was saved from explaining when the girl Trainee showed up with an adult Healer in tow.
The Healer was young, just a few years older then I am, but already she had that "I'm an expert in my field" look that I hate. The Healer was wearing the usual set of Greens that all fully trained Healers wear, which were a much darker version of the Trainees uniforms. She introduced herself as Healer Aviana and then gave me a look of confusion that graded into irritation. "Well, you are clearly all right, unless there is an injury I can't see. I don't like being called out for frivolous reasons in the middle of the night."
Something snapped. The next thing I knew I had the Healer up against the wall with a knife pointed at her left eye. "Look you little bitch, my friend is not a 'frivolous reason'. I can see why they have you on night watch, to cover for the real Healers." The Healer seemed mesmerized at the sight of the blade hovering an inch from her eyeball.
"Wha - what friend?" she stammered.
Oops.
"Uh..." I felt a hand on my wrist, holding back my knife hand. I tried to twist away, and found I couldn't. I'm strong, but nowhere near as strong as whoever had my wrist.
"Her creature a Healer needs." The Target said from somewhere over my head. I let the Healer go and stepped back, almost bumping into to the Herald. He glared at me like a hawk, but didn't say anything. He didn't need to. The Herald let go of my hand now that I no longer threatening to kill someone and allowed me to pull away, but kept himself positioned between me and the others.
The Healer, now that she had a patient to care for, was completely ignoring us. She took the bandages off Roxy and examined the wound. The lips of the cut had pulled away and for the first time I saw the extent of Roxy's injury. The cut ran from the her keel bone, cutting deep across her large flight muscles, and up diagonally across her flanks to her back. Gleaming white against the dark red black blood were the delicate lines of her ribs. Some were broken, smashed by the force of the knife cut. I wonder just how much blood a reptile has and how much they can afford to lose.
The Healer covered Roxy's injured side with her hand and did something, what I don't know but it was probably some of that magic only Healers can do. She seemed deep in concentration and sweat appeared on her brow. Surprisingly Herald Target stepped up to her, grabbed her shoulder, and seemed be trying to help her Heal Roxy by the shear force of will. Who knows what sorts of weird abilities Heralds have, maybe he was.
I felt dizzy, weak, as if something was bleeding my strength away. I closed my eyes and tried to block the flow of energy from me to wherever it was going.
"Don't fight it."
I jerked upright and stared at the Healer. She appeared to be completely oblivious to the world, especially to me. "What?"
"I said don't fight it," yes, she really had spoken. "Healing takes energy not just from the Healer, but also the patient, you are bonded to her and she needs you now more then ever. So don't fight the pull."
Now that I knew what the pull was I realized that it was coming from the little part of my soul that had ceased being empty the moment I found her abandoned as a hatching out in the middle of the Pelagir Hills. I sat down on the floor and focused my attention on allowing as much energy to flow through my link to Roxy as she needed.
At long last the Healer finished doing whatever it was she was doing and pulled her hand away from Roxy's wound. The flow of energy stopped, leaving me drained and more exhausted then I already was. I shook my head to clear it then pulled myself to my feet, determined not to show how fatigued I was.
As I walked over to the table, the Herald dropped his hand and stepped back, keeping a careful eye on me, I guess he still didn't trust me. Roxy's wound had completely closed and was now a dark red line marring her scales. Amazing, in the past when I had been injured the Healer had only stitched me up, I'd never seen a really Healing before.
I swallowed nervously as Healer Aviana re-bandaged the wound, "Careful, her bite is highly venomous. She's unconscious but if she woke up and bit you, you could die."
The Healer turned and gave me a glare that was less menacing but more intimidating then the Herald. It was full of fear-turned-to-anger and I knew that she wasn't going to forget tonight's little incident. I looked at the kids who were huddling in a corner as far as they could get away from me, neither of them would meet my eyes. Looks like I scared them. The Herald continued to glare at me and I wondered if I should have just kept my nose in my own business and let him die. Ah well, nothing I can do about it now. I'm just making lots of new friends today aren't I?
"Thank you," she said icily, "is there anything else I should know?"
I bit my lip, "Thank you for saving Roxy's life. And I, ah Hellfires. I hate saying 'I'm sorry', but I guess that's what I'm trying to say." I rubbed the back of my neck as I sought out words to explain. I glanced at the kids again, and saw that the girl had a tear streaked face. Now I felt really bad. "Oh, shit." I said, giving up.
The Healer's eyes narrowed, "We'll talk about this later."
I tried to look harmless. It would have worked too, if I hadn't been threatening to kill her minuets before. Silly me. Heh.
She stared at me a minute longer and then harrumphed. "Well," the Healer said, changing the subject, "Your friend, Roxy I think is what you said her name was, is out of danger, but it will be awhile before she's fully recovered."
"Oh?"
She nodded. "The energy for a Healing comes from two places, the Healer and the patient. I can only Heal so much, if I use too much of my own Gift I will go into shock, and Healing a small animal requires as much energy from me as a human being. Alberich," she nodded to the Herald who was watching us with the wariness of a well trained guard dog, "was able to feed me some extra energy."
I pretended that I wasn't going to fall down with exhaustion. "And what about her?"
"You were able to feed her a great deal of energy through your link, but there is only so much you can do. If I Healed her too much I could have sent her into shock, or you." Somehow I got the impression that she wouldn't have minded sending me into shock. "I don't want to do more without knowing more about her species."
"And no one knows what her species is." I said bitterly.
Aviana raised her eyebrows, "Not even you?"
"Not even me," I barked out a humorless laugh, "and not even her."
Everyone in the room gave me an odd look, the Healer, the Herald, and the Trainees. I turned my back to them, trying to fight back tears. It was my fault Roxy was injured, just as it was my fault my brother was dead. If I hadn't called to her I would have taken the cut, not her. I'm bigger, I can sustain more damage.
And if angst made the world go 'round, I would be spinning it like a high speed lathe.
Heh.
There is no point in dwelling on the past. I can't change it and doing so would only make me miserable. I repeated that to myself several times.
I wiped my eyes and turned around when I was sure that I wasn't going to start crying again. "What I do know about her is that Roxy is a reptile and she needs warmth, and when she wakes up she'll need to eat. This room is too cool for her, is there anywhere else we could put her?"
After all that excitement the Trainees didn't want to help, and I can't say I blame them. Healer Aviana probably didn't want to help, but she also wasn't going to let her patient get substandard care either. At first she wanted to take Roxy down to where they keep the other animal patients, but when I learned that meant putting Roxy in a cage I nearly lost it again. If it wasn't for Herald Alberich, whom I suspect was playing bodyguard for the Healer, I would have really nailed her. As it was I barely restrained myself and I don't think either of them realized just how close I came to causing more mayhem. Well, maybe Alberich did. He looked like the kind who would.
If it seems that I'm being awfully glib about this little learning experience of the ways of Life, it's because this whole thing happened several years ago and as I am currently writing this Roxy is across the room sharing a pheasant with her new friend and making various witty comments that I am not going to repeat as virgin eyes might be reading this; needless to say she doesn't remember any of this happening until, well, I'll leave that for a little later.
Ah, fun with run-on sentences. But back to my personal history.
Finally after much discussion we got set up in a private room designed for sick babies and their mothers. There was a baby cradle that could be heated and didn't rock for Roxy, and a bed for me. We tucked her in and the Healer checked her bandages once more, everything looked fine.
Healer Aviana then checked us over, apparently me and the Herald had picked up some minor cuts that neither of us noticed. I'm not sure what his excuse was, stoicism perhaps, but I had been too concerned with the state of my partner to pay attention to my own body.
That bed looked so tempting. Between my shorted sleep last night, my late night tonight, and Roxy's Healing, I was fair exhausted. Just as I was contemplating kicking everyone else out and curling up on the bed I felt a hand grip my shoulder. It was the Herald.
"We need to talk, you and I."
He pulled me out into the hall and all but forced marched me to an empty waiting room. I sat down in one of the chairs, facing him with the door to my left. Strange, he seemed to have deliberately left me an escape rout. He pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting his crossed arms on the back of the chair. We eyed eachother like two street curs trying to decide who gets the bone. He didn't even look tired, and I wondered what it would take to make him show exhaustion. Probably a battlefield, if that. Heh. I looked around, spotted a pitcher of water and poured myself a glass.
"Why," he asked slowly and deliberately as I sat back down again, "did you help me?"
"Huh," I didn't think he'd Truth Spelled me yet, but the only way to test it would be to lie, and I got the impression that lying would be a very bad move with him. I took a sip of water and tried to pull my thoughts into semi-coherence. "I've got a question for you. How much can I tell you without getting into trouble?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Crimes you have committed, trouble you would get into for?"
I had to take a moment to untangle that. I guess he was more tired then he let on. Or maybe I was more tired then I wanted to admit to myself. "Yeah, and before I tell you anything I need to know if I'm going to get arrested for them."
He seemed to think for a moment, or perhaps he was speaking to his Companion. I just hoped the both of them knew how to keep their mouths shut. " 'Assassin' you were by the gang leader called. The crimes you have committed include murder?"
I looked at him, pointedly keeping my own mouth shut.
The Herald leaned forward and rested his chin on his arms, "Not in uniform am I, things that are said by you unofficial are. No more I can grant you."
I guess that's as good as I was going to get. "About a week and a half ago I was hired to take out a tough who went by the names Knives, Jask, and Jendar."
"Me, in other words."
"Yeah, but I didn't know you were a Herald. I wouldn't have taken the job if I had. I don't do kids, I don't do government work, and I don't do windows."
He ignored my lousy attempt at humor, "Go on."
"The guy who hired me was the guy you identified as the gang leader. He probably wasn't their real leader by the way, more likely he was a client. I don't know the guy's name, but I think he's one of the crimelords for the Exile's Gate neighborhood."
"Talk about this later, we will."
"Um," I didn't like the sound of that. Oh well, I got myself into this... "Well, The Client paid me the standard fee, so I was bound to the job. It took me a few days, I researched you but kept coming up blank, probably because I didn't think to look up the records on the Heralds. Not that I would have been allowed to see them. While I was researching you I got approached by two guys, who as it turned out, also wanted you dead. They offered about six times the standard fee."
The Herald sat up at that, interested. "Describe them."
I shrugged, "The didn't look like much, a couple of thuggish looking sell- swords. They looked like someone's muscle, but they didn't act like it. They acted like the brains of their operation."
"An accent they have?"
"Uh," I tried to remember, "I don't think so, at least no more then your average Valdemaran."
"Accept you, this job?"
I sniffed, "Being greedy is a quick way to a slow death. No, I turned them down."
"Even though the two jobs were for the same victim?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
I shrugged, "Good question. And the answer is 'I don't know.' I just had a bad feeling about it."
I sighed and continued, "In fact I've been having bad feelings about doing you almost from the first moment, but it wasn't until two nights ago did I find out you were a Herald." I snorted, "If your Horse hadn't shown up when he did you would have been dead."
He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
I wished Roxy was awake. I swallowed, "I tried to back out of the deal, and found I couldn't. The Client sent an assassin after me last night."
"So revenge for this insult you decided to take. My life to save you did. I wonder why."
I snorted. "They weren't going to let me out of the city alive. And those two guys looked like they had connections to something else. And I don't let people screw around with me. I'm not a stupid as I look."
He grunted. "Disarm."
"Huh?"
"Disarm," he repeated. "Assassin you are, for so you have told me. Armed inside the palace grounds you will not be. Stay in your quarters with a guard at the door unless I or another appointed by me is with you. We will speak more tomorrow."
He escorted me back to the room and watched as I pulled out every one of my knives and other weapons. I think I impressed him a little, it was quite a pile. Sometime during this the other Herald reappeared with a young man dressed in a gray uniform that had the same cut as the Herald's white one. The young man looked like he was in his late teens and looked like he knew what he was doing. I found out later that he was a final year Herald Trainee, and that such were usually assigned as servants/guards when strict confidentiality was needed. At the time I didn't really care. The two grown up Heralds left with the young man stationed at the door, taking my pile of interesting weapons with them, although they were nice enough to leave my eating knife behind. I guess Herald Target didn't want to be totally rude to me or something, or it might have been because the eating knife was small and rather dull. It was the only one I showed much in public and I didn't want random people to know that I knew what to do with a knife. Or something.
Feeling more naked then I had in years I fell into bed, sure that it was going to take me forever to fall asleep. It was with great surpass then that I was waken up then next morning by Healer Aviana coming in to check on Roxy.
****
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm in the process of transferring everything to my new laptop (exude me "Notebook" even though it looks like a laptop to me) and I found out that yes, there are word processors that don't have spell checks! I thought that was a myth. Its a good thing I'm usually a good speller. Gah. New technology, gotta love it 'cause it's useless as a fur rug.
Darkfyre: Yeah, I admit that the target could have been more subtle, maybe by using an OC trained by Alberich, or using Skiff or something. But I like Alberich. I said I didn't know what she was because I wasn't sure which backstory to use. I've decided finally and am working on it, she's native to Velgarth, and Velgarth has no 'true' dragons. So there :P. I am also very familiar with firelizards, and trust me, Roxy's nothing like them. She's much more closely related to Steven Brust's jheregs, which are *not* dragons either. She *isn't* dragonkin, she's a reptile (NOT a lizard, her 'type' of reptile doesn't exist in our world), and cold blooded in much the same way sea turtles are (ie, is able to keep her body temp above ambient, but not control it to the extent that a bird or mammal can). She's about the size of a female adult iguana, ie about 4 feet long, mostly tail! However, she is much more flexible then an iguana. Her metabolism is also unusually high for a reptile, she eats a whole pigeon every three days (a similar sized hawk eats one a day). During the winter her species would naturally hibernate in burrows, because she's living inside and has access to higher temps during the winter Roxy never really hibernates, although she does get drowsy and doesn't eat much. I'm working on her species' backstory, I'm not going to say much other then to say that they aren't natural!
For those who don't live in the US, you declare bankruptcy by filing for chapter 11. I couldn't pass it up!
Disclaimer: Valdemar, Velgarth, and everything in them belong to Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. I own only my original characters and story, nothing else. This story is purely for entertainment purposes only, no money has been or will be made from it.
(Filing for) Ch. 11 Rev. 1.1
Once in awhile there is a really bad day when a huge rock falls out of the sky and smacks you right between the eyes. Usually this may only happen once or twice in a person's lifetime. Me, on the other hand, I get to have it happen to me on a semi-regular basis. If it isn't being forced to kill my own brother, it's my partner and the love of my life almost killing herself taking a cut meant for me. I have mentioned to you how much I hate my life, haven't I?
All I could feel was Roxy lying limply in my arms. All I could see was the blood, black in the moonlight, seeping through the hastily made bandage. All I could hear was the constant chiming of the Companions' hooves and my own harsh breathing. My entire world was Roxy, was her wound and the slowly seeping blood that soaked her bandage.
I have no longer have any idea how long it took to get to the Palace. I retain the impression of twisting streets, pools of light in the dark streets, and the Herald's hand gripping my shoulder. At some point we must have passed through the Palace gates and into the grounds. Around about then I realized that we had slowed down to a canter.
As the Companions dropped to a stately walk large building appeared in front of us. Herald Target helped me dismount with Roxy then turned to the other Herald and started talking to him in a low voice as we entered the building.
Herald Target rang a bell and within moments a couple of Healer Trainees dressed in a light green uniform appeared. Target told them that I needed a Healer and the boy ushered me to a room just off the main hallway as the girl dashed off down the hall. I glanced back once and saw that Herald Target was standing in the hall talking to the other Herald.
The room typical Healer's room of the legal type I've seen once or twice. There was a table in the center to examine a patient, there were a set of shelves containing herbs and things, and a basin and jug of water in the corner for scrubbing on a counter. I set Roxy down on the table while the Trainee walked around lighting some bright lamps. He visibly started when he saw her, I guess the boy must have just assumed that she was a bundle of cloth. I glared at him when he glanced curiously at me but was saved from explaining when the girl Trainee showed up with an adult Healer in tow.
The Healer was young, just a few years older then I am, but already she had that "I'm an expert in my field" look that I hate. The Healer was wearing the usual set of Greens that all fully trained Healers wear, which were a much darker version of the Trainees uniforms. She introduced herself as Healer Aviana and then gave me a look of confusion that graded into irritation. "Well, you are clearly all right, unless there is an injury I can't see. I don't like being called out for frivolous reasons in the middle of the night."
Something snapped. The next thing I knew I had the Healer up against the wall with a knife pointed at her left eye. "Look you little bitch, my friend is not a 'frivolous reason'. I can see why they have you on night watch, to cover for the real Healers." The Healer seemed mesmerized at the sight of the blade hovering an inch from her eyeball.
"Wha - what friend?" she stammered.
Oops.
"Uh..." I felt a hand on my wrist, holding back my knife hand. I tried to twist away, and found I couldn't. I'm strong, but nowhere near as strong as whoever had my wrist.
"Her creature a Healer needs." The Target said from somewhere over my head. I let the Healer go and stepped back, almost bumping into to the Herald. He glared at me like a hawk, but didn't say anything. He didn't need to. The Herald let go of my hand now that I no longer threatening to kill someone and allowed me to pull away, but kept himself positioned between me and the others.
The Healer, now that she had a patient to care for, was completely ignoring us. She took the bandages off Roxy and examined the wound. The lips of the cut had pulled away and for the first time I saw the extent of Roxy's injury. The cut ran from the her keel bone, cutting deep across her large flight muscles, and up diagonally across her flanks to her back. Gleaming white against the dark red black blood were the delicate lines of her ribs. Some were broken, smashed by the force of the knife cut. I wonder just how much blood a reptile has and how much they can afford to lose.
The Healer covered Roxy's injured side with her hand and did something, what I don't know but it was probably some of that magic only Healers can do. She seemed deep in concentration and sweat appeared on her brow. Surprisingly Herald Target stepped up to her, grabbed her shoulder, and seemed be trying to help her Heal Roxy by the shear force of will. Who knows what sorts of weird abilities Heralds have, maybe he was.
I felt dizzy, weak, as if something was bleeding my strength away. I closed my eyes and tried to block the flow of energy from me to wherever it was going.
"Don't fight it."
I jerked upright and stared at the Healer. She appeared to be completely oblivious to the world, especially to me. "What?"
"I said don't fight it," yes, she really had spoken. "Healing takes energy not just from the Healer, but also the patient, you are bonded to her and she needs you now more then ever. So don't fight the pull."
Now that I knew what the pull was I realized that it was coming from the little part of my soul that had ceased being empty the moment I found her abandoned as a hatching out in the middle of the Pelagir Hills. I sat down on the floor and focused my attention on allowing as much energy to flow through my link to Roxy as she needed.
At long last the Healer finished doing whatever it was she was doing and pulled her hand away from Roxy's wound. The flow of energy stopped, leaving me drained and more exhausted then I already was. I shook my head to clear it then pulled myself to my feet, determined not to show how fatigued I was.
As I walked over to the table, the Herald dropped his hand and stepped back, keeping a careful eye on me, I guess he still didn't trust me. Roxy's wound had completely closed and was now a dark red line marring her scales. Amazing, in the past when I had been injured the Healer had only stitched me up, I'd never seen a really Healing before.
I swallowed nervously as Healer Aviana re-bandaged the wound, "Careful, her bite is highly venomous. She's unconscious but if she woke up and bit you, you could die."
The Healer turned and gave me a glare that was less menacing but more intimidating then the Herald. It was full of fear-turned-to-anger and I knew that she wasn't going to forget tonight's little incident. I looked at the kids who were huddling in a corner as far as they could get away from me, neither of them would meet my eyes. Looks like I scared them. The Herald continued to glare at me and I wondered if I should have just kept my nose in my own business and let him die. Ah well, nothing I can do about it now. I'm just making lots of new friends today aren't I?
"Thank you," she said icily, "is there anything else I should know?"
I bit my lip, "Thank you for saving Roxy's life. And I, ah Hellfires. I hate saying 'I'm sorry', but I guess that's what I'm trying to say." I rubbed the back of my neck as I sought out words to explain. I glanced at the kids again, and saw that the girl had a tear streaked face. Now I felt really bad. "Oh, shit." I said, giving up.
The Healer's eyes narrowed, "We'll talk about this later."
I tried to look harmless. It would have worked too, if I hadn't been threatening to kill her minuets before. Silly me. Heh.
She stared at me a minute longer and then harrumphed. "Well," the Healer said, changing the subject, "Your friend, Roxy I think is what you said her name was, is out of danger, but it will be awhile before she's fully recovered."
"Oh?"
She nodded. "The energy for a Healing comes from two places, the Healer and the patient. I can only Heal so much, if I use too much of my own Gift I will go into shock, and Healing a small animal requires as much energy from me as a human being. Alberich," she nodded to the Herald who was watching us with the wariness of a well trained guard dog, "was able to feed me some extra energy."
I pretended that I wasn't going to fall down with exhaustion. "And what about her?"
"You were able to feed her a great deal of energy through your link, but there is only so much you can do. If I Healed her too much I could have sent her into shock, or you." Somehow I got the impression that she wouldn't have minded sending me into shock. "I don't want to do more without knowing more about her species."
"And no one knows what her species is." I said bitterly.
Aviana raised her eyebrows, "Not even you?"
"Not even me," I barked out a humorless laugh, "and not even her."
Everyone in the room gave me an odd look, the Healer, the Herald, and the Trainees. I turned my back to them, trying to fight back tears. It was my fault Roxy was injured, just as it was my fault my brother was dead. If I hadn't called to her I would have taken the cut, not her. I'm bigger, I can sustain more damage.
And if angst made the world go 'round, I would be spinning it like a high speed lathe.
Heh.
There is no point in dwelling on the past. I can't change it and doing so would only make me miserable. I repeated that to myself several times.
I wiped my eyes and turned around when I was sure that I wasn't going to start crying again. "What I do know about her is that Roxy is a reptile and she needs warmth, and when she wakes up she'll need to eat. This room is too cool for her, is there anywhere else we could put her?"
After all that excitement the Trainees didn't want to help, and I can't say I blame them. Healer Aviana probably didn't want to help, but she also wasn't going to let her patient get substandard care either. At first she wanted to take Roxy down to where they keep the other animal patients, but when I learned that meant putting Roxy in a cage I nearly lost it again. If it wasn't for Herald Alberich, whom I suspect was playing bodyguard for the Healer, I would have really nailed her. As it was I barely restrained myself and I don't think either of them realized just how close I came to causing more mayhem. Well, maybe Alberich did. He looked like the kind who would.
If it seems that I'm being awfully glib about this little learning experience of the ways of Life, it's because this whole thing happened several years ago and as I am currently writing this Roxy is across the room sharing a pheasant with her new friend and making various witty comments that I am not going to repeat as virgin eyes might be reading this; needless to say she doesn't remember any of this happening until, well, I'll leave that for a little later.
Ah, fun with run-on sentences. But back to my personal history.
Finally after much discussion we got set up in a private room designed for sick babies and their mothers. There was a baby cradle that could be heated and didn't rock for Roxy, and a bed for me. We tucked her in and the Healer checked her bandages once more, everything looked fine.
Healer Aviana then checked us over, apparently me and the Herald had picked up some minor cuts that neither of us noticed. I'm not sure what his excuse was, stoicism perhaps, but I had been too concerned with the state of my partner to pay attention to my own body.
That bed looked so tempting. Between my shorted sleep last night, my late night tonight, and Roxy's Healing, I was fair exhausted. Just as I was contemplating kicking everyone else out and curling up on the bed I felt a hand grip my shoulder. It was the Herald.
"We need to talk, you and I."
He pulled me out into the hall and all but forced marched me to an empty waiting room. I sat down in one of the chairs, facing him with the door to my left. Strange, he seemed to have deliberately left me an escape rout. He pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting his crossed arms on the back of the chair. We eyed eachother like two street curs trying to decide who gets the bone. He didn't even look tired, and I wondered what it would take to make him show exhaustion. Probably a battlefield, if that. Heh. I looked around, spotted a pitcher of water and poured myself a glass.
"Why," he asked slowly and deliberately as I sat back down again, "did you help me?"
"Huh," I didn't think he'd Truth Spelled me yet, but the only way to test it would be to lie, and I got the impression that lying would be a very bad move with him. I took a sip of water and tried to pull my thoughts into semi-coherence. "I've got a question for you. How much can I tell you without getting into trouble?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Crimes you have committed, trouble you would get into for?"
I had to take a moment to untangle that. I guess he was more tired then he let on. Or maybe I was more tired then I wanted to admit to myself. "Yeah, and before I tell you anything I need to know if I'm going to get arrested for them."
He seemed to think for a moment, or perhaps he was speaking to his Companion. I just hoped the both of them knew how to keep their mouths shut. " 'Assassin' you were by the gang leader called. The crimes you have committed include murder?"
I looked at him, pointedly keeping my own mouth shut.
The Herald leaned forward and rested his chin on his arms, "Not in uniform am I, things that are said by you unofficial are. No more I can grant you."
I guess that's as good as I was going to get. "About a week and a half ago I was hired to take out a tough who went by the names Knives, Jask, and Jendar."
"Me, in other words."
"Yeah, but I didn't know you were a Herald. I wouldn't have taken the job if I had. I don't do kids, I don't do government work, and I don't do windows."
He ignored my lousy attempt at humor, "Go on."
"The guy who hired me was the guy you identified as the gang leader. He probably wasn't their real leader by the way, more likely he was a client. I don't know the guy's name, but I think he's one of the crimelords for the Exile's Gate neighborhood."
"Talk about this later, we will."
"Um," I didn't like the sound of that. Oh well, I got myself into this... "Well, The Client paid me the standard fee, so I was bound to the job. It took me a few days, I researched you but kept coming up blank, probably because I didn't think to look up the records on the Heralds. Not that I would have been allowed to see them. While I was researching you I got approached by two guys, who as it turned out, also wanted you dead. They offered about six times the standard fee."
The Herald sat up at that, interested. "Describe them."
I shrugged, "The didn't look like much, a couple of thuggish looking sell- swords. They looked like someone's muscle, but they didn't act like it. They acted like the brains of their operation."
"An accent they have?"
"Uh," I tried to remember, "I don't think so, at least no more then your average Valdemaran."
"Accept you, this job?"
I sniffed, "Being greedy is a quick way to a slow death. No, I turned them down."
"Even though the two jobs were for the same victim?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
I shrugged, "Good question. And the answer is 'I don't know.' I just had a bad feeling about it."
I sighed and continued, "In fact I've been having bad feelings about doing you almost from the first moment, but it wasn't until two nights ago did I find out you were a Herald." I snorted, "If your Horse hadn't shown up when he did you would have been dead."
He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
I wished Roxy was awake. I swallowed, "I tried to back out of the deal, and found I couldn't. The Client sent an assassin after me last night."
"So revenge for this insult you decided to take. My life to save you did. I wonder why."
I snorted. "They weren't going to let me out of the city alive. And those two guys looked like they had connections to something else. And I don't let people screw around with me. I'm not a stupid as I look."
He grunted. "Disarm."
"Huh?"
"Disarm," he repeated. "Assassin you are, for so you have told me. Armed inside the palace grounds you will not be. Stay in your quarters with a guard at the door unless I or another appointed by me is with you. We will speak more tomorrow."
He escorted me back to the room and watched as I pulled out every one of my knives and other weapons. I think I impressed him a little, it was quite a pile. Sometime during this the other Herald reappeared with a young man dressed in a gray uniform that had the same cut as the Herald's white one. The young man looked like he was in his late teens and looked like he knew what he was doing. I found out later that he was a final year Herald Trainee, and that such were usually assigned as servants/guards when strict confidentiality was needed. At the time I didn't really care. The two grown up Heralds left with the young man stationed at the door, taking my pile of interesting weapons with them, although they were nice enough to leave my eating knife behind. I guess Herald Target didn't want to be totally rude to me or something, or it might have been because the eating knife was small and rather dull. It was the only one I showed much in public and I didn't want random people to know that I knew what to do with a knife. Or something.
Feeling more naked then I had in years I fell into bed, sure that it was going to take me forever to fall asleep. It was with great surpass then that I was waken up then next morning by Healer Aviana coming in to check on Roxy.
****
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm in the process of transferring everything to my new laptop (exude me "Notebook" even though it looks like a laptop to me) and I found out that yes, there are word processors that don't have spell checks! I thought that was a myth. Its a good thing I'm usually a good speller. Gah. New technology, gotta love it 'cause it's useless as a fur rug.
Darkfyre: Yeah, I admit that the target could have been more subtle, maybe by using an OC trained by Alberich, or using Skiff or something. But I like Alberich. I said I didn't know what she was because I wasn't sure which backstory to use. I've decided finally and am working on it, she's native to Velgarth, and Velgarth has no 'true' dragons. So there :P. I am also very familiar with firelizards, and trust me, Roxy's nothing like them. She's much more closely related to Steven Brust's jheregs, which are *not* dragons either. She *isn't* dragonkin, she's a reptile (NOT a lizard, her 'type' of reptile doesn't exist in our world), and cold blooded in much the same way sea turtles are (ie, is able to keep her body temp above ambient, but not control it to the extent that a bird or mammal can). She's about the size of a female adult iguana, ie about 4 feet long, mostly tail! However, she is much more flexible then an iguana. Her metabolism is also unusually high for a reptile, she eats a whole pigeon every three days (a similar sized hawk eats one a day). During the winter her species would naturally hibernate in burrows, because she's living inside and has access to higher temps during the winter Roxy never really hibernates, although she does get drowsy and doesn't eat much. I'm working on her species' backstory, I'm not going to say much other then to say that they aren't natural!