Chapter 3: That sleep of death
"…In
that sleep of death, what dreams may come…"
Gaddes ran down the halls of
Schezar manor at top speed. He could feel his pulse throbbing in his head, like
it sometimes did when he was piloting the ship through rough skies.
Come
on… gotta move…
Gaddes skidded to a halt outside the door to the
boss's chambers and pounded his fist mercilessly against the wood until
the commander opened the door, a worried expression on his face.
"Gaddes? What is it?"
"Boss, we got trouble…"
*****
Allen and
Gaddes sprinted down the hill that leads from Schezar manor, skidding to a halt
about a hundred meters from the gate. Kio, another member of Allen's
crew, was standing over what appeared to be a person, laying dead or almost
dead in the middle of the road.
"Kio, what on earth is going on
here?"
"Don't ask me boss… I
just found him. Looks to me like someone beat him up pretty bad… Looking
for money, I'd wager."
Allen reached out and rolled the
body over so that he could see the face. "God damn it," He
muttered. "Of all people…"
"Shit!"
exclaimed Gaddes "Is that who I think it is?"
Allen
rolled his eyes and nodded. "Fassa," he said irritably. "Just
our luck." His eyes traveled swiftly over Dryden's battered body.
"Well Kio, you certainly weren't exaggerating…the damage
appears to be quite extensive."
Kio furrowed his brow and stood up. "Are you going to help
him?"
Allen appeared to be seriously considering this. "I wouldn't
know what to do… I'm a knight, not a doctor." he said
finally. "No, we need someone who is trained to heal, not to inflict
wounds." He looked up and met Gaddes' eye. The sergeant nodded.
"Millerna."
*****
The princess stood bent over the unconscious Dryden, her face drawn with
worry and concentration. She examined his wounds carefully, a frown flickering
on and off her face as she worked.
Finally, after several minutes of silence, she stood up,
turned around and looked at Allen.
"Well?"
She
sighed. "It's not looking too good, Allen. I don't know what
I… what ANYONE can do."
His eyes widened. "Is he going to…"
"Die? No, that's not likely, but there are certain…
complications."
"Like
what?"
Millerna cast her eyes towards the floor. "Allen… perhaps it
would be better… Don't take this the wrong way, but…"
"But what?"
"Well, perhaps it would be
better if you'd just… let me work." Millerna bit her lip.
Allen was taken aback for a moment.
"Um,"
He looked puzzled. "All right then."
Millerna smiled, a bit relieved. "It's not that I
don't appreciate your help. It's just that you aren't really…
helping."
Allen cleared
his throat uncomfortably. "Oh. Well then I guess Ill
just… go." He turned and practically ran from the room.
Millerna shook her head and turned back to Dryden.
*****
"…I want to walk along the edge of the
universe…"
Millerna drew her knees up to her chest. "That's kind of
strange," she said distantly.
"I don't think so." He scratched the underside of his
chin, deep in thought.
"But
isn't it dangerous? What if you fall?" He laughed at her.
"I've fallen before, and I've always managed to pick
myself up again." He paused. "And anyway, it's not the fall
that I'm afraid of… It's the landing." Another laugh.
"Yes, but…" She hugged
her knees tighter. "The impact could kill you."
"A chance I'm willing to take."
"You're so strange."
"And you're not strange enough." His eyes locked with
hers. "That's why it didn't work, you know."
"I know." She sighed and watched as her breath came out in a
soft white cloud. "How did it get so cold in here?"
"Well it only makes sense," he replied, shrugging,
"You WERE letting your heart out, after all."
"What?" He shrugged. Millerna bit her lip. "Do you
think I could borrow your jacket?"
He shook his head and smiled. "No. You need to find another
jacket, princess…"
"…Princess?" Millerna started, blinking at how bright
the lights were. Had she fallen asleep? Of course… she'd been
dreaming…
"Oh," she cried, suddenly realizing how sloppy she must seem
"I'm sorry… I must look a fright!" She leapt to her
feet and smoothed down her skirts.
"No,
it's all right Princess… You must be tired." Sergeant Gaddes
was smiling down at her down at her. She breathed a sigh of relief at seeing a
friendly face. "Besides, Fassa's not doing anything right now
anyways, so what good would it do you to stay awake and watch him?"
She smiled back at him. "Thank you for understanding. Gaddes. That
was an exhausting operation…" Millerna sat back down and rubbed her
temples.
"It seems like an awful lot of work. Personally I can't even
stand the sight of blood."
"Yes, I remember," she said laughingly. "You looked as
though you were going to faint when we operated on Allen that one time."
"Oh yeah…" Gaddes chuckled. "That was
interesting, to say the least."
Millerna stifled a yawn. "I'm so tired," she said,
shaking her head.
"Why don't you go rest, then?" Gaddes said, extending
his hand to help her up. "I'll watch Fassa until you get up. We can
take turns."
She smiled and gratefully accepted his hand. "I might just take
you up on that," she said, yawning again. "I've gotten very
little sleep lately. I keep having these strange dreams…" then she
laughed again. "You probably don't have the slightest interest in
my dreams!"
Gaddes shook
his head. "On the contrary, I'm sure they're quite
interesting."
Millerna
picked up her doctor's bag and headed towards the door. "To say the
least… well, I'll be going now, if you don't mind."
"Not
at all." Gaddes nodded cordially. "Get some rest, your
highness."
"Please,"
she said before shutting the door. "Call me Millerna."
*****
"Isn't
the princess beautiful?" Celena leaned her head against Gaddes
comfortable shoulder as the two of them sat in the abandoned living room.
Gaddes nodded.
"Of
course she is… she has to be. Have you ever met an ugly princess?"
Celena
shook her head, slightly annoyed. "That isn't what I meant,
although I suppose you're right. I didn't necessarily mean physical
beauty, although she certainly has that. I meant that everything about her is
just so… pristine. She is definitely the perfect portrait of a lady.
I'll never be like that."
"Celena,
you can't compare yourself to Millerna. You'll only drive yourself
crazy doing it."
Celena
frowned. "What's THAT supposed to mean?"
"Nothing…
forget it."
She
moved away from him. "I want to know what you meant by that!"
"I
just think that by comparing yourself to Millerna, you'll only end up
with a lower opinion of yourself."
"Oh
what, so I'm not as good as her or something?"
Gaddes
ran his fingers through his hair. "Gods, Celena… I didn't say
that!"
"Well
you certainly implied it." She looked at her feet and set her jaw. Gaddes
shook his head, knowing that it was absolutely hopeless trying to convince
Celena of anything when she was in one of her moods.
"I
didn't imply anything. And besides, you were the one who called her
beautiful and then said that you'd never be like her."
"Of
course, but you weren't supposed to AGREE with me!" As soon as she
said it, Celena realized that it made no sense, even to her. Gaddes threw his
hands in the air.
"Celena
Schezar, What on Gaea are you talking about?"
"Nothing,"
Celena muttered irritably. "Forget it, OK?" They sat in silence for
a few seconds before Gaddes stood up and made off towards the door.
"Where're
you going?" Celena said almost plaintively. "I didn't mean
for you to LEAVE!"
Gaddes
wrinkled his nose in a way that Celena might have considered thoughtful if she
hadn't known better. "I know, but sitting there with you all quiet
and brooding is bound to drive any normal person mad, and I'm halfway
there already, so…"
"I
told you to forget it, didn't I?"
"Yes
but it's kind of hard to do that when you won't."
Celena
frowned at this last statement. "Well." She said haughtily.
"You needn't be so difficult about it!" Gaddes sighed as she
turned her head pointedly and stared into the fire, pretending to completely
ignore his presence.
"OK
Celena," he muttered as he closed the door. "You win." He
shook his head and started off down the hallway.
Inside the room, Celena sat still
for a moment after he'd left, her eyes fixed on the large orange flames.
Then, almost mechanically, she stood and walked closer towards the hearth. She
picked up the nearest available object (which happened to be one of the
velveteen pillows from the sofa) and, letting a small, strangled sound escapes
her throat, tossed it into the fire, collapsing to the floor as the flames
leapt to consume it.
See, now didn't that feel
good?
"Shut up," she muttered, pulling out her
handkerchief to dry her tears.
Didn't that feel good?
*****
Princess Millerna rubbed her eyes
desperately and stared down at the page in front of her.
Concentrate! You have to
concentrate!
She sighed as she re-read the same sentence she had
been reading for the past half hour.
"This is useless!" She
muttered, looking over at Dryden's unconscious form. "Sorry
Dry," she whispered. "I'm trying as hard as I can." She
whipped around in her chair as the door creaked open and placed a hand across
her heart as she saw who it was. "Gaddes! You frightened me!"
"Sorry," he said
sheepishly, closing the door and sitting down in a chair across the room.
"Who were you talking to?"
She shook her head. "No-one,
I suppose. Just myself. Trying to keep awake." She massaged her temples
to try and ward off an impending headache.
"Well, why don't you
just read?" He pointed to the book in her lap.
"Believe me, I'm
trying!" She said laughingly, flipping back a few pages and skimming over
the text.
"What is it?"
Millerna turned to the front cover.
"Commentary and Perspective on Patellar Resurfacing in Total Knee
Arthroplasty." She smiled slightly at his perplexed look. "Fake
Kneecaps," she offered.
"Ah. NOW I see."
She nodded. "It really is a
complicated process. Listen: 'In the process of resurfacing the
damaged patellae during total-knee arthroplasty, it is imperative to recall the
importance of restoring patellar height, preserving a minimum of native
patellar bone, and achieving the correct orientation of the resection line
(inferior resection of the infrapatellar tubercle, superior resection at the
junction of the quadraceps tendon, and medial-lateral resection at the
chondro-osseous junction).'"
"Whoa."
Millerna smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry… I must be boring you half to death. I'm
becoming so absorbed in this surgery… I'm afraid I can hardly seem
to think about anything else!"
"So what exactly does
this… this Arithmopalsy…"
"Arthroplasty."
"…ARTHROPLASTY have to
do with Dryden?"
She furrowed her brow and looked
towards the unconscious man. "Well, at first I didn't think it
would be necessary, but it looks now like his kneecap was shattered to pieces
by… whoever did this. It's irreformable. So we're going to
have to replace his kneecap."
"Ouch."
"Yes, very much so."
Gaddes paused thoughtfully for a
moment. Then: "Can you DO that?"
"Well yes. I'VE never
PERSONALLY done it, but it's definitely possible."
"You're making my knees
hurt just talking about all that!"
"Sorry." She yawned
widely. "Goodness… No one ever said it would be EASY being a doctor,
but than I never thought it would be so HARD!"
"You can go rest if you
want…"
"No, no… I really
should keep at this until I've got it figured out. I don't want the
bones to set the wrong way. I'd hate to have to break them again."
They sat in silence for a few
minutes, Gaddes looking around the room absent-mindedly while Millerna thumbed
through her book.
"Princess?" He ventured
after a while.
"Hm?"
"I… well, I just wanted
to say that I think you're doing is a very brave thing. That is,
it's very honorable, what you're doing for Dryden. And I know that
your family doesn't approve of you wanting to be a doctor, what with you
being a lady and all… hell, even Allen's had a word or two to say
about it… but I just wanted you to know that I think you're great
at what you do."
She looked at him through narrowed
eyes, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "Thank you,
Gaddes," she said softly. "Thank you very much."
