The Eyes of My Beholder
Disclaimer: Tamora Pierce, that queen of fantasy, owns Tortall and everyone in it. The song is not mine either, I'm not sure who it belongs to, but I do know Lucy Kaplansky sang it on her album Tide, I highly recommend it.
Note: Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! You all are the best! This chapter is for HeartLioness, you inspired me to keep writing.
Chapter 3Shinko shrieked, Griffin yowled, Kel swore and Alanna's hand went to her sword hilt. Thayet was the only silent one; she crossed to the door, opened it slightly and peered out. When Thayet looked back at the others her face was dead white, a very bad sign.
Kel finally found her voice, "Thayet, what happened?"
She only managed one word, "Jon!"
The colour of Alanna's face could have rivaled that of a dead person. "What happened?"
Tears welled in Thayet's eyes, "The shattering was a window. Someone knew where Jon was, someone who didn't like us, or him perhaps, through a rock through Kel's window. It hit Jon in the back of the head, I think he's dead!"
"No!" Alanna screeched. Kel knew that even though she had married George Cooper, she still cared for—no, loved—Jon. "Thayet, I can Heal him! He can't be dead!" The Lioness's voice was rising to an alarming pitch.
"Alanna! Thayet! Please, calm down! The king will be all right! He may only be knocked out!" Shinko looked as worried as her mother-in-law, but Kel could tell she was trying to calm herself down.
"Thayet, Shinko, Alanna. Let's try to handle this like grown women! We'll go out and find out what happened, and see if the king is alright," Kel said, trying to keep the quiver out of her own voice.
Thayet nodded shakily and followed Kel out of the dressing room and into her main room. The sight that greeted their eyes was one of total chaos. Neal knelt by the king's side, his Gift flowing into the king's head.
"Neal?" Alanna knelt beside her former squire.
Neal's emerald eyes shone with unshed tears. "His skull is cracked, and the top bone of his spine is fractured."
With a strangled sob, Thayet tried to launch herself at Jon. George, Dom and Kel grabbed the distraught queen's arms and it took all three of them to hold her back. Alanna wasn't fairing any better than the queen, her violet eyes filled with unshed tears and worry.
"I hate is when her feelings for His Highness come out like this!" George muttered to Dom, who nodded sympathetically.
"Please, we need quiet if we are going to help Jon!" Alanna said her voice very high.
Neal was talking at the same time. "Dom, Kel, go to the infirmary, get my father and any available healers. Tell them it's urgent, and if they won't listen, tell them it's the king!"
Dom and Kel nodded and rushed out of Kel's room. "Can you believe this?" Dom asked quietly. Kel, who had been dumbstruck since she had seen what had happened in her room, only shook her head. Dom's hand found its way to her shoulder and gave it a friendly, comforting squeeze.
She turned toward him, her eyes pleading. "Kel," he murmured, "I'm so sorry. You must be nauseated, that rock wasmet to harm you, I'm certain of it!"
Kel gave him a quizzical look. "Was that supposed to make me feel better, Dom?"
Dom grinned ruefully. "No, I suppose not."
They were at the infirmary before they knew it; they had hurtled down corridors with a speed Kel sparrows would envy. When Dom burst in, he was already talking. "Duke Baird! Uncle! Anyone!"
The Duke's voice came from his office. "I'm in here, Domitan."
"Your Grace, Neal sent us." Kel told him softly. "Some one through a rock and it smashed into the back of the king's head."
Baird looked up sharply from the reports he had been reading. "The king? Jonathan?" When Dom and Kel nodded, the duke literally sprinted from his office yelling for who ever was free to come with him, on the double.
Kel and Dom were forced to skip out of the way as a mob of Healers and Apprentices literally fought each other to go to the aid of their beloved king. Dom's eyebrows threatened to jump off his face as they watched Healers scratching each other mercilessly with sharp fingernails. "Stop!" Kel shrieked. The Healers turned to her. "I am a knight of the realm, listen to what I say. You are of no help to the king fighting among yourselves like mindless pages. Form a single-file line Healer, Apprentice, Healer, Apprentice and follow Sergeant Domitan and myself."
The Healers mumbled apologies and did as Kel ordered. Kel led them slowly to her rooms, knowing that if she burst in to the room, Alanna and Neal would have her head. She quietly opened her door and the Healers and Apprentices filed silently in.
A black haired female Healer murmured to the Apprentices around her, "Stand at your normal posts, stay out of His Grace's way, and observe." They nodded and split apart to shadow healers. One Apprentice, a green-eyed redhead, stayed next to the black haired woman.
The Duke and the black haired woman knelt down next to the king. "Sirs Nealan and Alanna, this would be easier if you weren't here," the black haired woman said pointedly.
The next moment, her arms were pinned to the floor, Neal's emerald fire wrapped firmly about her wrists.
"Say that again," hissed Alanna, "and your healing days are over. Answer me this, Meanntha, who saved Jon when he was mortally sick and the Healers were exhausted? Hum? That's right, Page Alan later found out to be me. My ex-squire and I will help with the king.
"Oh, right, who is my ex-squire? That's right, Sir Nealan of Queenscove, Duke Baird's son." As she said this purple fire streamed from her fingers and into the king's head.
The woman, Meanntha, hung her head. "I'm sorry, Lioness, I should have known better that to question you or Sir Nealan."
The duke put a hand on Alanna's arm, murmuring soothingly, "Alanna, calm yourself. You of all people should know it's hard to heal—" at this point Neal was mouthing along with his father "—when you're angry or feeling any very strong emotion."
Alanna glared at the duke and muttered, "What about love?"
As Alanna was talking, emerald, orange, teal and purple fire streamed into the king's injured head. Kel waited with bated breath, Dom's hand clasping her own in a knuckle-cracking grip. Suddenly, the king's blue eyes popped open, startling a squeak from some of the less-experienced Apprentices.
"Jon!" Alanna breathed, color rushing back into her face. The king sat up slightly, rubbing the back of his head and mouthing at Alanna like a fish.
"What happened to him?" Thayet asked, her voice rising in anger. "Why can't he talk?"
Kel sighed; she had sat through enough of Neal's lectures to know the answer. "Your Majesty, he is in shock, he'll start to talk with in the—" she looked at Neal to make sure that her answer was factual. With a shocked look on his face he nodded. "He'll talk with in the day, am I correct, Lioness?" Alanna nodded curtly.
"How is it," Meanntha asked sourly, "that a knight who is not a Healer, or has any experience with the Gift, knows more about the king's symptoms at one glace that any of my Apprentices, who have been studying with me for two or more years?"
Duke Baird and Neal looked at Meanntha like she was from a different planet. "Meanntha, have you forgotten who Kel is? You do remember who her best friend is?" The duke was looking at the woman who supposedly was his best Healer with a glare that would have made a braver person flinch.
Kel bit her lip until it bled. Dom took her hand and gently pried her fingers open. Fingernail marks marred her scared and calloused palm. "Kel," he murmured, "there is no need to scar your hands even more for a simple fact of knowing more about Healing than Apprentices."
Kel snorted and looked at an ashen-faced Neal. "I've never Healed with that many people helping, or watching before," he panted. Kel grinned ruefully and hauled her best friend to his feet.
Looking at his face she suggested, "Small gathering in your room?" Grinning Neal nodded. "Good, I'll tell Yuki, Owen and Merric." Dom cleared his throat loudly. Looking into his eyes firmly she said, "And of course, Meathead, what would a party be with out Sergeant Domitan?"
Neal snorted as he started off down the hall, Kel and Dom following hand in hand.
Ha! It took me long enough, but I've finished! Sorry for the wait people!