No. 21: "Don't move." & No. 22: Glass Shard

Zoya's ears were buzzing as she slowly lifted her head up from the floor. Dust and debris were everywhere, catching the sunlight and creating a thick haze. She blinked up at the gaping windows with their shattered panes. It had been a tranquil day…

Gunfire peppered the air, and Zoya reflexively ducked low and rolled over to try to see what was happening. First Army soldiers were engaged in a firefight with a group of insurrectionists; Zoya recognized the mark of "liberty" they'd claimed for themselves on their sleeves. She twisted around in search of Nikolai. The king was their target.

She spotted Tolya and Tamar first, both crouched on the floor next to someone, and her heart dropped into her stomach. Zoya scrambled over and found Nikolai lying on a pile of detritus, a large glass shard embedded in his chest.

"Don't move," Tamar told him.

He was awake and trying to crane his neck around to evaluate the situation, but the twins had their hands on his shoulders to keep him down. Tolya pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began wrapping it around the shard to help stabilize it. They couldn't risk removing it without a Healer present lest Nikolai bleed out.

"Watch out!" he yelled, and Tamar whirled with precision speed, shoving both hands forward and neutralizing the attacker that had come up behind them.

Zoya stood and summoned her own power, blasting another assassin back through the broken doorway. When she turned back, Tolya was dispatching a third with his sword. There were too many entry points after the explosion tore holes through the building and this wasn't a defensible position. But they couldn't move Nikolai safely either…

"Defend the king," Zoya ordered, taking up position at Nikolai's feet. The twins stood on either side of him, braced to fend off any attack.

Zoya couldn't believe their numbers, as more just kept coming. She used her control of the wind to bring down debris on their heads, but that caused the whole building to shudder, and broken pieces began to fall on top of them as well. Tolya spun and threw himself over Nikolai to shield him as chunks battered the large man's back. Zoya pulled back her power and the ruins settled.

When Tolya sat upright, Nikolai was ten times paler, and there was fresh blood soaking the handkerchief.

Tolya cursed in Shu. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he blathered, hands hovering over their friend and king. The shard had been pushed deeper into Nikolai's sternum.

Tamar's eyes were wide and she made a move as though to help her brother but was quickly distracted by more assailants breaching the building.

Zoya didn't have the experience of combat fighting; she always relied on her Grisha abilities. So she pushed Tolya aside and dropped to her knees beside Nikolai.

"I got him," she said firmly.

Tolya hesitated just a fraction of a second before picking up his sword again and launching himself into battle.

Zoya clasped the side of Nikolai's neck, simultaneously offering bracing support while also feeling for the rate of his pulse. "Breathe, just breathe."

He made a choking sound as he tried to do so, the glass shard perilously close to a lung, if it hadn't punctured it already.

"Stay with me," Zoya urged. "We will get you out of this."

He flicked his gaze to hers, an ocean of pain, fear, and faith telegraphing back at her. She wasn't sure what to do with it, so she simply kept her hand pressed against his neck and her other hand on his chest near the glass shard, silently willing him to just keep breathing.

Finally, the sounds of battle ceased, and Tamar began yelling for the remaining soldiers to call out. Several voices confirmed the victory, and then she was shouting at them to get a Healer here right away. Tolya returned to Nikolai's side and used his heartrending to connect with Nikolai's breathing and heart rate, keeping them going when they seemed to stutter.

A foot soldier tramped over the rubble. "We brought a stretcher."

"No," Tolya immediately turned down. "We can't move him without a Healer."

Zoya pursed her mouth. They needed to get Nikolai out of here, but moving him with the glass shard still inside him would be problematic. "How long until a Healer is here?" she asked.

"I don't know…"

"Well find out!"

The young soldier skittered away.

"Don't- frighten- the- infantry," Nikolai gasped breathlessly.

"Don't talk," Zoya snapped back.

His lips quirked, but then his face crumpled up as he coughed, and a few specks of blood dotted his lips. Tolya looked at Zoya in terror.

"Is his lung punctured?" she asked urgently.

Tolya turned his attention to Nikolai's body, moving his hands over him. "Yes."

"Can you repair it?"

Tolya's brows furrowed. "No, the glass shard is still poking through the tissue. It has to be removed first."

Zoya cursed under her breath. "Can you do it?"

Tolya whipped his head up. "I'm not a skilled Healer."

"But you can do it," she pressed. "You don't believe in the separate orders, and you've practiced healing before."

"For minor things…"

"This is just as simple," Zoya insisted. "I'll pull the shard up just enough to extract it from the lung, and you repair it."

Tolya looked reluctant but nevertheless took a breath and sat up straighter on his knees.

Zoya's own pulse was racing with anxiety as she took hold of the shard. She couldn't yank it out, which meant slowly pulling on it would feel like torture. "I'm sorry," she told Nikolai before starting.

Nikolai grunted and choked on suppressed cries as he fought to keep himself under control. Zoya gritted her teeth and kept pulling the shard up centimeter by centimeter, waiting for Tolya to tell her when she could stop.

Nikolai couldn't hold back a garbled cry.

"Okay, okay," Tolya finally said.

Zoya stopped but didn't remove her hand from the glass as she watched and waited. It took several long moments, but Tolya eventually sank back on his haunches, and Nikolai's breathing eased into a more steady rhythm.

"Good job," Zoya told him.

He gave her a weak smile and leaned over Nikolai again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for saving my life," Nikolai said, his voice still a touch wispy.

They fell silent, now waiting on more skilled help before they dared try to move the king. Fortunately, Tamar soon returned with a Healer, and they were able to remove the glass shard and prevent Nikolai from bleeding out. Only then did they get him on a stretcher and usher him to a safer location where the Healer could finish repairing the damage.

"You need protective armor the next time you go out in public," Zoya told him.

Nikolai's mouth quirked. "I'll add it to the list."