Chapter 43:

Kara had been gently excused from the Queen's quarters as the ladies-in-waiting attempted to revive their monarch. The princess caught the healer by the arm, just as she was exiting the room. As she was still barely dressed, she pulled the healer on her side of the threshold and held the door slightly ajar. Her eyes shown bright with determination. " I know my mother is afraid but I am not", she whispered. She adjusted her cotton shirt, holding the folds of the neckline closed on her chest. " If it is not too much to ask, I would like you to...make trials on such an operation. If they are successful, I will agree to this surgery". Kara shook her head, " Princess, your life is on the line. I cannot risk it". The princess dug her fingers into her flesh, " This half-life is not worth living. I am inapt at doing the most mundane of things. I want to be able to run, to ride a horse, to climb trees, to swim in our lake...and I will never do those things without the procedure". Her eyes sparkled with tears, " Please, consider it". " Even if it were successful, I would not risk the wrath of your father the king or your mother's anguish" ,said the Healer. The princess looked at her mother who was waking slowly. The young girl added, " Leave that to me".

It took Kara several days of internal conflict before she decided to try anything. She summoned Luka, Igor and Ania late one night to discuss her ideas. She could not tell them the trials were for the princess. They would have all refused in a heartbeat. She therefore told them it was for the advancement of medicine that they would try a complicated heart intervention. Prior to doing anything on a patient, she suggested on trying on an animal close to men in that respect. She had met with a farmer close to Os Alta who sold pigs and was able to identify a sow with a similar clicking sound to its heart. The poor creature trembled often and was hard to move from one marketplace to another. The farmer was quite happy to sell the pig to the healer for a cheap price. The four comrades prepared as best they could. Luka had been missioned with shrinking utensils for minute surgery such as a saw, long pincers and scissors. Kara had also asked he try and enhance a pair of glasses to allow her to magnify her sight. Luka scratched his head in worry, all this being very new to him. He enlisted two other gifted fabrikators of his class, to help him with conception. Ania practiced on all the bruised and cut patients she could find in Os Alta to improve scarring to a point so fine, no one could see the original injury. She was tired but grew even brighter with power. Igor, who had the hardest job, had little occasion to practice restarting a heart. Kara suggested he meditate and learn to calm his own heart. If he could not stay calm, the whole operation was compromised.

Then one day they tried the operation on the sow. They isolated themselves in the herbologist shop and locked all doors and windows. Some of their previous clients gently teased them that the city was now so well cared for, they had now moved on to healing farm animals. Indeed what a sight to see this fat trembling sow try to heave herself through the door with three Grisha pushing her. The first attempt was a disaster. Every step took too long so that the sow woke screaming on 2 occasions. It's heart stopped 3 times and Igor trembled with all the Small Science he consumed. In the end, they aborted the surgery and healed the pig well enough for it to wake an hour later. They all sat around the animal trembling and sweating profusely. Luka had noted that some of his tools had broken and would need to be molded in stronger metal. Kara had made one or two unnecessary cuts that had caused excess bleeding, inducing more healing for Ania. And Igor had reduced his own breathing so low, the pig had almost died under the same imposed heartbeat. Having each learned their lesson, they would try again in a few weeks, allowing the sow to rest.

The following week, Kara was walking within the confines of the busy market with Yurii. The days were getting longer, announcing the slow arrival of Spring. The market was therefore abound with merchants that were no longer bound to their towns by snow. It was therefore busier than it had been in the past few weeks. As Kara was negotiating the price of a rare mushroom, something caught her eye in the crowd. A group of three men from Shu Han came into the market. It was not unusual to see traders from the far reaches of the realms. However something was off about their behavior. They were skittish, their eyes scanning the crowd and their coats were bulging, as if concealing goods of some kind. As Kara narrowed her eyes, she was even more unsettled. The more she looked at them and the less then appeared from Shu Han. Their skin was not the right tinge of gold. Their eyes were not the right shape and their clothes did not match that of classical traders. Kara had traveled enough of the world for it to unsettle her. Careful... the hair on the nap of her neck froze...careful. Her first instinct was to collect more elements. She could not misjudge the situation. They could be from a distant region of Shu Han with different codes and physical traits. However the voice in her head buzzed with fear. She turned to Yurii strangely calm. She held the boy so he had to lock eyes with hers. " Listen to me carefully Yurii. I need you to run for the Little Palace. Avoid the main road. Go through the small side streets". Yurii tensed, his eyes widening in fright. " Why?". Kara kept her eyes fixed on the three men making their way through the crowd. Kara frowned, " I cannot be sure. But something tells me something is going to happen. I prefer you stay out of it. Now Go".

Yurii could not move for a moment. If his newfound mother was afraid than so was he. He did not want to leave her. He told her so. She shook her head, " Yurii, you go NOW. I'm not giving you a choice. GO". The boy turned and ran. If Kara was afraid, he needed to get help. Igor and Ania usually ignored him but Timofei might listen if the healer was in danger. Kara slowly followed the three strange men, making sure she appeared to examine the trinkets and trifles sold on each stand. They were barely speaking to each other but their steps were the coordinated movements of soldiers. As Kara came closer, she realized that their darker skin was uneven in color. Her pulse quickened, could it be...paint? She had to know for sure. She went around one of the stands so that she would arrive face to face with the group. The adrenaline made her stealthy as she began to run. She had to appear as if she was late somewhere. She pretended to look behind her as she bumped into one of the three men. The healer began to apologize profusely as he caught her by the arm. Her finger brushed the man's wrist and removed a layer of skin below was barely a shade above her own. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the shocked gaze of the Ravkan man impersonating a Shu Han trader.

Kara would later have a hard time explaining the succession of events, for they all happened in such speed, they would merge in her mind. The man looked rapidly at his comrades and delivered a hard punch to Kara's face. His fist made contact with her eye and cheekbone. The pain that shot through her head was blinding and she crumbled to the ground with a cry. She held her eye-socket as if it would lessen the pain. She barely had hit the stone road that the three man ran in different directions of the market plaza. She tried to call a warning but the pain had frozen her vocal chords. Once all three were in position, they each yelled something in what seemed to be Shu. Kara did not see them set themselves ablaze but she did hear the roar of the explosions which catapulted her into a nearby stand. Her eye was still throbbing with pain and now it felt her eardrums had given in too. For a few seconds she could only hear a phantom ringing, her inner ear shattered by the monumental boom. And then the creaming began. Kara was still gasping for air, hidden under shattered wood. She wanted to crawl out, see what could have caused such a sound but her punched eye made her want to vomit. The only way she felt stable was if she kept her palm firmly pressed against her closed bruised eyelid. Her other eye seemed to work fine but it was hard to see through the smoke and cinders. The screaming was incessant, the combination of many voices of men, women and children. She crawled as best she could until she could push herself on her feet by the remains of a pulverized cart. She froze in horror at the sight. Her hand still pressed to her face, her good eye saw three craters where then three men had been. They must have been carrying heaver explosives which they had set alight. The destruction left in their wake was horrendous. So many mangled bodies, so many lifeless forms.

Her military training pushed her to action. As she needed both her hands she tried to find a way to calm her throbbing eye. One of the destroyed stands near her had crates of lucky stones. They were round and flat pebbles of all colors, supposed to protect from all sorts of ailments. Kara grabbed one of proper size to cover her closed eyelid and wrapped the stone in a length of bandage she always kept in her healer back. once the cool stone was set and tied to her face, her hands were free. It was not easy going, walking through the remains of the explosion to tend to those she could. She was the first healer there and so all survivors called upon her with pleas and cries. At that point she turned her emotions off. She shouted orders that the faster runners hail healers from the Little Palace. Most recognized the healer who lead a group of Grisha into the city weekly. They trusted in her judgment. Two young men ran up the road in direction of the Palace Walls. Kara searched the crowd and was relieved to see no one that looked like Yurii. He must have made it out of the radius of the explosions. There were too many bodies and she was alone. All she could do was to start classifying by groups. Those who were dead could only be wept. She checked the pulse and moved on if there was none. She asked the able-bodied men to help her carry the wounded to the herbologist shop close by. If her students heard about the explosions, she knew some would come rushing there. The shop was too small and their were too many wounded. She recruited those who accompanied their loved ones and spoke coldly. She told hard truths. She told those who could not be saved to drink a painkilling concoction. She applied more tourniquets than she ever had. There was so much blood. All her bandages were consumed and reddened. Her movements grew repetitive and mechanic. She shouted orders, tended to the wounds, hailed for boiling water, ordered for sheets to be ripped into binding bandages. Her nerves were on the brink of submerging her in madness but she pushed it back. She had to hold until they had help. She had no choice.

Alexhander was reporting to the king on the last successful crossings of the Fold when the Queen burst into the room followed by Soshi and a very pale Yurii. The king would have been very irritated by such a lack of respect in other circumstances. However, his wife's face was so pale and slack that he knew something terrible had happened. At first, his primal fear was that something might have happening to his daughter. Her weak constitution would one day claim her and his nightmares announcing her departure bore a resemblance with this moment. However, if that was the case, why had the Queen brought her lady-in-waiting with the healer's runt? Alexhander had become accustomed to Yurii, as his close relation with the healer made him bound to interact with him. The boy was limp with shock and his eyes were wide with fear. The shadow summoner froze. That look. Why was the boy incapacitated by such fear? The Queen's voice cracked, " My Lord, something terrible has happened. There was an attack on Os Alta's lower city". The King tried to hide the relief on his face. His daughter was safe. He grew alert quickly, " Have the alarms been triggered? Is the Palace closed off and protected?". The Queen nodded vigorously, " Yes, my lord. The moment the boy came running to us, the guards have followed all the necessary protocols. More men have arrived with details of the attack and asking for help. Moi Tsar, we need to send forces into the city". The king turned to Alexhander, " Such an attack has never happened so close to our walls. You are better armed than our First Army soldiers. Go ahead and scout. We'll wait for your report and orders".

The shadow summoner bit back his disgust at his monarch's cowardice but bowed nonetheless. He walked quickly past the queen but Yurii lunged and grabbed his sleeve. The young boy pleaded, " Please Moi General, Kara is in the city! She's where it happened!". The shadow summoner almost stumbled into the wall as his heart lurched painfully. No...he thought...No No NO! He looked at the boy with horror. Despite Soshi's plea, The Grisha General grabbed the boy and left with him. As he walked fast-paced he asked Yurii to quickly say what he knew. The boy did his best to follow the man's pace, skipping as he ran. He was breathless, " She felt something. She would not tell me what it was but she asked me to run. I was in one of the side streets to the market when everything exploded. I wanted to run back but I...I needed to get help". The boy began to cry as he ran, his words wet with his sobs. Alexhander's heartbeat quickened but his exterior grew cold. As they arrived level with the dormitories of the Little Palace, the General began to shout, " All Second Army to me! There has been an attack on the city. We move now!". Doors banged open as Grisha soldiers ran out. Some had already begun to whisper as they had observed the palace security tighten in silence. Others seemed surprised and lost for words. All however, came forwards to the summoning of their general. Despite his protest, Yurii was pushed into the room he shared with Kara and was asked to bolt his door. Alexhander knew that if Kara was alive, she would never forgive him if something happened to her foster child.

The march out of the palace was grand to behold. Alexhander at its head, looked ready to smite anyone standing in his way. Ania, Igor were the first to follow, Timofei and Luka right behind them. Esfir and Anatol had rallied Kara's students and all were ready, as trained. As they marched into the fumes of the smoldering town, Alexhander's darkness seethed from his skin. He had lost control to anger before. However, for the first time, he felt he could lose control to fear. Please let her be alive...He shuddered then as he remembered his moment of foresight months ago in the palace gardens. As his lips had brushed Kara's that first time, he had a terrifying vision. The image of her tear-streaked face and blood covered hands as she cried, " Our lives are but a fleeting breath in the span of eternity". Saints, let it not be her last breath...his mind cried. Eternity would be unbearable without her.