Beyond the Boundary Stones (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 3) (24 page)

Elkan nodded slowly. Nirel hurried to answer the faint puzzlement in his eyes before it could grow into full-blown suspicion. “I’ve lived here for months, I’ve made friends who are Dualist, they told me about what they believe. Ask Kevessa, ask Vigorre, if you doubt me.”

“No, I believe you.” Elkan rubbed his temple. “Ma’am, is this true? You don’t want to be healed?”

The woman met his eyes and lifted her chin. “No, I don’t. Even if it means I will die. The girl is right; my Faith forbids it.” She squeezed Nirel’s hand.

Elkan’s shoulders drooped, but he nodded. “We respect your decision.” He waved two soldiers over. “Carry this woman to the bandaging station. Nirel, wash her wounds and cover them carefully. If we can prevent infection and keep her hydrated, she may have a chance. A slim one, but still.”

Nirel glanced at the gaping expanse of raw, oozing flesh that spread from the woman’s shoulder all down her side and leg, and swallowed. “I’ll do my best.”

The soldiers brought a stretcher. Nirel leaned close to the woman and murmured in her ear. “I’ll be right with you. But first I need to make sure no more of the Faithful will be corrupted. You can trust my friend Vigorre; he’ll take care of you until I get there.”

The woman blinked and gave her a hesitant, grateful smile. It transformed into a grimace as the soldiers rolled her onto the stretcher and carried her off.

“Kevessa, come over here a moment.” Elkan called.

She obeyed, wiping her hands on a towel. “Will this take long? I’ve got two more waiting, and then—” She darted a glance at the cluster of triaged victims, then jerked her gaze away.

“Only a moment. Nirel has pointed out something very important that I’ve neglected to take into consideration. Ramunna has a significant population of Dualists, who are forbidden to receive healing by the Mother’s power. Until today we were dealing with people who chose to seek us out. But any time a patient is brought to us we have to consider whether or not they want our help.”

“But what if they can’t tell us?” Josiah objected. “What was I supposed to do, just let her lie there until she woke up? She might never have regained consciousness if we hadn’t gone right to work.”

Elkan ran a hand through his hair. “That’s difficult. But the Law is clear that we’re not allowed to use the Mother’s power on someone against their will.”

“Most of the time unconscious people are going to want us to save them. I’ve had five or six who started thanking me like crazy as soon as they woke up.” Josiah jutted out his chin. “How many of them are we going to sacrifice to keep from upsetting one suicidal, Mother-hating—”

“Their clothes,” Nirel said quickly. “Like I said. Dualists dress differently than other Ramunnans. I can show you until you learn to recognize them for yourself.”

“Not all of them,” Kevessa said thoughtfully. “I’ve known a few who kept their faith a secret. And remember Tharan.”

“He was a Purifier, not a Dualist,” Josiah said.

“We don’t know that. And besides, there are more Purifiers than Dualists, or at least people who attend Purifier Temples. You know what they think of us. They’re not going to want demons messing with them.”

“Ask,” Elkan declared. “Get explicit consent from everyone. If someone is brought to us unconscious, wait until they rouse, or until a friend or family member can let us know they have no objections. Only if they’re dying right in front of you do you touch them, and even then look for signs that they may belong to one of the groups who reject us.” He frowned. “Maybe we can pass word among the Dualists and Purifiers to carry a statement of their wishes with them, or wear some identifying marker that will let us know to withhold the Mother’s power.”

“Better to make people who
want
to be healed wear something telling you that. Why should those who only want to be left alone be forced to brand themselves—” Nirel shook her head. “Never mind.”

“No, you’re right. I’ll speak to the Matriarch. And perhaps Vigorre can see what his father thinks.” Elkan sighed. “The soldiers told me they’ve pulled the last of the victims out of the rubble, so except for a few with minor injuries who stayed to help I think we’ve got all of them.” His voice went grim. “Finish with the patients I assigned you, and then we’ll see what we can do with the rest.”

Nirel looked at the three wizards’ drooping shoulders, bloodshot eyes, and gaunt faces. It wouldn’t be much. They were all close to exhaustion.

Suddenly she remembered something that should have occurred to her long since. “Nalini,” she blurted.

All three wizards looked at her as if she’d started speaking some other language. Nirel hurried to explain. “One of the healers Ozor brought from Giroda. She can close wounds with stitches, and she has medicines that ease pain and fight infection.”

Elkan brightened a fraction. “Send for her, please. Maybe she can help your Dualist woman, or at least make her more comfortable.” He sobered again. “Though nothing short of every wizard in the Mother’s Hall in Elathir could help the ones I set aside, I’m afraid.” He shook his head. “Let’s get back to work.”

Nirel grabbed a soldier and directed him where to find Nalini. If the Girodan didn’t get back to the tent in time for the evening show, Ozor would be furious, but Nirel didn’t care. He could go count all the coins he’d raked in from the opening show the night before while the rest of them got on with saving lives.

Fourteen

N
alini surveyed the rows of blackened, bloody corpses lying on the broken flagstone of the square. Oh, some of them still moaned and twitched, but they were corpses nonetheless.

She turned to the tall, handsome foreigner. If she were a few years younger she’d be sorely tempted to enjoy more than his looks. “I can ease their pain. If I give them more, I can ease them right into death. But nothing I have can pull them back from the Mother’s arms.” She shrugged. “I can’t sew together skin that isn’t there.”

“I understand.” The young man drew himself up as if all his bones ached and stroked the lioness at his side. “Please, any that yet live, give them whatever it takes to relieve their suffering. Not enough to kill—their injuries will do that soon enough. And maybe after we eat we can marshall enough energy between us to save one or two more. But if you can grant them sleep without pain, it will be a blessing.”

“That’s easily done.” Nalini went to crouch by the first corpse and put her finger below its nose. Moist warmth touched her skin, and the corpse emitted a faint, miserable whine. She shook her head and opened her bag. The wizard would never know if she added a few drops beyond the proper dosage to the sponge and sent this one into his final sleep, but she counted carefully and stopped where she always did. She was curious to see the fabled wizards in action. If they thought they had even a slight chance of reviving any of these corpses, they must be miracle workers indeed.

As she finished dosing the last of them, the girl from Ozor’s village approached her. Nirel, that was her name. She’d played a part in that farce the night before, delivering her lines so woodenly it was all Nalini could do not to laugh. The crowd had eaten it up, though. Just as Ozor had promised, they’d clamored to hand over their money. Nalini had gotten five surgeries from the business, one of them a rewardingly complex tumor removal. The boy might even regain the use of his leg.

Nirel—Nalini was almost sure that was her name—inclined her head with what passed for courtesy among the foreigners. “Excuse me, Nalini, but there’s a Dualist woman who won’t let the wizards heal her. Can you help her? I know you have medicines to prevent infection.”

“Not if she’s as well-done as the roasted meat over here.” Nalini had to admit the girl had guts—her eyes only widened a little at the joke. She picked up her bag. “Show me and I’ll see if there’s anything I can do.”

If the Dualist heretics were foolish enough to turn down magic that could save their lives, it served them right if they died. But many of them were wealthy, and they knew quality when they saw it. For all their legendary tightfistedness, they’d been eager to pay top coin for the healers’ services last night.

The woman’s burns were extensive, but Nalini had treated worse cases. A few of them had made it. She rummaged through her bag, humming to herself. “I need clean water, lots of it,” she told the girl. “And fresh linen sheets, straight from the laundry.” Most laundries boiled linen; Nalini suspected that’s why she’d had the best luck using it to dress open wounds. Something about the heat and motion cleaned cloth more thoroughly than any soap.

Nirel brought the water and went off to find sheets. Nalini tutted as she peeled back the strips of bandage from the woman’s burns. Had they bothered to clean them before they covered them up? Here were flakes of ash embedded in the tissue, and there was dirt from the ground where they’d dropped her.

The woman jerked and stifled a scream when Nalini started scrubbing out the filth, so she took a moment to prepare a sponge. Nirel had returned; Nalini assigned her to hold it and went back to work. It took a good while, but when she finished she was confident no foreign particles or dead skin remained to contaminate the wounds.

She used her shears to cut a piece of clean linen the proper size and smeared it liberally with her special salve, then applied more to the wound in the woman’s side. Nirel watched her curiously. “That smells good. What’s in it?”

Nalini wasn’t going to reveal all her secrets, but she enjoyed boasting. “Honey, mostly. Garlic, goldenseal, and cinnamon to prevent infection. Comfrey and calendula to promote healing. A few other things. It’s important to use lots of it to keep the wounds moist as they heal. I can’t promise anything, but if we clean the burns and apply more of this every day, she might survive. Assuming she doesn’t develop a fever.”

“You’ve got a drink you give them for that, don’t you?”

The girl must have been paying attention. “Yes. It helps some. But nothing’s foolproof. If the Mother wants her, nothing I can do will keep her with us.”

Nirel gave a bleak snort. “The Mother doesn’t want this one.”

“Nor she the Mother, from what you tell me, so they should both be happy.” Nalini moved on to the larger burned patch on the woman’s thigh. Nirel lapsed into silence, which suited Nalini just fine. The work went faster when she could concentrate.

At last all the woman’s wounds were dressed and covered with several layers of clean linen. Nalini scowled. “She needs a bed, not the hard ground. But I suppose there’s no hope of that.”

“Her family will come soon to take her home. Everyone in the city must know about the fire by now. I’ll stay with her until then.”

If the girl wanted to keep crouching on the filthy stone, that was her business. Nalini was going to get cleaned up, grab some of the food she’d been smelling for a while, and head back to the village.

But as she helped herself to slices of roast pork from a nearly untouched platter at the abandoned table, a flickering gold glow caught her eye. The handsome wizard and the lioness knelt beside one of the corpses, along with his two apprentices and their beasts. Light flowed from their hands to bathe the prone body.

Nalini strode over to watch. The light was dim, not as spectacular as the legends led one to expect, but its effect was undeniably dramatic. The ravaged flesh of the man’s back moved through the stages of healing before her eyes. It was as if several weeks passed in only a few minutes. New pink skin was starting to form when the girl whimpered, swayed, and put her head in her hands, her portion of the light winking out.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered hoarsely. “Give me a minute.”

“It’s all right,” the handsome one said. “We need to be done with this one, anyway. He’ll make it, I think.” He sat back, and the rest of the light died.

Nalini suspected the wizard was right. He’d have nasty scars, and the muscles of his buttocks would always be weak, but he’d live. Even at the end of their strength, the wizards had power enough to snatch a soul back from the Mother’s doorstep.

“Nicely done,” she said, working hard to keep her voice casual. “I’m impressed.”

The wizard pushed stringy hair out of his face. “What about the Dualist woman? Were you able to help her?”

Nalini nodded. “She’s got a chance to recover.”

“Then I’m equally impressed.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Josiah, can you manage one more?”

The lanky youth lay sprawled flat on the ground. He groaned. “Do I have to?”

“No.” The man sighed. “A couple more are still alive, but we’ve already done far more than I thought we’d be able to.” He wrapped his arms around the lioness’s neck and dropped his forehead to rest against her fur. She nuzzled him wearily.

The boy rolled over and pushed himself up with a fair imitation of vigor. “Smash that! Come on, Sar. Nobody else is dying while I’m conscious.” The small donkey plodded behind him, hooves stumbling, as he lurched over to the next corpse.

The wizard shook his head into the lioness’s side, one corner of his mouth turning up. “That one was hit by falling debris. His burns aren’t as extensive, but he’s got multiple broken bones that will need to be set. Including his back, although the spinal cord is intact.”

The boy flopped to his knees beside the man. “Dear Mother, I hate growing bone.”

The wizard dragged himself to his feet and went to join him. “If there were a way to keep him still long enough the spine would heal on its own, but I think we’re going to have to spend the energy to stabilize it. Otherwise it will get damaged further when we set the other breaks. He’s going to wake up and start thrashing around.”

“Can’t we slow him?”

“I don’t think we’ve got enough energy between the three of us to do that and move the bones into place at the same time. We’ve got to save enough to heal his burns, too. They’ll kill him if we don’t.”

“I can keep him asleep,” Nalini said.

The wizard blinked at her. “That’s right. Please, we’d appreciate your help. It would save us a great deal of energy.”

“And I know how to set bones without your fancy magic. If you three take care of the burns, I’ll do the rest.”