Marked for Vengeance (37 page)

“I see you’re
awake now, very good,” Dr. Wu said as he crashed through the opening of the
tent. He held a bowl full of green goop and lifted the white, cotton dressing
to look at Isaac’s wound. He shook his head. “Tisk, tisk, tisk, this will take
forever to heal.” 

Dr. Wu removed
the soiled fabric from his back and lobbed it into a wooden box in a far corner
of the tent.  “Can you at least move your toes?”

“No,” he replied,
and his chin began to quiver. Up until now, he hadn’t fully grasped what that
would mean. He was
paralyzed.

“I was afraid of
that,” he said and went to the table. He set the bowl down and spooned the
green concoction onto a fresh dressing.

“Do you think
it’s permanent?” Isaac asked, clinching the sheets with his hand to brace for
the answer.

Dr. Wu froze as
he smeared the paste onto the cotton. “I would think that it is.”

Julie entered
the tent holding a silver tray with a steaming tea pot and a mug. “Think
what
is?” she asked and set the tray on the table.

“That his
paralyzed state is permanent.”

Whack! Her hand
smacked across his shoulder. “Don’t you tell him that!”

Dr. Wu threw his
hand in the air. “What?!”

“That he’s
permanently paralyzed,” she said with her hand on her hip.

“Well… he might
be
,”
he said, barely audibly.

“Nice bedside
manner,” she quipped and poured the tea into the mug. “Next time tell him his
cat is dead too.”

“Oh, whatever, I
was just being honest,” he grumbled.

Carefully
holding the mug full of dark, steaming tea, she sauntered toward the cot.
“Besides, miracles happen every day. Look at where we’re at,” she said and
winked at Isaac.

Isaac flashed an
appreciative smile. “Thank you,” he mouthed.

She plunked the
straw into the mug and held it to his mouth. He didn’t have the heart to
contest, especially because she just stood up for his fragile emotions.
Besides, the tea was also part of the reason his health had made a scant
improvement.

Dr. Wu placed the
dressing on his gaping, red wound and Isaac winced as the cold goop settled
into its crevices. “After he drinks the tea, can you light some more incense,
Julie?”

Isaac curled his
nose, and Julie clamped her lips together to fight a bought of giggles. “Cut
that out,” she scolded quietly.

Isaac grinned.
He quietly enjoyed their private bantering, as though they were two kids trying
to behave in front of a grumpy, rigid school teacher. 

“Yes, sir,” she
replied and leaned closer to Isaac. “Don’t worry, I’ll ‘forget’,” she mouthed.

“Thanks again,”
he whispered.

“I went by your
sons’ tent,” Julie said aloud to change the subject. “He’s still sound asleep.”

Isaac forced a
gulp of tea down. “Thanks for checking on him.”

“You’re
welcome,” she replied, and her green eyes flickered over his face. “I’m amazed
at how much better you look already.”

“He looks
better, yes, but his wound is far from healed – worst one I’ve ever seen,” Dr.
Wu asserted.

Her eyes
narrowed and cut up to him. “Maybe it will heal fast,” she said through stiff
lips and moved her gaze back to Isaac.

Isaac secretly
gave Julie kudos for standing up to him. The Doctor didn’t seem to be the
easiest person to get along with.
She’s got some spunk in her.

 Dr. Wu’s lips
parted to scoff at her response, but he cleared his throat instead and marched
for the opening of the tent. “I’m on my way to see about a “miracle”. I’ll
return shortly.”

Isaac wasn’t
sure if he meant that sarcastically or if he honestly had a plan, but he did
know one thing for sure – the tea tasted unbearably awful.

* * *

“I need to speak
with you right away, Oman,” Dr. Wu said, interrupting his private conversation
with Malachai on the pulpit.

“Of course,
Doctor, I’m sure Malachai won’t mind.”

“Certainly,” Malachai
echoed and disappeared into thin air.

Dr. Wu stumbled
backward, his eyes widening.

“I apologize.
That’s Malachai’s preferred method of travel, even if it’s only a few yards
away.”

Dr. Wu laughed
nervously and rubbed the top of his head. “I see.”

“What did you
need to see me about?”

“I think I might
have an idea for healing Isaac a little faster.”

Prolificent
stepped to their side, leaning into their conversation. “Have you spoken with
the Doctor about his
attire
this evening?”

Oman held up his
hand. “Prolificent, not now.”

“What do you
mean
my attire?” Dr. Wu asked.

 Oman held his
other hand toward Dr. Wu. “Forget about it, I’ll tell you later.”

“You did not
come dressed in your robe this evening as required,” Prolificent replied.

Oman’s face
flushed red with heat. “Prolificent, I will talk with you in a moment. Please
leave us to talk in private.”

Dr. Wu swatted
Oman’s hand away, anger edging his voice. “No! I want him to explain why this
is a problem.”

The stragglers
in the gathering area turned to watch the commotion.

Oman gently
placed his hand on Dr. Wu’s shoulder. “I can talk to you about that later.”

Dr. Wu ducked
away from his reach. “Don’t patronize me!” he yelled and spun around. “Let me
go get my robe
so I am
“properly attired”,
”
he said and
stormed off, muttering under his breath in Chinese.

“What an
attitude
,”
Prolificent said with crossed arms.

 “We need to
talk… in private,” Oman said through gritted teeth.

“Right here will
do fine.”

“You
do
realize, Prolificent, that I am
not
your enemy, right?”

“I did nothing
wrong here. I simply wanted to know if you addressed it with him.”

Oman lifted his
staff in the air, tipping it in his direction. “Precisely! It was
my
issue to address,
when
I wanted to address it. So may I suggest that
you, with all due respect, mind your own matters.”

Prolificent raised
his chin, unaffected by his challenging words. “If I felt that it was possible
for you to address, maybe I would have.”

“What are you
suggesting?” he asked in a low snarl.

“Seriously,
Oman, half of your humans didn’t show this evening and one of them stormed out
defiantly. Not to mention, one of them showed up not dressed in his robe. Do I
really have to spell it out for you?”

Oman slammed the
tip of his staff against the wooden platform, causing a tremor to roll down its
legs and into the earth. “You will NOT speak to me that way.

Prolificent
backed away, his smirk straightening.

“You are not my
superior, and these are
humans
that have had a rather trying day.
Exercising our authority with them in full-force on day one is not going to win
their trust. These are delicate matters, which is why I, Prolificent, not
you
was assigned as their leader. You have your own flock to tend to, so I suggest
that you start tending to them and stop worrying about mine.”

“I apologize,”
he conceded, holding his hands between them, “but I do hope to see more
cooperation from your group in the days to come. I care about everyone’s
survival as much as you.”

Oman sighed
resignedly, tapping his finger that gripped the staff. “I know, and our
quarreling isn’t helping matters. Let’s just make sure we remember to respect
each other’s authorities.”

“Agreed. I will
see you tomorrow,” he said flatly and descended down the stairs.

Oman watched as he
and Diamort made their way toward the hill to the North. “I hope that’s the
last time he tries that with me,” he said and went to find Dr. Wu.

* * *

Wearing his
purple robe, Dr. Wu made his way back to the gathering place still huffing and
mumbling to himself in Chinese.

“There you are,
my friend. I was on my way to find you,” Oman said as he approached.

Dr. Wu flung his
hands in the air, exasperated. “I’m a Doctor. I should be worried about my
patients and not about wearing silly dresses.”

Oman fought a
chuckle. “I know. I apologize for what happened back there. Please, continue
with what you wanted to ask me.”

“Isaac is doing
better, but it could still take weeks before he can be released from my care.”

Oman’s thin lips
drew into a frown. “That’s unfortunate. I might not be able to work with him until
he’s up for it. What can I do?”

“Well I was
thinking, the wound on his back, it’s so deep that he should have died shortly
after he received it, but he didn’t. I’m trying to figure out how that’s
possible.”

“Maybe we should
ask Alyx, his Protector.”

“That’s exactly
what I wanted to ask. Of course, that means we’ll have to go through his
majesty
…
I mean, Prolificent though, right?”

Oman placed his
fist over his mouth to hide the amused snicker. “I will deal with Prolificent.”

Dr. Wu bowed with gratitude. “Thank
you.”

Alone in the
tent, Alyx unbuttoned her robe while the other Protectors gathered outside,
clucking away about the events at the gathering. Their shared dwelling was the
size of her entire one bedroom apartment back in the city, and along the left
and back edges stood eight mirrored vanities with silver plated combs and
brushes – one for each girl. Beside the vanities, sat brown, leather trunks,
which housed their robes and three silk replacement dresses. A red, velvet
chaise lounged along the right wall, which she figured was more for aesthetics
than functionality because Angels didn’t need rest. Theoretically.

A courtyard
occupied the space between their tent and the Elders’ with a tiered fountain
and marble benches – a place where the girls migrated to socialize. The stone
flooring beneath the fountain looked like their symbol; a three-peaked Celtic
knot surrounded by a circle, connected to another symbol she had never seen. A
circle encased this one also, but the symbol had one straight, vertical line
through the center and two shorter connecting lines in the center of that,
pointing to the left. She could only conclude that it had something to do with
the Warriors.

After neatly
folding her robe and locking it away into her chest, she rested on the edge of
the chaise lounge, gliding her bare feet over the soft grass. In the privacy of
the quiet living quarters, her mind wandered back to where it usually did –
Isaac. She closed her eyes, and just as she felt the soft grass beneath her
feet, she felt his presence down the hill below. Even though she couldn’t see
or touch him, she still
felt
him through her draw, which was the only
thing that comforted her in the midst of loneliness. His existence might have
been the reason for her segregation from the rest of her kind, but she would
rather have it that way just so she could still have that connection, as slight
as it was.

Disappointed
that he didn’t attend the gathering, she hugged her arms around her waist and
reclined onto the soft velvet. She closed her eyes and visualized the feast
tomorrow. Maybe he would sit at the table. Wounded or not, he had to eat, right?
Maybe she could sit beside him and pull him aside at some point to apologize
for everything. It would be the perfect chance for them to reunite.

Her stomach
rumbled. The thought of sitting at a table with food enticed her almost as
much. She couldn’t eat there but could sneak some food, perhaps. Although, her
Elders were always watching. Even if she could get away with sneaking the food,
what about Rielle? During the meeting, they said the Arch Angels were “ever
watchful”. She couldn’t hide it from them
either
.
I don’t know
WHAT I’m going to do.

The chatter
outside elevated to loud bellows and startled Alyx from her pondering. Her eyes
flew open, and she glared in the direction from which it came. Irritation
swelled inside. She couldn’t understand how the girls could laugh about
anything
right now. Just when she thought they had grasped the seriousness of everything,
they seemingly regressed toward flippancy.
Am I the only one among them who
cares?
     

The laughing
ended abruptly, and the opening of the tent flung open, startling her again.
She shot up from the lounge.

When her eyes
focused on whom the intruder was, her heart jumped.
Prolificent.
She
tucked her chin into her chest and fixed her eyes on his feet in reverence.

“I need to speak
with you,” he said.

This is it. He’s
come to punish me.

“You are needed
at the human camp. Oman is here to get you.”

Her head snapped
up.
The human camp?
 

“You are to
accompany him down there, speak with the Doctor, and promptly return. Understood?
No lingering. Diamort and I have some business to discuss with you when you get
back.”

“Y-yes sir,” she
replied, still in shock.

“Come with me,”
he said and turned to leave.

Outside, the
other Protectors watched curiously as he led her to Oman. Christineth muttered
something sarcastic under her breath, and a few faint snickers followed.

Oman shot them a
chiding look while Prolificent acted as though he never heard it.

Before walking
off with Oman, Alyx glanced at Cindra who stood at the front of the group, observing
their departure with wide eyes. She smiled reassuringly to calm her friend’s
worries, although she felt somewhat anxious herself.

END OF SAMPLE