The Lord of the Crows

Part 19 - You Ask Too Much

Peck proved to be harder to cooperate with than the old woman. I had deeply believed that Lela was going to be the one most difficult to handle, but it turned out the young guy was the harder nut to crack. I found him in the training room preparing the new device. He did not stop working while I was explaining everything to him, and when I finally finished, he turned, wiped his hands and simply said: 'No.'

"Peck, I know I'm asking a lot, but ..."

The young man was on his own in the training room and did not hesitate to oppose me.

"Yes, you are. You are asking me to endanger the life of someone who entrusted that same life to me for safekeeping. I'm a healer, not a murderer."

"Damn it, Peck, I'm just asking you to tell me how many blows my bones can withstand. And to tell me if there is anything that would relieve my pain but leave me clear-headed."

He turned to me and leaned against the device, just as I had leaned against a desk in the library a few days earlier.

"You ask me to agree with your intention to get yourself disabled. This time permanently. Even if Mrs. Daina doesn't take my head off for it, I won't be able to live with the fact that my knowledge meant to help someone hurt somebody instead."

I scratched my neck and sighed.

"Look, my friend, there's some slight chance that my plan will succeed completely, but if you don't help me, it won't work at all. At best, the guards will be able to stop the attack before they hit us in full, with only a few injured and dead. At worst, the Sanctuary will no longer exist."

He shook his head and fell silent, staring at the polished surface of the wooden exercise machine. I have already come to terms with the fact that he was not going to help me and that I would have to turn to the old woman again, but that she would no longer be particularly cooperative either, when he looked up and asked:

"Why?"

I took a deep breath, aware that I had to tell him the truth. And that truth could not be summed up just like that, without being exposed and presented in its most cruel form. One man's hero, other man's villain.

"Because for the first time I have the opportunity to truly protect somebody with my knowledge and skills, without bringing pain and suffering. I want," I paused, "I want you to swear that what you hear from me you will never repeat to anyone."

And he stood up and nodded slightly. He looked around and waved me to follow him. He ushered me into a small, nursing room, completely separate from the rest of the gym, and locked the door.

"No one will bother us here," he murmured.

I sat down at the table opposite him and started. I looked above him, somewhere into a stone wall, as I had looked many years ago at the stone wall of the labyrinth that surrounded the City of Lagrena. I spoke to him, impersonally, concisely, but clearly, as I would speak to a stranger I met at an inn, telling him about events that happened to someone once upon a time. This time, that someone was me.

I couldn't tell how much time had passed. He listened to me, without saying a word, without hatred, without condemnation. When I finished, he continued to sit silently for a while longer. Then he got up, opened the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of brown liquid.

"Your bones will last as long as usual, but the flesh will be more sensitive. It will hurt more. We gave this to you when they first brought you to ease the pain. It is strong and will help, and it will not send you unconscious. You can take only three or four sips. What did Lela give you?"

"A cure for blue flowers."

He nodded and added:

"Okay. You can drink this with that. But still no more than three to four sips."

I accepted a bottle and got up.

"Thank you..."

He stopped me.

"And? What is our plan? "

I frowned.

"Peck, it's out of the question for me to drag you into all this. I don't want your blood on my hands either."

"Master Crow, you didn't think I'd just sit here and wait, did you?"