Twin Suns of Arterra

18

My fingers itched for a weapon. I scanned the room for something I could use, but there was only the bed and a small stand with a pitcher of water sitting on it.

I had awoken refreshed, my body finally free of the heaviness that had plagued me, my energy replenished. Aaliyah brought me some fruit to eat, and some dried meat. I did not question what it was or where it had come from. I didn't care. I would need my strength regardless of what happened today.

The others had filtered in one-by-one, until everyone was there but Blade. They greeted me warmly, asking how I was doing, but I could see the tension beneath their smiles. They were guarded. Against what, I would have to see.

The door swung open. Blade nodded to the others, then looked to me.

"Ready?"

As I would ever be. "Let's go."

I forced my fingers to relax, unclenching the fists I had unconsciously formed. I was eager to get out of this room, restless to see what stood beyond the door I'd been tucked behind for my recuperation.

The hallway was brighter than I had anticipated, in spite of the obvious age of the walls. It was easy to see that someone cleaned meticulously. The scent that hung in the air was fresh and crisp, like fresh grass after a rain.

Blade walked ahead of me, her back rigid. Her determined steps clipped out a staccato on the floor.

"Where are we going?"

She tilted her head back in my direction, her steps slowing.

"There's something that I think you need to see."

That wasn't what I asked, but I didn't press her. Something had her on edge. Something had all of them on edge.

There were more doors of the main hallway, and then we came to an intersect. Blade stopped, her eyes locked on a small red mark on the wall: a red bar, with three red lines running down from it. It reminded me of the tattoos marked on the gaunt faces I'd seen. She glanced at the others, her eyes skimming me, then she turned down the hall with the mark on it.

Worry squirmed in my gut like a worm, sightless and soundless and fat with unease.

The sound of coughing reached my ears. It was a course, harsh sound. It made me wince just to hear it, my own lungs having hurt so badly after inhaling smoke and scorched air. The sound echoed across the hall.

It was coming from more than one direction.

Ahead, the hallway widened. On the right, I saw something moving, rippling in the light. Curtains, I realized, as a man pushed out from behind them. He didn't even look up as he walked away, he was so engrossed in the papers he held in his hand. Blade stopped at the curtains. From behind them, I heard more coughing.

This time, her eyes locked only on mine.

"What they have is not contagious," she said with a calm certainty that I knew I could trust.

I nodded.

Her lips tightened and she pulled back the curtain, motioning for me to go first. The room beyond was lined with beds. There were perhaps twenty of them along the wall. Like the rest of the place, this room was meticulously neat and clean. The beds looked fresh, and the people in them well cared for. Regardless, it was easy to see that they were wasting away.

If the people I had seen outside had been gaunt, these people were skeletons. Bones protruded sharply from translucent skin. Several heads were bare, others covered in only the thinnest wisps of hair. Dark crescents underscored each eye.

A few of them looked up as I approached, their dark eyes too large in their narrow faces. Some were too weak to look up.

I saw a bed that looked empty, then startled when something moved. It wasn't empty, but the form beneath the covers was so small that they barely made a bump. A tiny hand poked out from under the blanket, followed by a face. Luminous blue eyes blinked.

My breath hitched in my chest.

She couldn't be more than four cycles. Her pale lips stretched into a weak smile. I tried to smile back, hoping that it didn't look like the grimace it felt like.

"Her name is Brecca."

Valyn stood behind my left shoulder.

"She's six."

Six! She looked barely four. How could she be six?

"The sickness stunts their growth." Her voice was deep, but resonant rather than loud. Smooth rather than harsh.

The small girl lifted a hand, and Valyn brushed by me to sit beside her on the bed.

"How's our girl today?"

"Good." Her voice was bright somehow. I'd expected a hollow, faint voice. This voice sounded too... alive to go with the figure lying on the bed.

"These visitors are from Arterra," Valyn said to her, and the girl's eyes widened to round saucers.

"Can they help us?"

Valyn patted her hand gently. "We don't know yet."

Help them?

What could we possibly do to help them? I didn't even know what was wrong with them. Brecca's face was alight with something between hope and fear. She leaned around Valyn to look at each of us.

"If you can help, you have to try." Her little voice was filled with conviction and a force that only belief in her correctness could impart.

"Don't worry," Valyn said, leaning in to touch her forehead against the girl's. "I'm sure that if they discover there's something they can do, they'll do it."

The girl nodded appeased, and offered us another smile.

Valyn stood, leaning toward me as she passed.

"To what lengths would you go to save her, if she was your sister?"

She disappeared through the curtains before I could fully register her question. Confusion and anger surged through me like a cold fire.

How dare she!

This was not my sister. Not my Camille. If it were, I would go to any length to save her. Did she mock me? Did this monster who had stolen a helpless baby from her bed truly dare to ask me this?

I charged after her.

I'd be condemned if I was going to let her think she could bait me with a poor, sick child and not give me the answers I'd come for.

Behind me, I heard a scuffle of feet as the others hurried after us.

I reached Valyn and grabbed her arm, spinning her around.

"Tell me where she is!"

Within her swath of red, her eyes blazed for a moment, but the heat quickly dissolved. Her muscles loosened, and she sighed.

"I'll take you to her."

I frowned, confused, but refused to release her arm.

"Is she all right?"

Valyn's smile was tired but warm. "She's fine." Her chin dipped and her brows lifted, as if she was as surprised by her next words as I was to hear them. "She is one of our most determined healers."