The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 12

XII

DAKEN

175 A.E.F.

Infimary, Morningstar Keep

"My head is killing me," Daken moaned, opening his eyes. He tried to sit up in his hospital bed, but pain rocketed through his body the moment he moved. "Ow, ow, ow. Ok, not trying that again," he relented.

"Well, look who finally decided to wake up," a young blonde woman, not much older than twenty, said with relief. "Take it slow. I know you treat your body with all the reverence of a crash test dummy, but even you are going to need some recovery time. Those weren't just concussive blasts you were hit with. Whatever this attack was, it actually began to atrophy your muscles in addition to its raw physical damage."

Faust's grim ultimatum raced back to the forefront of Daken's mind just as he began to lay back into his bed. He exhaled slowly, controlling the torrent of emotions raging inside him and focusing it into action. "Meddy, it's bad," the battered Apostle said slowly. "I need to speak with-"

Meddy sighed. "Daken, I've know you. And I know that with you, it's always bad." She walked over to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently lowering him back against the soft pillows she had strategically arranged behind his back with surgical care. "It's all right. Jonathan told me it's urgent. Lady Vigilant is on her way as we speak." She chewed the tip of her pen steadily as she re-secured one of Daken's peeling bandages. "You know, sometimes people do just say hi to each other when they aren't bleeding."

Daken smiled and allowed himself to relax, if only for the moment. "Hi. It's nice to see you too, Meddy."

Half the age of any other member of the Brigade's medical team, Meddy could have easily been mistaken for an assistant if it weren't for the sharp air of uncompromising efficiency that marked every detail of her appearance. Her hair was eternally bound back in a tight bun to ensure that it would never fall foreward during her work, save for one ribbon of golden yellow that brushed against the right side of her glasses and then ran down along her sharp cheekbones. Her piercing blue eyes were only magnifined by the thin lenses in front of them, which sat in a quietly calculated position along her lightly freckled nose. She wore a spotless white labcoat with each small black and silver Bridage emblem emblazoned button carefully fastened into place. A blue stethoscope hung around her neck, precisely balanced so it would never slide. And yet, despite her best efforts to communicate an air of absolute professionalism, she still couldn't help the giddy, uneven grin that would spread across her face whenever a patient walked out her door better than they had come in.

She rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses back into place as she batted away Daken's sloppy attempt at smarm. "Oh, don't get all chummy with me now. Jonathan carries you in here half-dead and that's all you've got to say for yourself?"

"I was also going to say you smell nice today, if that's any consolation," he offered.

Meddy rubbed her temples. "Yep, looks like you still know exactly what a girl wants to hear," she muttered, making a few quick marks on her chart.

"Did Jonathan come to see me?" Daken asked, hurriedly scanning the room for the secret files as some small corner of his anxious mind cautioned that he had been discovered.

"Yes, he came in just a few moments ago to check on you," she answered, nodding as she checked the dressing on a few of Daken's wounds. "He had to step out for a moment. They've already debriefed him and he wanted to get right back to work, but they're trying to ease him back with a less physical assignment." She stifled a laugh. "Apparently there was a trespasser he's been assigned to question."