Page 147 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Kase’s eyebrows rose.
“Got promoted three days ago.”
Oof, the implications of that statement hit Kase like a ton of bricks. How many people had they lost in the attacks?
Sergeant rested his hand on his sword. “We’re scant, and after the stunt you pulled the other night, I’m stuck here with you now.”
Kase muttered, “If it makes you feel any better, I regret it.”
“I don’t get paid enough to deal with the cheekiness of a boy barely out of his adolescent years.”
Kase bristled. The man must’ve been only five or six years Kase’s senior, though Jove had more gray at his temples. But his brother worried too much. And was probably dead.
Kase swallowed his retort at the sobering thought. Maybe he did deserve a curmudgeon of a guard.
Sergeant turned to his partner and ordered, “No one comes in or out, or the Stradat Lord Kapitan will deal with you. We will be back shortly.”
He put a lot of emphasis on that last word.
Whatever. Kase only needed a minute or two with Hallie.
The man saluted. Sergeant started off, leading the way. Kase scurried after him, afraid that if he waited too long, he’d be forced back into his tent. He tried not to be annoyed by his current predicament. He rubbed his neck as he walked. He was alive, and Hallie had returned to him. Most everything was better than he’d anticipated.
With the recent attack taking out a few of the larger upper corridors, the hospital ward had been moved even closer to Kase’s area of the Catacombs. He caught a few bits of information as they walked down one corridor and through a cavern with carved out bunks and makeshift tents. They’d be at the hospital ward in the next cavern that looked nearly identical to the last. Really, the rocky scenery was getting monotonous. The addition of a few thousand skulls stacked along the walls might be an improvement, but alas, they were not on ancient First Earth, and using people’s bones as grotesque decor would probably throw what little morale the people had left in the gutter.
With that disturbing thought, Kase made himself look forward to his training that afternoon instead. Hopefully, he could convince whoever he needed to let them outside. With the greenie Laurence Hixon still unable to use his legs, he only had two other greenies to train. He thought he could swing a little practice on the Cerl hover, if he was lucky. Maybe he could convince Hallie to come along. He wanted to show her moreabout the hover, and she’d probably want to sketch and study it. She was a scholar, after all.
He smiled to himself. How had he gotten so lucky?
They entered the next cavern and passed a group of soldiers chatting with a few medics, preparing to aid some of those in the upper tunnels for movement to the city.
The hospital ward looked the same as he’d left it three days prior, overflowing with the injured and overworked medics and nurses. He wasn’t sure just how they were able to handle the swell in patients. The chorus of moans and curt instructions inundated his ears. He wove his way around the men and women and children laid out in varying states of distress. Medics and volunteers with sweaty faces and haunted eyes bustled from person to person trying to make sense of the mess they still found themselves in. Had there been another attack? A cave-in? Or something else?
He tried not to look too closely, but a few patients had what looked like black spider webs crawling up their arms. Not many, but enough for Kase to shift away from them. It was clearly contagious, and nothing Kase wanted to catch. He hated spiders.
Kase’s own brow dampened in the compact quarters. The atmosphere wasn’t ideal for him, nor the patients laid out in rows. He kept his eyes open for the pretty redheaded scholar. She’d told him she helped out here every day.
When he didn’t see her anywhere, he began to lose hope that she was there at all. Surely that meant nothing sinister. He was about to give up when he spotted Zelda. She’d tied on a medic apron and was wrapping a man’s ankle wound.
He shouldered his way past a few family members surrounding a young girl whose arm lay at an odd angle. Kase looked away hastily. At least it seemed to be the worst of her injuries. A broken arm could be fixed.
Zelda tied off the bandage on the man’s ankle and looked up. Her eyes narrowed, and Kase itched to run a hand through his hair. He glanced back at the guard trailing him through the ward.
Zelda ignored Kase and spoke to her patient. “If you start running a fever in the next few hours, you come right back here.”
The man mumbled something back, getting up off his makeshift chair of an overturned bucket and hobbled off. Zelda dusted her hands off on her apron.
“I’m in need of a salve,” Kase said, holding up his wrapped hand. The sock was now a deep red from where he’d kept his fingers tight around it, but it looked like his hand had ceased bleeding.
Zelda stared at him hard. “We don’t have time to deal with minor injuries.”
Sergeant stood a short distance away, having fought his way through the crowds. He still looked ready to flay Kase alive if he did anything that would jeopardize his well-being with the Stradat Lord Kapitan. Kase flicked his gaze back to Zelda and leaned in. “Listen, I really need to speak with Hallie. It’s urgent.”
“Miss Walker, you mean?”
Kase clenched the sock bandage. “Yes, I mean, I’m looking for Miss Walker. I need to speak with her.”
Zelda raised a brow and shot back, “Did you get into an argument?”
