The Shifter Part 15

Whoomp. The pynvium beads of Aylin's bracelet triggered under the pressure and flashed. My wrist and hand tingled, but whoever had enchanted the beads had done a good job. The pain flashed up and out, over the fourth cord's hand. The pynvium beads of Aylin's bracelet triggered under the pressure and flashed. My wrist and hand tingled, but whoever had enchanted the beads had done a good job. The pain flashed up and out, over the fourth cord's hand.

She yelped and s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand away, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Why do you have-"

I tackled her, leaping off the stairs like a frog from a tree. She squealed as I knocked her to the floor; then her cry s.h.i.+fted to a wheezy gasp. It was only a matter of seconds until she caught her breath and fought back. Running I was good at, but fighting? I swung the sack, slamming it against her head. Her head flew back and cracked against the tile. She stilled.

For a terrible second I thought I'd killed her, but then she groaned. I felt my way in real quick and sighed. Just unconscious, not even a bone bruise. She'd be out for a bit, but not nearly long enough for me get Tali.

I scanned the hall, but no one dashed into view to see what all the noise had been about. Moving her would take time Tali might not have, but I couldn't leave her there. Folks might be willing to overlook a lot of things in the League these days, but an unconscious fourth cord on the floor wasn't likely to be one of them.

Trembling, I dragged her to one of the empty treatment rooms down the hall and plopped her behind a cot. Doubtful anyone would be using the room this early. I bound her hands and feet with her cords, which seemed pretty fitting to me, then shoved Aylin's scarf into her mouth. With luck, no one would go looking for her until Tali and I were gone.

I slipped out of the room and resumed my climb. Kione leaned against the door at the end of the hall, same as before. He stood straight as a soldier as I stepped onto the landing, then slumped his shoulders when he saw it was me.

"I'd hoped you weren't going to show up."

"Well, I'm here." I fought the urge to look behind me.

He eyed my "laundry" but didn't say a word, like we agreed. With a deep breath, he opened the door and walked inside. "Hey, Lanelle, your relief's here. Let me buy you breakfast."

Lanelle yawned and smoothed the wrinkles in her white uniform. Behind her was a cot with a green vest lying across the foot. She'd slept here?

"I'm starving," she told Kione, then turned to me. "Do I have time to wash, or do you need to get back soon?"

Take all day, you horrible, heartless rat. I forced a smile. "You have time. They don't need me in the ward until this afternoon."

She grabbed her vest and slipped it over her skinny shoulders. "They've been quiet all night. The two under the lamp there are looking rather waxy, so you might want to check on them more often. They might not last the day."

I gripped the pynvium tighter. "I'll check them."

"Come on, Lanelle, I'm hungry." Kione tugged at her arm.

"And if Elder Vinnot comes by early, my symptom report is on the table there. Three of the symptoms he asked me to watch for have manifested. He'll want any bodies too." She paused and glanced at the beds. "For dissection, I mean, so they can figure out what's causing this." She spoke in a rush, as if trying to convince both of us that was the truth.

She had to know they were lying. Impossible for her to spend time in this room and not figure out what was wrong. I fought the urge to shove her through the door and out the nearest window.

"And if-"

"I'm starving here, Lanelle."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Kione gave me a quick nod as he shut the door.

I ran to Tali. She was still breathing, still pale, and still alive. I ripped open my bundle. "Tali? I have pynvium. Wake up, Tali, you have to dump the pain. Hurry, we don't have much time."

Her eyes fluttered open and she cried softly, like a kitten.

I grabbed her hand and shoved a chunk of pynvium into it. "Feel it? Fill it up."

She whimpered and shook her head slowly.

"You can do it, Tali. Push Push, please, for me." For an instant, I felt it, a quiver under my fingers as she pushed pushed her pain away. I handed her another. "Now this one." her pain away. I handed her another. "Now this one."

A sob burst from her lips and broke my heart. Her hands shook, barely able to hold the pynvium, let alone grab it.

"Please try."

Another tingle, another injury thrown away. One by one I pa.s.sed her chunks of hope, begged her to find the strength to shove the pain away. Prayed that no one would find the fourth cord tied up downstairs anytime soon.

Her hands stopped shaking on the seventh chunk. On the tenth, her color returned. By the twelfth, her sunken cheeks had filled in a little. I handed her the thirteenth chunk, hardly bigger than a chicken's egg. "Last one, Tali. Push as hard as you can."

She did, and though pain shone in her watery eyes, awareness did too. "Where. Get this?"

"A pain merchant. I'll explain later, but we have to get out of here right now. Can you stand?"

She struggled to sit up, then fell back with a pained yelp. "No. Hurts."

I touched her heart and forehead. Still so much pain, but I sensed something else-something worse. The thickening of her blood, like Danello. Saints have mercy. Takers weren't immune; they only needed more pain over more time before it killed them too.

I was out of pynvium. She was out of time.

"Tali, listen to me carefully, because I may not be able to tell you afterward. When you leave here, go right to Aylin's."

"Leave?"

"Do you remember where Aylin lives?"

She hesitated. "Yes."

"Go to her right away. She'll have food for you, and clean clothes. She'll take you to a boy named Danello and his family. You'll need to heal them. She'll have pynvium to hold it."

"How?"

I took her hands. "Get to Danello's as fast as you can, Tali. They don't have much time left before their pain kills them."

"Nya. Don't." Tears flowed across her temples toward her ears.

Eyes closed, I pressed my forehead to hers. "I love you, Tali."

I kissed her cheek and drew drew.

TWELVE.

Agony swiped my knees out from under me. I collapsed beside Tali's cot, knives twisting in my lungs, needles stabbing my belly. Aches I didn't even have names for ate away at my joints. I moaned, and even that hurt. How had Tali withstood so much for so long?

"Oh no, Nya, no!" Tali slipped out of the cot and knelt on the floor beside me, moving gingerly, as if she expected everything to hurt. That was my job now.

"Run," I wheezed. "Hurry."

"Why did you do it? You shouldn't have done it."

"Go. Danello. Needs. You."

She hugged me. "I won't leave you."

"Go!"

"Not without you."

The fourth cord I'd tackled might be conscious by now, and someone would find her soon-if they hadn't already. I gritted my teeth and gathered as much pain as I could in the hollow place between my heart and guts. The pain eased a bit, but I couldn't hold it there long. My fingers tingled, needing me to push push the gathered pain away. the gathered pain away.

If only I could.

"Tali, you have to go," I gasped, struggling to hold on to the words. "If they catch you, they might kill you."

Anger darkened her face. "They already tried to do that."

"Then get out before they try again."

"I'm not leaving you."

The door opened and Tali sucked in a gasp.

"Tali," I whispered fast, "tears." Crying would give her away for sure. No one working in this room would cry over a bunch of useless, orphaned 'Vegs.

She c.o.c.ked her head at me, then her fingers darted up and smeared away her tears. Even in the dim light, I could tell she'd been crying.

"You will never believe what happened!" Lanelle said in a fearful rush. I didn't hear Kione or another set of footsteps. Was she alone? Moving hurt too much to check. "Elder Nostomo found Sersin tied up in treatment room three. Can you believe it? The guards are everywhere. The entire League has been sealed!"

I s.h.i.+fted my head a little, and fresh pain washed over me. I took stomach-settling breaths and prayed Tali had time to escape.

"Was she hurt?" Tali asked. Sweet of her to care, but now was not the time to worry over folks who wanted her dead. She wasn't a Healer today, at least not until she got out of the League and over to Danello's.

"I don't know. She's still unconscious. I heard there was blood on the floor!"

Blood? How could I have missed blood? Hasty hands do no good, as Grannyma used to say. Tali had to leave, now now.

"Why would anyone attack Sersin?" Lanelle came into my line of sight and jerked to a stop, a flush across her face. "What happened? Did she fall out of bed?" It almost sounded like real concern.

"Um, she had a seizure."

"Really? That's a new symptom, but it isn't on the watch list. Elder Vinnot says we'll learn enough about pain from watching them to develop entirely new treatments, maybe even some that don't require pynvium at all! He's doing special research for the Duke himself, and he's even letting me help. I've been writing it all down in my notebook. How long did the seizure last?"

"I, uh..."

Tali had never been a quick liar. As a child, if she broke a vase, she said the crocodiles had done it. Forgot her homework-the lake wind had blown it out the window.

"Oohhh." I started twitching and moaning, even gurgled up a bit of spit. I barely had to fake it this time.

Lanelle grimaced, and shame flashed across her pink cheeks. "What am I thinking? We'd better get her back into bed first."

"Probably best."

She knelt and reached toward me, then stopped. Her brows wrinkled. "Is this the same-"

"You grab her shoulders," Tali said quickly, nudging Lanelle forward so she wasn't staring at my face. "I'll get her legs."

I slipped a sigh into my next moan. Not much of a liar, but she could think on her feet when she had to.

Lanelle lifted me gently, not putting too much pressure on any one spot. More care than I was expecting, but then she'd been dealing with the pain-filled apprentices for days now. I bet she handled them carefully so they didn't scream and give her a headache.

They got me "back" onto the cot. My skin burned as Tali draped the blanket over me. I swallowed my cry but couldn't stop the shakes.

Please don't let her notice. She had to hold herself together, and she couldn't do that worrying over me. I gathered the pain again, shoved it away best I could.

"Did you, um, need me to stay?" Tali asked. "I could help for a while longer."

Maybe I'd been too fast to praise her quick thinking. I tried to force Tali, leave Tali, leave into her brain with a glare, but she wouldn't look at me. Lanelle stood by my shoulder, peering at Tali with that same funny look she'd given me. We looked an awful lot alike, and in the dim light might even pa.s.s as twins, but my guts said Lanelle wasn't as dumb as she seemed. into her brain with a glare, but she wouldn't look at me. Lanelle stood by my shoulder, peering at Tali with that same funny look she'd given me. We looked an awful lot alike, and in the dim light might even pa.s.s as twins, but my guts said Lanelle wasn't as dumb as she seemed.

"What was your name again?"

Panic shook loose my hold on the pain. It raced through me, and sweat tickled over my body like tiny spiders. A gasp burst its way out, and a sob followed close behind.

Tali dropped to one knee and grabbed my hand. "Ny-no, no, don't fight it."

"Go," I whispered.

Her eyes widened like I'd given us up. She swallowed and patted my hand. "That's right, let it go."

If only I had enough strength left to kick her.

Lanelle tugged at her shoulder. "Leave her be. She'll feel better once she falls back asleep. It's the only thing that's helped them so far."

"I guess so." Tali stood, gazing at me with far too much worry on her face. Lanelle's had too much suspicion.

My fingers tingled again, clearly seeing what my fuzzy mind had missed. I didn't need pynvium to dump my pain-I just needed a place to put it. Lanelle was helping them. She deserved to know what it felt like to be in one of these cots, didn't she? They lied to her too-she might not know They lied to her too-she might not know. I tried to shut up a conscience that sounded a lot like Grannyma.

Lanelle stood at the head of my cot, a few feet from my shoulder. The distance kept changing, s.h.i.+fting to and fro like waves on the sh.o.r.e. I closed my eyes a moment to squash down the pain again and focus. This wasn't about me but all of them. Lanelle could help them by helping me and Tali escape. The sacrificial cow to save the herd.

"I'm Lanelle, by the way. Not sure we were ever introduced."