“How long till we know if it works?” Tal asked.
Bradok shrugged dumbly.
“Let’s leave it in for the night,” he said, looking around at the glowing crystals filling the cave. “This looks like a nice, warm, bright place for everyone to get some rest.”
CHAPTER 17
For the first time in many weeks, Bradok woke up peaceably. No one had roused him. No sound had penetrated his weary mind to raise any alarms. No sense of impending danger compelled him to consciousness. He just felt a weightless, euphoric feeling as he floated up from the depths of dreaming to full consciousness.
It felt wondrous.
Bradok opened his eyes and looked at the cave ceiling above. The glowing crystals had dimmed considerably since the night before, but there was still plenty of light shining. A few people were up and about, but most still slept. He gave a thought to just rolling over and going back to sleep, but he knew if he rested too much, it would just make him more tired later.
With a sigh, he rose, brushing the dust from his pants and shaking the dirt from his cloak. He changed his shirt and went to the moonwell to splash some water on his face. As he approached the shallow pool, it seemed to have grown brighter rather than dimmer, as the crystals had. The water shimmered only faintly, retaining very little of the luminescent silver light that it displayed the previous night. However, two bright points of light burned coldly from the bottom of the little pool.
Bradok’s face broke into a wide smile as he rolled up his sleeve. He thrust his hand in the freezing water and withdrew the two glowstones, revived and returned to a brightly glowing state.
“It worked,” Corin said, materializing beside him.
Bradok tossed the Daergar one of the stones with a grin then retrieved the compass. Flipping open its lid, the Seer appeared immediately, hovering in the air. She extended her spear, but instead of pointing at the only exit from the crystal chamber, she gestured toward a spot to one side, against one of the walls.
“Maybe she’s confused,” Corin said, scratching his beard.
The image of the Seer screwed up her face in a look of disdain.
“All right, all right,” Corin said. “Don’t get testy. I’ll go check it out.” He winked at Bradok then rose and bowed to the Seer before moving off toward the wall she had indicated.
“What was that all about?” Rose’s voice greeted Bradok as he put the compass away.
“Corin and the compass were having a difference of opinion,” he said wryly.
Rose knelt down beside the pool and splashed a handful of water on her face, doing her best to wipe away the dirt of the road with a little towel.
“Oh, I see the pool recharged the glowstones,” she said with a note of her old cheerfulness.
Bradok nodded, polishing the compass with the hem of his cloak before putting it away.
“Do you think this water’s safe to drink?” Rose asked, eyeing the still-glowing liquid.
“I usually don’t make a point of drinking things that glow,” he said.
Rose smiled and nodded. “Good point,” she said.
As Bradok dried the glowstones, a long silence began to stretch between them. Rose seemed to be absently combing her hair, and Bradok wanted to broach a delicate subject.
“How are you feeling? How’s your arm?” he asked finally.
She involuntarily put her left hand over the bandage. “It’s healing,” she said. “It’s fine,” she added but in a brisk, uncertain manner that seemed to cut off further inquiry.
“Let’s see,” Bradok said, pulling a strip of cloth from his bag. “I’m sure it could do with a fresh bandage.”
“I tell you, it’s better,” Rose said, putting her hand over the bandage again.
Her face was defiant with anger. Bradok had expected trepidation, maybe even fear, but anger seemed out of place.
“Come on,” he said, reaching for her arm. “We need to see how you’re doing.”
“Don’t touch me,” she growled, pulling her arm back out of reach.
“I was just-” Bradok started to say, but Rose cut him off.
“You’re not my husband, you’re not my mother, and you’re not my doctor.”
“No, your brother is your doctor,” Tal cut in. “Isn’t that confusing enough?” he added good-humoredly, trying to allay the tension.
Bradok turned to find Rose’s brother standing with his arms folded across his barrel chest. “Bradok is right,” he said with more sternness than Bradok had ever heard from him. “Let’s see that arm.”
Rose glared back at him. Bradok felt out of place. It was nothing short of a contest of wills between sister and brother, more than patient and doctor. Eventually, Rose looked away apologetically and held her arm out for Tal to examine.
“Let’s see what we have here,” Tal said, his genial manner returning instantly.
Tal unwrapped the bandage and peeled away the bloody cheesecloth. They all stared. Bradok had seen wounds where part of the underlying muscle had been damaged. Usually such wounds closed up but left a hole where the missing tissue had been removed. When Tal pulled the bandage off Rose’s arm, they saw that the depression made by the surgery had partially filled in.
“Hmmm. This is unusual. I can’t see that it’s good,” Tal said in a low voice, nodding for Bradok to take a closer look.
The entire area that Tal had cut away pulsated with a strange, yellow light, and Bradok could see tracks running out from the area that shot out into Rose’s arm, like weird veins.
“Yes,” Bradok said. “Definitely not good.”
“Cutting it seems to make it angry,” Rose said, sounding composed.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” Tal demanded.
“What would you have done?” Rose asked angrily. “Amputate?” She looked from Bradok to Tal. “What if it’s already gone deeper? You just going to keep cutting till there’s nothing left of me?”
Tal sighed. “We can try again,” he said, clearly discouraged.
Rose shook her head. “No,” she said. “If I’m going to die, I prefer to do it whole.”
“I can respect that,” Tal said. “From now on, I want you to keep me apprised of any changes. Agreed?”
Rose nodded somberly and allowed Tal to wrap up her arm again.
“Now I want you two to promise me something,” she said when Tal finished. “I don’t want to become one of those … things. I want you to swear,” she said, “swear by Reorx’s Forge that you’ll let Thurl … do what he does best. Swear you’ll kill me first.”
Tal and Bradok exchanged dark looks, neither wanting to look the other dwarf in the eyes. Sensing their hesitation, Rose grabbed them each by their shirtfronts and yanked them closer.
“Swear it,” she whispered.
“I swear,” Bradok said solemnly. He meant it, too. He’d let Thurl kill her before he saw her become a shambling horror, but before it came to that, he would do anything possible, move mountains, to change her fate.
“Me too,” Tal said sadly.
Rose released them and tightened the bandage back around her arm. Then she stood up and walked away.
“Wow,” Bradok said, sorely chastened. “She’s really something.”
Tal chuckled.
Bradok shot him a questioning look.
“She’s not the easiest person to get close to,” her brother said. “Your timing is bad too. Are you sure you want to try?”
Bradok laughed. It seemed like such a strange question in light of all that was happening. He looked Tal in the eye and nodded.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Tal said. “Rose is a real beauty who’s been chased by many a dwarf. It’s just that she’s a hard person to love. And I have no idea what this disease is going to do to her.”
Bradok lowered his eyes at the reminder.
“Rose never got the message that she’s a girl,” Tal continued with more spirit. “She wants to be the best at everything, do everything for herself. Most men want to feel like their woman needs them, and Rose doesn’t want to need anyone. In the end, she drives everyone away.”