Clint
“She’s awake now.”
Alexis had broken Clint’s pensive silence with this statement and he looked up from the floor for the first time since his arrival at the village infirmary less than an hour previously. He had been at a loss about what to do since then. The patient’s injury had kept both Alexis and Dr. Clark busy the entire time. On top of that, he was still extremely exhausted, both from his date and the strain of carrying that other woman all the way here.
What had been foremost in his mind the whole time, however, was the dream he’d had. It seemed all the more relevant when he had found out that the person they’d saved was a member of the clergy. He had no reason to think that fact was connected to his experience, but the timing seemed hard to shake off. Now that Sara was awake, Clint supposed now was a good time to try to figure that out. But what good reason did he have to talk to her besides this indescribable feeling that she was connected to him? Yeah, I’ll bet asking to see her would go over well with Alexis.
Instead, Clint simply replied. “I’m glad to hear it. Are you going to be ready to go soon?”
Alexis nodded while finally showing some ghostly signs of fatigue. “Doc is having a talk with her now. I’m going to check back to see if they need anything, then maybe we can go. How are you boys getting along?”
Clint looked up at the bed in front of his chair. There, Seth continued to lay dormant. In truth, he was no less worried for his friend than he had been an hour ago, but the mystery of Crane’s message seemed to trump his presence. For all the notice he had taken of the young spellwarrior, he might have been a fixture in the room he happened to occupy. But he wouldn’t dare to tell that to the man’s sister.
“Great! I just told him that joke about the nymph and the floral sprite. He thought it was so funny that he woke up and laughed himself back into his coma.”
That may have been a little much, Clint thought. Alexis seemed to enjoy the joke, however, if her chuckle was any indication. She kissed Clint on the forehead and smiled over her brother. As she began to leave, she replied. “I hope you get a chance to tell him that joke for real soon enough.”
And so, Alexis left them alone again. But before long, Clint found himself joined by Anthony Clark. A tall man with a model physique, Dr. Clark found no shortage of admirers within the village. What’s more he was the youngest brother of Queen Penelope, making him of prince of Resta. Why a member of the royal family would study medicine or relocate to the kingdom’s far southern reaches was beyond him, much like everything else about the good doctor. Still, he was a kind and intelligent man who was worthy of anyone’s respect. It’s too bad he’ll probably never be king.
Dr. Clark smiled jovially to Clint and looked down at his patient. “Good evening, Clint. Shadowing my bright young nurse again?”
Clint nodded absentmindedly. “Something like that.”
The doctor held a hand over Seth’s forehead and stared intently into his face. Clint knew without even being able to sense that the he was employing magic somehow. It was likely some exploratory spell meant to allow him to see into the patient’s body without any special equipment. It was truly a miraculous thing that this infirmary even had a medical practitioner who employed magic because it had almost none of the very equipment he had foregone.
Moments later, Alexis had returned. When she had stepped into the private room, Dr. Clark looked up. “I might have some good and bad news for you two.”
“Well don’t keep us in suspense!” Alexis shrieked impatiently. “What’s the good news? No-no-no! Bad news first!”
“Well, the bad news is that the infection seems to have spread. I am finding wild source matter throughout his body and it seems to be rising to his epidermis. But it doesn’t seem to be interfering with his body at all. In fact, he seems to be regenerating unnaturally quickly. His bone fractures are almost completely healed and I don’t see any signs of bruising whatsoever.”
“My gods,” Alexis murmured as she stared at her still unmoving brother. “He might just pull through this after all!”
Clint grinned. “I knew he was made of tougher stuff than that! Bunch of thugs take Seth Midas down? Not bloody likely!”
Dr. Clark nodded gravely before adding. “It’s still too soon to be certain. I don’t know if you’re aware, but source matter is dangerous stuff. We’re talking about one of the primary components of chaos grenades, after all. Its effects on the human body aren’t widely understood. Still, his recovery has been remarkable. If we could assume those effects are benign, I’d see no reason he won’t be up and out of this bed by tomorrow night.”
Alexis’ eyes lit up. “Really?”
The doctor shook his head. “Don’t hold me to that. Physically, he’s fine other than his infection, but when he wakes up is something that can only be determined by him.”
Alexis rushed forward to hug Dr. Clark. “Oh thank you, thank you, doc! He has a real chance because of you!”
The doctor disengaged himself from his nurse with a look of discomfort. “Please, don’t thank me. All I’ve really done is keep him alive. His recovery is one-hundred percent his own doing.”
Alexis nodded, a little embarrassed by her outburst. “Still, that’s wonderful news. I had to share that with somebody.”
“Then you should share it with your boyfriend,” Dr. Clark said with a smile aimed at Clint. “You two have been through all of this together. Truly, Clint’s done more for you and your brother than I have.”
Clint didn’t know why the compliment had embarrassed him, but he could feel the heat of blood rising to his face. “That means a lot, doctor.”
Alexis took note of Clint’s blush and hugged him. “And he meant every word of it. You’ve been amazing.”
Clint didn’t see the point to patting himself on the back, especially since Seth was still in a coma. “I’m sure I’ll feel that way too when he wakes up. How’s the girl we brought in?”
Alexis looked taken aback by the sudden change of subject, but answered, “You mean Sara? Just a minor concussion and a fractured radius. As soon as we brought her to, she was able to heal her own injuries.”
“And she did so extraordinarily quickly, now that I come to think of it,” Dr. Clark added. “Her faith must be powerful.”
Interesting. “More powerful than yours?” Clint asked.
Dr. Clark chuckled. “Possibly, but that is neither here nor there. Our abilities are similar, but my training is in medical mysticism.”
Clint suddenly realized that he had lost interest in talking. So powerful was his eager curiosity that, without a word, he wandered out of the room into the open ward. He searched the room carefully, but could find no trace of the cleric. Dr Clark and Alexis followed him out moments later; the latter looked annoyed.
“Clint, what’s the matter with you? You’re starting to worry me.”
Clint did not seem to have heard what she said. “Do you know where she went?”
Alexis‘ eyes narrowed with barely contained rage as she exclaimed. “I believe I asked you something first!”
Clint squeezed his eyes shut and began to rub his temples. Why didn’t she understand how important this is? Okay, I have some explaining to do. I must look like a pig to her right now. With a deep sigh, he added. “When we were alone earlier and I… fell asleep, I had a sort of… religious experience. Then, immediately afterward, we found her. I don’t know why, but it feels connected somehow.”
Alexis’ eyes narrowed further into slits. “Do you really expect me to believe such rank rubbish?”
Of course she wouldn’t believe him. The Midas family were worshippers of Ragos. A weakness of their faith was that anything with deep meaning often goes ignored. Alexis did not believe in anything she could not handle with her own fingers or see with her own eyes. Although he would have never believed it before, he seemed certain since his intimate encounter with Crane that this trait went right up to Ragos himself. But that doesn’t mean she can put me down like that, Clint thought.
“I’m telling the truth!” he fiercely insisted. “I felt Crane within me! It’s like we shared a mind. He… I think he gave me a prophecy!”
Alexis looked ready to scream, but Dr. Clark chose that moment to but. “Now hold on. History is full of false prophecies, sure, but everyone knows that bad things happen to those who claim they are the words of the Gods. What did you see?”
Clint was thankful that Dr. Clark, at least, was taking him seriously. He took a deep breath, then began to speak quickly. “I was standing at the base of a black tower with three other people-- a man and two women--but I could also feel the presence of the four elder gods. There was an evil-looking cloud that I’m pretty sure meant death and the four of us are supposed to do something about it and I think Sara might be one of those people.”
Saying it aloud made him feel foolish, but he was confident that no one would see any hint of jest or deceit in his voice. Alexis still didn’t look convinced, but at least she was no longer angry. If anything, she looked utterly confused. A period of silence had fallen on the room, broken nearly a whole minute later by Alexis.
“Say I believe you. Well, couldn’t you just go to a temple?”
“The only temples here are Serene and Chaotic,” Clint grumbled. Well, there’s no way I should have expected this to go well.“But I’m sure she’s part of the prophecy! I need to find her before she leaves town!” I think.
Alexis glared at Clint. He glared back. Finally, when the tension had seemed too much for either to bear, Alexis said softly, “She’s not going anywhere. She seems intent on staying for some reason. Maybe you’ll find her at the temple.”
Clint sighed. He appreciated that she was finally telling him what he wanted to know. He supposed he ought to try to give back.
“Thank you. I’ll look into it when they open tomorrow. I think I can afford to wait that long if I have some time to catch her. For now, want to head home?”
Alexis had accepted the hasty makeup, but she still didn’t seem happy about it. And now that Clint came to think about it, he didn’t feel so great himself. Alexis seemed to think she was simply going to toss her aside now that this woman he hadn’t even had a chance to speak to yet had arrived in the village. He had certainly never claimed to be innocent in that regard, but what the two of them had was passionate and fun. He had never given Alexis any reason not to trust him and he had no intention to. But when the only thing you have to explain your newfound interest in someone is a vague prophecy, what else could you expect your lover to believe?
When it came to that, however, just what was it about this girl that was drawing such urgency from him? He recalled the inexplicable attraction he had felt to the Serene figure in his dream, trying to work out what that could mean for the first time. He had left that part out of his description, but Clint shrugged that fact off. It had been clear, at least, that he’d been sending the wrong message and would have to make up for that later.
So, with further assurances of Seth’s eventual recovery from the doctor, Clint and Alexis left the clinic hand-in-hand. As Dr. Clark watched them leave, an older man with neatly trimmed grey hair and donned in the same burgundy uniform that Alexis wore wandered in. The night shift nurse mumbled a word of greeting to the Doctor and took off for the relative peace of the desk he shared with the other nurse. Before he could settle down, however, Dr. Clark rolled onto the empty bed nearest to the desk.
“Good evening, Albert. Can I get you to give our coma patient some Bloom Draught? I’m ready to turn in for now.”
The nurse, Albert, nodded wordlessly and shuffled lazily to find the required medicine. By the time he finally wandered into Seth’s room with the bottle of lava-colored fluid in hand, he found the patient’s eyes twitching.
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