Chapter 35

 

 

He woke, and tried to open his eyes, but the bright light forced them closed again. He groaned, more from grogginess than pain.

“He’s conscious,” said an older woman’s voice, one he didn’t recognize.

Someone pinched the back of his hand, and the pain cut through the daze. A voice spoke to him. “Will, can you hear me?”

“Maya?” he asked. “Where am I?” He opened his eyes again, slowly this time, letting them get used to the light. Her face came into focus, minus the usual large grin. Instead, she wore a concerned, even worried expression.

“At my mother’s clinic,” she said.

“How did I get here?”

“Never mind that,” she said. “How do you feel?”

He mentally scanned his body, noting with surprise a complete lack of pain. “Huh. Better than I would have guessed. What sort of magic medicine did you give me?”

She shook her head, her face grim. “Nothing.”

He looked at her in confusion. “Wasn’t I injured?” he asked.

Maya nodded gravely. “Badly. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“So why don’t I feel any pain?”

Another face came into view, an older version of Maya, with the same dark skin and tight curls, wearing the same grim expression. “That’s what we’d like to know,” she said. “I’m Catherine Melchior, Maya’s mother. And you should be dead right now.”

“Oh! Pleased to meet you, Dr. Melchior. To be honest, I was sure I was going to die. One or both of you must have done amazing work to keep me alive. You have no idea how grateful I am.”

“Our work doesn’t explain why you’re alive,” said Maya. “In fact, your survival defies explanation. You saw the wound that killed Oz; that was minor compared to yours.”

“But Oz got stabbed in the lung,” said William. “I got hit in the gut.”

Maya threw her hands up in exasperation. “With a jagged wooden stake three inches thick, Will! You were impaled straight through—I don’t even know where to begin.”

“How about you start from when you got to the ship. I must have blacked out before you got there.”

“I never reached the ship,” said Maya. “I saw your drone land on it, and I couldn’t figure out why until my own drone refused to go near it for another attack.”

He felt a pang of guilt as he realized he’d forgotten about the injured dragon. “How is Adonis, by the way?”

“I have no idea. I had my own patient to take care of.”

He sat upright. “What? Is Melissa hurt?”

“I meant you, numskull,” said Maya as she gently pushed him back onto his pillow. “Melissa’s fine. Everyone else is fine. You need to stay still until I’ve had a chance to examine you. In the meantime, let me tell the story.”

“Sorry. Go on.”

Maya heaved a sigh and continued. “I had no clue what was happening, but I knew you were outnumbered. I worried even more when Melissa jumped into the water, but what could I do? At least the guards were close by then. When Clyde crashed into the ship, I knew things had gotten even more serious, but I wasn’t about to follow Melissa’s example.”

“I don’t blame you,” said William.

“It felt like they took forever, but the rowboats finally arrived, and the guards started boarding the ships. I saw people waving from the hole Clyde made, but I couldn’t tell what was going on until they brought a boat next to it. When I saw you being lowered into it, I…” She paused to stifle a sob, quickly regaining her professional demeanor. “I’ve never felt so helpless as I did then. I saw how badly you were injured, but I couldn’t get to you. I was stuck in the air on a dragon with no way to land. I knew you had minutes to live at most, but I couldn’t do a thing about it.”

“So how did I get back here in time? Even a dragon can’t cross the bay that quickly.”

Maya shook her head. “A dragon couldn’t have landed on the ship even if they wanted to try—Adonis was in the only available spot, and the others couldn’t land on the water. But Melissa figured out a solution. Once you were loaded into the boat, she noticed the ropes they use to tow ships. She had Clyde fly up with one and waved at Jack to grab it as he flew by. Clyde flew up with the second rope for Rachel, and together the two drones towed the rowboat back to the harbor. No boat on Esper has ever traveled so fast.”

William chuckled, shaking his head in admiration. “I wish I’d been awake for that. It sounds like quite a ride.”

“One moment, William,” said Catherine. “Did it hurt to laugh just now?”

William paused a moment. “No. A little stiff maybe, but no pain.”

“Hmph. Go on, Maya.”

“You should not have survived the boat ride,” continued Maya. “Melissa cradled your head the whole way, but you both got bounced around quite a bit. Even the guards who accompanied you got bruised from the ride. As sheltered as the bay is, the water can still get pretty choppy.”

He scratched his head in confusion. “You keep saying I should be dead. So how am I alive?”

“We’re trying to figure that out,” said Catherine with a frown.

William looked back and forth between the two women, trying to read their expressions. “Why don’t either of you seem happy about this?” asked William.

“We are,” said Maya. “But we’re also concerned. This makes no sense, and as doctors, it means something is happening to our patient that we can’t explain. I have a hard enough time admitting when I don’t know something, but this goes beyond the mere complexity of the human body. What happened to you is unnatural.”

William shivered. “Let’s ignore that for the moment. What happened after we got to port?”

Maya straightened her coat and continued. “You were carted here—not a long trip, but again, not one you should have survived. I flew directly here to prepare for surgery, so I didn’t get a chance to examine you until you arrived, but when I did, I knew it was even worse than I had guessed.”

Catherine rose from her stool and approached the bed. “Thankfully, no one had tried to remove the object, otherwise you would have died from blood loss.” She pointed to his belly and continued. “Somehow, you lost little blood for such a major injury. But we knew from the entry and exit points that several major organs were likely damaged.”

“I don’t remember any of this,” said William. “I should have been in agony. Was I unconscious for all that time? Or have I forgotten it all?”

Maya shared a quick glance with her mother before turning back to William. “You’ve been in a coma for three days.”

William’s jaw dropped. “Three days?”

“Without so much as stirring,” said Catherine. “Also unusual in itself, but fortunate at the same time. Somehow, your body was in the exact state it needed to be—reduced blood flow, lack of consciousness, relaxed muscle tone. You were the perfect patient, aside from the fatal wound.”

“Neither of you has told me what you did, though.”

“We operated,” said Maya. “My mother was chief surgeon, and I assisted. The first thing we did was inspect the entry point, and the skin had already begun to grow around the wood, fixing it in place. That was both good and bad—good, because it kept contaminants out of the wound, but it also made our work more difficult.”

Catherine took over. “We re-opened the wound, and the deeper we got, the worse it looked. The wood had not only nicked the spleen, it also tore a gaping hole in your colon. We couldn’t pull the spike out directly without doing even more damage, so we chipped away at it, removing a bit at a time.” She paused and sighed, glancing at her daughter as though seeking corroboration. She turned back to him and continued. “Here’s where it gets weird.”

William’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean it hasn’t been weird until now?”

“Weirder, then,” said Maya with the same incredulous look as her mother. “You have to understand, what we’re about to tell you is impossible, but we both agree it happened, so all we can do is tell you the facts.”

“What happened?” asked William with a touch of impatience in his voice.

“Your organs repaired themselves,” said Maya. “Not over the course of three days, but immediately, or fast enough for us to witness the progress. As fast as we cleared away debris, the tissue around it regenerated, as clean, strong, and healthy as you could ask for. Not even a scar. An entire section of colon regrew itself while I watched, and not one bit of fecal waste escaped in the process. Your spleen repaired itself in less than a minute. Your kidney looked like new mere seconds after we removed a splinter.”

“How is that even possible?” asked William.

“It’s not,” said Catherine. “But if I could wave a magic wand, I could not have imagined a faster or more complete recovery. I wish I could treat every patient this way, but even more, I wish I understood what happened. All I know for certain is that it wasn’t normal. Even your skin healed.” She reached over and pulled the sheets down, exposing William’s stomach. The skin was completely smooth, without any sign of an injury.

William lay in stunned silence, searching his brain for meaning. “So why was I asleep for three days?”

Maya sighed again. “I wish I knew. And that’s what’s bothered us most about this whole incident: the number of things we don’t know.”

“I know even less than you do,” he said. “Like where my wife is, for instance. Where’s Melissa?”

“Outside,” said Maya. “With the others. We kept them out while you were waking up, but if you’re up to it, I can—”

“Yes!” said William. “For king’s sake, let her in!”

Melissa rushed in the second Catherine opened the door. She hurled herself at William and crushed him with a hug, ignoring Maya’s protestations to be gentle with her patient. “I was so worried,” she cried as she covered him with kisses. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“I’m fine. Better than I have reason to be. Speaking of which, I’m sorry I put you through this.” He reached up and stroked her cheek.

She smiled through her tears. “Don’t worry—you’ll be punished accordingly. Are you well enough to see everyone else? I wish I could spend an hour or two alone with you, but it wouldn’t be fair. They’ve been worried sick.”

William glanced at Maya, who looked at her mother in turn. “He’s your patient,” said Catherine. Finally, Maya nodded to Melissa.

Clyde scrambled in first, running to the bed and reaching up to nuzzle William. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay, buddy,” said William. “No more smashing through walls, okay?”

“Okay,” said the dragon in a sheepish voice.

Jack, Rachel, and Charlie filed in after, beaming with relief. “You gave us quite a scare,” said Rachel as she squeezed his shoulder.

“I told you he’d do something insane, didn’t I?” said Jack in a playful manner. “At least this time it wasn’t me who had to rescue you.”

“You okay, Will?” asked Charlie.

“Better than I expected, thanks to my doctors,” said William. “I’m glad you’re all well, but how’s the duke? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him much before I got injured. I hope the rebels didn’t hurt him.”

“I’m well,” said Vincent as he strode into the room with a beatific smile and shook William’s hand. “Thanks to you and your friends, I was saved from a fate I don’t care to imagine. You risked everything on my behalf—I am forever indebted to you, William. You not only saved my life, but we recovered the gold as well, which means the citizens of Faywater Port and Marshland Crossing won’t be subjected to an economic crisis.”

“What about the rebels?” asked William. “Did we capture any?”

“A handful,” said Vincent. “Most escaped on the ships’ lifeboats when they saw the guards approaching. A few jumped overboard, although I doubt they could have swum to land from there—poor souls. They may have been criminals, but I wouldn’t wish death by drowning on anyone. Plenty of oarsmen were captured, but they appear to have been hired hands with no clue of what was going on.”

“Anyone else?” asked William.

“Three commanders who tried to pass themselves off as oarsmen. As you can imagine, the real oarsmen were happy to point them out in exchange for leniency.”

“And did they say who they were working for?” asked William.

Vincent shook his head in disappointment. “They all claim Bird was the boss.”

“That’s a lie,” said William. “You heard what Bird said—someone else was pulling the strings, someone he was scared of.”

“I know,” said Vincent. “But what can we do? For all we know, Bird may have been the only person to speak to Zander Bertrand—if, in fact, that’s who was behind this.”

“He was,” said Rachel. “This whole affair reeks of him. Not only does he not get his own hands dirty, he won’t even let his closest allies get near the action. Believe me, anyone with any real knowledge got away—plausible deniability is his number one rule.”

“But what about Bird?” asked Jack. “If he was so scared, that means he must have known something. If it wasn’t for Clyde’s—mishap—he would have been captured. Maybe your father isn’t quite as meticulous as you think.”

“Not a chance,” said Rachel. “If Bird got caught, or nearly got caught, it was because my father allowed for the possibility. You can be sure he had something over Bird, some threat to his family or someone else important to him. If you search Bird’s body, I have no doubt you’ll find a suicide pill.”

“You mean this?” asked Vincent, holding up a small glass vial with a tiny tablet inside. “Major Bentsen’s men found this in his shirt pocket.”

“Kirby Elric had one just like that!” said William. “Although his reason for dying was different. Speaking of dying,” he continued, “were any lives lost at the choke point?”

“Thankfully not,” said Vincent with obvious relief. “Harbormaster Ungless instructed them not to put up a fight, and that probably saved their lives, although it made your job more difficult. Which reminds me—given what has happened, and since the tax money wasn’t lost, I’m ordering new fortifications built at the choke points, including defensive structures to prevent this sort of attack. When it’s complete, I’d like to rename the northern point in your honor, to celebrate your bravery in stopping these rebels. What would you say to Whitehall Point?”

William looked around at his friends, barely able to meet their gazes, even though they shot him encouraging smiles. He turned back to Vincent and shook his head. “Thank you, your grace, but I don’t want my name on it. I didn’t stop them alone—we all had a part in this, including Oz, and I couldn’t bear to look at a map if I was named on it and my friends weren’t.”

Vincent grinned back at him. “Your friends told me you would say that. Luckily, I have another name in reserve, one I hope you won’t object to. Unfortunately, we can’t use the word ‘rebel’ now, not without drawing attention to our secret mission.”

“Besides, we already used it for Rebel Falls,” said Jack.

“Exactly,” continued Vincent. “But Charlie suggested another word to describe them: renegade.”

“Renegade Point,” said William, smiling and nodding at Charlie as he mulled the words over. “I like it.”

“I know this is all important,” said Catherine. “But you folks can redraw the map of Azuria later. Our patient has gone through a lot, and he needs his rest.”

“One more thing,” said William. “How is Adonis? I need to know, or I won’t be able to sleep.”

“You won’t believe this, but his wing is completely healed,” said Jack. “Good thing, too, or he’d be stuck here for a while.”

Maya and her mother exchanged glances. “That’s suspicious,” said Maya.

“Suspicious?” asked Jack. “How?”

“Well, here we are trying to figure out how William even survived, let alone healed so quickly, because we knew of no precedent for it. But it turns out there was a precedent after all.” She turned to William with a hesitant look. “Will, after the battle at Rebel Falls, you went to visit the dragon hive alone, and you met the queen. When you came back, you didn’t talk about it much. I pushed it out of my mind at the time, thinking maybe you were reluctant to brag. But I remember you rubbing your arm and then hiding it when I asked about it.”

William said nothing, but glanced around the room at the others, imagining what they might think if he told them the truth. He couldn’t share it with them—not yet, anyway.

“Okay, I need everyone out,” said Maya, taking the hint. “I need a private conference with my patient.”

“Private?” asked Jack. “About what?”

“About something he’s obviously not going to talk about in front of us,” said Rachel as she punched Jack’s shoulder.

“I wish you would stop doing that,” said Jack.

“Then stop giving me reasons,” answered Rachel as she pushed him through the door.

“I’ll say my good-byes now, Lord William,” said Vincent as he shook William’s hand. “I hope you’ll visit the manor before you leave, but I’ll understand if you prefer to get home right away. Do stay in touch, though.”

Charlie followed them out with a friendly wave. Melissa stood to leave as well but William grabbed her hand. “No, this involves you. I need you to hear this.”

She stopped and stared at him before taking her seat again. “How can this possibly affect me?”

William took a deep breath, waited for the door to close, then exhaled slowly. He stared at his feet at the end of the bed rather than looking at anyone, but he kept his hand on Melissa’s for support. “When I visited the hive, I expected to speak with the Elder, as I had every time before. When we passed his den, I guessed where we were going, but no guess could have prepared me for what I saw. She was beyond beautiful. I’m not even sure what the right word is.”

“Mesmerizing?” suggested Maya.

“Yes, that’s it!” said William, nodding excitedly. “You’ve met her too, Maya, so you know what I’m talking about. Among other things, she shared some dragon history, things the Elder and Ambassador left out, including the fact that they manage their own evolution.”

“Manage how?” asked Catherine.

William swallowed hard and continued. “On every planet they colonize, the queen selects a representative of that planet, one that displays a characteristic she believes might be useful in her people, and asks for a sample from their body—blood, muscle, skin—and uses it to enhance their own features.”

“And she chose you?” asked Maya.

He nodded, rubbing the crook of his elbow at the memory. “Physically, I barely felt a thing. But emotionally, it touched me deeply—that somehow, I might be responsible in some tiny part for a future generation of dragons.”

Melissa wrenched her hand from William’s and stared at him in disbelief. “Are you Clyde’s father?” she asked as the blood drained from her face.

“No, it’s nothing like that,” he said quickly. “At most, I’d be a remote relative, like apes are to us, or even fish.”

“In fact, it’s probably not even like that,” said Catherine. “Gene splicing is a technology we haven’t recovered yet, but plenty of books from Earth have survived on the subject. It’s likely similar to a viral transfer of—”

Maya placed her hand on Catherine’s shoulder to interrupt her. “Mother, we’re collecting patient data, not giving a lecture.”

Catherine stopped short. “My apologies—old habits. Continue, William.”

William nodded and turned back to Melissa. “I asked Padma, and she assured me I would never be considered a father to any dragon. But she did acknowledge a certain relationship, which is why she called me ‘brother’.”

Melissa nodded, slightly mollified, but still upset. “I was silly to think you cheated on me with a dragon, but you still should have told me about this. What else should I know?”

“That’s all, I guess,” said William. “I don’t know if Clyde is any more related to me than any other offspring she’s had, and I doubt we’ll ever know, but he seems to be the only one who didn’t fit in with the other dragons.”

Maya cleared her throat. “Will, do you think there’s any chance she did more than take a sample from you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I mean she might have given you something as well.”

“Like what?”

“Like something that causes you to heal abnormally quickly. That day back in Rebel Falls, when you rubbed your elbow, I thought maybe you had a sore arm from the battle, or the fight against the hornet, or Kaleb Anthony, or—or any one of the ridiculous number of fights you got into. But I saw no injury, and you made no complaints, so I ignored it. But maybe it simply healed before I had a chance to see it.”

“You’re right,” said William, nodding to himself. “I had a little mark on my arm right after she did it, but it disappeared by the time I got back.”

“Have you always healed quickly?” asked Catherine. “Or has it been faster since that day with the queen?”

William pondered the question for a moment. “Well, there was one thing recently. When the millstone fell, Jack pushed me out of the way and I gashed my forehead. A couple of days later there was barely a mark. Oh—and I was shot in the foot by an arrow when we were harassing the rebels’ ships, but I could walk by the time we landed on the ship. Do you think this is Padma’s doing?”

Maya drummed her fingers on the table beside her. “Will, if she introduced something into your system without your permission—without your knowledge, even—then that was both irresponsible and reckless, not to mention a violation.”

A chill passed through him. “Do you think it could hurt me?”

“How can we know?” asked Maya. “You need to talk to Padma and find out for sure, because we don’t know what else it does, either good or bad. We don’t know if it has any side effects, like a shorter life span, unexpected interactions with food or medicine, or some diminished capacity we don’t know about. Is it responsible for your increased appetite? Will it spread to other humans, or livestock, or—”

“Or my friends and family,” said William. “Believe me, I’ll talk to Padma about it. I suppose I should just be happy that whatever it is probably kept me alive, but honestly, I feel scared.”

“I don’t blame you,” said Maya. “I want to know everything Padma says. We’ll need to monitor this for years—for the rest of your life, probably. But for now, if you want something to be happy about, I suggest you speak to your wife.”

William’s head whipped around. Something about Melissa’s expression set his heart pounding with unexpected anticipation. “Are you…?”

She nodded, shyly at first, and then with beaming enthusiasm. “Yes. I’m pregnant!”

“But how?” he asked. “We only had the one night to…you know.”

“Our wedding night,” said Melissa. “Yes, dear. I remember. I was there.”

“But doesn’t it usually take longer?” he asked, his face burning at discussing such intimate details in front of Maya and Catherine.

“Sometimes once is enough,” said Catherine with no trace of amusement at William’s discomfort. “For other people it never happens at all. The human body is frustratingly complex.”

“Aren’t you happy, Will?” asked Melissa with a pout.

“Of course I am,” said William, quickly grabbing her hands. “But even more surprised. How do you even know? It’s only been about a week, hasn’t it?”

“Ten days,” said Maya. “She showed all the usual symptoms, including morning sickness. And while we don’t normally administer a test this early, your own condition was an extenuating circumstance. And my father has developed a particularly sensitive test that—”

“We’re having a baby!” said William, overcome with emotion as he pulled Melissa close.

“Don’t get too excited yet,” said Catherine. “Many pregnancies don’t last beyond the first couple of months, which is one reason we don’t often test this early.”

The joy faded from William’s face. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“No,” said Maya. “Melissa is young and healthy, and if she restrains herself from leaping from flying dragons into the ocean, she stands as good a chance as any woman to carry to term. But my mother is right. Sometimes it simply doesn’t work out.”

William nodded soberly. “Okay. We won’t get our hopes up yet.”

“It’s too late for that,” said Melissa with a giggle.

“So, when can we go home?” asked William. “I have a family to prepare for.”

Maya looked to her mother. “What do you think?”

Catherine shrugged and said, “They’re your patients. I’d like to keep William for examination a little longer, but more for curiosity than concern.”

“Me too,” said Maya with a sigh. “But as unsettling as your injury and recovery have been, I can’t see any reason to keep you longer than a day. If you’re still feeling well, you can leave tomorrow.”

“What about Melissa?” asked William. “Can she fly home?”

Maya scratched her chin for a moment. “Well, I definitely don’t recommend the stagecoach. It’s fast, but bumpy—not what a prospective mother needs. And a ship will take too long. Yes, I think flying is your best option. But as for you, no more adventures for a while. You need to fly straight home.”

“I can’t do that,” said William with a shake of his head. “I have one more place to go first.”

Maya sighed. “Not another adventure. Doctor’s orders.”

“No, not an adventure,” said William. “The dragon hive. Padma and I are going to have words.”