RELEASE

“I’m free,” Karigan said, “I’m finally free.”

Mara studied her friend’s face. Joy had replaced the wildness in her eye. Tears slipped down her cheeks. She laughed. Was she better, or had she sunk deeper into madness?

“What are you free of, Karigan?” Ben asked.

“Nyssa. She has haunted me since the north. I—I couldn’t get her to shut up in my head. I couldn’t get rid of her until now.”

Ben looked at Mara with questioning eyes.

“Her torturer,” Mara reminded him, then whispered, “and you know her ability with spirits.”

He nodded, then turned back to Karigan. “How are you feeling now?”

“Relieved,” she replied. “So much lighter. You have no idea. Exhausted, though. So terribly exhausted.” She brought her hands to her face to scrub it, the chains clinking.

Mara pulled Ben aside, and Anna went to the bars of the cell to speak quietly with Karigan.

“What do you think?” Mara asked.

“It is clear she needs rest. I think we should get her released, and return her to her quarters. Lack of sleep, and whatever duress she’s been under with this—this ghost, will have taken a toll.”

“We could really use her help with things,” Mara said. “All hands are needed.”

“I know, but she will be of little help to you or the realm without some healing rest. Think of her as having an injury you can see, say, something as debilitating as a broken leg. She is at least that bad and needs some time. She will probably never recover fully from the trauma of torture—none of us would, but if she can heal in some ways, she should have the strength to cope with it, something I think you understand.”

Mara did. The burn scars on her face and other parts of her body were only on the surface of what had been injured. She was the first person on whom Ben had ever used his true healing ability. “Are you up for it? The healing? You look like you’ve not been sleeping either.”

“Bad dreams. Nightmares. Couldn’t tell you exactly what they’re about, but they’ve been waking me up in a cold sweat. Not pleasant.”

She didn’t expect so, and thought they were likely an extension of the horrors he saw when treating the wounded. She turned back toward the cell.

“—and I bedded him down real good,” Anna was telling Karigan, “and made him a nice bran mash.”

“Thank you,” Karigan told her, “for looking after him. I am sorry I yelled at you earlier. I wasn’t myself.”

Anna gazed at her feet. “I know that now, but it was still wrong to leave my kit in the middle of the floor.”

“I was too harsh,” Karigan replied.

There was, Mara thought, a serenity about Karigan that she hadn’t seen in far too long. Not since before Karigan had left for Blackveil. There was still fragility, but also strength. Karigan had always been strong, but having overcome all she’d experienced had only made her more so.

“I can’t fix her mind,” Ben said quietly, “but I can help by facilitating the physical healing, and that includes the rest she needs.”

Mara nodded and stepped up to the bars beside Anna. “Karigan, we are getting you out of here.”

Saying it, it turned out, was much easier than doing it. The block house guard was stolid in his insistence that Karigan was not to be released.

“You didn’t see her when she came in,” he said. “It took four of us to handle her.”

“She needs mending,” Mara told him.

“You can do it here.”

“No,” she said. “Private, I am ordering you.”

He gave her a long look. “I don’t take orders from Greenies.”

“You do from a superior officer.”

“Not a Greenie one.”

Mara leaned over his desk. “Your captain might have something to say about that. Don’t think I won’t have a word with him about you.”

“Go ahead.” He folded his arms across his chest and tilted back in his chair.

Mara decided she needed to try another tack, as Guard Captain Grayhouse was probably too busy down at the gate for her to bother. “I suppose, then, I’ll have to invite Arms Master Drent to come over here.”

“Arms Master Drent? Why?”

“She is one of his swordmasters, you idiot, and an honorary Weapon. Didn’t you see the insignia on her sleeve?”

That got his attention.

“Not to mention she’s a knight of the realm. The only knight of the realm.”

“Oh, she’s that Greenie?” He sat up but still looked undecided.

“Anna,” Mara said, “please go fetch Arms Master Drent.” She had no idea if he would come, but she hoped the mere threat of the intimidating arms master coming to the block house would be adequate.

“Yes’m!” Anna crossed toward the door. Her hand was on the handle when the guard finally pushed himself back from the desk.

“No need,” he said. “You’ll just have to sign the papers and take responsibility for her.”

Mara did, and the guard took his key ring to the cell and, with an expression of misgiving, unlocked it. Then he handed another key to Mara. “For the fetters. You’ll have to unlock them yourself.”

“Oh, for gods’ sakes,” she muttered.

When she took the key, the guard hastily backed away. Just how much damage had Karigan inflicted when she’d been brought in? She shook her head and entered the cell.

After she unlocked the manacles, Karigan rubbed her wrists and said, “Thank you.”

“Let’s get you to your quarters,” Mara replied.

They gathered her gear, her weapons and cuirass, and started to leave, but Karigan halted before the guard. He looked about ready to bolt. She put her hand out, palm up. He just stared at it.

“My ring,” she said, “and the crystal.”

“What ring? A crystal?”

“You know very well. You took them away from me when I was brought in and hid them in your desk.”

“I did no such thing,” he said. “One of the other guards must have taken them.”

“It was you.” She got into his face. “Hand them over. Now.”

He scrambled behind his desk and pulled a drawer open, then he handed her the items, the beautiful ring with the emerald leaves, and the shiny crystal that Mara knew was a moonstone.

When everyone else had stepped outside, Mara paused in the block house and told the guard, “I am still going to talk to Captain Grayhouse about this. He happens to be a friend of mine. Also, you might reconsider stealing from prisoners. Not only is Rider G’ladheon a knight and honorary Weapon, but kin to the king of Eletia. I do not think Queen Estora or King Zachary would take kindly to your poor treatment of a royal personage representing the realm of an important ally.”

She left the dumbfounded guard standing there and, with a sense of triumph, headed out the door.

---

•   •   •

Back in the Rider wing, Mara excused Anna so she could attend to her other duties, leaving just her and Ben with Karigan in Karigan’s chamber.

“Aching,” Karigan was telling Ben. “I think whatever I did down at the wall is catching up with me.”

“Do you remember any of it?”

“Not a lot. Flashes of fighting, and Nyssa being everywhere.”

“I’ll do what I can for you,” Ben said. “Just don’t tell Vanlynn I did it in one go.”

“Ben,” Mara said in a warning voice, “Master Vanlynn isn’t the only one who has say over the use of your ability.”

“Oops,” he said, looking chagrined.

Karigan laughed, and it was good to hear.

“Don’t overdo,” Mara told him.

“I understand,” he replied. To Karigan, he said, “I am going to put you into a healing sleep and work on your back to finish what was started.”

Mara and Ben stepped out into the corridor while Karigan changed into her nightgown.

“Think she’ll be all right?” Mara asked.

He ran his fingers through his hair. “She seems much better mentally. Whatever she did to that ghost, whatever happened back in the block house, it has helped dramatically. Only time will tell if it sticks. Physically? I’ll know more when I do the healing, but she seems to be doing pretty well for someone who went berserk on Second Empire, then struggled with guards all the way to the block house. She’s bruises, maybe some cuts, and achiness, but no major injuries. She’s the most interesting patient I’ve ever had.”

Mara chuckled. “That’s our Karigan.”

A short time later, Karigan further challenged Ben when he tried to use his ability to put her into a healing sleep as she lay beneath the covers of her bed. He had touched the bridge of her nose, but nothing happened. He tried several times, and still nothing.

“I can feel the energy of your ability,” Karigan said, “but that’s it. Ever since you woke me for the parley, I’ve felt like a piece of me has been missing, or maybe it’s asleep without the rest of me.”

Ben scratched his head.

“Does this mean I’m going to be awake for the rest of my life?” she asked.

“I hope not,” he replied. “It would not be a good thing. Let me try again.”

It did not work.

“I am going to get you a regular soporific,” he said, and he left, but returned only a moment later with Mason right behind him, the two discussing the situation. “Mason was passing by, so I grabbed him,” he explained, and he encouraged him to try putting Karigan into the healing sleep.

“She said she’d break my finger,” Mason protested.

“If she does, I’ll heal it,” Ben replied. He, of the infinite patience, sounded exasperated.

“Do it,” Mara ordered.

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Mason said.

“I won’t break your finger,” Karigan told him. “I promise.”

He started to reach for the bridge of her nose.

“I might bite it, though,” she said.

“Ha ha,” Mason said. He did not look amused, but he did not hesitate.

Ultimately, he failed to put Karigan to sleep just as Ben had.

“Looks like it’s time for the soporific,” Mara said.

“I am thinking,” Ben replied, “that won’t do much good for the underlying problem.” He paced back and forth. “Karigan says part of her is still asleep. We need to find that piece and reconnect it with the rest of her. Somehow, when I took her out of the healing sleep, I didn’t bring all of her out. She’s disconnected from it. I messed up.”

“I don’t know if that’s the right way of looking at it,” Mason said, and the two launched into a full-on debate that erupted into an argument. Karigan threw her blanket over her head.

Mara sat on the side of her bed. “You all right?”

“I am wonderful because Nyssa is gone,” Karigan said, “but I am terrible because I’m so tired and can’t sleep.”

“Certainly not with these two arguing. I’m sure they’ll figure out something.”

“Hope so.” Karigan did not sound hopeful.

Another mender appeared in the doorway and, looking at Ben, said, “There you are.”

“Is that Cranky Aisla?” Karigan whispered from beneath her blanket.

Mara laughed. The severe expression on the journeyman mender’s face made the appellation apt. “Yes,” she replied.

Karigan groaned.

Ben and Mason told Aisla about the problem they were trying to solve.

“Well,” she said, “did you try giving back the sleep you took away?”

“We tried to put her to—” Mason began.

“That’s not what I asked. I asked, Did you try giving back the sleep you took?”

“Give back,” Ben murmured. He paced back and forth a couple times. “When I took her out of her healing sleep, I actually took her sleep? I wonder if that would explain the dreams and nightmares I’ve been having.”

It sounded rather obvious to Mara.

Karigan peeked out from beneath her blanket. “Give me my sleep back. You can keep the nightmares.”