Chapter 20
I looked down, but the night was too dark to see Jermaine. But he had told me everyone else but him was dead, and he wouldn’t have done that if he’d thought ahead to the keeping of secrets yet. He wouldn’t yet think of treachery.
I hadn’t. Astras had caught me totally by surprise.
Just think of what they had done to me. I could kill Jermaine right now, and it would be justified because of how they had betrayed me.
“How bad are you hurt?” I asked.
“I’m okay. I can get through,” he said immediately.
Was he brave or hiding something? Could he read thoughts? Did he realize what I had realized?
A moment later he said, “I’m pretty bad, Kog. I’m not doing okay. Mallens has a power to him. He breaks things. He struck the earth, and I was too close. There’s ruin in me. Do you have anything?” he asked. He sounded disjointed, his words confused.
I could kill him right now, and no one would ever know about it. And they had been such parasites to me.
“If you slept for a while, do you think you could heal?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I tried for a while. I don’t feel better.”
That was dancing around the decision. Kog, kill him.
Kill him now.
Be smart.
But I have always been an idiot.
“Here. Eat this.”
I dug into my gym-bag. The doctors had packed it with bandages, medical gear, a really nice cutter, and tape. A small bag had bottles of willow bark, some pills, and an acidic cream. It smelled pungent. There were pages and pages of notes.
Toward the back of the bag, my remaining package of ambrosia wafers had been opened and carefully resealed. I needed those, but I gave them to Jermaine.
He ate quickly. After that he sat in silence. The ambrosia would quench his thirst and fill his belly, heal his wounds, but it needed a few minutes. My own aches and pains made themselves known. I’d picked up a dozen scrapes and cuts. I chewed some willow bark. The bark didn’t do much. The adrenaline wore off.
After a few minutes, I dug around in the gym bag for bandages and tape. “Let’s see if we can patch you up a little bit.”
“I don’t know if it will help,” Jermaine said. “Mallens was a lot stronger than we expected.”
“At least it won’t hurt.”
Good thinking, Kog. Bandage him well. He’ll never expect anything then.
Oh, shut up, I told myself.
“Are you okay?” Jermaine asked.
“Got shot a little,” I explained.
“Is it bad?”
“No, not really.”
#
It’s funny what you think of when you’re not thinking of other things. I didn’t want to take Jermaine to the doctor in case Dr Lammet really could detect the touch of Mallens. But without bringing Jermaine in, I couldn’t get medicine for him.
What would I say?
‘Hey doc, you won’t believe this, but I have a buddy who needs a whole bunch of honeydew and nectar right now. No, you can’t see him. I just need a bunch of the good stuff. Don’t worry. I’ll take it to him.’
There is no way that could be misconstrued.
It’s not like the truth was any better.
‘Hey doc, I may have helped in a little bit of treason. Now, I need drugs for another traitor. Don’t worry. He’s Celestial. The drugs are actually healthy for him. No, you can’t meet him. He’s hiding because of all the treason.’
The doctor was a dryad and Jermaine a Celestial, so the two of them probably hated each other anyway.
Still, ambrosia alone has a power in it. After Jermaine ate a package, he perked up. I explained my train of thought.
“We still need to get you to someone,” I said. “But I don’t know how to explain it. We’re going to have to get our stories straight, though, and we need to hide that. We can’t be going in there with a copy of Death’s scepter.”
Blisters, I realized another problem. “But he’ll know the touch of Mallens. He’ll know.”
Of course he would. Kog, that’s why you must kill Jermaine. Kill him right now and bury his secrets. Bury them right here.
Jermaine said, “It doesn’t matter. He has to believe me.”
I looked at him blankly. “What if he doesn’t?”
“He can’t,” said Jermaine.
I remained confused.
“The doctor,” Jermaine continued. “He has to believe me. It’s the law.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s a dryad, right?”
“Yes.”
Jermaine said, “Dryad doctors must take anything a Celestial says as fact. It’s the law because we’re true caste. If I tell this doctor something, that I was out washing my cats when Mallens stomped, he has to believe me. I outrank him.”
“That seems like it could be exploited,” I said.
“Maybe, but who cares? He’s a dryad.”
I let the shadows of the water tower hide my expression. My mother was a dryad, while I was a lowly mortal. I don’t think Jermaine put the significance together.
“Hmm.” I grunted. “That does open up a few possibilities for us, provided we can trust him not to kill you during treatment.”
“He can’t do that,” said Jermaine. “It’s illegal.”
“Jermaine,” I said. “We’re criminals.”
“But the doctor probably isn’t. Besides, he’d be scared to try. It’s punishable by death for a dryad to lift a hand against a Celestial.”
“Jermaine, we tried to assassinate the Lord of Creation! It’s probably a crime for him not to kill us if he finds out.”
“No, no. I’m a Celestial. He has to believe me.”
I inhaled, held it, exhaled, and thought.
The thought occurred to me that if I did leave Jermaine with the doctor, and the doctor did kill him–no, no. If Jermaine died of his wounds during treatment–that would solve a lot of my problems.
And it’s not like it was my fault. Jermaine did need medical attention.
Kog, it’s the smart move.
There was a finality to it I found quite interesting.
I’d already committed a little treason to get here. A murder wasn’t that bad.
Boils and blisters, I’d meant to commit a murder already! That had been the plan. This would just be that murder.
And they had betrayed me.
I stared at Jermaine while he rested.
Doctor Lammet wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t the right kind of doctor.
But the nereids might, Kog. They hungered for a Celestial. And they wouldn’t be too concerned with how Jermaine came by his wounds.
Hmm.
I shook my head hard enough to made pressure at my temples.
“Do you think you can survive without medical attention?” I asked Jermaine.
He answered woodenly. “No.”
“Then this is what we’re going to do. Give me the saber. I’m going to destroy it. I’ll take you to a doctor who kept his mouth shut before. Tell him whatever you want. Don’t mention me. Meanwhile, I’m going to take this and that–” I pointed at the two All Things Ending counterfeits. ”–and destroy them. That’s what I’m here to do anyway. I’m getting rid of loose ends.”
Jermaine did not release the sword. “Loose ends like me?”
I heard a high-pitched tone like a viol string plunked and then tightening.
“I won’t hurt you. But you need to decide what you’re going to do next.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to rejoin the others?”
He sat without speaking, looking at the floor.
“Come. Give me the sword. I’ll take you to a doctor. He did good work on me.”
The son of Koru looked up at me but made no move to give up the sword.
I showed him the other counterfeit and the Drowning Breath. “I have two, one like that already. Give me the fake. Besides, you’ll be with the doctor while I destroy these. If something happens, you won’t have it on you.”
Jermaine thought for a long time, and I didn’t rush him. He gave me the sword.