The Boy in the Field (33 page)

People glanced from side to side, their eyes scanning the room
for someone who would speak. You bit your lip, glad Ethan had not chosen to
look back at you. If you spoke, it would be to incriminate Vapasi. You couldn’t
do that to him. A long time ago, Ethan had made you promise to look after him,
no matter what. This
was
no matter what.

The Magister Ultima sat again. “Oh dear, Mr Wicker. It would
appear that your friends are not speaking today. In which case, I have no
choice but to find you guilty. There is little evidence to support your
innocence, only your word. Your guilt, on the other hand, is supported by
several witnesses and parts of your own story.

“It only remains for me to sentence you. A crime this serious
demands an equal punishment. Your life will not bring back that of your victim,
but I must hope that your blood goes some way to appeasing your victim’s family
and the people of the country you betrayed. I condemn you to death. The court
is dismissed.”

Ethan turned and looked at you one last time as he was being
led away. You forced yourself to keep eye contact, trying to do something that
would make him see that you were sorry, that you hoped he could forgive you.
You weren’t sure you succeeded.

Vapasi was waiting for you when you got outside. He had cut his
hair and shaved, looking once more like the neat and tidy soldier he really
was. He took your hand and walked with you back home, saying nothing for the
entire journey. When you got inside, he made you a cup of tea and sat beside
you while you drank it.

“Will you attend the execution?” you asked.

Vapasi nodded. “If I don’t, I will always wonder if he truly is
dead.”

“Then you must go.” You snorted. “I couldn’t bear to spend the
rest of my life with you if this is how you’re going to be.”

“You’re not leaving me?”

“Heaven knows I’ve thought about it. But if this is what you’re
like when you’ve got me to rein you in, then I hate to think what you would
have been like left on your own all these years.”

“So do I.” Vapasi took your hand and squeezed it. “Will you
come with me?”

Choice:
226. Watch The Execution
or
227.
Decline

“Stay here,” you said, getting to your feet. “I have to find
someone to help.”

He laughed again. “I’m not likely to go anywhere, am I?”

You went to the kitchen window, looking out into the street.
Ethan should have been back by now. Your eyes scanned the clothes of the people
passing until you saw the familiar white tunic and heavy bag of a medic. A
peacekeeper walked at his side. You stepped out and shouted at him.

“This is Noah Wicker?” the medic asked, stepping inside.

You nodded. “Yeah. Were you already called?”

“Where is he?”

You showed the man through the house to where Noah lay on your
floor. While the medic began to work, the peacekeeper took you to one side,
questioning you on the circumstances of the fight. You told him everything you
could remember, how you had tried to stop them, but that they hadn’t listened.

“This puts us in a very difficult situation,
laraki
, as
I’m sure you understand. Now, what’s important is that you haven’t done
anything wrong. We’re going to hold Mr… Ethan Wicker at the court and Noah will
go to the medicium first to recover. Okay?”

You nodded. “What then?”

“That depends on the severity of Mr… of Noah Wicker’s
injuries.” He put his hand on your shoulder. “The medic can take you with Noah
to the medicium or I can take you to the court to see Ethan.”

Choice:
230. Medicium with Noah
or
231.
Court to See Ethan

“Ethan knows medics,” you said, trying to reassure him. “He’ll
find someone to help you. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Yeah, because that’s just what I need. Help from the enemy. I
should have been promoted, not humiliated!”

“I’m sorry—”

“Don’t say it again!” he screamed. He tipped his head back and
pulled his hands away from you, covering his face. “This isn’t happening.”

“Noah, I—”

“My name isn’t Noah! Stop calling me that!”

“He goes by the name Magister Vapasi now.” Ethan stood in the
doorway. There was nobody with him, but he had a radust box in his hand, which
he handed to you.

“Magister?”

“Yes,” Noah grunted. “Are you surprised? Did you never imagine
that someone as weak as me could ever make anything of himself?”

“Vapasi?”

“Our mother’s maiden name,” Ethan explained.

“Very well, Magister Vapasi.” You nodded and opened the box.
“This could help you, but I’m not licensed to use it,” you said, picking a dark
green stone from the silk lining.

“Then send for the guards or whoever and have me arrested. Or
better yet, just kill me now.” He lashed out as Ethan tried to put a pillow
beneath his head. “Leave me!”

“I can sedate you if you’d prefer,
sir
,” you said. “Or
you can cooperate and this will be over quickly.”

He grunted again and let you and Ethan move him to a move
comfortable position. His pouting face would have made you laugh if his life
wasn’t in danger; he looked like a child that had been told off. You stayed
with him as Ethan went to fetch clean towels and water.

“I might be able to help you.” You looked back at the stones in
the box. “But I need you to tell me that it’s okay.”

“Kill me,” he said. “Just end it. Even if I live, you can’t
save my life. Allow me to die with honour.”

You shook your head. “I’m not going to kill you.”

“Then fetch me a blade so that I can do it myself.”

Again, you shook your head. “No.”

“You can say that I overpowered you.”

You laughed and pinned his hands to his sides, putting all of
your weight behind it. “Overpower me and I’ll bring you anything you want.”

He pushed against you, but without movement in his legs, and
with the pain he still felt through the sedative, there was nothing he could do
to move you.

“You’re hurting me.”

“If you can’t stomach this pain, how will you cope with death?”
You looked into his eyes.

“Death will end the pain.” He looked away.

“Death will stop it ever healing.” You moved back, releasing
him. “Let me help you,
Your Honour
.”

His eyes snapped back to yours. “Please don’t speak to me like
that.”

“You insisted that I don’t call you Noah.”

“I hate it.”

You furrowed your brow. “Then you would prefer I call you
Vapasi? Without the formalities, I mean?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Just… don’t call me anything. It’s
better that way.”

“Nameless Man, will you let me help you?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yes. If only so it will stop
you asking.”

You took the stone from the box and held it in your palm. Using
radust took concentration and the more powerful their effects, the harder they
were to control. The dark green stone in your hand was called renova, a potent
healing power. It felt cool to the touch and when you handled it, it made your
breathing slow down and your heart rate decrease. It wanted to be used.

You put your free hand on Noah’s stomach and closed your eyes.
While there was contact between you and while you held the stone, you could
sense every weakness in his body. The stone grew warm as his injuries grew
clear in your mind, shimmering like distant stars and fading as renova’s power
began to work, but the light where Ethan’s sword had struck him remained
bright, the damage too great to be repaired in one treatment. As soon as you put
the stone down, the image disappeared, hazy even in memory. When you opened
your eyes, Ethan was sitting beside Noah on the floor, staring at you.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You were entranced.”

You looked around, feeling as though you had been woken from a
deep sleep. “I’m fine.” You looked down at Noah. “Are you feeling any better?”

He shook his head. “I can’t feel anything.”

* * *

For the next few days, you and Ethan took turns sleeping in
the room with Noah, setting up a makeshift bed for him on the floor. One of
Ethan’s colleagues, a trained medic, stopped by one evening to assess his
condition and to advise you on how to care for him without visiting a medicium;
Noah was a Serloran and since the country was still at war, any official
contact with Kinn authorities would certainly result in his arrest. The medic
had given you a schedule for using the radust and a list of exercises to
encourage Noah’s recovery.

“Do you have a family now?” you asked after Ethan had left for
work the following day. “I mean, did you… Was there… anyone else?”

He narrowed his eyes and his nostrils flared. “Once someone
breaks your heart, you stop leaving it in places where people can tread on it.”

“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

He turned his face away from you. “I wish that I could hate you
for what you did to me. I always thought that if I ever saw you again, I could
make you suffer like I did.” He gave a small laugh. “Unless I found you in a
Taatar slave camp. Because then I could save you and I’d know it wasn’t my fault
that you left.”

“It was never your fault.”

“I was always inferior. He was stronger, faster, cleverer…
Sometimes it was like I was a prototype. A draft copy that they forgot to throw
away.”

You took his hand and laced your fingers through his. “But you
were braver. You were the one that tried to fight while we ran away.”

“Bravery is nothing but stupidity in the face of a foe you
can’t defeat.” He made a half-hearted attempt to shake his hand free of yours.
“Ethan won.”

“Of course he didn’t win. Once he stops being angry at you, he
won’t forgive himself for this – especially if you don’t recover.”

He shook his head and held your hand in front of his face,
looking at the wedding band. “He won.”

You pulled your hand away. “He'll be home soon. I should start
making dinner.”

* * *

Ethan stayed in the room with him that night. You could hear
them talking, their voices indistinguishable through the floorboards. The sound
helped you to drift off, reminding you of the nights you had spent with them in
Landia, listening to them chat through the wall.

You awoke in the early hours to hear the front door clink shut.
For a disorienting moment, you were back in Landia, the Taatars attacking all
over again. You leapt up, reaching for anything you could use to defend yourself.

The house remained quiet as you stood still, listening.
Crossing the room with slow steps, your eyes searched for shapes in the dark.
Nothing seemed out of place and nothing came to get you. You were safe.

“Ethan?” Noah's voice carried from the living room. “Ethan, was
that you?”

“Noah?” You called. “Are you okay?” You took the stairs two at
a time and lit a candle at the living room door.

“He's gone,” Noah said. “Ethan's gone.”

Choice:
232. Ask What Happened
or
233. Chase
Ethan

“Please,” you cried out, “someone help me! I’m pregnant and I
don’t feel well.”

You clutched the bars of the cell and looked across at Ethan.
He gave a slight nod and you shouted again.

“It hurts! Please!”

Footsteps approached from the right. They were slow and
controlled, marching rather than rushing.”

“Oh! I need a medic! Please!”

The feet stopped outside your cell and you looked up. The
guard’s face was silhouetted against the window in the wall behind him, but you
recognised his voice.

“You’re not pregnant.” Vapasi crouched in front of you,
bringing himself to eye level. “We checked. You’ll have to be cleverer than
that if you think you’re going to escape from here.”

“Well, check again.” You groaned and clutched your stomach.
“Something is wrong!”

Vapasi put his hand through the bars and pushed your chin up,
forcing you to look at him. “Trust me,
hani
, you do not want to be
pregnant here.” He let go and turned to face Ethan. “Do you want to complain
while I am here?”

“Let her go,” he said. “Please. Your son needs her.”

Vapasi lunged at him, grasping the front of his shirt and
pulling him against the bars with a dull clang. “If he's my son, what business
is it of yours what he needs and who he sees? If he's not, why should I care?”

“Because if he’s your son, he’ll grow up hating the man who
took his family away and he’ll do anything to get revenge.”

Noah turned away and smiled. “I figure I’ve got…what…ten years
before he’s old enough to find me by himself?” He began to walk back down the
corridor. “I look forward to your next attempt.”

Choice:
224. Fake Death
or
225. Stop
Trying

“Help! Someone please help! I think she’s dying!”

You lay still on the floor trying hard to control the rise and
fall of your chest as you breathed. The stench of rat blood filled your nose.
Ethan was shouting, the sound of his voice underpinned by footsteps pounding on
the stone. The door of the cell squealed as it opened.

“Is she okay?”

That was your signal. You leapt to your feet, pushing past the
soldiers and running for the gate. You turned right; the soldiers always came
from the right and always returned in that direction. Behind you, the guards
and medics shouted, but you didn’t look back. You focussed on navigating the
maze. With every cell you passed, the shouts became louder as the other
prisoners joined in, cheering you along.

Until you turned the corner at the end, where they were silent.

Magister Superius Vapasi extended his blade, holding the edge
to your throat. He forced you back, silencing each of the inmates until you
reached Ethan’s cell. He pushed you to your knees in front of the cell.

“I considered just letting you watch her starve,” Vapasi said
to Ethan, moving your hair away from your neck. “But this might be more
satisfying.”

He moved the blade and you felt pain flare in your back. You
fell against the bars of the cell as he let go of you, unable to move yourself.
Ethan roared, reaching out through the bars to grab the magister but the man
simply moved beyond his range.

“Good luck,” Vapasi said, his footsteps moving away once again.

“You
murkha!
” Ethan yelled. “
Harama, vasa, bereha!
”
He took your hand. “
Gavana
… I’m so sorry.” He dropped his voice, tears
forming in his eyes. “This is all my fault. I should have been stronger. I
should have stopped you. I’m so sorry.”

“I can’t feel anything, Ethan.”

He sniffed. “Then you’re going to be okay. Everything is going
to be okay.”

“Liar.” You smiled. “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

“No.” He wiped his face on his shoulder. “No. You’re going to
be fine.” He pushed his face against the bars close to yours and kissed your
ear. “Just close your eyes.”

You did as he said, just listening to his voice as he reassured
you everything was going to be okay. Listened until the sound of your own
heartbeat got too loud. Listened until it stopped.

The End
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