“What happened?” Lizzy asked.
“We were attacked on the way back from the meeting,” Stan responded.
“I hate the blues,” Lizzy said with passion.
“It wasn’t the blues,” Stan countered. He looked cautiously at Irene.
“Irene came and told me you were here,” Lizzy explained. “She is from The Heights.” Some of the tension left Stan.
“It was red warriors,” Stan explained. “They wanted our cargo. When we refused they slashed me. I told the others to run, did they make it back?”
“No,” Lizzy answered.
“I lost consciousness soon after that. I don’t know how I got here,” he looked at Irene.
“I don’t know either,” Irene responded. “You were already here when I volunteered last night. The lead nurse might be able to tell you more. If another party found you injured and brought you in, the same might have happened to your companions. You should check all the patients.”
“A set of red warriors came to the suburb. I didn’t like the looks of them. They said you were dead, killed on the border. I knew you would never go to the border without telling me first. I asked them to leave and put the suburb on full alert,” Lizzy explained. “When Irene arrived I thought she was lying.”
Irene made a round of the room. Lizzy got up and went out of the room, looking for the missing residents of their suburb. Two of the patients were new, with fresh wounds. She thought both would heal, but one of them was heavily traumatized by the battle. Irene settled down next to the wall where the nurse sat the night before, saving the spot next to Stan for Lizzy. There was no sign of the nurse, but the woman didn’t turn up until an hour into the night yesterday.
“Over the years Greg has told me the names of all his suburb members. Irene isn’t one of them,” Stan observed. “Luckily for you he also told the name of his favorite visitor.”
“I doubt you know all the names,” Irene countered. “Do you know little Bethany, born just this year?” Stan admitted he didn’t. “I live many lives,” Irene admitted, “as I think any traveler does. The Heights is a spiritual home. When I am here in Chicago, I am Irene from The Heights.”
“Thank you for going to Northbrook,” Stan replied. Irene accepted his thanks with a nod. “The day nurse was surprised to see me still alive. I think they expected me to die in the night. I am only alive today because of your care.”
“I don’t believe in the war,” Irene stated, “so I save who I can. This world is already trying to kill us. As children of Earth we should band together against the structure, not help it. By allowing violence against the blues, Darien is teaching his warriors how easy it is to just take. You’re the victim of that. Now that you are short, you’ll be tempted to take from someone else. That is a mistake, it will only grow the disorder. Instead go to your neighbors and warn them about what has happened so that everyone will be on their guard. Tell them what you have lost, but don’t ask for anything. Trust them to decide if they can spare anything. I think you’ll find that almost everyone will help you out. Those that don’t are likely worse off than you, and just don’t want to admit it. The next time you have extra you should consider trading with those who couldn’t help you, instead of Chicago. It would save your settlement the trip to downtown and give your weaker neighbors a little boost.”
“I found Oliver,” Lizzy said when she returned shortly after that. “He’s lost a foot, but they say he’s past the danger point and will live,” she told Stan. Stan’s nod was half filled with grief for whoever else was still missing.
“Where is he?” Irene asked. “Since you are here for Stan, I can sit with Oliver tonight.” Lizzy told her where their injured companion was. Irene picked up her pack and moved to the new room. A nurse was on watch in it. It was a different nurse than the one Irene met the night before. This woman was visibly pregnant, but still able to move around.
“I’ve come to sit with Oliver,” Irene told her. The woman indicated a man with a shortened leg, who was laying uneasily, against a wall. Irene sat down beside him, bracing herself against a pack
“I’m Irene,” she said to Oliver. “I left Lizzy watching over Stan.”
“Did Stan make it then?” Oliver asked. “I didn’t realize until after Lizzy left that she didn’t actually say.”
“Yes,” Irene responded. “He is in another room. A day or two and both of you can head back to the suburb.”
“I’m not certain if I should go,” Oliver admitted. “Without a foot, I will just be a burden.” Irene wasn’t certain how to answer it. Her first instinct was to assure him she could fix that, but she could not say that here. Besides she wasn’t actually certain it was true.
“Stan doesn’t know how he got back here to Chicago. He passed out soon after the initial confrontation,” Irene said.
“We tried to flee when Stan gave the word, but we were slow because of the heavy packs. I was brought down quickly by some kind of stun spell,” Oliver explained. "They took my pack and weapon and laughed at me. Said my armor was trash and not worth the effort. One of the warriors took off my foot with a fire imbued strike. He told me that would keep me from carrying tales. Then they just left me. I used my belt as a tourniquet and crawled back to the main corridor. A group coming back from the front found me. I told them my party was attacked. I wasn’t far from Stan, so they found him too. There was no sign of Nora.”
“It sounds to me like you saved your and Stan’s life, and you did it without a foot. You won’t be a burden unless you want to be one,” Irene assured him. “I don’t think you want to be.” Irene pulled a meal of travel food out of her pack. She was starting to get low. She set the food out on a square of leather, and began to nibble on it. It was easily within Oliver’s reach. She pulled her water flask from her belt and set it out as well.
The nurse in the room got up and went out. She came back with a tankard of broth, which she gave to Irene.
“We don’t like to give them directly to the patients, because they tend to choke,” She said. Irene nodded her understanding. She helped Oliver prop himself up and fed him the broth. Irene could see how patients with family members present were getting much better care. The Heights didn’t volunteer any warriors for the border, but Redfalls was supplying a large number of them. Irene wondered if there was anyone here to tend to Redfalls’ wounded.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Oliver and Stan were both noticeably better in the morning. People healed quickly in the structure, as long as they were fed. Irene excused herself, telling Oliver she needed to buy more travel food.
Irene went out into the shopping district. It was early enough her shopping choices were limited. She bought dried meat, fruit and tubers. She swung by John’s leatherworking shop and bought four water flasks from an apprentice. The flasks were of a poor quality, which meant they would wear quickly. They were cheap and would work just fine for a month or two.
Irene tied the empty flasks to the outside of her pack. They screamed her poor status and should tell thieves she didn’t have anything worth taking. She headed back to the hospital. She bought them for Stan and Oliver so that they could keep water at their bedside without having to depend on the nurse. She wanted to drop them off and wish them well before heading back to Redfalls.
She was surprised to find the three of them, Lizzy, Stan and Oliver hobbling down the hall in the direction of the western gate. Stan was leaning heavily on Lizzy and Oliver was using her spear as a crutch.
“Can I ask what the plan is?” Irene said when she caught up to them. Stan stumbled to a stop and leaned against a wall, he was breathing heavily.
“I thought you left,” Lizzy said, there was fear in her voice. “Stan doesn’t think we are safe here. We’re going to go as far as we can past the gate, and settle in a room for a day or two.” Irene thought that plan wasn’t half bad. She could see how they might be worried the red warriors who attacked them might be back to finish the job. Silencing witnesses might be the reason the warriors turned up at the suburb. It actually meant the missing Nora could have escaped.
“Here,” Irene said, handing her staff to Oliver. “Use this as a walking stick and give the spear to Lizzy. Keep working your way to the exit, but don’t leave Chicago proper until I get back. You should be safe enough in the main hall with witnesses.”
She turned around and headed back to the hospital. She paid the head nurse twice the going price for water to fill all four of her newly purchased water flasks. She went to the nearest blacksmith shop and purchased two apprentice made iron spears.
She found Stan’s party waiting just short of the exit guards. Irene was impressed at their determination. She handed out the flasks and gave one spear to Stan to use as a staff. The narrower diameter on the spear made it harder to use for that purpose than her own staff.
“You can use my staff for now,” She told Oliver. “I will want it back.”
“Ok,” the warrior replied.
“You lead,” she told them. “I will follow behind and watch our backs.”
They went through the guard station. One of the guards looked twitchy to her. She gave him a hard look, right before she cast muffle and camouflage over her group, making them disappear from the guards sight. She lingered for a moment under the cloak to see what the guards would do.
“A wizard,” the twitchy guard said.
“A high tier one,” the other guard replied. “She got irritated at us a few years ago when we first started collecting protection tax. She went off for five minutes and came back with seven dead rats. We are better off pretending we didn’t notice them.”
Irene remembered that. She knew that was a mistake at the time. It really irritated her when her temper got the best of her. The party hobbled along for another twenty minutes before Stan could not make it any farther. They picked a room at random to secure.
Irene cleaned the largest pieces of junk out of it and dumped them in the neighboring room as Lizzy got Stan and Oliver settled. Irene wedged the door open just a crack so she could keep watch in the hall beyond. They all sat in silence for about ten minutes, while Lizzy pressed water onto Stan.
Oliver broke the silence by scooting himself across the floor. Even though he was without a foot, he was in much better condition than Stan. His stub was almost completely healed over. Irene looked up at him as he slid into place on the other side of the door.
“I can keep watch,” he said with determination.
“Yes,” Irene agreed. “You can.” Irene stood up. “Take my spot. It has a clearer view. I am going to scout the block and see if I can find a prize altar. I have a portable stove in my inventory we can use to make soup for Stan.” Oliver agreed. Irene marked the room on her map so she could find her way back to it.
She scouted out the area, looking for any sign of other people passing. The structure erased everything in a matter of days. She was pretty certain no one passed recently. She searched the rooms looking for a prize altar and the components she would need to build a frame to hold her leather stew bag. She found a “broken pipe” water source not far away. The water was streaming out of a crack in a wall and down into a puddle on the floor. The fourth room she searched contained an anvil. She gave the item a dirty look.
The thirteenth room contained a prize altar and an upholstered sofa. The dirty look she gave the sofa was even worse. In all her time supplying her store she never found a sofa. She did remember that Darien owned one on her first trip to Chicago. She wondered if they were a more common spawn in this area. She thought about carrying it back, then decided to just switch rooms. She marked the new room on her map and went back for Stan’s party.
“Coming in,” Irene called as she approached the door. Oliver acknowledged her call. She stepped inside. “I found a better room,” she explained. “It’s about five minutes away. Are you recovered enough to get that far?”
“Yes,” Stan assured her. Irene recast her cloaking spells and the group hobbled over to the new room.
“Wow,” Stan said, as he viewed the sofa.
“I thought you would like it,” Irene said. “Hopefully it will give you a well rested bonus and help you heal.”
“Is that real?” Lizzy asked.
“I just made it up,” Irene admitted. “Knowing this place, it could be real.” She secured the room. Oliver settled by the door. Irene pulled a portable stove from her inventory at the altar. She set down her pile of components when she decided to move the group. She clicked them together to form the frame. She dug the sling of leather she used to make soup out of her pack. She wasn’t that good of a cook. Her soup was usually just softened dried ingredients. She went through the travel food that was in her pack and tried to decide what wouldn’t taste too awful together.
“Let me,” Lizzy said. “I’m not that great of a cook, but from the look on your face, I think I may be better than you,” Lizzy confided.
“Probably,” Irene admitted. She handed over the task to Lizzy. She dug through her pack one last time and found the small copper bowl she carried for her own use. Irene frowned. “I think I saw some more bowls in a room not far from here.” They were in the room with the anvil. “I’ll go check.” She left her pack with the group and retrieved her staff from Oliver, before stepping back out into the hallway.
“Why is she helping us?” Oliver asked.
“She is the friend of a friend,” Stan explained.
“What friend?” Oliver asked.
“Greg, the leader of The Heights,” Stan responded.
“She mentioned Redfalls when we entered Chicago together,” Lizzy said. “She said she’d been there and the guard didn’t need to know where we were actually from.”
“She probably has been there,” Stan responded. “Greg told me she is a traveler. He has tried several times to get her to stay with his group, but she tells him she has itchy feet. I got the impression from him that she is a powerful wizard.”
“Can we trust her?” Oliver asked.
“She will see us home,” Stan replied. “To play it safe, I don’t think I or Oliver should go back to Chicago for a while. We may need to pick someone else to attend the meetings.”
“We owe her a debt,” Lizzy declared.
“We do,” Stan agreed. “I think we will repay her by following her advice.”
“Her advice?” Oliver asked. Stan explained what Irene said about banding together and warning their neighbors.