Chapter 2

Don’t worry. I didn’t die. Let’s be honest, there was a lot of shouting and tussling. I was tired. I didn’t want to go back to the Roadies with Gimlet, so I just continued being ‘asleep’. It was a lot more comfortable than wracked with pain. That came soon enough.

When I could no longer hide in the depths of unconsciousness, stiffly, painfully, I surfaced, eyes barely squinting open just in case fleeing back to sleep was still an option. There was light somewhere, so that made it more difficult. I wasn’t cold, though, so that was an improvement. I decided to commit and woke fully up, even attempting to sit up as I did. That was a mistake.

Whatever they make those bolts out of, it’s not something you get over fast. Trying to put weight on my right arm just resulted in the muscles giving out and me crying like a baby again. That got someone’s attention. A big bosomed, freckle-faced woman with her silvery hair in plaits came bustling over. She was the type Chief Urtega said he liked diving into head first. I quickly laid back down and pretended to be asleep.

“Ach! The sleeping beauty awakes, does she!” her arm expertly slipped under my bandaged shoulder, hoisting me back into a sitting position and fully back awake. “There we go now! Back to the land of the living.”

I clenched my teeth, refusing to let this large woman know how much she alarmed me. She eyed me and made another clucking noise before brightening.

“And…back to the eating, I hope? Would you care for some food, ducky?”

My mouth opened on its own, “Food!”

The noise of my stomach drowned out my voice. I swallowed nervously a few times and tried again.

“F-food? You have food for Lorus? Food for me? Now? Food?”

It was as though the dams of plenty had opened up. Nurse Bountiful beamed like I was learning my first words, and she did indeed bring me food, food just for me and no one else.

Judging from some of the other faces around this brightly lit room of beds, the other occupants weren’t particularly impressed with the fair presented: a chunk of bread, greens so steamed they’d gone to mush, a bowl of meat broth with some mushrooms and barley in it. But most of them also looked like first feeders. They would be the first ones to the carcass on a hunt with their mates and spawn. Bone-crackers like me are a cook’s best friend.

Nurse Bountiful was nice enough to let me get all the way to tipping the bowl back and sucking the last grains out of the bottom of it before she began the interrogation.

“All right, Luv, let’s start with the basics. What’s your name?”

I stared back, lips still locked on the edge of the bowl trying to suck whatever flavor was left off of it. Nurse arched an eyebrow.

Placing a hand on her own generous chest she said, “Me, Jane Marks, you…?”

I let my eyes slide off to the right then wander around the room. It was as big and as spacious as one of the camper tents the Roadies used and maybe as big as the meeting tent of the Ayfortees, about thirty paces by twenty. Many of the beds were wooden cots, like mine, stretched comfortably across beige canvas and tucked in with white starched sheets and a scratchy, navy, hemp blanket. There were a few beds for larger individuals, however, that looked like they were actually made out of metal. From this distance I couldn’t tell if they were new forges or recasts though. I could investigate later. A gentle cough brought my attention back to Nurse Bountiful, or Jane, or whomever.

She had a loaf of bread in her hand and was offering it to me. I looked at it then back at her then tentatively reached out a hand.

“Ah…” she pulled it back. That figured. I bit my bottom lip and waited. Now it would come. “I’m Jane Marks, and you are…?”

She offered the bread in my direction again. Fine. I would play.

“L-Lorus.”

Jane beamed and tore off a piece of the bread, handing it to me. My hand shook from the effort it took not to grab it. That might startle her if I did.

“Good! Family name? Lorus what?”

I shook my head and sucked on the piece of bread, making it last as long as possible.

“No?” Jane pondered then brightened, “Clan then, or tribe, or…what other name do they call you? Who are your people?”

She gestured, opening her arms wide like she was embracing other people. This mother hen probably could fit an entire family of eight under her wing span. She held out another chunk of bread, even though I hadn’t finished the first.

I looked at her and shook my head again, “No. No family. No clan. No tribe. Lorus has no people.”

Jane seemed honestly surprised and handed over the chunk without a thought.

“But then what about these-" her hand reached out unexpectedly towards my face, and I couldn’t help myself.

Snarling I smacked her hands away and tried to push myself back in the bed. Something was wrong though. My feet weren’t working right. With a cry, I lost my balance and toppled out of the bed onto the floor.

The fall wasn’t far, but it jarred my right arm, bolt wound and all, making me cry out in a sad sort of squeal. A shadow loomed over me. I cringed. I had blown it. Quickly, I looked for a place to hide. I slid under the cot next to me and kept going, squirming under low hanging butts until I got to a metal bed in the corner. All the while the patients hooted and hollered and made that sound with their mouths that I hate so much, laughing.

“Oy! You got a slippy one, Nurse Fuzzy-Wuzzy!” one shouted as Jane tisked.

Another was nearly bent double, red in the face and wheezing as he pointed in my direction, “There she goes! Oo, look at her wiggle! Oh! Oh! I never!”

I waited as Nurse Jane slowly paced closer then made as though to slide across the aisle to the opposite row of beds. As soon as the patients, crying out like some hunting pack, started Jane heading that direction, I flipped like an otter and shot for the door. My fingers grabbed the edge and yanked it open, only to find myself staring at a pair of black boots. Disaster!

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The gray mustached man and I stared at each other for a moment before I reversed myself again and shot back under the beds.

“Nurse Jane!” I could hear him bellow, “What’s the meaning of this! I was under the impression we ran a medical ward here, not a circus!”

Jane paused red-faced in her pursuit.

“Corporal Whittaker! I assure you, sir, we take our job here with the utmost seriousness, but please lower your voice! The child is nearly out of her mind with fear and such raised tones will only add to her agitation!”

The Corporal blinked, “Oh. Quite sorry, nurse.”

Jane rounded on the rest of the patients.

“The same goes for you as well! I appreciate your interest, but please!”

She waited until the other patients muttered embarrassed apologies then actually lowered herself to hands and knees and carefully pulled up the blankets on the bed I was hiding under. I backed to the wall and snarled.

“Lorus,” she said quietly, “Lorus, I should not have done that, ducky, should I? I’m sorry, Lorus. I’m terribly sorry. Will you come out?”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. Nurse Jane was apologizing to me. I pondered the situation, mind racing, heart pounding so loud I was sure they could hear it echoing through the ward. She was not screaming or cursing at me. There were no sticks or rocks. They hadn’t tried chasing me out with fire or freezing water. Everyone was completely silent, waiting on me. The realization of what I could be dealing with made me shake.

Nurse Jane took it as fear and tushed softly.

“Ach, there now, Lorus. Come here, darling. It’s all right,” she opened wide her arms.

It was a risky move, one I’d seen little curly-haired Davy pull off to great effect, but if I was right, the payoff would be huge. I curled my legs under me and stared hard into Nurse Jane’s eyes, seeking any sign of deception. Then I launched myself straight at her, arms outstretched.

“Lorus is sawy!” I wailed as I burrowed my face brimming with tears into her bosom.

I caught her off guard, and she sat back hard on her heels, but I could almost feel her smile beam around the room as the patients murmured in amazement.

“Sawy, sawy, sawy,” I sobbed, keeping my face hidden in her shoulder.

Jane chuckled and patted me on the head, “There now. You’re really a good girl, aren’t you?”

With an alarming strength, Nurse Jane scooped me up and carried me back over to my bed. I had to fight the urge to squirm or kick. It would ruin everything if I freaked out now, but I was shaking like a leaf as she lowered me back into the cot. She must have taken it for cold because in an instance I was swaddled up to my eyeballs in extra blankets.

Nurse Jane stood up and looked around, “Now then. I think there must be one more of bowl of barley broth around here somewhere for my hungry little Lorus. Then, when you’re ready, you can tell me all about Lorus and those fascinating marks around your beautiful brown eyes.”

I nodded under all the blankets and made myself say, “T-Tank-you, Nurse Jane”.

The Colonel nodded approvingly as Jane bustled off to where ever the food was kept. I was sure I could discover that at some point.

“Nurse Jane tames yet another wild child,” he rumbled warmly. Cautiously, he leaned in to peer at me under all the blankets. Nervously, I pulled up the covers around me until just my eyes were showing, but I did tentatively try a shy smile at him. His whiskers bristled in delight.

“You are a good gel, aren’t you wee thing?” he beamed before straightening and regarding me with an eye that I realized was creamy white, instead of a match for his other blue eye. “And a bit curious as well. Hmmm, Lorus, was it? Lorus like chorus, for whom the angels sing, what?”

He mused to himself as he wandered back out of the tent just as Nurse Jane came back in with my food. I sighed with delight at the smell of more warm food. Perfect. This could work. This could be very good. I had found a nest of soft touches. It was the perfect mark.

My little-girl-lost act worked wonders on Nurse Jane and the rest of the patients as well. Once I finished my second meal, I related what I could remember of my origins. The fact that I was an orphan passed from tribe to tribe, owner to owner, drew no small amount of gasps and pitying sighs from the other patients. I may have played up the hunger and beatings a little bit but not much. When I got to the part of about me being mated off, there was nearly a riot.

“But she’s just a baby!” one man with his arm in a sling protest as Jane tried to calm him down.

“Oh you know these savage lots,” an older woman with a wheeze in her voice answered. She had to take a couple thin breaths before continuing. “It’s all about quantity, not quality. ‘Ts what got our great-grans into their mess in the first place.”

One of the other patients smacked his gums and shook his head, “I been living in the Shoals so long I forgots how bad life can be away from New Castle.” He looked up with new resolve in his eyes. “Soon as I kick this ‘nurmonia, I’m going back to my lessons! I will leave Purgatory! I will join a Ward in New Castle.”

That was a new word I hadn’t heard before. I looked up, eyes as big and innocent as I could.

“Lessens? Why would you want to lessen? Isn’t more always better?”

The other patients chuckled as Jane smiled, “No dear, not lessen to make less, lessons to learn.”

I cocked my head to the side, a gesture that seemed to cause the other patients no end of delight, just as much as it turned my stomach.

“Learn what?”

Jane nodded as though I had asked something important.

“The naturalization lessons are for those who pass through the Quarantine Camp. After staying in quarantine for three months and taking lessons about the rules and society of New Castle, you can petition to become a New Castelian yourself and join a ward. Successful applicants have gone on to become Cogs, and there are even some who have been known to become Bench Dogs, Regulars, Alchemists, Thaumaturges, or even a Second for a prominent Wardensan.”

That statement did cause an outcry in the ward as patients argued over the likelihood of a petitioner advanced in age actually qualifying for a university or academy profession. Jane just let them bicker, a knowing smile on her face.

“So what do you think, little Lorus? Would you like to learn more about New Castle and petition to become a citizen?”

I knew what answer they expected, but I still had to make the story look convincing. Looking around the room wide-eyed, I asked, “Will they all be like you? Are Castelians all as nice and good and kind as you, Nurse Jane?”

Nurse Jane and the other patients laughed. She even reached out and patted me on the head. I held my smile in place. Hopefully, she didn’t hear my teeth grinding.

“Ach ducky! New Castle is full of sundry and diverse peoples, but there are many good ones there, yes. And as long as you apport yourself properly, you’ll find many just as nice as I.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be fooled though. There are a few rascals as well.”

The other patients murmured and muttered, and I thought I heard a few names float pointedly about.

“A good girl like you would only keep the best company though,” she nodded affirmingly, “So there’s not much for you to worry about.”

A whole city full of softies like Nurse Jane and all these wanna-bes? I closed my eyes for a moment and let a genuine smile warm my face.

“Lovely!” I breathed. “Then Lorus will go to New Castle.”