Keys of Candor: The Red Deaths

by Casey Eanes

  “Adley! I didn’t think...”

  She interrupted, “Kull, are you okay?”

  “I didn’t know…”

  "As soon as I heard about the attack I volunteered to be on the first support run." Adley's eyes were soft but determined. "I can't imagine what they could have wanted with Cotswold...but I’m glad to find you alive. And Eva let me know that Rose is resting well in the quarantine tent.”

  “I am lucky to be alive,” Kull whispered in shock, paralyzed by the sudden appearance of his longtime friend. His thoughts stumbled in a rush of excitement in her presence like a team of intoxicated horses. He couldn’t believe that she was back, right in front of him. She was the same girl he remembered, but she had changed. Her eyes possessed a strength that he had not seen before, but she was just as gorgeous as he remembered.

  “They didn’t want Cotswold, Adley,” Kull replied, doing his best to force himself back in the present. “They wanted my father. The Grogans took him, and once they had him, they left. Cotswold was just in their way.”

  Adley stared at Kull with her dark eyes and spoke, “Kull, lie down. I have to see your shoulder.”

  Quickly, she grabbed a pack of sterile scissors and began cutting away the singed shirt that covered his wound. The deep musky smell of blood and burnt flesh invaded his nostrils, causing his mouth to dry. Her hands operated with determined ease, a skill that only came from her diligent training at the Academy. She handed him a leather strip.

  “Kull, I’m going to need you to bite this.”

  “Umm…what?”

  “Bite on this belt, Kull.”

  He stared deep into her brown eyes. They swallowed him, and like a fool he obeyed, clamping his teeth on the cow-hide.

  Without hesitation, she peeled back Kull’s flesh in one swift movement, delving deep into his shoulder to fetch the shrapnel locked inside. Kull grinded the leather strap between his teeth, grunting as pain went off in his mind like fireworks. As she worked, he could not stop the hot tears that poured out of his eyes. For what seemed like an eternity, Adley stood over him digging through him, the pain swelling to a tormenting crescendo, until suddenly it was all over, replaced only by a light-headed dizziness. The only thing holding Kull steady was Adley’s kind, striking face.

  She washed her tools and then painted the wound with a gray concoction of medicine. She looked down at him as she wrapped his wound and spoke in a much too chipper voice, “You did well, Kull!”

  Kull tried to speak, but the foul tasting leather was still clamped in his mouth.

  Adley laughed, “I have seen a lot of men pass out over less.”

  Kull squeaked out a coy reply, “Just what are you trying to say?” A crooked smile filled his face, and the pain that dominated him slowly resided. Adley’s hand rested against Kull’s chest, and his heart panged.

  “I’m saying you did great. At least it’s out now. You’ll be just fine. Let me go and get some more dressing for it. I’ll be right back. Hold this bandage down.” Adley reached and squeezed his hand. Her touch sent a pulse up Kull’s arm. In a second, Adley extinguished all the pain and rage that a few moments ago dominated his mind.

  He held the bandage over his shoulder and allowed himself to breath. The pain was bearable now, not good, but not as bad as it was. The dizziness was subsiding, and without the distraction of Adley, Kull began to focus on his father again and his mother’s request to find him. Why had the Grogans taken him? Why would they risk war for the capture of one man? What had Grift done to possibly deserve this?

  He lay there as the questions swirled in his mind, listening to the hundreds of injured citizens moan in a chorus of misery. Why would they do this to us?

  “Hold him down!” a voice shrieked. It was Eva Dellinger, and she was directing several large men to hold Arthur Ewing.

  “Arthur, we have no choice. If we don’t remove this leg, you’ll be dead in a week.”

  “By the gods, woman, let me go!” Ewing was throwing his body against the men holding his arms and legs down. One of the men lost his grip, and Ewing swung, shattering his giant fist against the medic’s jaw. A grueling crack filled the air. “You devils be cursed if I’ll let you do this to me!” An unrelenting torrent of curses, spittle, and threats spewed from Ewing’s mouth as the party of medical orderlies tried desperately to restrain him. Silent as a shadow, a tall man moved into the tent, his face masked and his hands gloved. His presence felt like a dark specter. He held a large, long blade.

  Oh no.

  “NO! Please don’t…I’ll be okay…soon enough!” Ewing screamed, whimpering as his eyes followed the blade moving across the room.

  It was over in an instant. With one swift and controlled stroke of the doctor’s surgical blade, Ewing’s black infected leg was lobbed off. Kull stared and shuttered as the orderlies bound his bleeding stump with a tourniquet and quickly began wrapping it with sterile gauze. To Kull it felt like a terrible dream, a dream that he wished he could wake up from. Ewing was quiet and went white as a sheet. His eyes lost focus. He sat motionless for minutes with his mouth hanging open, slowly muttering and humming one of his favorite drinking songs.

  “Serubs and morels, got in some quarrels, and now they get the best of me.”

  He let out a childlike laugh and looked over at Kull in a fog of shock as a stupid grin wrapped itself around his face. Too gleeful, he whispered, “It’s alright, boy. I’m alright.” he passed out headlong into his cot.

  Eva, who stood by him the entire time, laid her hand on him and put a damp cloth across his neck. Ewing broke out into a cold sweat and was shivering violently. She looked over at Kull as she wiped away the sweat from Ewing. She waved over a medic to hook a bag of blood to Ewing as he slept.

  “Kull, can you look after him? I have more injured to care for. He just needs a watchful eye for a few hours. Can you yell if you see he’s not doing well?”

  Under normal circumstances it would be laughable that she would put Ewing under his care in his condition. Kull nodded, still holding the gauze up on his tender shoulder. “Go on, Eva. I will watch him. I won’t let him go anywhere.” Not that he can go anywhere.

  Kull lay in his cot staring at Ewing who continued to shiver. The old man was a pitiful sight, and Kull felt a potent mixture of fear and sadness swirl inside his chest. Despite all the frustration and annoyance Arthur Ewing had caused him in his life, the man was like a grandfather. Ewing served in the King’s Guard along with his father and had been his mentor as he climbed the ranks. When he retired, he settled in Cotswold and having no other family, he formed an unlikely one with the Shepherds.

  Kull propped himself up, swung his legs out of his cot and gathered up his thin blanket to cover Ewing.

  “Let me get that for you,” Adley said, returning with a handful of gauze and medical tape. “I will cover him up. You need to lie down, Kull. Ewing will be fine. He’s just cold from blood loss, but he will be okay. He’s taking his blood bag well. It will make a world of difference. I will take care of the two of you myself.”

  “Well then I know we are in good hands.” In his mind, Kull chastised himself for the stupid nonsense overflowing out his mouth. Gods above, Shepherd, get it together. Shut up.

  Adley smiled, took the covers from Kull, and laid them over Ewing, tucking them in around his large frame. His shivering diminished as time passed, and Kull was finally able to quit staring at him, for fear that he would die there in that old military cot.

  Adley chastised him, “Kull, please. You need to lie down. I promise he will be okay. Besides, I need to get your wound dressed. Now lie down and let me patch you up. We are safe now.”

  Kull obeyed as Adley meticulously wrapped his shoulder and packed the wound. As she worked, Kull noticed how much she had grown up since he had last seen her. Time had changed her. All of the past day’s events spun in his head like a surreal dream, the nightmare of losing his father and his hometown mixed with the strange elation to be reunited with Adley. All
of it made everything even more farfetched and unreal. He was silent as he watched her work.

  Adley was the first to speak, “Kull, you said the Grogans were after your father. Why?”

  Kull coughed, clearing his throat. “I wish I knew. All I know is what I saw. They killed everyone else, but then they took him.”

  Adley said nothing, but her face filled with worry.

  He sat up as she finished dressing the wound. “I’m going after them. I’ve already wasted too much time.”

  There was a pause. Adley tightened the wrapping with a harsh jerk, making Kull wince.

  Her tone was serious and filled with warning. “You know you can’t do that. They have stopped all travel across the Realm except for the military and the emergency response teams. The guards won’t let you leave Cotswold, much less Lotte.”

  Kull locked eyes with her. Her face was stern as she stared back, unflinching.

  His voice went grave. “Adley. What choice do I have? Dad would do the same for me. I can’t just sit around here while he rots in a Grogan prison. I’ve got to get up and go while his trail is fresh.”

  Adley fired back at him. “Who will watch Rose, Kull? Or did you even think of that?”

  Kull’s hand fell on Adley’s. “Mom asked me to go. I would never leave her otherwise.”

  Adley’s face was a mixture of worry and pride, and yet somehow it still bore the kind glow that always stayed with her.

  “You’re as stubborn as I remember, Kull Shepherd. I know better than to try to persuade you to stay...” Her sentence fell away, as if there was something else she wished to say.

  She reached out and placed her hand on Kull’s cheek. Her hand was warm, and her soft skin was smooth against Kull’s dirty jaw.

  “Just don’t get yourself killed, okay? There are some things that even nurses can’t fix.”

  Kull’s determination relaxed and he laughed. “I will. I promise. It was good to see you again.”

  “Good to see you too.”

  They paused and looked at each other for an awkward moment. Then, as if someone was timing their chance encounter, they quickly embraced each other as they parted ways.

  Adley released him and turned away from the stunned young man. All Kull wanted was to stay in her embrace for a few moments longer. He shot a glance back at Ewing who was now alert, staring at him with weak eyes.

  “Looks like it’s you and me again, kid. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” Ewing slowly sat up on his cot and smiled.

  “Bold words for someone who just lost their leg.”

  Ewing looked down at the voided limb and began to laugh.

  “What...a...day. I can’t say that I saw this one in the cards. Well, I didn’t much like that ol’ leg anyway. Now I can get me one of those new additions those tech-boys have been crafting for the veterans...I’m gonna get me a shiny one.” A wicked smile flew across the old man’s face.

  Kull smiled at Ewing in utter amazement as the old goat brushed off the nightmare he had just been through. Back to his old ways, he was shoveling large wads of brown tobacco out of his pouch and loading it into his pipe.

  “You know that’s going to kill you one day, right?” Kull said playfully.

  Clenching the pipe in his mouth, Ewing stared back at Kull with wide eyes. “Seems like I’m doing a much better job of that myself, boy!” Ewing lit a match and his pipe in one grand sweeping motion that looked and felt like a magic trick. Kull hadn’t noticed before, but Ewing always seemed to have a certain flair about him, a quality that took the normal everydayness of life and made it oddly significant. The old man stared at Kull through the smoke enveloping his head and took three long draws, savoring each one.

  “Thank you Aleph above...that is good.” Ewing shut his eyes as smoke floated around his head and the smell of the tobacco permeated throughout the tent. Another young man with a bandage around his head was lying in the cot next to Ewing. His eyes flew open and his nose crinkled as the smoke wafted over onto him, and he lurched as a shower of vomit fell in the space between the cots. Ewing opened his eyes and patted him on the back as he retched again.

  “There, there, my man. There, there!”

  Turning to Kull, Ewing continued, “You need not worry about me and my bad habits.” Kull looked at Ewing’s stump of a leg, smirked, and shook his head in disbelief. The memory of his mother’s voice goaded him. “You have to go after him, Kull. You have to go after your father.”

  “It’s not you I’m worried about, Arthur. It’s dad.”

  Ewing’s face grimaced with a knowing look.

  “I know, boy. I know. But if anyone can make it out of the Grogans’ hands it would be Grift. He’s more cunning than about anyone I know. The Grogans really don’t realize what danger they are in.”

  “Danger?”

  “That’s right, lad. Danger.” Ewing took another draw from his pipe. “Your father is a very skilled man of war. Being captain of the Lottian guard is not a post doled out for ceremony. Grift is a warrior, and what he lacks in strength, he makes up in strategy. The Grogans like to strong-arm the other Realms into submission, but the reason our Realm has stayed free from their interference for these past forty years is because of men like Grift.” Ewing puffed at his pipe again, his eyes grave. “Yes…taking Grift, even as a prisoner, is a risky move on the Grogans’ part, whether they realize it or not.”

  “So you don’t think they are going to kill him?” All he knew about his father’s position was that he commanded a small band of soldiers patrolling the border. Yet to hear Ewing talk, it put his father in a whole new light.

  “No, lad. They’ll torture him, for sure, but if they intended to kill him they would have done that on the battlefield. They’ve got Grift held prisoner either to use him as a hostage or to interrogate him. Why, with King Camden laid to rest your father is one of the most valuable assets they can possess.” Ewing’s voice trailed off and he ran his hands through his thinning hair. Something flickered across Ewing’s face that made a chill run down Kull’s spine.

  “What is it, Arthur?”

  “Nothing lad…nothing.”

  Kull’s eyes trailed off beyond the recovery tent doors and out over the smoldering hills of what was once Cotswold. Anger rekindled in him, and an uncompromising grit. His father was not dead, and there was still time, but he would have to hurry. Kull was now sure of what he had to do.

  “I have to go and find him, Ewing.” The broken voice of his mother pierced his mind. ‘He is more important than me.’ Kull continued, “If they’re not going to kill him, then I have to go now. I have to get to him. If they had taken me, Dad would have already left Lotte by now.” As he spoke, the realization that he would have to say goodbye to his mother washed over him, and his mind filled with dread.

  Ewing read Kull’s face and frowned for a moment, lost in his thoughts. He spoke, “Help me up, Kull. Let’s go see her. You need to if you’re setting off to go. Plus, I don’t think my neighbor appreciates my pipe.”

  “But your leg!”

  “Ah, my leg nothing. Now, help me up and grab me some crutches.”

  Kull slowly led Ewing out of the medical tent. Ewing teetered on his ill-fitted crutches and cursed under his breath with each step as Kull directed him through the obstacles of patients, doctors, and nurses standing in his way. Somehow, the two made their way to the outlying tent where Kull’s mother would be. Ewing tossed his crutches to the side and flopped onto the damp ground.

  “This is far enough for me, son. I’ll be out here. Go and see her.” He panted, catching his breath. Ewing leaned back on his elbows, his portly belly rising and falling with each breath. After resting a little while, he grabbed Kull’s arm and drew him in. “But I still have words for you. Don’t run off. Do you understand?” Despite all that happened to him, the old man’s grip was still strong. Kull nodded and went inside the tent.

  A young orderly greeted Kull as he slipped inside. “Evening.”

  “I’m
looking for Rose Shepherd.”

  “Ah…Ms. Shepherd.” The orderly led him down the rows of wounded, and he saw her. Even at a distance Kull could see that the coherent mother he left in the forest was gone. Her hollow eyes were full of shadows.

  The orderly reported the obvious. “She isn’t doing too much responding. Unfortunately, I am afraid the shock of the battle put her into a bit of a stupor.” Kull nodded, not bothering to correct him. “She is stable, however.”

  The orderly excused himself as Kull’s heart drowned in disappointment. Her frail frame was slumped over in a chair as her chest puffed out shallow breaths. She was the shell of the person Kull had become accustomed to over the past few years. Before entering the tent, Kull had been set on going after his dad. He was not so sure now.