by Mara Duryea
Bloodhearts are the only soulless whom those without Iskerkin power can beat back. They just need to be over twenty-three. Vozhars were experts at healing children still transforming into bloodhearts.
The kizhiridors dispersed, and Rindar carried me through a door. Mounting a short flight of steps, he entered a small stone room, warm from a dancing fire. Meat and flat bread sat on a table.
Rindar kept me in one arm as he folded meat into the bread and handed it to me. He sank into a soft chair as I ripped into the food like a wild animal. It was the best thing I’d ever tasted: nutty and buttery, with red and green herbs. I’ve craved it off and on over the years. Later, I learned it was paveenie meat.
By the time I finished, Klin stuck his snowy hood into the room. “The sled’s here.”
“All right.” Rindar patted my leg. “The vozhars gonna make you better, okay?”
I nodded.
The Miricor carried me out to the collection wagon. The wheels had been replaced with runners. It resembled a metal box with a door in the back and two small windows on the sides. The driver was seated outside the box on a slab of wood. Dropping to the ground, he opened the box door. Rindar set me inside. There was nothing to sit on. The door shut in my face before I could say good-bye.
Rindar waved through the window and I waved back, suddenly dismal. I wished he could have come. I should have invited him, or at least asked him to visit. The sled lurched away, and I plopped on the uncaring floor. My jacket cushioned the fall.
A few snowflakes sprinkled past the window as small lights glowed in the gloom. The tug throbbed. He was nearby. Pressing my face to the glass, I stared into the empty streets. Orange light gleamed from the end of an alleyway. The tug was somewhere in the light.
I tried to pull the window down, but it wasn’t the kind that opened. I was going to miss my chance! Elbowing the glass into a million pieces, I stuck my face out the window.
“What are you doing back there?” the driver growled.
“HERE! HERE!” I stuck my fingers in my mouth and let loose three high-pitched whistles.
“Great Cubons,” said the driver. “Be quiet or I’ll sedate you.”
Did the tug hear? As we rounded a corner, the tall, wiry figure of a man emerged from the alley. The rider!
“Over here!” I shouted.
The driver slid aside part of the wall by his seat, reached through, and wrenched me back by the hair. He forced a smelly rag over my mouth. I scrabbled against his merciless hands. My mind spun as icy darts stabbed through it. My bones turned to iron and I sank to the floor. The sled continued on for a short while, and then stopped. Something squeaked, like gates opening.
“Wait, stop!” The voice had come from outside. My heart leaped. My tug! I struggled to speak, but my tongue remained paralyzed in my mouth. The sled moved again, carrying me away.
9
The Healing Room
Vozhar Hemrin was an Adenzhen hailing from Merisyliss. The pointed ears on the sides of his head were covered in gray-green scales, and so was his tapered tail. Green eyes peered from under wavy reddish-brown hair that clung to his head like it was damp. His bangs often poked him in the eye. He seemed big, until other people stood next to him. His red vozhar robe was too baggy.
“Now, little one,” he said, “what’s your name?”
“K’lar.”
I reclined in a soft chair in a warm little room. Dark green carpet set off cream-colored walls. Rich green curtains framed tall frosted windows. Golden-veined leaves edged the doorway and the spacious fireplace in a corner of the room. A thick, gold-embroidered ribbon depended to the floor next to the door. A small golden bell twinkled beside it.
Fire crackled behind a brass grate. Calming portraits of trees, leypels, and birds lined the walls in threes. A white bookshelf stood in a corner opposite a white wardrobe. My bed took the fourth corner in the room. It was as creamy as the walls, and piled with green blankets and pillows.
“Do you remember where you came from?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I woke up in an underground house.”
The vozhar’s brows knit. “How long has it been since you woke up in the underground house?”
“I don’t know.” I was beyond telling time, and incapable of guessing.
“Who was with you?”
“Sizhirin, Azhanya, and Karijin.”
Vozhar Hemrin leaned forward. “Who were they?”
“Karijin’s my brother.”
“What about Sizhirin and Azhanya?”
I had no idea what else to call them. “My mom and dad.”
Hemrin relaxed back in his chair, a deep frown creasing his pale forehead. He didn’t see the sun much.
As he contemplated my answers, I hooked my knees over the arm of my chair and observed the ceiling. It was stuck with white tiles. Each one had a different picture stamped on it. When I grew bored of the colorless pictures, I leaned over the chair’s edge, hung my head between my feet, and scratched my head with my toes. Pretty soon, my toes grabbed my ears and I giggled.
“K’lar,” said Hemrin.
I sat up. All the blood rushed out of my head. My skull felt like it was wiggling, and I sank into a corner of the chair.
Hemrin didn’t notice. “Those were obviously not your parents. That wasn’t your brother. I want you to always call them by their names, and never call them family again. Can you do that?”
It was as if I’d been freed. “Okay.”
Hemrin stood. “I want you to tell yourself they weren’t your family. Three times night and day, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Velevy will be in with dinner soon. You just relax.”
I nodded.
Hemrin scuttled to the door and touched the gold-embroidered ribbon. “If you need me, pull on this.” He indicated the bell. “That will ring to signal that I’m coming. Remember that.”
“Okay.”
He made me repeat the use of the ribbon and meaning of the bell several times before he walked out. He locked the high door behind him.
Now that I was free, I opened the wardrobe. Games, toys, and puzzles dazzled my eyes. A bright puzzle beckoned to me, and I took it down. Dumping the colorful pieces on the floor, I commenced sticking them together.
“Put the pieces into piles first. Try to get them in the same colors.” A hand speckled with burns reached over me and began separating the colors.
My heart tugged and I sped to the window, but it was frosted glass.
“My,” I whispered. My what? I wasn’t sure.
The door unlocked. Vozhar Velevy carted in a tray of food. She was an extremely tall Veerin from Vaylania. If she wasn’t the same height as the men, she was taller. She was as pale as desert clouds. She had light gray eyes, a long, delicate face, and white feathery hair. Her fluffy tail boasted the same pallid hair as on her head. The scales on her pointed ears and feet were silvery white. The red vozhar robe was too short on her. A guard attended her, just in case I broke out.
Velevy smiled. “We have one kobolia steak this evening, K’lar. Eat it, it’s yummy.” She oggled the steak as if she’d gobble it if I was too slow.
“Okay.” Sitting down, I shoved the meat into my mouth. Velevy sat cross-legged on the floor and swayed back and forth, humming to herself. When I finished, she tossed my empty dishes on the trolley and turned excitedly to me.
“Can I do the puzzle with you?” she said.
I bounced up and down. “Yeah!”
She knee-walked to the puzzle and plopped down. I scrambled opposite her and dropped on my stomach. As we labored over the puzzle, I made headway, but Velevy tried to make her own patterns.
“You one good puzzler,” she said, almost breaking a piece into the wrong spot. “Who taught you how?” She scowled at the piece.
“My.”
Her brow went up. “My what?”
“My…” I gazed worriedly at her. “He said put everything with their color and it’ll be easier to do.”
That didn’t seem quite right. “Ehm…no.”
“Someone you know?”
I sucked on my finger. “He played with me all the time. And he told me stories. And he said…” Pain twinged my heart, and I rubbed my chest. Velevy’s eyes narrowed. “He said to never go out alone.”
She ran her long finger through the orange pieces. “You went out by yourself one day?”
Tears threatened for some unaccountable reason. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
Helpless fury boiled my blood. “I hate him!” Tears dripped off my chin.
Velevy stiffened and she addressed the guard. “Uh, I need Vozhar Hemrin here.” She turned to me. “Is why you went out alone?”
“I wanted to make him cry! He didn’t want me around! So I made him cry!” I jumped to my feet as Vozhar Hemrin hurried in.
“What’s going on?” he said.
“This baby remember somebody,” said Velevy.
Hemrin knelt beside me. “You really brought it out of him.” Taking my arm, he made me sit. “It’s okay, K’lar. You’re safe here. No one can hurt you.” He glanced at Velevy. “What triggered it?”
“The puzzle. He remember somebody playing with him all the time. He the one who taught him how to piece puzzles.”
Hemrin put his arm around me. “Now, K’lar, someone who played with you all the time and taught you things surely loved you, don’t you think?”
I stared sullenly at the green floor.
“This was someone much older than you, wasn’t he?”
I nodded.
“Your dad?”
Burning metal whipped across my chest. Doubling over, I coughed up rust as hot tears dribbled down my cheeks.
Hemrin remained calm and spoke in gentle tones. “You probably did make him cry, K’lar. He doesn’t know where you are. Even though he might think you’re dead, he still searches for you.” He wiped my mouth with a rag from his pocket and folded it before I saw the contents. “You know he loves you, deep down you do. And do you know how I know?”
I sniffled. “How?”
Hemrin returned the rag to his pocket. “Because you couldn’t love the people you were with, and they didn’t love you. That’s how I know. Had it been so, you wouldn’t be here. Now what were you doing here, K’lar? Why did you come here? What were you looking for?” He wiped my eyes with another rag from a different pocket.
“I…it was pulling. I was looking for it. My.”
“Dad?” he supplied. “You were looking for your dad?”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know.” I rubbed my suddenly aching temples. “I hate him! I hate him!”
“It’s okay. We won’t talk anymore about it. How did you like dinner?”
My attention averted. “It…I liked it.”
“Would you like to have it again, or do you want to try something new?”
I thought a moment. “I want to have it again, but I might get bored of it.”
“I’m the same way.” Hemrin placed the rag into the pocket with the other one. “How about you have the same thing, but something new to eat with it?”
The pain in my chest subsided. “Yeah.”
“You like surprises?”
“Yeah.” I smiled.
***
As long as the tug remained in town, I could handle not joining it. He often wandered nearby, staying in a particular spot for a time. Maybe he’d visit? It never occurred to me to inform my vozhars. The tug was nobody’s business but mine.
After my vozhars had gone for the night, I leaned against the wall. It was the closest I could get to the rider. If only I could open the window. I would have broken it, but I couldn’t reach it, and the chairs were bolted to the floor. Wrapped in the excess of curtain puddled on the floor, I drifted to sleep.
The tug crept into my dreams. He knelt beside me and rested his head on mine. I attempted to discern his face, but my lids were too heavy.
“Karijin ate brains,” I mumbled.
The rider cradled me in his strong arms. “Sleep, I’m here now.” As he rocked me back and forth, I managed to open my eyes a sliver, but only saw the curtains gathered over my head. I was completely cocooned inside. Light glowed through the green surface on the side facing the fireplace. What was this? Sitting up, I realized I was raised off the floor. I touched the gathering. Something hard and warm held it together.
“Let me out,” I said.
The gathering undid and I hit the floor. I sat up to see the wretch who’d dropped me, but I was alone, sitting next to the fireplace.
10
Monster in the Chimney
The door opened and Velevy pushed in the breakfast tray. “Morning Sun, K’lar! You not look like one little creepy anymore.” She glanced at the ceiling in thought. “Well, not too much like one creepy, anyway. Hungry?” She wheeled the tray next to me. “What you doing here on the floor? Playing?” She set the food next to me and sat down.
“I was swinging.” I tugged at my ear. “And then it dropped me.”
Velevy mistook my explanation for play. “Well, it happens. Listen, Vozhar Hemrin said we can go outside and play in the snow. You like for to go?”
I forgot about the last five minutes almost instantly. “When, when?”
“After Vozhar Hemrin talks to you.”
I bounced up and down. Maybe Velevy could take me to the tug. I gobbled up my food. The faster I ate, the faster Hemrin would be there, and the faster I could go outside. To my surprise, Vozhar Hemrin strolled in before I finished.
Velevy stood up. “I come back pretty soon.” She walked out.
I waved.
Vozhar Hemrin settled on the floor, facing me. “Morning Sun, K’lar. Are you enjoying yourself here?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw you playing yesterday. What were you making?”
I had dragged all the toys out and connected them. “I made a forest.”
His brows went up. “Not a city?”
“I never seen a city.”
Hemrin rested his elbows on his knees. “I’m impressed you could think of making all that.”
I beamed with pride. Vozhar Hemrin surely had to be impressed if he had come to inquire about my creation. I was ready to supply him with all my secrets.
“Do you know this forest?”
“I was smashing mushrooms.” I tapped my finger against my chin in thought. “And then…and then he came to get me because it was getting dark.”
Hemrin moved closer to me. “And?”
The memory trickled like a small spring into my mind. “He started screaming.”
“Why?”
“He was scared and he ran away with me. And then…”
Hemrin’s brows knit. “And then?”
“I don’t know.” Anger rose to my breast. “I don’t know, and I don’t care!” My claws dug into my legs.
Hemrin quickly pulled my hands free. “Okay, K’lar, it’s okay. We won’t talk about it. Do you want to go outside now?”
I couldn’t answer.
“It’s okay, K’lar. You need to change your shirt.” He removed a clean yellow shirt from my closet. Washing my face, he changed me out. Specks of red dotted the front of the dirty shirt. Where had those come from? I didn’t remember eating anything red.
A rap sounded on the door, and Velevy came in. “You finished?”
“Yes, yes,” said Hemrin. “He may need the spider.”
Velevy’s fists clenched her robe. “Anyat! No!”
“He’s not coming along as I would like. Eyes are still bleeding. Make sure he has lots of fun before you bring him back.”
Velevy stared at the floor as she nodded.
When used properly, the spider was a purging unit. The appropriate crystals helped diffuse ailments each patient suffered, and launched them on the road to recovery. If used on me, it would loosen the bloodheart infection in my cells and aid the voz
hars in healing me. Without the crystals, the spider mutated into a torture device used mainly to rehabilitate Kabrilors who’d fraternized with Metirins. Medicine Makers applied yellow crystals, which marked kosalins as suspect for Medicine Making activities. No matter the reason for the spider’s use, the process was painful.
Sucking in a deep breath, Velevy approached with a carefree smile. Vozhar Hemrin hadn’t uttered my name, so I wasn’t alarmed.
“Okay, K’lar.” She held up a short cord with a loop on each end. “I gonna wear one side, and you gonna wear the other. That way, we be safe, and nothing bad happen.”
“Okay.”
Securing my wrist to hers, she led me by the hand through muraled halls of forests and mountains. Shiny vases winked on round tables. My feet vanished into the deep white carpet. Mirilite glowed on tall marble pedestals. Feathery snowflakes glided past the clear windows. The tug was out there, but not in the usual place.
Thoughts of playing in the snow put a bounce in my step. It replaced the ugly memory Hemrin had forced out of me. Maybe the tug would come while we played?
In a small room, Velevy removed the cord from my wrist and placed a thick coat around my shoulders. She donned one herself, and then we yanked on knee-high boots and elbow-length gloves.
Velevy indicated a rack of hats. “Pick one and put it on.” Her brows knit. “K’lar, why you grabbing your shirt collar like that?”
“I can’t find my hood.”
“There no hood on your shirt.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot.” I slapped a fuzzy hat on my head.
Velevy tapped her chin with her thumb. “Why one hood, K’lar?”
“All shirts have hoods.”
Velevy didn’t speak for several minutes.
“Can we go now?” I said.
She shrugged. “Yup.” Reattaching our wrists, she led the way down a winding tunnel. A giant metal door loomed around a corner. Two guards stood on either side of it, cloaked in brown winter coats. Velevy flashed a red identification handkerchief at them and they opened the door on a puffy snow garden.
Shouting in glee, we dove into the snow and kicked through it like water.
