by Logan Jacobs
Eventually, the door swung open and the doctor entered. He bore a startling resemblance to Mr. Garrison of South Park fame, right down to the glasses and the green shirt. I was happy to see that he didn’t have a puppet with him and even more relieved when he didn’t start our conversation with the word okay.
“So, you were on the surface,” the doctor said as he glanced at the file in his hand. “Don’t see too many civilians going up there these days, but it says here that your part of the High Mage’s office. Still, she has access to all the proper gear as well. I don’t know why you were allowed to wander around without protection.”
“Um, well,” I stuttered.
“Any nausea, vomiting, pain in the pelvic region?”
“Ah, I’m feeling okay,” I replied. “We took some medicine earlier, and it seemed to help.”
“Tiredness, headaches, achiness?” the doctor continued.
“Well, yes,” I replied.
“Let’s see,” he murmured as he leaned in close. “I don’t see any obvious bruising or abrasions yet. If you’ll open the robe, I can check the rest.”
“Uh, sure,” I muttered.
I untied the robe, and the doctor poked and prodded with a small tool that reminded me of the small mirrors used by dentists.
“Any urine?” he asked when he finished sticking me.
“What?” I replied.
“Do you have any urine that we could test?” the doctor explained. “If not, we can load you full of fluids.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I think I could manage to produce a sample,” I finally answered.
“Good,” the doctor said with a nod of the head. “I’ll let the nurse know.”
“Wait!” I called out when I realized the doctor was about to leave. “You haven’t checked Merlin yet.”
“Merlin?” the doctor asked.
Merlin stuck his head out from the bag and looked at the doctor. He was back in puca form, and the doctor’s eyes widened when he took in the creature that looked at him from the safety of my pack.
“He’s really been feeling this worse than anyone,” I explained.
“What is that?” the doctor asked.
“He’s a puca,” I replied.
The doctor finally looked interested. He knelt down on the floor to get a better look at Merlin. Merlin twitched his nose at the doctor and took a tentative step out of the bag.
“I’ve heard of them but I’ve never seen one,” the doctor said excitedly. “Where did you get it?”
“That’s sort a of long story,” I hedged.
“Can he really shapeshift?” the doctor asked.
“He can,” I assured him. “But he hasn’t felt much like it since our exposure.”
“I would imagine not,” the doctor agreed, “given how dependent they are on magic. I’m surprised you would even consider taking him to the surface.”
“Um,” was all I could manage.
“Poor little puca,” the doctor now said to Merlin. “Did this bad man take you to the surface?”
Merlin chirped in agreement. I rolled my eyes.
“Well, I know just the doctor for you,” my doctor continued. “She specializes in rare and exotic species.”
Merlin chirped happily and then offered the doctor a peppermint.
“Why, thank you,” the doctor replied as he accepted the offering. He stood up and gave me a disapproving glare. “As for you, you don’t have any advanced signs of exposure, so you should be all right with the hourly dosage of bitrex and an overnight stay for observation.”
“And Merlin?” I asked.
“We don’t treat animals here,” the doctor said, “but I could probably convince Doctor Laifa to come here and see him. It would give us both a chance to study him.”
“But will he be okay?” I pressed.
“Oh, I should think so,” the doctor replied as he smiled at the puca. “He’s a good boy, aren’t you?”
Merlin chirped again, and I’m pretty sure his tail was wagging even though his butt was still inside the pack.
“Well, we’ll get you a room and start you on that medication,” the doctor declared, and then he was gone before I could ask any more questions.
“That was the last peppermint, wasn’t it?” I asked Merlin.
The puca stuck his nose in the air for a moment and then disappeared back into my bag.
The nurse eventually returned and cheerfully announced that we all had our room assignments. She waited for me to collect my things and then led me to the other end of the corridor, through another door, and down yet another long hallway. This one was also lined with numbered doors though these all stood partially open, and I could just make out a nurse’s station at the far end. I spotted Cat in one room and Lavinia two doors down from him as the nurse led me briskly to my assigned room, but other than that, the rooms looked empty.
The nurse led me to room twenty-six and stepped aside so I could peer around the room. It had a bed, a nightstand, a chair that looked like it would give you severe spinal trauma, and a tiny window that looked out over an alley and the building behind us. There was also a small bathroom that featured a toilet and a sink and a shower so small I wasn’t sure my entire body would fit inside.
“Here,” the nurse said with a smile as she handed me a small cup. “The sooner you can manage a sample, the sooner we can test. You can give it to the duty nurse when she comes to collect your personal information.”
“Oh, right,” I mumbled as I took the cup.
“Everyone else should be in their rooms soon,” the nurse continued. “And your associate would like to speak to all of you. There’s a small waiting room by the nurse’s station you can use.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “We’ll meet her there as soon as you finish getting us settled in.”
“Of course,” she said. “I’ll just let her know.”
She smiled and waltzed out the door which left me with the empty cup and a curious puca. Merlin emerged from the pack and started to sniff around the room. He sneezed and stuck his tongue out in disapproval at the smell, which reminded me of Pine-Sol. Since he was finally out of the pack, I dug around and pulled out a pair of briefs so I could have some sort of coverage in the back.
“Hopefully, it’s just for tonight,” I told the puca as I pulled on my shorts and then took a seat on the end of the bed.
I looked around the very white room, twiddled my thumbs for a few minutes, and then finally gave up and went in search of the rest of the Shadow Foxes. Yvaine was just stepping into her room when I ventured into the hallway, and I gave her a quick nod as I heard the nurse begin her spiel. I also spotted Emeline in a room, staring dubiously at a very large bottle.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I stuck my head around the door.
“Uh-huh,” Emeline replied. “They want me to drink all of this so I can give them a sample.”
“Yeah,” I noted. “I think they want samples from everyone. But before you start on that project, Private Kesta wants to talk to us. There’s a waiting room at the end of the hall by the nurses’ station. Why don’t you head there, and I’ll round up the others?”
“I like that idea,” Emeline declared as she set the bottle on the nightstand.
I gave her a reassuring smile as she slipped past me and set off down the hallway in search of the other members of our team. There was no obvious pattern to the room assignments. We were the only current residents of the floor, but we weren’t clustered together to make it easy for the staff, nor was there a simple pattern like one room occupied, the next empty, the next occupied, and so on. I even thought maybe they might have organized by sex or race, but that didn’t work either.
When I finally found everyone and passed along the message about the meeting, I stopped back in my own room to retrieve Merlin and then headed down the hallway towards the waiting room. Two nurses sat behind the desk, and they studied me as I walked by. I could hear them whispering but when I glanced back, they both flashed
me a sunny smile and returned to their paperwork.
The waiting room was painted a dark blue with thin pale blue stripes. There were two paintings on each wall, each depicting a different scene of New Augustine. A grandfather clock stood in one corner and a ficus filled another. A dozen club chairs covered in a red and green checks had been pulled into a circle and the rest of the Shadow Foxes were gathered there.
“This clinic smells strange,” Aerin said as I took a seat.
“It’s disinfectant,” I replied.
“Another wonderful creation of your world,” Maruk guessed.
“Yup,” I agreed. “Hospitals use it to prevent the spread of diseases.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of this world or yours,” Yvaine replied. “Or should I say the smell of your world?”
Private Kesta stepped into the room just then, and we went quiet. She was of average height, with a round face and a dimple in her chin. She also had a small tattoo of an oak leaf by her left eye.
“You said you were here to save the world,” she said without any introduction. “You said Theira sent you.”
“It’s true,” I replied. “I had a vision from her.”
“Our High Mage has been expecting you,” Private Kesta said with a nod. “She sent word to all the recon groups to be on the lookout. Every mage was told to take you into their protection if we had to just to make sure that you made it safely inside.”
“You’re a mage?” Emeline asked. “I am, too.”
“I’m not a very good one,” Private Kesta replied with a smile. “That’s why I’m still a private and still on recon.”
“That was lucky for us,” I assured her. “But why is the High Mage expecting us?”
“Theira sent her a vision saying that a guild of foxes would find their way across the steppe, and that they would need our help,” Kesta answered.
“That’s us,” Aerin announced. “We’re the Shadow Foxes.”
“The High Mage will need to confirm this,” Kesta said thoughtfully. “Once you’re released, she’ll send someone to collect you and take you to the College.”
“I’m ready to go now,” Dehn grumbled.
“I would love to take you there now,” Kesta replied with a smile. “But if you aren’t treated, you’ll die of the sickness. The treatment is really fast though these days. It only takes about twenty-four hours before they release you.”
“So we just hang out here for twenty-four hours?” Maruk demanded as he looked around the room. “It’s a good thing I have my lute and my book of poetry.”
“No lute,” Lavinia warned. “I don’t want to hear you singing in the middle of the night.”
“Fine, no singing,” Maruk replied. “But I will strum.”
“Is there any way the High Mage could come here?” I asked. “We’re being followed, and I’m not sure how much time we have.”
“I’ll pass that along,” Kesta sighed. “But I can’t do much more than that.”
“Could we get a deck of cards?” Cat suggested. “Or maybe some dice?”
“That I can do,” Kesta agreed happily. “Any other requests?”
“How’s the food?” Maruk asked.
“Um, well,” Kesta said as she glanced towards the nurses’ station. “I might be able to arrange for something tastier to be brought in. So… this is so exciting. The High Mage said we would be able to return to the surface soon. Oh, wait, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“We’ll pretend we didn’t hear that,” I replied as Kesta’s cheeks flushed red.
Kesta nodded and after looking at our motley group one more time, she turned on her heel and strode from the room. I could hear the heavy tread of her boots as she moved down the hallway, and then the door opening and closing. And then it was just the sound of the clock ticking slowly in the corner.
“Anyone up for some charades?” Lena suggested.
Chapter 10
Private Kesta made good on her word and a deck of cards, a game of ladona chess, and a tasty dinner were delivered to the hospital. We gave the nurses our samples and our personal information and took our medication at the prescribed times.
Doctor Laifa arrived near dinnertime, and she and Doctor Hin, the man who was supposed to be my doctor but was clearly more interested in the puca, retired to a room on the third floor with Merlin. Doctor Hin returned him three hours later, and an overfed puca sprawled across my bed and fell asleep.
“Your test results look good,” one of the nurses announced as she came to give me yet another dose of the bitrex.
Bitrex was a mud thick goo in a dark purple color with speckles of red. It was always served cold, which made swallowing the slimy mess harder to take. My suggestion that it be warmed up a bit first had been met with a smile and a firm insistence that if I swallowed my full dose fast enough, I wouldn’t notice what it felt or tasted like.
“How many more of these do I have to take?” I asked as I frowned at the mixture.
“Two more tonight and one in the morning,” the nurse replied. “We’ll do another test, and if that comes back clear, you should be good to go.”
“How about the rest of my guild?” I inquired as I tried to delay the inevitable.
“Everyone’s expected to recover,” the nurse assured me. “The halfling and the panthera may require a few more doses. And maybe the healer. But everyone should be well enough to leave by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Here goes,” I sighed as I tried to gulp the bitrex down in one go.
I had to fight my gag reflex, but I finally managed to swallow it all. The nurse smiled again, made a notation on the file she carried with her, dimmed the oil lamp that hung near the door, and then left the room.
“How come you’re not getting any of this?” I asked the puca.
Merlin opened one eye and made a small chirrup before rolling onto his back and stretching out as far as he could. He started snoring not long after that.
I nudged him with my foot, but he didn’t budge. I gave up on the idea of reclaiming my fair share of the bed and leaned over to retrieve my pack. I dug through the contents until I found Murillo’s book about the Shodra and my last light stick. I had a feeling I should probably brush up on what I knew about the Shodra before I faced the High Mage the next day.
As I pulled my half of the sheet back over me and plumped up my pillow for more support, Aerin stepped into the room.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she said. “I heard the snoring and thought you had fallen asleep.”
“Just catching up on some reading,” I replied as I held up the book. “I hear you might need some extra medicine.”
“Yeah,” she said shyly as she suddenly became fascinated with my sheet. “It has something to do with being able to use magic, even if it’s just as a healer.”
“Then why does Dehn need extra doses?” I wondered.
“Because of his size, I think,” she replied.
“And yet this thing,” I said as I nudged Merlin again, “hasn’t gotten any medication except whatever they gave him on the third floor.”
“Well, part of his magic is that he can recover quickly,” Aerin said as she stroked Merlin’s fur. “It might make him really sick, but once he’s somewhere safe, his own magic takes over again.”
“I’m not convinced they even gave him medicine,” I added. “I think they just stuffed him full of food and watched him shapeshift a few times.”
Aerin laughed and sat down on the corner of my bed.
“You know, it turns out they do a lot of tests with those samples,” Aerin murmured. “I mean, a lot of tests. The nurse told me that they have to because the sickness affects so many parts of the body.”
“That makes sense,” I replied, unsure where this was going.
“They noticed something in my tests,” she added.
“Not something bad, I hope,” I said as I set my book down and took her hand in mine.
“No,” she said with a shy smile. “Turns out, I�
��m pregnant.”
“Aerin!” I cried out excitedly as I tried to untangle myself from the sheet. I nearly deposited Merlin and myself onto the floor in the process, and Aerin burst out laughing.
“I can’t believe this is really happening,” she said breathlessly as I pulled her into a hug. “I wanted it but I wasn’t sure if it would really be possible.”
“Why would you doubt it?” I chided, though I had a smile on my face.
I leaned in for a long kiss, and Aerin moaned happily. Merlin added a chirp from the bed as he tried to find a comfortable spot to settle in.
“This may not be the best place for this,” Aerin whispered when I finally released her mouth. “The nurse will be by to see me soon with yet another dose. She’ll get suspicious if I’m not in my bed.”
“Later,” I promised her as she squeezed my hand and then slipped quietly from the room.
“Can you believe it?” I asked the puca. “I’m having another child.”
Merlin snorted and rolled over on his side.
“I guess we’ll have to expand the nursery again when we get back,” I declared.
Merlin snored in response, and I gave up on trying to budge him for the night. I settled back against my pillow and picked up my evening reading. I drifted in and out of sleep the rest of the night. Usually it was one of the nurses who woke me, either to give me more medication or to check my vitals. Once, it was a murky dream of me standing in the ruins of Augustine, trying to raise the buildings while a flock of black crows swooped down from the sky and pecked at me.
By morning, I almost felt like my normal self and I managed to clean myself up in the tiny shower without too many contortions. I also decided to put on regular clothes again, even though we hadn’t been officially discharged. There’s only so long a man can spend in a hospital robe, no matter which realm you’re in.
Merlin finally stirred as well, and I found him smacking his lips in glee as Doctor Hin handed him orange slices when I ventured from the bathroom.
