"Who are you? A friend of Mr. Allen's?"
He seemed to be caught off-guard. "I, hmm, sure. A friend. You can call me Leo."
"It's nice to meet you, Leo."
"We've met before, but you wouldn't remember. You've grown so much, you and Niki both. I see your concern for your Time Knight. He'll be all right. The medics here know what they're doing. They say he should be waking up within the next couple of days, maybe even tonight. We kept you in the same room because the bond between Chronomancer and Time Knight can help heal even the gravest of injuries."
"Can he feel anything right now?" Jack asked, studying his friend. "Is he in pain?"
"I doubt it. His body has been flooded with elixirs and good old fashioned painkillers. Plus, he's unconscious, so that helps."
"He's there because of me. He took a bullet for me."
"I know. He was doing what a good Time Knight should."
But that wasn't enough. It didn't stop the problem. "That's wrong. It's so wrong. No one should have to do that for someone else."
"If I know Nikolas at all, I know that he didn't do it because he was told to do it. He did it because he loves you. You two are unbreakable when you're together. Your father would have been proud."
"Would he?" Jack's relaxed against the pillows. "I wouldn't know."
"He would. He was a dear friend of mine. A good man. Anyway, I took the liberty of feeding your sage and I gave him a book. I hope I didn't cross any lines. I only wanted to help. He looked so hungry. I took off his eye patch because it looked like it was bothering him. I think his eye is healed enough." Leo nodded towards the boy who was sitting in the corner beside Jack's bed, nearly hidden by the tables. "I apologize for interfering in his training, but with you unable to feed him, I thought it was best."
"No, that's fine. Thank you." Jack sat up, moaning through the stabbing pain in his back. He wrapped the sheet around his waist and swung his legs over the side of the bed to face the skinny boy who was kneeling in his wool pants and a t-shirt beside a copy of The Jungle, his thin hands held out with the palms up. "Hey, buddy."
The boy clenched his eyes shut and bowed his head as if awaiting some kind of punishment. He lifted his hands higher and his face twitched to show a tiny bit of fear, despite his training otherwise.
Leo nodded at him. "He's waiting for you to cane his hands."
"What? Why would I do that?"
"Sages can only be physically punished on their palms or the soles of their feet with canes to prevent injuries anywhere else. Look at his hands. I'll bet you a hundred dollars that he has scars."
Jack reached down and took the boy's hands, moving them into the sunlight to see the pale scars that crisscrossed the delicate skin of his palms. Two of them were still bruised from a recent caning that must have happened shortly before he bought the boy. He gently touched the scars, watching the boy's face for any reaction. "Do they hurt?"
The sage only slightly trembled in response.
Leo came closer, but stopped when the sage flinched. "They're brainwashed, treated worse than dogs, to obey and be submissive. They have no personalities of their own and any thoughts of individuality or freedom have been scrubbed away through starvation, canings, and sleep deprivation. It starts at birth. You should know, Jackson, Sand doesn't view slavery in a good light."
"I didn't buy him to be a slave. I bought him to get him out of there. I saw him suffering and I couldn't leave him. I would have bought all those children and adults, too, if I had the money. I want this boy to grow up and learn that the way he was treated wasn't right."
"That is noble of you. What's his name?" Leo asked.
"I haven't given him one yet."
"You should do that, especially if your goal is let him live and grow as a free person. His identity will begin with a name."
Jack smoothed the boy's rebellious brown hair while he thought through names. Then he knew he had the right one. "Thyme."
"Time?"
"Thyme. T-h-y-m-e. Like the herb."
Leo tilted his head to the side curiously. "Really?"
"What? I like it. My grandmother used to grow thyme in her window and she would always let me water the tiny plants. Now I get to help this boy grow." He placed his finger under Thyme's chin and raised his face to look up at him. "What do you say? Do you like your name, Thyme?"
The boy only blinked at him.
"That's your name now, okay? Do you understand?"
Thyme nodded his head, but then looked back down at the floor. He kept his hands lifted and prepared for a beating.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Thyme. You can put your hands down."
The boy did as he was told.
"What do I do with him?" Jack asked.
"This amount of training cannot be undone in a few days, Jack. It's going to take a long time to undo what was done to the poor child. Anyone who deals in the market of Alvezenden needs to be hanged then buried in an unmarked grave. They're despicable. Sand is trying to eradicate the Avelayan slave trade as much as possible, but there are hundreds of Chronomancers on every side of this feud who enjoy purchasing slaves. It will be a difficult thing to eradicate."
"Thyme, are you still hungry?" Jack asked.
The boy's lips quivered.
"I'll take that as a 'yes.' Leo, can you find him some food?"
"I have another sandwich." The Time Knight took a ham sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap from the table beside Niki's bed then tossed it to Jack. "You feed the kid. He doesn't like me very much. He was cowering in the corner from me."
He handed the sandwich to Thyme and gave a smile. "Go ahead."
The sage blinked.
"It's yours. Go ahead and eat." When the boy only held the sandwich and stared at him, Jack sighed. He rubbed Thyme's hair. "You have to eat, buddy. It's okay."
The boy took a tiny nibble of the ham. Instantly, his white eyes flashed wide with joy. He glanced up at Jack before diving into it, devouring the meat, cheese, and bread as if it was the first meal he had eaten in days.
"Slow down, buddy. Don't choke. It's not going anywhere and I'm sure there's plenty more. As long as I have a say in it, you will never go hungry again, not with me around. I promise you that. From now on, you're going to be fed, clothed, and loved. I'll take care of you."
"It's good to see him eating and relaxing a bit around you."
Jack frowned when Thyme held up his hands again. "He doesn't look very relaxed."
"You should have seen him two days ago when you guys got here. He was a wreck, a tight little ball of nerves and fear. He would have done anything I told him to do."
It hurt to watch a boy so broken. "Still think he would."
"Of course he would. It's in his conditioning. All those years of training and punishments molded him into an unthinking robot. It's tragic."
"Where are Xander and Opal?"
"Opal is at her herbalist station, preparing more rejuvenation elixirs for you. She's been working nonstop day and night to get you back on your feet."
"And Xander?" Jack asked.
"Chronomancer Sutcliff is . . . preoccupied at the moment. You don't need to worry about him."
"I remember something, something he said before I passed out in Stalingrad. Tied to a stone? What does that mean? Is he in trouble?"
"Chronomancer Sutcliff has issues with authority, specifically with following orders. Because he was the senior Chronomancer and the one who decided to drag you and Nikolas to Stalingrad after seeing your already weakened condition, he has been sentenced to two weeks bound to the stone."
Parts of the conversation between Xander and Opal came back into his memory. "What does that mean?"
"Perhaps it is best if I show you once you're strong enough to get around."
"I'm fine. Take me now. Just help me stand up. Walking and some fresh air will do me some good."
Leo approached the bed then took Jack's hands. "Careful now. Take it slow. You might be dizzy."
Jack
shifted his weight to his wobbly legs and forced himself up from the bed. He grabbed onto Leo as his knees buckled, but he quickly regained his balance. Only a slight lightheadedness swept over him. "Oh."
"You all right?"
As good as he was going to be. "Yeah."
"Stay here, Thyme. Be a good boy, not that you know how to be anything else. Keep Nikolas company and call for a medic if he happens to wake up. Can you do that?"
Thyme nodded his head as he licked the ham juice from his fingers.
Leo opened a metal locker against the wall and retrieved a black jumpsuit with a pair of worn combat boots. "This should fit. We weren't expecting you to recover so soon and your other clothes were filthy."
"Thank you."
While Jack dressed, Leo turned his back to him. "Much has occurred in the world since you were last in the present. You have to wear a gas mask in many parts of the United States in order to breathe the air because of toxic fumes from residual biological warfare or keep a Geiger counter on you to warm of pockets of radiation. It's a war zone."
"Olivia told me."
"Ah, yes. The Syndicate agent. She will have to be dealt with in time. A great deal of modern civilization is falling apart and the Syndicate is to blame for fanning the flames of war between them and the Inquisition of Purity. You do know that you and Nikolas are being blamed for terror attacks around the world, don't you?"
"I do." Jack zipped up the jumpsuit, gasping with the pain from the cuts on his stomach. "Oh, that hurts."
"You'll be all right. Take another breath through that mask. It will help with the pain and the dizziness. Trust me. It's formulated by our herbalists specifically to combat warp sickness."
Jack obeyed. He picked up the mask then breathed deeply of the heavily-fragranced herbs and oxygen. A calming tingle flooded his brain then flowed down his arms. "Mmm."
"See? I told you. Trust us. We know what we're doing. Follow me."
Jack stopped at Niki's bed. Under the blankets, bandages, and wires that kept him alive, the once brazen and stubborn time knight was now delicately displayed there like a fragile sugar sculpture. Jack found his friend's hand and squeezed it, feeling the slight pulse that gave him hope. He watched the breaths, the slight twitching of his eyelids, and the lines on the monitors. Jack smoothed Niki's bangs out of his face, letting out a long sigh. He plucked a single purple lily from one of the pots then placed it on Niki's chest. "Get better, brother. And, uh . . . thank you. Thank you."
"Come along, Jack. He'll be here when we get back."
"I know. He did this for me. He almost died for me. He didn't think twice about it. Why? It's not just Iskaydrian Law or because he's my Time Knight. Niki doesn't play by the rules."
"He did it because he loves you. It takes a true friend to lay down their life for a friend. When he wakes up, you'd better thank him until you lose your voice. I'll tell you this. I wouldn't die for my Chronomancer. I know that's sacrilegious or whatever, but it's true. I can't imagine giving my life for anyone other than the one person who means the most to me."
"Who's that?"
"Doesn't matter." Leo looped his arm through Jack's and guided him into the off-white hallway that was lined with wooden doors for other patients and metal ones for operating rooms. Two nurses in pale green scrubs waved at Jack as they pushed carts of supplies across the black and white tiles. Sand spies in leather bodysuits chatted in a waiting area, drinking coffee and eating glazed donuts. They talked about their assignments to all parts of the globe while others measured them for costumes of different times. A man in a long mint green trenchcoat carried a basket of various brown vines into a closet.
"Whoa."
"Welcome to the medical and research building. This is where our injured spies are doctored up and where our herbalists conduct research for new elixirs and medicines that rival any other hospital. And the plus side is that they are tailored for the exact special needs of Chronomancers."
"That's what Opal does?" Jack asked. "She uses poisons."
"Herbalists have specialties. Opal's is poison. She likes to work in the field, to help Xander as a bodyguard. She's a fighter in her own right."
Jack held onto Leo's arm to keep moving despite the heaviness in his legs and the dizziness that still blurred his vision. He was led to a set of double doors that slid open into the outside. Hazy fog filled the cool air and hovered around the canopy of rain-soaked trees that made up the dense temperate rain forest. Ferns trailed up the mighty hemlocks. Green moss hung like baggy coat sleeves from dark branches, turning the forest into furry apparitions. Fanned ferns and curling vines hung over the white concrete of the Sand compound walls, making the entire facility appear as ruins from some long-forgotten civilization.
Aside from the smaller one Jack had just stepped out of, two larger buildings of dingy white with moss covering their roofs stood on the other side of the compound with an open courtyard in the middle and a red-roofed gazebo set off to the side. The entire place reminded Jack of a mystical fairy land from stories he read with Ellie as a child. Even the moist air there felt laden with magic.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? We are well-hidden in a very remote part of the state. The vegetation covering the roofs helps us to blend in as a natural camouflage from satellites or the rare plane that flies over. We are nearly undetectable."
The beauty of the place became second in Jack's mind once he saw the details of the courtyard around him. Metal pillories, whipping posts, and platforms equipped with chains and shackles dotted the open area. Whips, canes, and various other instruments designed to inflict pain hung on the walls below plastic awnings to keep the rain off. A muscular man in a white robe with dark hair was being led towards a pillory by two figures in all black with masks hiding their identities.
Jack stared on in horror as the man was locked in place, vulnerable for whatever the masked people had planned for him. "What is this? Whipping posts? Pillories? What kind of place is this?"
"The Justice Yard. Don't worry. All of this punishment equipment is used very fairly by the council."
"That man . . . he's crying."
"He's meditating. While in the Justice Yard, it is recommended to meditate and reflect on your shortcomings for the duration of your sentence."
The intimidating figures in black leather bodysuits with mesh masks covering their faces approached the stage. They each brandished a three-feet-long braided metal cable half an inch thick. One stood behind the mumbling man while the other stripped him bare aside from a cloth that covered his front. The taller man reared back with the cable before proclaiming the beginning of the lashes to all who could hear. "One."
Jack looked away when the thud of whip on flesh turned his stomach. The prisoner's sharp cry only made it worse. "Oh, God. Why are they doing this? Who are these people?"
"I was at the sentencing for him. That Avelayan betrayed his bonded Chronomancer and pushed him from the top of a three-story building. The Chronomancer survived, but he's paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Whatever he receives from those Whip Masters is too good for him. While Sand adheres to a much more lenient interpretation of Iskaydrian Law, some crimes will still be paid for with blood and pain. Come along, now. I have no desire to watch a fellow Time Knight suffer, even if he deserves it."
"You're a Time Knight? Whose Time Knight?"
Again, Leo seemed flustered. "Um, he's uh, just no one in particular. This way."
Jack followed along through the courtyard where the air grew heavier with each second and each lash of the metal whips. The Avelayan's blubbering and begging for mercy echoed through the dense forest surrounding the compound, but no one seemed bothered by it.
After the tenth brutal cut was delivered to the now sobbing man, he was released and half-dragged from the stage and into the medical building. Blood trickled from his striped back, leaving droplets on the wet ground.
"See there? He's done already. Only a few lashes with those metal whips will teach him to never harm
his Chronomancer again. Now he will be taken to the medics and locked in a cell until his Chronomancer says he has earned the privilege of being by his side again. Sometimes that's hours. Other times, the Avelayan dies in the cell from starvation."
"They don't feed the prisoners?" Jack asked.
"No. It's the ultimate judge of a bond between Time Knight and Chronomancer. The imprisoned Time Knight sits in that cell, feeling his body dying, hoping that he has earned forgiveness for his crimes against his Chronomancer. They never know until that cell door opens if they have been handed a death sentence or not. Their fate is entirely up to their Chronomancer."
"That's horrible. I could never put Niki through something like that."
Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Most Chronomancers have moved away from such harsh punishments in favor of counseling for their Avelayans or having them be assigned work around the compound. Only in severe circumstances are lashings given out anymore."
"It's still barbaric."
Leo gave a slight chuckle as he ran a hand through his dark hair. "That's one viewpoint to have, and I'm grateful you have it. I saw Nikolas's arm."
"His arm?"
"He had a penance mark. The hourglass he carved into his arm."
Jack bowed his head. "Oh. Yeah. He did that himself."
"Under your orders?"
His head snapped up at such an accusation. "Never. I didn't even know what he was doing until Xander explained it to me. Do you think it will scar?"
"It's supposed to scar. I'm just glad you didn't force him to take it."
"I don't know what you've seen on the news about me, what the media says, but I'm not that kind of person. I'm not. I can't stand to watch people suffer."
Leo placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "That's because you're a good person, Jack, just like your father. I absolutely mean it when I say he would be so proud of you. You've grown up to be an upstanding young man with a bright future before you. I can't wait to see the things you accomplish as a member of Sand."
Joining? They wanted him to be one of them? "I never said I was joining."
"Oh? My mistake. I just assumed that by being here, you were at least interested."
Chronomancer (Time Mage Saga Book 1) Page 27
