"But I do know more," Kana said, confused.
"You were going to dismiss a spirit inside an army base," Stag said dryly. "You might have the skills, but you sure as hell didn't think."
Kana grumbled something indistinct. A chair scraped as Stag stood up.
"Well. I wish you a speedy recovery, cadet. That was a mighty fine kick you took. I can almost sympathise."
"Thank you, sir," Kana said tetchily. Stag laughed again, and a door opened and closed. There
was a minute of silence, punctuated by a series of soft grunts and winces as Kana presumably sat up. A rustle of cloth, a hissed swearword, then a long sigh. "Stop pretending to sleep, man. You suck at it."
"Do I?" Elstrin murmured, still staring at the back of his eyelids. "I seemed to convince the colonel."
"No, he rolled his eyes when you woke up. You had this gigantic frown on your face, it was obvious."
Elstrin reluctantly blinked, taking a while to adjust to the bland white lights. Kana was in the bed next to him; they were the only two occupants in a room of eight beds. The clock above the door informed him that he'd been out cold for four hours; the faint sounds of training were just audible from outside.
"So," he said.
"You were unconscious when they brought you in," Kana pointed out, yawning. "'pparently someone botched your dismissal pretty seriously."
"Someone? Someone did it?" Elstrin said, sitting up, wide awake now.
"Well, yeah, it had to be a person or people," Kana shrugged. "Only a very powerful spirit can deliberately fuck things up, and if you were carrying one of those, you'd probably be dead by now."
"Shit. Do you know what happened?"
"No. But basically, the person either did something to the ghost, or did something during the dismissal. It's quite clear that the ghost wasn't touched, but Stag was just making sure."
"But—why?" Elstrin muttered. "Why would—whoever—do it? How'd they even know about it?"
"Beats me." Kana studied him for a while. "Feeling better now?"
"Yeah." He exhaled and leaned back against his pillow. "You?"
"Well, my rib's still broken, so that sucks. And it's boring as fuck in here. They won't let me train for at least two days. I hope you shouted at your lieutenant for me."
Elstrin laughed. "I did. He said he was teaching you a lesson."
"Eh. I know. Just…" Kana flexed his good hand slowly, frowning. "It's hard for me to let my guard down and follow rules when I'm fighting. The last time I did that I almost died. The cheating bastard had a fucking stun gun."
"Ouch. And do you… fight a lot?"
"Yep," the guy said easily. "I'm Lupalian. It's in my blood. And where I lived, fighting is the fastest and easiest way to move up whatever ladders there are. I liked the challenge more than anything, though."
"In—in the slums, right? Um. I went there this morning."
Kana grew very still. "Did you now."
"Yeah. Snow had stuff to do after the dismissal, so I just kind of tagged along. Met some— interesting people."
"Interesting…? Why're you blushing?"
"I'm not!" Elstrin said indignantly, cursing himself for bringing the topic up in the first place. He stared resolutely at the far wall. "Just—nothing. Forget I said that."
"Who did you meet?" Kana said warily, the beginnings of a grin playing at his lips.
"People. You wouldn't know."
"Then why did you mention it?"
"Pretend I didn't."
"Was it Gabriel Kresil?"
Elstrin tried to find something fascinating about the wall. Maybe that smudge of dirt interrupting the off-white colour. No, that little crack in the plaster was better. Captivating. He glared at it.
"Dude," Kana said with a laugh. He winced immediately. "Ow. Fuck. Hey, he told you, didn't he? You look horrified. There's really nothing to be shy about."
"Wow. You should ask him out," Elstrin said sardonically. "So much in common."
"Ha, shit, stop making me laugh. Nah, it was a one night stand and I want to keep it that way. He's nice, though. We talked a bit afterwards. I said I wanted to join the army, he said he knew some guys there. He didn't give me a name, but 'a really hot soldier with white hair' is pretty obvious, don't you think?"
"Uh—when did this even happen?"
"Few months ago. I've actually been a good boy and haven't had sex since then."
"What an astounding achievement," Elstrin muttered.
"Oh my, are you jealous?" Kana cooed, his grin now somewhat manic. "You know, Elstrin, you're unbelievably cute. I'm glad we're roommates."
"Remind me never to get stuck in a hospital with you again. What am I even doing in here anyway?"
"Try walking."
"Walking?" Throwing a sceptical look at Kana, Elstrin straightened up and swung his legs off the bed. Why wouldn't he be able to walk? He felt absolutely fine, save for the faint undercurrent of pain that lingered in his muscles. His shoes were gone, but he was still in his somewhat-dusty uniform, so it made sense that he was only supposed to stay until he woke up.
He hopped down from the thin mattress and took a step—agony blossomed to life in his knees and ankles, strength leeching away, and he went down with a surprised, pained cry. His shins smacked to the cold linoleum floor, arms shooting out to save his face from doing the same, but as soon as he put too much weight on them, his shoulders and wrists and palms stung unbearably. He groaned and slumped, curled up a little, rolled onto his side and stayed there, panting shallowly. The pain was sharp, biting at his joints, and seemed reluctant to leave now that it was roused. It billowed and spread like spilt acid.
"Oh," Kana said from somewhere above him. "I didn't know that'd happen. Sorry. I thought you would just lose your balance or something. Your dismissal went really badly, then, if you're in so much pain. Um. Are you in pain? Elstrin? I can't lean to the side, so—where are you? You okay?"
"I—I can't move," Elstrin gasped through clenched teeth. Hot, broken glass was being pushed slowly into his bones. His eyes were starting to water, and a throbbing, sick sensation was flooding into his skull. He reached for the metal frame of Kana's bed, intending to use it to pull himself upright, but wrapping his shaking fingers around it was like trying to hold on to an especially thorny cactus. He snatched his hand back with a small whimper, curling up a little more. Cold sweat prickled uncomfortably beneath the stiff fabric of his uniform, gathered at his temples and hairline, over his eyelids.
"I'll get the nurse," Kana said, followed by a small beep as he pressed a button. He murmured a continuous stream of reassurances when they waited, and while the words didn't quite register in Elstrin's distracted mind, his voice was soothing. The pain mounted steadily. Afraid that he'd hurt too much to budge at all later, Elstrin tried shifting his limbs about slowly, but his joints were on fire now. He was tense and shaking, clammy face pressed to the floor in an attempt to siphon some of the heat away.
Footsteps bustled in, paused briefly to allow for a shocked, feminine gasp, and doubled their pace until the hem of a crisp blue dress entered the view of Elstrin's narrowed eyes. A soft hand closed upon his arm and tugged—he yelped at the renewed rush of pain and jerked away. So much of it, everywhere, spiking whenever muscles pulled taut, and he couldn't relax even if he wanted to. He hissed and writhed from the nurse's touch, socked feet sliding uselessly without purchase, not understanding a thing that she said. Kana's voice was there too, irritating now, talking without pause when all Elstrin wanted was to be left alone so the agony could consume him. He barely felt the needle in his arm, and he never remembered falling unconscious, but at some point everything faded.
x
Snow was there when he woke up for what felt like the millionth time that day. Snow, who didn't look like he'd been training either, whose hair was messed up anyway as if from travel, whose hand was resting lightly on Elstrin's forearm as he sat beside the bed with his legs crossed and blue eyes focused tiredly on the groun
d. Elstrin, who was shirtless—mostly wrapped up in a clean linen blanket, but still shirtless—and only wearing what felt like sweatpants. His clothes were folded on the empty bed that had been Kana's. He opened his mouth to crack a lame joke about inappropriate touching, but his tongue was too dry for speech, and belatedly, he noticed the strange shimmer of indigo light under Snow's fingertips. Oh. Well. Magic. He should've guessed. He should've expected that a man who could fight like a machine and talk to dragons was also, of course, a sorcerer.
Snow glanced up and gave him a faint smile when Elstrin stirred. "I'm almost done," he murmured, reaching behind him for a plastic cup of water sitting on a tray. Elstrin took it with his other hand, the task thankfully completely painless, and drained it quickly. The blue light flickered very slightly with his small movements, slivers of coldness slipping around the area curiously.
Elstrin cleared his throat. "What're you doing?" he croaked.
"Healing you."
"From?"
"We have a story worked out," Snow said after a pause. "The person who deliberately interfered with the dismissal process was the person you saw in the alleyway. During it or shortly afterwards, he cast a well-hidden spell on you. I think he meant to wait until you collapsed from the dismissal, let the spell immobilise you, then kill you."
There was a beat of silence. It was strangely difficult to feel fear and alarm with the feathery blue light seeping into his skin, but Elstrin tried his damnedest. "He tried to kill me. Okay. Keep going?"
"Clearly his plan didn't work out. You managed to get up here before the negative effects from the dismissal appeared, so his spell was wasted. Everything's fine now. Kind of."
"Okay. And why didn't I pass out in Mernot, if he fucked it up so nicely?"
"Maybe you were naturally resistant to his attacks. Maybe the spirit helped some. Maybe my shields reacted to whatever magical residue they sensed and deflected part of it. I didn't notice, but I wasn't paying attention."
Elstrin tilted his head. "You have shields?"
"Magical shielding. Yes. Quite a lot, actually. You'll learn about them after we finish basic weapons training. But anyway. The theory seems to fit."
"Except for the fact that he tried to kill me."
"No, that fits too. I'm not saying how, so don't bother asking."
"I think I have the right to know why someone wants me dead." He heaved a theatrical sigh. He wasn't angry or annoyed either. It was like an airy blanket was gently suppressing his more violent emotions, leaving only contentment. He liked it. "Where's Kana?"
"I healed him a while ago and sent him back outside to train."
"Oh. Why? Won't people wonder about it?"
"He's already missed weeks of training by arriving late. It wouldn't do to delay it for another fortnight because I wanted to prove a point."
"You're lying," Elstrin sang, wagging his finger disapprovingly. Snow gave him a flat look, but it just made him grin. "It's okay. I won't ask. But you should think of better lies, if you want to lie. I thought part of the point you wanted to prove involved letting Kana waste away in here for a few weeks so your lesson could sink in and he'd hate the hospital as much as I do by the time he gets out and he won't ever fight dirty again. And I bet it hurt when he hit you. Correct?"
"…Correct," Snow said, amused. "All right, you'll be fine by tomorrow, just—"
"Nooo," Elstrin whined when Snow meant to pull away, grabbing his wrist to keep it in place. The light swirled, sending a cool wave through Elstrin's blood, and he leaned back with a happy mumble. "Feels nice."
"Come on, Elstrin. I can't stay forever. It's almost eight, go grab some dinner. You have training tomorrow."
"But it feels nice," he insisted, dragging the blanket up to his chin like a child. He squirmed. "And I'm still a little sore."
"Really? Where?" Snow stood and moved closer.
"Um… left knee."
Snow's hand moved down the blanket accordingly, trailing wisps of light in its wake. A calming layer of sleepiness descended upon Elstrin, made him blink heavily. Snow squeezed his knee gently. "Better?"
"Mm. Yeah. Thanks—"
The glow flashed bright orange and a sharp jolt of electricity shot through Elstrin's leg. He yelped loudly, jerked his legs up and snatched the blanket to his chest, rubbing vigorously at his knee. Snow was already at the door, smirking widely. "Anytime. See you tomorrow."
He slipped out. Elstrin gaped after him, indignant and fuming, not even able to think up a suitable insult before the lieutenant was gone. He growled and yanked his uniform on crossly. Hurrying out of the room proved to be no challenge to his joints, but the doctor in the waiting room stopped him to make sure he was all right, and by the time he exited the infirmary, the main gate was just slipping shut.
"That wasn't funny!" Elstrin yelled at its direction. There was no reply, but the ever-present guards there chuckled.
"You caused quite a ruckus today, kid," one of them called back. "I don't blame Snow for wanting some revenge for all the trouble."
"Shut up," Elstrin muttered, stomping to the cafeteria for a late dinner. His stomach was growling, having rejected breakfast and gotten only a hasty lunch. The barracks were quiet and dark when he went up to his dormitory. Kana was still up. The crazy guy was doing push-ups on the floor between the beds, wearing a mere pair of boxers. His skin was still bruised and scratched, but both of his arms were free of injury. Elstrin wasted a few moments staring at the way his biceps and shoulders bunched and shifted with each push. He shook his head and eased into the room.
"Hey," Kana panted, not pausing.
"Hey. He healed your arm too?"
"Yep—but my face still looks like shit." Kana glanced over when four push-ups passed in silence. "What?"
"Oh—nothing." Elstrin snapped out of his enthralled study of the journey of a single drop of sweat down the furrow of Kana's spine, and went to quickly grab some clothes. Goddamn it. "I'm taking a shower," he mumbled.
"'Kay. Make it cold, will ya?"
Elstrin ducked his head back into the room. "Huh?"
Kana laughed. The drop of sweat was almost at his waistband. "Never mind."
Chapter 12
The following morning, Elstrin managed to eat breakfast in peace for all of one minute before it was interrupted by a very loudly excited Vel. The boy was starting to remind Elstrin of a mongoose. Vicious and fast little things, but they made you feel quite glad that you were on good terms with one. He suspected it was out of pure friendship that Vel didn't scream questions at him, and made some attempt to keep his voice down and words polite.
Still, the first thing he hissed was, "What the fuck happened yesterday?"
"Uh—" Elstrin began.
"And why didn't you tell me that you spent a night in my bed 'cause you were fucking traumatised? I would've cuddled with you or something! Now I feel all guilty—"
"Cuddle?"
"And holy shit, man, did you really meet Gabriel Kresil? Do you know any way I can contact him?"
"N—"
"And! I cannot believe you talked to a dragon! Fuck you! I am so jealous—"
"I—wait, how'd you know about all this?"
"The guards at the outer gate have binoculars and all that shit, hello," Vel said, waving a hand.
He geared up for another torrent of questions, but Andrew came up behind him and slapped a hand over his mouth squarely. "Mmph!" Vel said, trying to pry the fingers loose. "'m—askin'—'im— 'tuff—"
"Breathe, sweetie, breathe," Andrew reminded gently, taking a seat. He squirmed expertly to avoid an elbow in the stomach. Holding Vel's head close to his shoulder, he began eating breakfast with his free hand. The redhead struggled fruitlessly for a moment, grew still, glowered at the table for two seconds. Andrew let him go and Vel scooted away from him, disgusted. "I love you too," Andrew said, shoving a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth calmly.
"You suck," Vel growled.
"Cock. Yeah," Andrew agreed
. "I quite like it. So do you, so stop complaining."
Elstrin took a large gulp of cold lemonade and worked on forcing what he just heard into the void of forgetfulness. Vel looked almost confused, momentarily speechless. "Yeah, um," he muttered. "So Elstrin. Mind telling me?"
"Yes. I mind."
"Aw, please tell me? As a friend? I'm dying to know."
"Don't you already know?"
"Not enough—"
"Good morning," Kana said cheerfully, interrupting them. He plopped down with a pleased sigh and promptly put his head on Elstrin's lap as if he were a kitten. His hair was damp, and his pale cheeks were flushed pink. There was a smirk on his lips that Elstrin didn't like.
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