Garden of Embers: Beneath Devouring Eyes #2

Chapter 15, Final Part

"Ow, you're hurting me," the little girl in Vis's grip grumbled. She squirmed but could not break free of the tall redhead, who tugged her past the collapsed amphitheater and to the Collegium Pullatorum.

Above them, the great net of Trellis rubble in the sky glowed an eerie, intense blue. Vis knew it was a little warmer here than outside the broken Trellis--though nothing like before--but the cold light made her shiver.

"Why do I have to go with you?" the little girl continued.

"Because I said so." Fear clenched her throat, and the words were hard to force out. "You need a chirurgeon. Fast."

The little girl didn't look like someone on her deathbed. Vis prayed it was so, but wasn't going to take any chances.

She held the child's hand tighter as the girl dug in her heels. "I don't," the child said. "And why should I listen to you?"

"Because I'm the Rex Pullati." The words still felt like madness even three weeks after she'd become such, but the gang had agreed to Merula's recommendation.

Well, most of the gang had agreed. Their newest member glared up at her. "You lie," the little girl hissed. "Merula Nocticola's the Rex Pullati."

"No, Merula's the Rex, now," Vis said.

More madness, but the messenger from the Vola Apertus Pullati had been serious. Now Vis's gang had a big decision to make. She had a big decision to make. Would the Urbs Hostiae Pullati join their former leader--and Vis's genius little sibling, who was at the Pyrrhaei Rex's right hand? It would be suicide to oppose Lightbearer authority, but it would also be suicide for Pullati not to band together. Not as Germinating intensified and the first crop failures began.

Already, hard frost damaged some of the yields, and the city watch now kept a close eye on the dole distribution sites, even the mill beneath the bathhouse. The charity centers, where Pullati could sometimes receive surplus supplies without stealing, were now overrun by commoners who'd lost their insulas in Trellis descent and did not realize they were now Pullati. They refused to abide by their new community's rules and pool the rations to help feed as many mouths as possible.

But Vis had more immediate problems to deal with.

"No, Merula's not the Rex," the little girl said, and Vis rolled her eyes. A Pullatus now for a week, the nine-year-old apparently knew everything about her new community. And everything about everything. "The Rex is an old Lightbearer, and I don't have to do as you say because you're not a starholder like him. And you're not the Rex Pullati either."

"Yeah, well, you can argue with me about it after a chirurgeon saves your life."

Her heart pounded in her chest; she prayed the street chirurgeon would be home. With so many ill and injured Pullati and commoners throughout Urbs Hostiae, the old man had his hands full. But surely he had time for a stubborn little girl. Surely. Vis could not accept another death. She just couldn't.

The count was already two hundred thirty-seven Pullati in Urbs Hostiae and climbing. Some died in building collapses and fires during Trellis Descent last week. Several sickened in the days since then from exposure to glowing blue Trellis stones. But most perished, a few more each day, in the bitter cold descending hour by hour over the city.

"I don't need a chirurgeon," the little girl said as Vis tugged her between the Collegium Pullatorum's white marble columns.

Vis still could not believe Domi had bought the Urbs Hostiae Pullati this grand building what felt like ages ago. It had been a natural site for the new Collegium Pullatorum when Merula's orders to train Pullati for the Blightlands response had been issued. Now, it served well as an emergency shelter, field hospital, and supply distribution site. Even some commoners came here for aid.