Disoriented from anti-pain tonics, only one thought crossed my addled mind.
Please stop talking.
"Miss Alta, can you wake up, please?" the man repeated, insistent as he shook my shoulder the next morning.
My eyes fluttered open, and a blurred image stubbornly refused to focus. With a squint, I saw Peter looking down at me with a handful of Defenders.
"You're doing better, I see," Peter said with a sigh of relief.
"Go away," I muttered, half-asleep.
The Defenders crowded closer to my bed. "Could you answer a few questions, please, Miss Alta? We're investigating the terror attack."
I groaned in reply. Pain ripped through my lungs.
"Did you see your attacker?" a uniformed woman asked, dressed in pure black with blonde hair tied back in a severe twist.
"No," I breathed.
"Have you received any threatening messages or letters recently?"
"No."
"Does your family have any ties to political or extremist organizations?"
I paused. "Father," I said with a grimace as searing pain raced through my chest. "Father died. Gatál terrorists ... killed him and ... my mother."
"And you, Miss Alta? Are you a member of any political organizations?"
"No, I can't stand politics."
"Do you support any--"
A Dwarfish nurse with long, bushy black hair shuffled towards us, built like an ox with a temper to match. "Go on, git!" she insisted, shooing them away. "Miss Alta needs her rest."
Only a Dwarf would have the pluck to call a Defender git.
"Master Nurse, we need ..."
"You can get what you want after she's recovered," she huffed. "Come back in three days. And I'm a woman, not a man, you fool. The name's Kaylar."
The severe Defender snapped her notebook shut and muttered a half-hearted apology. The others nodded at Peter and left, but the stubborn goat wouldn't leave my side.
"You too, dumb-ass!" Kaylar growled at Peter, nodding towards the door.
"I'm a friend of Liselle's."
Kaylar gave me a pointed look, and I nodded weakly. I needed answers, and the annoying Defender seemed to like me. Who knew when we'd cross paths again? He was my best shot at figuring out what happened.
"Fine, five minutes Mister Sardon," the Nurse replied. "Then I drag you out."
"Thank you, Nurse."
She huffed and turned on her heel.
Peter took a seat next to me. Leaning on the guard rails, he gave me an intense stare.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from this," he said in a deep, melodic voice. "Our clairvoyants said the attackers would use blades, not arrows."
That's why he stood nearby.
"Clairvoyants aren't always precise," he continued. "I shielded you from the dozen other arrows, but ..."
"It's not your fault," I croaked, my voice hoarse and raspy. "How did you enter my vision and save me?"
"Shh, all in good time. Just rest."
"The Gatál could still be out there."
I reached out for the cup of water, and he held it to my lips. "No, we got them. You're safe now."
"Did anyone else get hurt?"
"Three of you were targeted," he replied. "No one else. You and two other Risan Healers."
"Why would they attack us?" I asked, furrowing my brow. "The Risa are peaceful."
"That's what we're trying to find out." He ran his fingers through his hair. "The enemy has employed clairvoyants as well, so we're trying to figure out if your lives have value to the Gatál."
"Why didn't you cancel the event if your clairvoyants knew about the attack?"
For a moment, Peter didn't reply. He gave me a discerning stare as though he wanted to figure out whether or not I could be trusted.
"Honeypot principle," he muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"You let the attackers think you don't know the attack will happen. Before they carry out their plan, you arrest them." He cleared his throat. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"I know all too well that prophecies aren't perfect." I placed my hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you for saving me, Peter."
Nurse Kaylar marched towards us, her hair and braided beard swishing like the tail of an annoyed feline. Peter chuckled and rose to his feet.
"Right, well I'll go and let you recover before the nurse cuts off my--"
"Mister Sardon, if you please!" she growled in an angry whisper, gesturing towards the exit.
Peter gave me a charming smile. "Goodbye, Liselle."
I thought talking to Peter would help me understand. He only made me even more confused.
❄️🔥❄️🔥
A few days passed, and it seemed like the authorities still had no answers. They questioned me as well as the other two Risan Healer Initiates, Alicia Boldea and Marcus Negrescu. None of us could think of a compelling reason why anyone would want us dead.
It remained a mystery.
Once I was able to sit upright without wincing, Bragda insisted on visiting. In an oddly diplomatic move, she flirted with Kaylar until the nurse turned a deep shade of crimson.
"Hey, no fair!" Alicia hissed with a grimace. "Neither of us are allowed to have visitors yet except these stupid Defenders."
"You just need a Dwarfish sister to bribe her way through," I whispered with a wink.
Alicia growled in reply, and Marcus chuckled with a wince of pain.
Kaylar escorted Bragda to my bedside. Bragda extended her arms, wrapping me in a warm embrace. She earned a stern look from Kaylar, though, who restrained herself from reprimanding Bragda.
"Sis, you look much better," she exclaimed. "I was so worried."
At the word sis, Kaylar's scowl faded, and her eyes twinkled. Bragda squeezed me, and I winced in pain.
"Easy does it, Initiate," Kaylar warned in a remarkably gentle tone. "Five minutes only."
"So good to see you, sis. It's so boring here."
"Hey, Liselle." Bragda cupped and massaged the back of her neck, shifting on her feet. "I was thinking, you know, maybe ..."
I furrowed my brow. Bragda usually whacked you over the head with a hammer whenever she had an idea. It wasn't like her to be squirrely.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Do you think we should leave?"
"What do you mean? Move countries?" I furrowed my brow. "What about our studies?"
Bragda lowered her voice to a whisper. "There's talk among the Warriors. Rumors of the Gatál rising in the South, preparing for an invasion."
"What?" I balked. "No one would dare."
She cleared her throat. "What if those terrorists are the same guys who killed Dad? I couldn't live with myself if you died because I was too selfish--"
"Listen, Bragda, two others were attacked."
"You know Dad was working on some top-secret science shit for the Ministry," she said in an angry whisper. "You're smart like him. Maybe it's all connected."
"I doubt it."
"What if you develop something that helps us win the war for good?" She cupped her mouth so that no one could read her lips. "What if the Gatál were trying to assassinate you before you could create it?"
"Sis, that's crazy talk."
She pursed her lips. "I still think we should leave."
"And go where?" I hissed. "All of the Southern continents have been annexed by the Gatál. The Free World is the last bastion of justice. Or do you think we should travel by ship to the other side of Paxus?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"I'm not going to leave my home because of a few rumors."
"These aren't just rumors," she insisted. "My Warrior friends have parents in the upper ranks of the Minningen Militia and the Defenders."
"Let's stay here and see what happens." I grimaced in pain. "Besides, I can't travel like this."
"Fine, be that way." Bragda crossed her arms. "But I'm not losing you the way we lost our parents."
I curled my lip. "I hate politics as much as I hate Royals. Please, don't worry."
When Nurse Kaylar approached, Bragda squeezed my hand. On the way out, she whispered something to Kaylar.
I'd never seen anyone blush such a deep shade of crimson, much less that curmudgeonly nurse. A grin spread across Bragda's face as she strode from the infirmary.
❄️🔥❄️🔥
When the Healers had finally discharged the three of us from the hospital two weeks later, things didn't return to normal as I'd hoped.
When I was walking towards my dormitory, people stared and pointed at me as though I was a curiosity in a shop. I'd catch bits and pieces of their hushed conversations. Sometimes it was useful having Risan hearing, which far surpassed that of the average human.
"Why her, though?"
"I heard she has special powers."
"Is she a spy? Or an unmarked Defender?"
I'd taken to going everywhere with my hood up, covering my face in shadow. The others were treating me like a freak, and it made me furious.
Way to fit in, Liselle. So much for leading a normal life.
Even Bragda decided to leave the Warrior barracks and insisted on being my roommate so that she could be my bodyguard as well. To my annoyance, she doted on me more than after Dad had died.
"Don't go anywhere without me by your side," she said. "You never know when these Gatál bastards might show up again."
"You have to go to class, and so do I," I retorted.
"I don't want you to die like Dad, Liselle!"
"So, what now?" I flopped on my pillows with a frustrated groan. "Do you want to study Wizardry, Sorcery, and the Healing Arts with me?"
"Fuck, no."
"Well, I don't want to study Martial Arts!" I chucked a pillow at her with a wince of pain. "So, cut it out! Neither of us is giving up our studies--our future livelihood--out of fear. D'you hear me?"
"Fine, but whatever you do, stay away from that weirdo, Peter." She crossed her arms. "I know he saved you, but I don't trust him or the Defenders. People say they knew it would happen."
"I haven't even seen him since they questioned me."
She tossed the pillow back at me. "Good. Keep it that way. Promise?"
"Yeah, yeah, I promise."
But fate had a different plan.
___
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