Chapter Seven
Jaki huddled in the dark near a tree with the heel of his hand pressed against his wound. The boat started to move away, and Lumi was gone. Jaki was positive no one had seen him, and it seemed that nobody would chase him. The boat had come for Lumi and nothing else.
“Fuck.” He’d hoped Lumi might weaken and stop pretending after his reaction in the tower. After waiting a bit in his room after dinner, he’d had a feeling Lumi would refuse.
His room had been empty, so Jaki had left to find him. The fresh trail his horse had left in the snow beyond the city had been easy to follow.
The pain in his wound was sharp and worse than his nose.
He tied his scarf around his midsection, breathed in, and yanked it tight since he had few other options.
The freezing weather would also surely help with the bleeding.
With no healing magic, he still needed help.
The knife had gone deep, and he’d bleed out inside if he tried to take care of it in his rooms with bandages later.
He took his hanky from his pocket and cleaned his face the best he could since he could feel his nose had bled from the hit he’d taken.
It could have been worse, and luckily, his nose wasn’t broken although it was sore.
Getting onto his horse was a bitch, and even with the cold and pressure from his scarf, the wound had steadily bled as he rode back.
He couldn’t get help from the gate guards.
To do so would mean revealing he'd been attacked outside the city. They’d question him and want to know where he'd gone which wouldn’t do.
Sure, he could tell them to fuck off and mind their own business, but bored guards would gossip.
He forced himself to remain upright when he entered as if nothing was wrong even though the motion of the horse hurt him, and his head felt too light.
He kept his hood pulled forward, and with his dark cloak, the guards paid little mind to him.
The horse wasn’t even his typical one but a mount any lord or lady could borrow from the Castle stables if they wanted.
A part of him was sure Lumi hadn't intended to kill or even hurt him that badly. He could have stabbed higher or gone for the throat. It had been the sort of attack someone did when they were desperate to get away and nothing more.
He considered admitting everything and sending guards to chase down the boat. He couldn’t. By the time they acquired one, Lumi would be far ahead, and they wouldn’t go beyond the border without orders from Elswere. Jaki couldn’t admit everything. There was nothing he could do at the moment.
The trip through the city was a long, painful one, not that the ride to get there had been any better. People tried to keep the streets in front of their homes and shops clean to a point. Snow was always falling, and ice was often a problem. Thankfully, his horse was sure-footed.
By the time he reached the gate to the Castle grounds, he was sure he’d pass out in a few more minutes considering his head felt too light. Even with the scarf around him, the internal bleeding must have been bad, and he’d been feeling it ooze down his side.
One of the guards stared at his hunched form in the light. “M’lord? Are you all right?”
Now, the whole realm could know Jaki had been stabbed, and he wouldn’t care. “Get the physician. I was attacked.”
The guard darted for the Castle, and the other took the bridle. “M’lord, you need to come down. Nice and easy. There’s a bench-”
Jaki told himself he’d be fine, and he just had to stay up for another minute or two so he could find a spot to sit.
When he slipped down, the ground tilted, and his surroundings blurred.
The guard rushed to grab him and help him into the gatehouse.
A brazier was lit, and the warmth was nice.
It would have been better if everything weren't swimming. He’d never been so out of it, and it wasn’t like being drunk.
“Sit on the bench.” The guard helped him down and moved aside his cloak. “What happened?”
“A man on the street,” Jaki mumbled as he slumped over. “He tried to yank me off my horse. Stabbed me. Hit me in the face too.”
When the court physician came along with a couple of other guards, she pulled off the scarf and exclaimed at the amount of blood on it. She had to stick her finger in the wound to make sure it was fully healed. That was unpleasant, to put it mildly. Jaki almost wanted to punch something.
Before long, it was all sealed up, and the pain was gone. He didn’t even have a scar. He mentioned his nose, and the ache also vanished when the woman put her glowing hand on it for a few seconds.
The healer couldn’t fix the blood loss, so he was still lightheaded when he forced himself to sit up and lean on the wall. The guards started on the questions. Did he see who attacked him? Was there anything to tell the person apart? Did they speak?
“Give him a minute,” the physician told the guards.
“For Elira’s sake, he just got stabbed. I can tell you this.
The wound was deep, but it wasn’t neat. They also didn’t get his heart or lungs.
I’m guessing this was someone with a long knife and not much actual experience at fighting.
They must have been fast to get a hit on him, but their handiwork leaves something to be desired. ”
It was because Jaki never expected Lumi to stab him. “I don’t think they realized who I was. I pulled my dagger, and they ran.”
One of the guards grunted and rubbed his chin. “So it’s someone quick but not skilled, and they must have been too scared when you pulled your weapon. That’s always good to know.”
“I didn’t see anything about them except a dark cloak,” said Jaki. “They were average height, and I'm only assuming it was a man. It could have been anyone, and it was probably a homeless person. If you go looking tonight, you won’t find them. There was nothing special to tell them apart.”
“Maybe they have kids,” one said quietly. “A man will do a lot when he’s desperate.”
It was the closest he’d say to the facts.
Iceland was dying, and Elswere needed the Crown.
He’d needed to stop avoiding war, put the bottle down, get off his ass, and do something because the people of a dying Kingdom would resort to violence to feed themselves.
Moving away wasn't an easy option for everyone.
People usually don’t like to correct or say what royalty should do in their hearing. Jaki couldn’t command his Father anyway.
He stood and waited to let his head calm.
“M’lord, do you want help?” asked one of the men. “Maybe you should sit for another minute.”
“No. I can get up to my rooms by myself. Thanks.”
He stepped outside and cringed at the blood on his side since it was sticky and half-dried. The physician followed, and he slipped a few coins into her hand.
“I doubt anyone else will be stabbed soon. Take the day off tomorrow, will you?”
“Thank you, m’lord!”
She was paid well as a court physician, and he knew she had a sister. Rising prices had affected everyone, and she was surely helping to support her family.
“If you come up to my rooms and answer some questions, I’ll give you more,” he said.
She paused, and he looked down at her. She was likely wondering if he meant actual questions, or something else.
“Only questions,” he said. “You’re not in trouble or anything.”
“All right, Your Highness. Erm, I need to get you a tincture since you lost a lot of blood. You should eat sweet things and drink water too.”
“I'll take the tincture. I don't think I can manage food at the moment.”
“If you can, try to eat something before you go to bed.”
The steps leading up the hill that the Castle sat on were tiring, and he remained quiet as they crossed the yard and entered the main grounds.
She hurried to her workroom and caught up to him before he entered his sitting room.
He peeled off his gloves, went to the sideboard, and tapped a crystal lantern to make it brighter. “Do you want anything?”
“No, m’lord.”
He didn’t drink like his Father, or actually, his half-Uncle. A shot or two of whiskey would help chase away the cold, and he’d be satisfied. “Has anyone been hurt in an odd way lately?”
“Like you?” She approached to set down a tiny bottle. “No, not at all. No one here has been attacked. I’ve heard of stuff in the city. Theft, assaults, and that sort of thing. You need to drink all of this. I’d also suggest water.”
“I’m cold.”
The whiskey bottle clinked against a small glass as he poured out a couple of fingers' worth. Crime had gone up, and it likely wouldn't go down anytime soon. He turned with the glass in his hand. “I don’t mean in the city. I mean in here, in the court. Has anyone here been injured at all?”
She shook her head as she perched on the couch and folded her hands. “No.”
“Think real hard.”
“Nobody’s been severely hurt.”
“Has there been anything odd?”
“No.” She shifted uncomfortably.
“You can tell me.”
“Well…” She flushed. “One of the lords had a brutal cane mark on his hip because he asked his wife to punish him for fun. They had never used a cane before.”
Fools. The cane wasn’t something for inexperienced people to wallop their lover with. The end must have wrapped around his hip, and that would hurt like a bitch. Jaki shook his head and took the tiny bottle she’d left for him.
“What else?” He popped the cork with one hand and swallowed the contents in one go. Nasty.
“Someone had warts. Let’s see…the pleasure slave had a terrible scrape on his forehead a few days ago. It looked like he’d already put something on it hours ago when he saw me. It was shallow and easy to deal with. He said he fell after drinking a bit too much.”