Forging the Bloodied Blade

Episode 7

Sevastyan

Sevastyan dragged air in and out of his lungs.

We will bring them Armageddon, Vast. Ellisandre knew.

His goddex knew. And he was still alive.

Ellisandre wasn’t offering, they were giving their word that his enemies were their enemies.

He’d prepared himself for so many answers.

For Ellisandre’s judgement. Ire. Condemnation.

The high road had been so far beyond him since the day he’d taken ownership of Rei’s body and soul that any punishment Ellisandre saw fit to mete out would have sat quietly within.

Instead, Ellisandre was standing over him, promising to be at his side and take down his enemies with him.

Sevastyan buried his face in Rei’s shoulder and held the smaller man against his chest, breathing him in, feeling both his loves touching him for the first time.

The worst had come, and yet the end had not.

Someone had tried to take Rei from him, had hurt him, hurt all of them, and the world was not over.

Ellisandre’s hand slid from Sevastyan’s head and his goddex stepped back. “There is more to say, and more you must tell me, but for now, your boys are hurt and this location is compromised.”

Sevastyan nodded and straightened up. The bullet wound in his side burned.

Ellisandre waved their hand between Lisa and Rei.

“We’ll take your boys to the Bolthole. Both of them have concussions and cracked ribs. Rei’s ankle is bruised and sprained. Lisa’s leg has multiple injuries, including a deep cut. I sustained no injuries. Give me your status, and then we’ll make plans.”

Sevastyan pulled his brain from the fog of shock and drugs. “I need to eat and drink to shake off the drugs. Bruising to my head, shoulder, and hip. I was shot, I think. I can’t tell if I’m cold from shock, drugs, or blood loss.”

“Get your coat off and sit on the couch,” Ellisandre ordered. “Lisa, finish stitching up Rei.”

Lisa motioned Rei towards him. Rei let go of Sevastyan reluctantly.

He crawled back to his fellow slave and leaned forward, hiding his face in Lisa’s lap so Lisa could bend over him and go back to stitching the gash just under his shoulder blade.

The bruising on his body was extensive. It looked like he’d been thrown into furniture, repeatedly, and from the state of the room, he probably had been.

Not the worst state Rei had been in, but bad nonetheless.

Ellisandre tugged on Sevastyan’s coat and he cooperated, working robotically to get off his outer layers.

“Pants too,” Ellisandre ordered.

Something wet got on Sevastyan’s palms. He didn’t spare it a glance.

All his attention was on Lisa’s hands as they wove stitches into Rei’s skin, making him whole.

There was something so firm and gentle in the way Lisa moved and the way Rei held on to him, keeping silent.

Now and then Lisa stroked Rei’s skin, comforting without words.

Lisa was a natural in the caretaking role—something Sevastyan had never seen before—at ease and sure of himself, even in his battered state.

Ellisandre took Sevastyan’s arm and led him to the couch. “Sit, you’re swaying. And cold. One gunshot wound. It grazed your ribs but didn’t enter, and some bruising, but you lost a lot of blood. Think back and tell me if you have any missing time.”

“I was out for at least an hour.” Sevastyan held his head in his hands. The short walk to the couch proved Ellisandre was right. “I should eat.”

Ellisandre grimaced.

Sevastyan said nothing. Getting shot and then immediately losing consciousness was a good way to die before ever waking up again. He was fortunate. But also weaker than a minor gunshot wound should have left him, if he’d been able to stop the bleeding.

“There’s food in the kitchen.” Lisa spoke without looking up. “Bread rolls. Applesauce. The meat is still in the oven. It might be done.”

“I’ll go look.” Ellisandre pressed a cloth against the bullet wound in Sevastyan’s side. “Hold that on. It’s mostly not bleeding, but we’ll have to clean it.

Sevastyan winced and obeyed.

“Can we get a blood transfusion?” Lisa asked. It was only then Sevastyan realized they were all speaking in Russian now.

Ellisandre frowned. “Blood what?”

Rei lifted his head and translated into English.

“I’m O negative,” Ellisandre said. “I can donate if we have the supplies. Or I can get the supplies. If we have an hour or two, bagged blood can be gotten. I have a contact.”

Lisa looked between Sevastyan and Ellisandre. “You’re our only fighter right now. Dirk could send more people. You shouldn’t donate, but blood will help him get stronger faster.”

“I’ll order it delivered,” Ellisandre said. They pulled out their phone and left for the kitchen.

Lisa snipped the thread he was using on Rei’s back and covered the cut in salve and then a protective breathable bandage. He patted Rei’s shoulder and Rei sat up, slowly.

“I’m going to help Master Sevastyan,” Lisa said.

Rei nodded. “I’ll pack.” He glanced back over his shoulder, meeting Sevastyan’s eyes.

“Don’t use your ankle,” Sevastyan said.

Rei nodded. He crawled away. Only then did Sevastyan realize Rei was naked.

“Rei.”

Rei paused, turning around on his hands to face him.

“Put clothes on. You’re going to be cold from shock.”

“Yes, master.” Rei bent his head in a bow and continued to crawl towards the bedroom, keeping his left ankle off the floor as he went.

Lisa used his hands to drag himself over to Sevastyan. He discarded the disposable gloves he’d been wearing and pulled on a new pair.

“Have you been seen to?” Sevastyan asked.

Lisa grimaced. “Yes. There’s not much to do with a concussion other than stay awake. We bandaged my leg first. If I have to do anything strenuous, I’d like to tape my ribs, but it’s better if we can avoid any restriction. Compression can lead to pneumonia.”

“You need ice on your face.”

Lisa growled in his throat. “Maybe the three of us should just go swimming in that sea you say is called a lake. Now shut up. It’s been a long time since I took care of a bullet wound. When I was a medic, all I had to do was get injuries like this to the hospital.”

“Sorry,” Sevastyan whispered. “I can clean it.”

Lisa slapped Sevastyan lightly on his arm. “I’m helping you, you big lout. So shut up and take it. Rei’s better behaved than you.”

Sevastyan laughed, and laughed again, and then he couldn’t stop. It hurt. And he knew he shouldn’t be laughing. Nothing was funny, and yet everything was. He buried his face into the cushion and shook.

“Bogoroditsa, and now he’s lost his mind.”

Sevastyan held the back of his head. Laughing made the bruise there hurt, but he couldn’t stop. It had to be something to do with the drugs and the shock. His brain suddenly remembered that there were eight dead bodies stacked against the wall on the other side of the room.

Of course he would become bare to Ellisandre surrounded by death.

Lisa was getting on with cleaning the wound, even though Sevastyan was still shaking against the couch cushion. The movement came at a cost, but not enough to take the nervous hilarity out of him.

An actually sobering thought crossed his mind. Sevastyan caught his breath. “Lisa.”

“What?” Lisa sounded pissed. His fingers kept working at the wound in Sevastyan’s side. “Trying to clean this and now you’re going to need more blood. Stuck pigs have nothing on you.”

Sevastyan glanced under his arm to see what Lisa meant. There was blood everywhere again. Lisa was pulling bits of fabric out of his side. “Ellisandre is ordering blood.”

Lisa glared at Sevastyan and pushed his hair back from his cheek. It was beautifully long and colorful. And now there was blood on his face.

“I always knew you wanted to have my blood on your hands.”

Lisa narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. He poked his gloved finger into the wound. Sevastyan hissed.

“You had a question.” Lisa turned back to cleaning the open injury. Whatever he did next sent a shock wave of pain through Sevastyan’s nerves. He bit down on his own hand to keep from screaming.

Sevastyan caught his breath. “Did Rei kill any of them, or was that you?”

Lisa’s hands stilled for a moment, then continued with their work.“There were three of them. I tried.”

Sevastyan blinked, not daring to look at Lisa.

Regret and defeat laced every level of vibration in Lisa’s voice.

“I think I delivered the final blow for each, but Rei did his part. He fought, hard. His hands . . .”

Lisa faltered, gathered his air, pushed forward.

“Be careful with his hands. He might have broken some of the small bones and there’s damage there. He used the cord from the keyboard to strangle one of them. It was almost enough. I was down. He bought me time. I finished the job with a knife.”

Sevastyan blinked. He didn’t realize he was crying until he was rubbing water out of his eyes.

Lisa kept at his work, but Sevastyan couldn’t even feel it now. He wanted to get up and find Rei, but he’d sent Rei to pack. He’d done what he’d always done, assigned Rei a purpose and kept him moving, even when everything was falling apart.

“Should I stop him from packing?”

Lisa shook his head, his multicolored hair moving on the edge of Sevastyan’s vision. “We’re slaves. And he can’t stop. Not until we’re out of here.” Lisa started plastering something against the wound, probably to stop the bleeding. Sevastyan wasn’t going to ask.

“What do you need?”

Lisa paused, his hands against Sevastyan’s ribs. He stayed still so long that Sevastyan pushed himself up on an elbow to see him.

Lisa was staring at the wound, but his mind was obviously elsewhere. “I’m trying to decide if I’m as brave as Rei.”

Sevastyan stilled, giving Lisa space.

Eventually, Lisa took a shuddering breath. “Three wasn’t enough for me. If you’re really going to take them down, I’ll . . .” Lisa swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving nervously. “I’ll be your slave. I’ll help you, from the inside.”

Sevastyan swallowed back emotion. “I was going to offer you an out. Once Alexi gives me the info to reset the chip . . .”

“There’s no out for me.” Lisa lifted his chin, eyes glittering.