Chapter 9 Tiana #3
I was surprised he’d answered my questions.
He’d always been straightforward and courteous, an honorable man to his core, but I’d never expected such deep emotion to thread his voice.
Keelan was strong and proud, the image of a perfect Guardsman, rarely allowing his stern visage to falter; and yet, when he talked about his brother, the room shrank and everything stilled.
There was an intimacy in his opening that door to me.
He’d opened up—at least, he’d started to.
I hummed to myself as I wiped down the exam rooms, then put away the small bottles of herbs and balm I had used throughout the day, careful to align them with their neatly printed labels facing outward, my father’s habit—now mine.
A wistful smile curled my lips. I missed him every day.
I fastened my overstuffed bag and tossed it over my shoulder.
Keelan’s face popped back into my mind, and a girlish grin bloomed.
“C’mon, Ti, knock it off,” I chided myself with a chuckle.
The sound of the front door rattling snapped me out of my daydream.
The Creed stated a Healer never turned away those in need, but my back ached, and my stomach was dancing for dinner.
Sometimes, you just have to draw a line.
“I’m sorry. I’ve closed for the night. Unless it’s an emergency, please come back in the morning,” I called through the door.
The rattling stopped.
I waited a few moments, hoping the would-be patient had taken the hint. When no one replied, I walked back to the storage room to grab one last bottle for my bag. A loud thud startled me, and the vial in my hand fell, shattering across the floor. Noxious fumes drifted throughout the room.
“Who’s there?”
Heavy boots thudded slowly against the wooden floor.
I dared a peek around the corner. I had to remember to breathe.
A figure in a silky brown robe stood next to the table, his head swiveling as he inspected the space. When he turned toward me, empty, black eyes glared through a mask depicting the snarling face of a bobcat with tusks that curved upward from its jowls.
Tusks?
I stopped my rational brain from wasting time on the odd combination.
When Bobcat locked eyes with his prey, his raspy voice hissed, “Come, Mistress. It is time to take your place.”
Mistress? Spirits, is this man touched?
I instinctively raced through treatments I might apply to a mentally ill patient, professional compulsion overriding a far healthier fight-or-flight response.
At least, they overrode it until the man reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
I screamed and jerked away, grabbing the nearest bottle from the shelf and hurling it at the man. The bottle shattered, and a hazy lilac cloud billowed, causing the man to cough and paw at his eyes.
I darted past, ramming him with my shoulder.
He stumbled backward, then fell against the exam table and crashed to the floor. The front door flew open without protest, its lock dangling from the wooden doorframe.
Two shadowed figures stood only paces from the now open front door blocking my path to the Guard Compound that sat across the main road. Now panicked, I darted behind the infirmary.
The figures launched after me.
I ran past the pond where ducks called.
My heart raced.
A tug at the bag dangling off my shoulder turned my head.
I screamed as one of the figures pulled, nearly jerking me off my feet. The attacker fell backward when the bag came free, scattering its contents across the road.
The second man danced over the spilled bottles and wraps before tumbling to the ground.
The moon was hidden behind a thick haze, shrouding the night in darkness.
I ducked behind a thick hedgerow.
Drawing in deep breaths, I fought to calm my breathing, to remain still and quiet.
A chorus of crickets and the occasional chirp of a night-friendly bird barely obscured my labored huffs.
Then I heard the boots.
Louder.
Closer.
I squeezed my eyes shut, afraid my gaze might draw the eye of the Bobcat or his twisted companions.
And then . . .
They ran past.
I sucked in a breath and held it, ensuring silence before poking my head above the shrubbery and surveying the road and beyond.
Nothing stirred.
I decided to double back, to head for the safety of the Guard Compound. The masked men were running toward my home, and I couldn’t think of anywhere safer than the Constables’ headquarters—and Keelan.
I only made it a few yards when something snapped sharply behind me.
I jumped.
My head whirled around, but there was nothing there.
I stood in the middle of the road, alone, in the darkness.
Breathe, Ti.
When I turned back to resume my route, I slammed headlong into Bobcat.
His powerful hands gripped my shoulders.
I kicked his shins, earning a loud grunt and doubling him over, then tried to sprint away.
A loose brick gripped the toe of my shoe, and I sprawled onto the cold potter’s road.
A sharp elbow pressed into my back.
I flailed and screamed.
“Silence!” Bobcat rasped.
White cloth appeared.
The last thing I remembered before blacking out was the rag pressed into my face and the pungent, strangely sweet smell of the infirmary after a good cleaning.