“Most of them are already dead.” I motioned at the line of sorcerers being brought up the stairs by the horns. “The rest are going to prison.”
“Motherfuckers!” he shouted at them. “You cowards! Can't even face a man directly. And to down a dog? You're pathetic!”
The sorcerers ignored him as the knights took them to wait by the street for the talon wagon.
I chuckled. “Yes, you're going to be just . . . fine.” I wavered on my feet.
“Sevarin!” Falken caught me and lifted me into his arms.
I turned my arms over to see putrid yellow stains covering the bandages. “Oh, dear.” The scent of rot—that of the flesh, not silver—followed me into my faint.
The last thing I saw was the Dragon King's frantic face.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“I told him!” a strident voice woke me. “Ah, there you are, you fool!”
Frowning, I stared up at Zensar. The cold on my back told me I was lying on his metal table again. I looked down to see my arms bare, both of them submerged in metal basins full of cold liquid. “Sorry.”
“You will not chastise him. He saved the city. And me.” The King had a hand on my chest, and I wrapped my tail around it. The bandage at the tip was clean.
Zensar grimaced. “If that infection had spread through his blood, he could have died. Luckily, I caught it in time.” He lifted my right arm out of the liquid and dried it off. Glaring at me, he chastised me despite the King's order. “You were supposed to rest. I told you several times.”
“I had to check on something first.” I shrugged. “Turned out to be important.”
Zensar tsked as he inspected my wound and then spread salve over it. “You've set back your recovery. If you had listened to me, you would have been healed by now. Now it will take another day.” He bandaged my arm and moved around the table, shooing the King to the side, and saw to my left arm.
“Another day and the city might have fallen.” I frowned as what he said registered. “How long have I been unconscious?”
“A few hours.” Falken swept my hair back from my face. “You've awoken just in time for dinner.”
“Thank you for staying with me.”
“Oh, yes, thank him, when I did most of the work.” Zensar tied off my bandage and dropped my arm on my chest. Then he took the basin to the sink.
“Thank you, Zensar. I'm sorry I was so much trouble.”
Grimacing again, Zensar turned to face me. “Fine. But this time, change your bandages every hour!”
“I will see to it myself.” The King lifted me from the table.
“I think I can walk.” I lay my head on his shoulder.
Falken snorted. “Thank you, Lord Zensar.”
“You need more supplies. Who knows where Master Sevarin put the last I gave him?” He heaped bandages and salve on my belly. “And gently wash the wounds before applying the salve.”
“I will.” The King carried me out of the room and down the corridor. “You are not allowed to injure yourself further, Master Alchemist.”
I made an annoyed sound. “As if I burned myself on purpose.”
The King entered the central room on the palace's ground floor where the main stairs were. As we passed the stairs, a voice stopped us.
“Sevarin!”
I lifted my head to see Arril running up to us. Groaning, I laid my head back down.
“Sevarin, are you all right?” Arril's hands fluttered as if he wanted to touch me.
