Larz’s face flamed. “My friend? Janosismy friend, but he’s also my mate. Mynobyo. And you weren’t too worried about former Alliance ‘enemies’ when you marriedyour‘friend,’ Ryan, sitting there beside you.”
Mikos jumped to his feet, snarling, and Larz jumped to his, snarling right back at him. I truly thought one or both of them would come across the table and have it out right there, but that’s when Davos intervened and stood as well, shouting in harsh Tygerian at both of them. Whatever he said, it sounded threatening and angry. Mikos snapped something back at him, and I thought for a moment that the king was about to draw his weapon. Everyone gasped, and only Blake was brave enough to practically tackle the king, throwing himself in front of Mikos.
I’d heard about the Tygerian temper but had never really seen it in action until now. Larz had never shown anything of the sort—not around his family, at least. Then again, maybe he’d been afraid to really lose his temper, because as big and lethal as these men were, something terrible could easily have happened. I’d heard of Tygerians on rare occasions, flying into a rage and harming or even killing members of their families without meaning to.
Gods, the king was furious, though, with Blake and his two sons. Several Imperial guards rushed over to them, including General Vargarra, and it was a tense few moments, before the king stormed out of the room, followed by the Imperials. Vannos was beside Blake in an instant, wrapping an arm around him to lead him away. Mikos turned to soothe his consort, who lookedshocked and disturbed by how quickly the violence had broken out and then escalated.
Suddenly Mikos broke away from his consort and turned on Larz again, still shouting at him in Tygerian. I heard Janos’s name.
“You make it sound so easy. ‘Just get over it,’ huh?’ Why didn’t I think of that?” Larz yelled back at him, in Earthan this time, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Well, I’m happy that it’s easy for you to move on,brother, but not everyone has the same killer mentality that you have.”
“Larz,” Blake said, sounding shocked. “That’s absolutely unfair.”
“Oh, stay out of this for one time in your life, Omak,” Larz snapped at him.
Now to say this was unusual and only proved to show how truly upset Larz was would be an understatement. All of Blake’s sons were extremely loyal and respectful to him, and I had to admit I was shocked at Larz’s words. It was totally out of character, and I began to think there had been more of a strain on Larz than I’d realized.
Maybe Larz was surprised at his own words and wanted to fix them somehow, but it was far too late. Mikos made another move like he was about to charge around the table to fight Larz. I scrambled up too, thinking I should stand with Larz in solidarity. I felt like it was the right thing to do. “How dare you speak to Omak that way!” Mikos roared at his younger brother. “Apologize to himnow!”
Larz’s face had turned a dull red, and he looked a little surprised to find himself in that position. He cast one desperate, longing look at Blake, who reached out a hand to him that Mikos quickly pulled down.
“You heard me!” Mikos roared again. “Apologize!”
And right at that very moment, as we all stood there, frozen with anger and outrage and shock at how quickly things had deteriorated into this crazy argument, there was a bright flash that lit up the room, followed by a sudden clap of thunder, so loud that it sounded like the sky had split open above our heads. The lights went out, plunging the room into near total darkness, with only the dim, flickering light from the candles on the wall struggling to illuminate the huge room.
Chapter Six
My first thought was that there had been some kind of attack. I sensed quick movement behind me. I wanted to hurl myself across Janos to get to Larz, in case this was some kind of attack. I had some half-formed idea about wrestling him to the floor to get him out of harm’s way, like I was strong enough to wrestle him anywhere. But I guess I wasn’t thinking all that straight and then before I could do anything, there was a meaty sounding thump and I heard Larz cry out. That was followed by a loud thump, like someone fell onto the table in front of us. I did move then, as fast as I could, pushing Janos, who had started to get up, back down in his chair so I could vault over him.
I managed to get to Larz, who was slumped across the table and threw myself over him. He was trembling and moaning softly under me, so I raised up to call for help. That’s when I felt a sudden sharp jab on my chest, just above my ribs. Funny though, the place where I was stabbed began immediately burning, and I felt a cold, sickening pain deep inside me. I felt my legs go a little weak and I stumbled back to fall down in a chair beside me and sagged to the side. I tried to stand up again but found I couldn’t seem to sit up straight.
Only seconds later, the lights came back on and there was a lot of commotion everywhere. I watched the frenzy around me like I was in a dream. I couldn’t seem to think straight, or get breath to call out for help, and all the attention in the room was on Larz. He was still lying sprawled out across the table with both arms stretched out in front of him. Janos had managed to get by me and was bending over him, exclaiming softly and trying to pull him back up. I had fallen down somehow into thechair he’d vacated. I heard Blake’s cry from across the table and realized that people were running toward us.
As for me, I kept trying to stand up, but my body felt weird like it didn’t belong to me anymore and wouldn’t answer my commands. The pain was pretty bad. I tried to push myself up again, but my arms felt like those noodles in the soup Vannos had sent up for us earlier, and I quickly collapsed back down.
Everyone’s attention was actually on Larz, and people were pushing in, putting themselves between me and him. No one seemed to notice I was struggling, too dizzy and sick to call out for help. Larz seemed to be coming around, blinking his eyes and trying to sit up. Groaning, he put a hand to the back of his head, and when he pulled his hand away, it came back bloody. I made another attempt to stand up, but my body wasn’t cooperating. I touched the place I’d been stabbed, but a sudden cough took me by surprise, seeming to erupt from my chest and travel immediately to the red center of agony under my ribs. A splatter of blood hit the table in front of me. A feeling of profound weakness had begun seeping over me, and I found myself shivering uncontrollably.Shock, a distant part of my brain was saying.
Someone leaned over me, taking my face in their hands and peering down at me. I turned to look up at whoever it was, startled to see that it was the Tygerian, General Vargarra. He was back in the room and bending over me, roughly pulling at my coat so he could see the wound.
“Who did this to you?”
“I don’t know,” I said, and my voice came out sounding tiny and unrecognizable, because I suddenly had no breath to spare for it.
“Be still and let me see,” his harsh voice said in my ear, as I put up a hand to show him where I was hurt. I was surprised to find I was too weak to argue and just let him do what he wanted,suddenly picking me up in his arms like a doll. He laid me on the table on my back, stripping off the coat and ripping away my bloody shirt. Damn it, what was I going to tell Brytal about the shirt?
The general swore harshly under his breath as he examined me and yelled out something in Tygerian. I heard a lot of shouting around me then, including Larz’s voice weakly calling my name, but I couldn’t seem to get my eyes to open back up fully so I could see what was happening. The room started to get dark again—or maybe it was just me. Suddenly, the general swung me up in his arms. I cried out, because it was dizzying and made me feel like I was going to throw up. I could still hear shouting around me, and it was all too loud, too much, so I turned my head toward the general’s broad chest, closed my eyes and gave in to it all, just letting him take me wherever he wanted.
****
General Kirstos Vargarra
I hadn’t realized the Laltanan boy was so small until I picked him up in my arms to carry him to Lieutenant Worron, an Imperial soldier, who happened to be the best trauma medic on my service. I was alarmed when I first noticed Taran slumped sideways in his chair and not responding to anything around him. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t answering my questions, and he seemed to be on the verge of passing out.
I ripped off the ugly, heavy coat he was wearing to examine him more closely and that’s when I saw the wound, low on the left side of his chest. It had missed his heart, but it was a deep, gouging injury, as if someone had twisted the blade once it had been buried deep inside his flesh to inflict maximum injury. He was losing an alarming amount of blood, and the blade musthave nicked a lung, because I saw blood droplets speckling his lips and chin.
Many voices were shouting behind me, but I kept running toward Lt. Worron—I could see him in a cluster of Imperial guards surrounding and guarding Prince Mikos and his consort. He’d glanced up as I called his name and saw me hurrying toward him, carrying the boy. He immediately started running to meet me. I laid Taran on the table on his back, sweeping away some scattered papers with my hand as Worron joined me, shouting over his shoulder for someone to bring him his medic kit.
Medics like Worron carried extensive, mission-specific gear to treat trauma. And because the Consort Blake and the Consort Ryan were both human, it was necessary when he was on a mission like this that he carry extra equipment specific to humans as well. Taran’s anatomy was not significantly different from a human’s, though perhaps he was smaller. Some of Worron’s core equipment consisted of various tourniquets, hemostatic gauze, chest seals, airway management tools and IV supplies made specifically for the consorts’ needs, not to mention fast acting drugs for pain and shock all designed to be used by humans or someone the same general size and physical makeup—like a Laltanan.
