I hear whispers. They grow louder with every step.
_________________________________________________________
Crystal sat, eyes kept on the carpet sewn with intricate crisscrossing patterns. Silver over grey, purple over silver, and then grey again. She could feel Breeze's sticky stare, one which seems to look up to her for decisions. It burned on her skin like a bathe of intense lamp light. She met Breeze's eyes and the Sentinel quickly evaded.
"Where is she now?" Crystal asked.
"Back at the infirmary. In that room beside that man." Breeze said. The Sentinel was standing straight in front of her. Beads of sweat collected on his chin and dripped down to the fluffy carpet.
Marble wouldn't like that, Crystal thought.
"And Shadow? Have you made efforts to relay this to him? And what of the surgeon? Are you certain he will keep his tongue?"
"One question at a time Crystal." Breeze removed his helm, held in under his arm and scratched his bristly hair. "This is taxing my brain. I follow, alright? Shadow's commands, everyone's commands, I follow. Thinking is tough. So please, if you have some solutions in mind, tell me."
Crystal rolled and evaded her eyes. She noticed that one of them lamps was flickering. She went and plucked the red stone from its sheathe.
She expected seeing a chipped stone but the one in her hand was undamaged. In fact it was one of the good cuts, almost spherical. Marble really did hoard the good ones.
But it was strange. Good cuts wouldn't flicker, she was told. She plugged the stone on the lamp again. It ceased its flickers, glowing bright. Maybe it was just her imagination, a produce of her tired mind. She turned and frowned upon seeing that Breeze had taken the liberty of sitting on her bed. The bed was bending down to the Sentinel's weight.
"Tell me of the surgeon."
"He was scared."
"Scared is bad. Scared is when people open their mouths to vanish their fear. If word of this gets out, I will be doomed." Crystal sighed. "Tell me more. What of his reactions? What did he say? What is he doing now? And what did you say? Forget that. Tell me what really happened, every detail you remember."
"I told you to ease with the questions." Breeze pouted. "Well, first you left that building. Reverie and I went to the infirmary next. We got lost many times, my memory is not sharp after all. My fault, really. We bumped into a few Sentinels. I provided a salute. They didn't mind me. And then we encountered another group..."
"Perhaps not to detailed? Go straight to when you finally arrived."
"We finally found it after a while of walking. Reverie is annoyed, I tell you. Frowning. But we found it. The surgeon flinched when I dragged him upstairs. He opened the door and Reverie did her thing. Frowning, again. She really loves her dust, that one. She lay beside the man and complained about the smell. I blew her dust into the survivor's nose and then she went into the dream. She was talking, a murmur. Too faint of course."
Interesting, Crystal thought. "What is she murmuring about?"
She took a seat for herself and sat, head leaning toward Breeze.
"Something about it being dark and how she is wasting her dust just to see utter darkness. You know, stuff she would say. And then her eyes brisked and she began screaming. I tell you Crystal, those eyes glowed like lamps or something. But Reverie wasn't in there. She was inside that dream, deeply shackled. I remember her shouting this one word. What is it? Ah I remember. Peleva. She shouted Peleva several times."
"Peleva? What does that mean?"
Breeze shrugged. "I don't know. Now quit interrupting me. I tried waking her, jiggled her shoulder roughly. But she wouldn't sever from the dream. And then the next thing I know is that she's like that survivor. The surgeon tried to run but let's be honest, he can't outrun me.
Crystal's brows met. "And what did you do to the surgeon?"
"Nothing."
"Breeze, I need to know. Tell me what did you do to that surgeon." Crystal's eyes narrowed as her mouth gasped. "Did... Did you kill him?"
"No I didn't hurt him! The Resistance has codes you know. Shadow's strict orders is for us to be kind to civilians. But my strength leads to accidents." Breeze again scratched his hair. He avoided meeting eyes with Crystal. "I kind of broke his arm? A little bit. He screamed so a gagged and tied him."
Crystal rubbed both palms on her face. Idiot. But then again, it was bound to happen. She shook her head to Breeze.
"First we must inform Shadow of this. Seek his help. Do you have a way to send a message to him? Some spies perhaps?"
"Shadow meant what he said. The mines have always been a blind spot to us. Your mother is just too good at managing this place. She has the best Sentinels."
"And so the only way to send a message is through you. You must travel to wherever he is hiding. That survivor can stay, but you must help me take care of Reverie and that surgeon. We can't have them in that room for more than a cycle."
"We are getting them out? And where would we dispose the, you know, bodies."
"You have a penchant in making things sound sinister. We must find a way to haul them out of that infirmary into a place. A place you should remember as you will lead Shadow and your companions there. We must do it in secret despite the watchful eyes of the patrols. And we must be quick too before somebody finds three people lining in that room."
"That sounds complicated. Dangerous."
"Oh you just don't know. Am I happy, Breeze? Am I jubilant about this? Are my lips curving a smile? No. You put me into this peril, you and Shadow both. But I can't do anything, can I?"
The infirmary was bustling when they arrived. Miners were hauled in litters spotted with red. One of them had a crooked leg so twisted the bone protruded. They arrived in troves, all mangled and dying. Crystal held her breath seeing such injuries.
"What happened here?" She asked one of the surgeons scribbling on some paper.
The surgeon waved his hand to Crystal's face and resumed his scribbles.
"I asked you a question."
"I am busy. You'll have the names once we are over with the triage."
"I demand to know. I am Crystal, Highness Marble's assistant." Crystal bit her lips afterwards, hoping that this surgeon didn't see her when she was first here. That was probably a foolish answer.
"Is that so?" The surgeon looked at her through downed monocle. "Haven't seen you before. Can't confirm it. But yes, let's assume you are indeed her assistant. Welcome to the infirmary, Highness."
The surgeon went back to scribbling.
"So what happened here?"
It took the surgeon a while to answer that Crystal's brows furrowed. "A cave-in. Roof just collapsed in Talavil Mine. Fifteen dead, dozens missing and we are packed with the injured."
"Many of them will die. The injuries are severe."
"Glad you noticed. Most of them will."
"And so? What would you ask from me?"
"You want to help? Are you a surgeon?"
Crystal raised an eyebrow. "No?"
The surgeon glanced. "Are you versed in medicine?"
"I am not."
"Then that's the problem, Highness. You can't help. All this conversation only serves to dally. Now I must excused myself. I have dozens of wounded to tend to."
The surgeon did leave. Crystal was left, open mouthed to the sharp words.
"Let's just be going" Breeze again whispered to her. The Sentinel tugged her upstairs but Crystal's eyes remained on the patients in agony.
The second floor was more crowded when she was here last. Those three lumbering patients in the corner looked dead to her. They went into the door and Breeze shut it behind.
Three people were lined in one side. The surgeon had his mouth tied by a some cloth Breeze probably tore from his own shirt. His hands were also tied by the same cloth. The deep bite on his wrist declared just how tight Breeze tied it. He was furious, the Surgeon. Crystal could see his deep look on both her and Breeze.
Reverie was beside the man, eyes all white. Her mouth was opened as if frozen. Her face was an image of fear, as if what she saw was too much for words to explain. Crystal went closer. Aside from the muffled cries of the surgeon, Reverie and the survivor of Shivan didn't made sounds. They were silent as if dead. But they were alive, she knew. Breathing, with a beating heart, but mind severed from their bodies.
"What do you think they saw?" Breeze asked.
"Something we do not need to discuss." She looked at the window. It was too small for passage, let alone smuggling the surgeon and Reverie. She looked at Breeze. "Any ideas?"
"Ideas? No. If I had, I would have done it already."
"I prefer you don't. This is your fault, you know. Yours."
"Mine?"
"And Shadow's. You dragged me into this. And now I can't serve my purpose as Marble's assistant. I could have helped down there. But now I am here, planning to abduct a surgeon and smuggle a full grown woman." She eyed the surgeon. "Yes. I am not Highness Book's assistant. I am Highness Marble's."
The surgeon made muffled screams too faint for notice.
"Easy there with your accusations, pretty girl. You are just blaming me because that surgeon below insulted you." Breeze said.
"Insulted me?" Crystal pulled her head and turned to Breeze. She hoisted her eyebrows. "No Breeze, I didn't feel insulted."
"What then?"
"I just feel..." Crystal's head drooped. "Powerless. Just close your mouth for a moment and listen."
Breeze followed. The screams coming from below sounded too tortuous. They mingled into a symphony she would rather forget. Some were sharp, like metal rubbing against rock. Some screams were more like moans, low and mumbling.
"That is indeed a ghastly sound. But what of it?" Breeze asked.
"What of it? I am Highness Marble's assistant, the next head of these mines. And yet I can't even do anything. What am I then? What is my purpose? Without Marble, I am nothing? Is that it?"
Breeze now smiled, a cocky one. "You want to be like her?
"Yes. She is respected and her authority is absolute."
"But according to that rude surgeon, they don't need you. I'm sure if that was Marble, he would bow his head for her help."
Crystal was silent for a while. She knew. Even before she became a councilor, when she was still living alone by herself, she would always look up to Marble. Her mother was the perfect example of a proper Gifted.
"You know what?" She said, pulling her look to Breeze. "I am not Marble. I don't have her leadership, I don't have her intelligence. But I am not powerless."
"What are you going to do?"
"You will carry Reverie and this surgeon. Burst into that window if you have to. The sudden arrival of the wounded is distraction enough. Nod if you understand."
Breeze nodded, grinning.
"Now go."
Crystal exited the door and hurried downstairs. The wounded kept coming and it became a wilder scene from before. Bloody floor, mangled flesh, dusty miners clinging for dear life.
"Ears on me!" She declared, presenting a posture firm on her back. The surgeons, Sentinels and even some of the patients turned to her.
"I want every man working as I command. You!" She pointed at a surgeon dressing some wound. It wasn't a lethal one, she saw. "Grab some papers and quill and write what I will say."
"But I am..."
"Go now!"
The surgeon dropped the leg he was holding and scrambled for some paper.
"I, Crystal, order you to mobilize all beasts and half of the Sentinels. Every abled person shall be sent in the infirmary. This command I make in the name of Marble, Highness of the mines."
She took the paper as soon as the surgeon's bloody hand was finished and signed it. She walked to a nearby Sentinel and pushed the paper on his chest. "Get this to the commander of the Sentinels. Quick or I'll have you punished."
"You" She pointed at another Sentinel. The man flinched. "Run to the nearest Sentinel armory and gather all the blue fungi you can find."
"Red fungi, Highness. Blue is for sickness." The same rude surgeon whispered to her.
"Red fungi. Have the quartermaster surrender the Sentinels' stockpile. If he refuses, threaten him with my name."
The Sentinel nodded once and darted outside. All eyes were on her now. Crystal maintained her demeanor.
"What are you staring at? Go on. Injuries don't heal by staring."
***
Breeze peeked through one of the widows as Crystal urged the chaotic infirmary into order. She was good at it, he thought. Crystal. He fancied her, yes. She was a pretty thing, yes. But there was something about her that was too special to ignore.
She was a woman full of surprises. Looking at her now confirmed this thought.
He turned back, Reverie bound by his left arm and the kicking surgeon by his right. The window above was busted where he rammed it earlier. Hopefully nobody would see him carrying two bodies into some dark recesses of the mines.