I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has left such supportive comments on this story so far! I also want to give a special thank you to my proofreaders for providing feedback and corrections on this and future chapters of Commander's Cat! If you're interested in proofreading this story or anything else I'm working on, please send me a message and I'll start sending you goodies. - ♡ Ava
FIVE - Luvon
When the sky ripped open and water poured down over Damaqas I knew Fentris and Bahira had been successful. Without it, half of the city or more would have been lost, but the rain slowed the progress of the fires and gave us a chance to get ahead of them. I had so many different things to do and a thousand orders to give, but at the top of my mind were Fentris and Hanna. I waited impatiently to hear the hoofbeats of Fentris' rabid unit, afraid to stray far from the Military Quarter where I was certain they would return. I answered questions and gave orders, and each time I did I turned to look over my shoulder toward the gates.
Where are they?
Finally the sound of hoofbeats so fast they could only be Fentris met my ears. I pushed away some lieutenant who had a knack for asking stupid questions and ran to Fentris. Hanna sat in front of him, slumped over his arm.
Not again,
I thought, and reached to take her from him.
"What happened to her?" I demanded, but I already knew.
I could feel Fentris panicking. "I don't know sir, she just fell asleep like that sir, I swear sir--" I cut him off with a wave of my hand.
"Get Doctor Hashna, you know where he lives, and bring him to my villa," I told him. Luckily my villa had escaped major damage, and other than some potted fig trees that no longer had pots, it was in the condition I'd left it in. I hadn't seen much of it since Hanna had taken over the cartography office. I usually chose to sleep in the tent nearest the office, in part because I worried she might cause trouble in the night, and in part because I worried what the men might try if I were far enough away.
"Someone get me a horse," I bellowed, and one of the Red Caps obediently hopped from his and assisted me in getting on the horse with Hanna. The officers' villas occupied a guarded corner of the Silk Quarter, which was normally just around the corner from the Military Quarter. Tonight the way was littered with burning rubble and we had to take the longer route through the marketplace first and then through the Iron District. It was immediately clear to me the cartographer's office had been the primary focus of the attack. It still stood, but only barely. It was a smoking shell of itself by the time the fire was out, and I had already tried and failed to get inside to see if there was anything worth saving. It was still too hot. It would be morning before I could try again, most likely.
Throughout the ride Hanna spoke, but too softly for me to hear her over the horse, the wailing of the people, and the sounds of buildings caving in. Her cold sweat soaked through any dry spots left on my uniform and I urged the horse on, recklessly perhaps, as it cantered through the narrow streets of the Iron District.
We narrowly avoided a collision with a donkey and its wagon, drawing a distressed bray from the donkey as we flew past. People shouted and soldiers, unaware that it was me on the horse, hollered for me to slow down. I kicked a soldier that held out his hand to grab my reins in an attempt to take control of my horse, and made a mental note to inquire after him tomorrow.
The biggest problem with us, in my opinion, was that we all sort of looked the same. Sure, the Red Caps, Spriggans, Banshees, and Pucks looked different from each other, but in a line of Spriggans you'd likely never be able to tell one from the other. Humans were all different, even children from the same family didn't always look alike. But we were all about the same height, same ashen skin, with the only variation being our facial features and haircuts. At speed my uniform was indecipherable from everyone else's. We were all covered in soot and ash, and I didn't blame any of them for not knowing who I was.
When we made it to the villa I let the horse go. Hopefully it would find someone that would either ride or groom it, and it wandered off to eat from a cart of hay that hadn't yet burned. My villa wasn't as elaborate as some of the others, but it was still a lot more comfortable than the hovel Hanna had called home in the Dyers' District. I carried her to a couch and sank onto the floor next to her, suddenly weary from the long night. I rested my head against her hip and woke with a start when I heard the doctor's voice.
"I have a lot of other patients, too," the doctor admonished me as Fentris pushed him into the room. "There are a lot of people that need medical treatment tonight, you can't just kidnap a doctor!" he shouted at Fentris, who shrugged, unbothered by the doctor's protests.
"Just tell me what to do," I told him, "then Fentris will take you wherever you want to go."
Doctor Hashna sputtered for a moment. "I don't want him to take me anywhere, especially not on horseback, ever again!"
"We will get you a cart, then. Just, help me. Please."
Sighing, Hashna quickly felt Hanna's face and tutted. "I said two weeks, no strenuous activity."
"You did, but someone had other plans." My tone was sarcastic, but he conceded with a nod.
"You're burned," he said suddenly, reaching for my arm and turning it gently in his hand.
"It's not a big deal," I told him, but he shook his head.
"That's the sort that gets infected. Get me some water and rags," he told Fentris, who marched off obediently. I had no idea if Fentris knew where to find water and rags in my house, but he returned as I finally pried my jacket off, hissing as my skin came away with it.
"I told you that's a big deal," the doctor said, then instructed me to lie on another couch and wait my turn.
I heard him crack open a jar and smelled the familiar sharp smell of the blue stuff.
"Eucalyptus and mint," Fentris announced, sniffing the air. "And what's that other smell, hyssop?"
"Very good," said Doctor Hashna quietly as he spread the strange paste over Hanna's chest again.
"What do you think is wrong with her?" Fentris asked now, concern in his voice. He didn't bother to look away while the doctor worked, but also seemed completely unbothered by Hanna's exposed breasts. I wondered if he would be the friend I needed when things were a little calmer.
"I am not sure, to tell you the truth. I wonder if it has something to do with her being a Changeling." Fentris looked to me in confusion. I shrugged.
"Now, that arm," the doctor said, suddenly turning on me with a scowl. "You better not give me any trouble or I'll tell this wild man to hold you down."
I couldn't imagine what kind of trouble I would give the doctor, but I understood once he began scrubbing at the burns on my arm with a wet rag. In the end, I'm not too proud to admit, Fentris ended up sitting on my chest while I bit into my own hand. Who knew a burn could hurt so much? The doctor put a cooling poultice in the bandage, but the contact of the bandage was excruciating on its own. I'd never been seriously burned before. Stabbed, slashed, shot with arrows, but never burned. I would have rather had the other injuries instead.
"Are you hurt?" the doctor said, finally turning his attention back to Fentris.
Fentris shook his head. Fentris was like a stray dog, I decided. He'd eat anything you put in front of him and walk away unharmed from getting hit by a cart. Eventually someone, probably a woman, would rescue him and then he'd die from eating actual food. I had never seen someone look so uncomfortable in a house, although he did take a little too readily to sitting on my chest. Then he seemed almost gleeful as he lectured me about being nice to the doctor. I imagined the lecture was similar to the one his dad had given him about girls and laughed in between deep breaths and growls while the doctor scrubbed away the debris on my burns.
"You can take me back to the Dyers' District," the doctor told Fentris, "but only if you ride slower this time. And you must allow me to check on that lad that you kicked, Fentris." I laughed out loud, to their puzzlement, but didn't explain. I wondered if Fentris had kicked the same ballsy soldier as I had.
Finally Hanna and I were alone, but it was hardly the romantic evening I had hoped it would be when I finally had permission to either move her to my villa or the cartographer's villa. Old Zeidani's villa was still locked down and my superiors didn't want to move Hanna into it because they still suspected she was helping him. They lacked imagination and had no idea how else an old man engaged in espionage. I always thought he had done it alone, but no one listened to me. If the girl had helped him she would have had more than a couple threadbare tunics and a balding teddy bear in her satchel when I conscripted her.
I needed to rest but I had too many things to do. Many things had changed and word would quickly spread that Hanna was not only fae, but a tempest. A tempest was worth a thousand times more to the military than a cartographer, even a good one. I could only think of one way to protect her, and I didn't know if she would like it. It didn't matter if she did. Even if she accepted it, it would only mean that I would go wherever she went.
I listened to her wheeze as she slept. Did it sound better, or worse? I wasn't sure anymore, and I couldn't stand the idea of another four days of wrestling with her, mashing wet biscuits into her mouth, and watching her waste away. Would she even survive it this time? She looked frail and thinner than I'd ever seen her, even when she lived in the Dyers' District and lived on scraps of goat and rice. How I had wanted to buy her sacks of biscuits, slabs of butter, pots of rich meat, and chocolates back then, if only so she wouldn't starve before I could finally protect her, but how strange it would have seemed to her to receive those gifts from a random soldier. I sat on my couch watching her sleep on hers and wondered about what the doctor had said.
Is this why there are no changelings? Why there hasn't been a tempest in a hundred years or more? Do they always wither and die like this?
I had other things to do. I knew officers were likely waiting outside, having heard that I was at home. I covered her with a woven blanket and extinguished the lanterns, hoping she would become lucid again soon.
As the night wore on I became aware that I barely knew who I was speaking to anymore. The long days of caring for Hanna and the long night of carrying children into the tunnels and buckets of water to burning houses had taken a serious toll on me. At some point I must have said something really strange, and a lieutenant insisted he could take over. I nodded gratefully and went back to my couch, hissing at the pressure on my arm as I tried to get comfortable.
