Downfall

Jean Rabe

Downfall

CHAPTER ONE

Healthy Earnings

A dragon chew on you for a while and spit you out?" Rig Mer-Krel asked as he leaned against the doorframe, eyeing a patient who was almost completely sheathed in bandages.

The mariner scowled-not from the lack of an answer or at the patient's sorry appearance, though the latter was more than a little disconcerting-but from the smell that permeated the small room and clung to his nostrils. Rig swallowed and nearly gagged, a nasty taste settling in his mouth that he attributed to the odd odor.

The heat made things worse, he decided. He was certainly miserable from it, his clothes drenched with sweat. This was the middle of an exceptionally hot summer, a month called the Dry-Heat by the area's residents, and the air in this place felt brutally heavy and close. The narrow gap beneath the drawn shutters allowed only the suggestion of a breeze. Rig considered opening the shutters wide to get the air circulating. But he didn't intend to stay long, and he had no desire to make the patient more comfortable.

"This being such a big hospital, it's a wonder they couldn't have found you a longer bed. And somehow a room that didn't…" Rig sniffed hesitantly, trying futilely to identify the scent,"… stink quite so much. But maybe the folks who run this place don't especially like you, either."

Only the man's head and feet weren't bandaged, and the latter hung well over the end of the bed frame. A pair of scuffed boots rested beneath his heels on a violet rug. The mariner edged farther into the room and studied the man's sweat-slicked face. His cheekbones were high and hollow, his skin ta

Rig found himself nearly overwhelmed by the smell. He retreated a few steps and coughed, a useless attempt to clear his lungs. "You hardly fit on that," the mariner told him, though he understood now the man wasn't listening-hadn't been listening to a single word.

The mariner shrugged his broad shoulders and continued to speak for his own benefit. "Well, what do you expect? Ironspike's a dwarven town, so I guess all the furniture's dwarf-size." He tilted his head toward a stunted chair, where an attempt had been made to neatly fold the shredded remains of the patient's clothes. "Man in the hall said something clawed you up pretty bad."

"A big mountain cat, most likely." This from behind the mariner.

Rig whirled to see a thickset dwarf dressed in gray, framed by the doorway. Her hair was pulled tightly back from her ruddy face, and the wrinkles of several decades fa

"How is he?" Rig asked, offering his best congenial smile.

Her expression didn't soften. "Your friend's wounds aren't at all deep, but they are numerous. He was delirious when they found him at the edge of town early this morning, and he hasn't regained consciousness since his cuts were dressed."

The mariner let out a low whistle and crossed his arms. "When will he…"

"Regain consciousness?" It was her turn to shrug. "A day, two. It's hard to say." Her voice reminded Rig of gravel bumping around in the bottom of a bucket-coarse and unappealing. "If he does wake up, we'll probably keep him for a day or two longer-to make sure he hasn't caught something foul from whatever clawed him. It was quite lucky for him we had this vacant room."

"He doesn't look so lucky," Rig muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "Must be a dozen rooms in this…"

"Hospital." The eyes eased wider a bit. "On this floor. Two dozen rooms all together, and all of them filled. We're the largest hospital east of the Kalkhists."

"You get lots of folks clawed up these days?"

She shook her head and huffed, the air escaping from her lungs like a kettle left too long on the fire. "I wish animal attacks were all we had to treat. A couple'a days ago some Legion of Steel Knights fought an army of goblins a few miles outside of town. The wounded are being tended to here. A couple'a the wards upstairs have as many as a dozen patients each in them."

Rig turned his back on the woman and regarded the patient again.

"And our beds aren't dwarf-sized," she continued. "This room was intended for children, and its former occupant was released yesterday afternoon. A youngster fully recovered from the pox." Her eyes twinkled with an i

"Ha!" Rig let out a clipped laugh when he finally noticed the pastel blue paint on the walls and the crude chalk drawings-a string of frogs and bu

The sun was setting outside. The pale orange light slipped beneath the gap in the shutters and stretched toward an upended crate on which sat a one-eyed rag doll with scraggly yarn hair. Nearby were cornhusk soldiers and colorful wooden blocks. There was another bed in the room, empty and even smaller, covered with a quilt dotted with pink and yellow kittens. He laughed again. "Wait'll Fiona sees this. She'll be greatly amused. ‘Course she'll probably have to visit the Knights, too, while she's here."

"The Knights won-in case you're interested," the dwarf added. Her foot tapped a little louder and she made a harumphing sound. "What few goblins weren't killed were driven…"

"Must be keeping your healers busy. All these patients. Probably exhausted with all the conjuring and magical muttering."

He didn't see the dwarf ball her hands and set them on her wide hips. However, he couldn't miss the sound of the kettle steaming again. "We don't have healers, sir, not the kind who use magic. None of those gifted folks are within a couple hundred miles of here. Not that we need them. We know how to take good care of people. Very good care. A lot of the nearby villages bring their sick here. We've men who make strong poultices from herbs and…"

"Ah, so that's what's responsible for that remarkable fragrance."

"…that work just as well as any magic. Probably better."

Rig made a sound in his throat that could have passed for agreement.

"Your friend is receiving excellent care. Just wish we knew what to do about that thing on his leg. Might try to cut it out tomorrow."

"It's a dragon scale," Rig volunteered, as he held his breath and bent over the bed again. "And you may as well leave it alone." The patient moaned and twitched as if in the throes of a fever, his fingers clawing at the sheets now. The mariner retreated to join the dwarf. "I didn't expect to find him. Fiona heard he was in the area, but you never know. We were close by and she wanted to track him down, so I came along. She's stabling the horses now, and then she'll be…"

"… not coming in here," the dwarf finished evenly. "Visiting hours have been over for more than an hour, and our doors are closed-to the healthy. Spotted you slipping in a side entrance, and I came by to chase you out. Visiting hours start again tomorrow at midmorning. Sign says that quite clearly. If you'd bothered to read it. You and…"

"Fiona."

"… can come back tomorrow." She backed into the hall and pointed to a far door. "Your friend might be better then."