The sky grew overcast. In October, rain fell on Delphinad every other day.
Supporting the unconscious Gene, Tahyang lowered him to the ground. He unfastened his breastplate and tore away the clothing around the wound. Hal sat behind Gene and held his upper body almost in an embrace, while Onil took off his outer garment and pressed it against the injury. But the bleeding would not stop easily. The cut slanted from his left shoulder down to his chest, covering a wide area, and seemed to have struck a major artery. Blood ran down his arm, pooled on the stone floor, then overflowed and spread in every direction. Gone was the figure whose very appearance had terrified the spectators filling the Grand Theater only moments before. With his eyes closed, Gene’s face looked almost peaceful.
Ashabel knelt beside him and called to him.
“Adjutant…”
Before he knew it, Ashabel’s face was covered in tears. Several of the others were crying too. When Onil’s garment was soaked through, they all took off their own outer clothes and offered them. The doctor who had been waiting was called over, but he too looked at a loss.
“We need to stop the bleeding, but the wound is in a very unfortunate place…”
That was true. But if he stood aside when death seemed more likely than survival, he would look responsible. And given who the patient was, he must have feared the consequences if Gene died. Reddinus, who had worked beside a doctor before, turned on him irritably.
“You have to find the vessel. Can’t a doctor even do that?”
“Well, I… The main artery is…”
Luke spoke quietly.
“Leave him. He’s frightened. A man like that is no help. He can at least bring bandages.”
One after another, the men’s clothes became drenched in Gene’s blood. He had already lost so much that he was unconscious. At this rate, it seemed he would struggle to last even a few hours.
Tahyang stepped back, took out a handkerchief, and spread it on the floor. He emptied powder from a small pouch onto it. Something like strange smoke rose from the powder. Cutting his own arm with his dagger, Tahyang let blood fall onto it. The powder foamed and spread in a peculiar pattern. Tahyang murmured.
“Come quickly, spirit of long life.”
When the handkerchief had turned completely black, Tahyang approached Gene, had Onil move aside, and removed the blood-soaked clothing. Blood welled out as soon as Onil lifted his hands, but Tahyang laid the black handkerchief over the wound. Then he said,
“Wrap bandages over this.”
The doctor had fled without anyone noticing, and no one knew who should do the bandaging. As they hesitated, Rosa pushed through the men, picked up the bandages the doctor had left behind, and spoke.
“Neups, hold that arm up.”
While Rosa wound the bandages with a skill to rival a doctor’s, Tahyang spoke to Gene.
“Brother, forgive me. I had hoped not to resort even to this.”
As the bandages went on, the bleeding surprisingly diminished, then stopped. Everyone looked dazed. But Gene had lost so much blood that his face had gone beyond white to a deathly pallor. Tahyang spoke.
“Prepare a stretcher and a palanquin.”
Then Gayar approached from behind.
“I have arranged a room in the theater building. I think we should take him there first.”
The men remembered Gayar’s face. There was no need to explain that it would be better to move Gene as little as possible. Tahyang nodded, and a stretcher was soon brought over. Just as Harat and Terry lifted it with Gene lying on it, rain began to fall. Without waiting for anyone else, the men took off their clothes and spread them over him to keep him dry. As the procession entered the building behind the stage, the spectators hurrying out of the theater to escape the rain could not take their eyes off them.
It was already night when Master Temena was summoned to the Grand Theater. He said he had been out visiting a patient, which was why it had taken so long to find him. While they searched for him, two other doctors had been called, but neither had achieved much before leaving. Master Temena came in grumbling, looked down at the bed where Gene lay, and sighed.
“Your captain’s complexion is paler than a young lady’s. How has all this happened in a matter of days?”
Tahyang and Jamalik stood at Gene’s head, with half a dozen men gathered at the foot of the bed. The rest were sitting on the floor or standing outside. No one exchanged idle chatter. The Grand Theater had originally agreed to lend them the room only until closing, but Luke had bullied Leonis as though he meant to put a curse on his backside and won permission to stay overnight. The condition was that after sunset, everyone except the patient and five attendants had to leave. However unfortunate the circumstances, if so many backstreet patrolmen remained inside the Grand Theater, none of its staff would be able to go home.
While Master Temena took Gene’s pulse, Tahyang asked,
“Can you give him a blood transfusion?”
Transfusion was a reasonably established treatment, but many doctors refused to perform it for religious reasons or because of its risks. The physicians’ guild did not forbid it, but went so far as to declare that the guild bore no responsibility for any accident. Master Temena, however, had nothing to do with any physicians’ guild.
“The blood types must match. There are four. With bad luck, a man can die even when they match, but we have no choice but to try. Someone go and bring an empty bed.”
Master Temena opened his bag, took out several needles and tubes, and laid them on the table. Then he turned to the men.
“Well, who’s first? Obviously our Firran friend won’t do.”
Jamalik, standing right beside him, answered.
“Master, start with me.”
He intended to check Gene’s blood first, find someone of the same type, and connect them immediately. There was more than enough of Gene’s blood available, so he tested it at once, then began examining the men one by one, starting with Jamalik. When Jamalik proved incompatible, Hanbun, Gayar, Hal, Neups, and the others stepped forward almost together. After testing them in turn, he confirmed that Gayar’s blood was the same type and immediately began the complicated preparations to connect artery and vein.
“One person won’t be enough, will it? Test me too!”
Ashabel pressed forward, but Master Temena cut him off.
“You’re too young.”
Once the transfusion began, Master Temena watched Gene’s condition carefully. Only when there seemed to be no adverse reaction did he look somewhat relieved. The watching men’s faces brightened, wondering whether Gene would survive after all. Terry asked,
“Will our captain live now?”
“I should be very glad if it were that simple.”
Wiping the dripping sweat away with his sleeve, Master Temena looked around at them.
“I’m an honest man. I don’t know how to comfort you. To give you the conclusion first, I’ve done everything I can. Now all we can do is wait.”
“Wait?”
Ashabel immediately repeated the word.
“We have no choice but to trust your captain’s ability to heal himself. Don’t ask how long it will take, or whether it will succeed or fail. I don’t know either.”
“Wait, that’s the nonsense doctors spout when they’ve given up!”
Reddinus flared up, and the men’s expressions changed again. But Master Temena answered calmly, like a man who had seen countless dying patients.
“There’s truth in that too.”
The room instantly filled with murmurs. Rosa made her way through the commotion to Tahyang and asked,
“Will the treatment you used to stop the bleeding earlier keep working?”
“Mm. For about a day.”
“What happens after that?”
“To be precise, it becomes a problem if we don’t remove it within a day. It’s a being summoned by magic. The Firran call it a fairy insect. It will come for an offering the size of a grain of wheat, but when it’s time to leave, even something the size of a watermelon may not satisfy it. If you call it with a drop of blood, it may not leave even if you give it an arm. But for one day it’s still growing, so we can remove it without an offering. After that, I can’t promise anything. I wouldn’t have tried it if I hadn’t been certain Gene was dying.”
Instead of reproaching him, Rosa said,
“No, it was the right decision. Thanks to you, he’s still alive.”
Then she looked toward Master Temena.
“Please recommend a doctor who can try something besides waiting for him to heal on his own. I’ll bring them here, whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it takes?”
Master Temena smiled wearily.
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