The Shifter

by Janice Hardy

  “Tali!” I headed for her. She was startled for a moment, then ran to me, almost tackling me in a huge hug.

  “You’re alive!” I said, just as she cried, “You made it out!”

  “I was so worried, I didn’t think you’d ever leave, and then the Luminary came—and Saints, Tali, don’t ever do that to me again.”

  “I won’t, I promise.”

  Aylin threw her arms around both of us. “Don’t you do it either, Nya. I almost died when Tali told me what you did.”

  We hugged and bounced and acted like fools while passersby stared at us like, well, fools.

  “Better get off the street,” said Danello. It really was him in that silly coat. He glanced at the soldiers and checked his buttons, then pulled us gently toward a cluttered alley.

  “You’re alive too!” I hugged him, accidentally shoving him against a pile of crates. “Are the twins okay?”

  “They’re fine. Tali fixed us all up.” We stayed there together, not talking. Then his hug loosened and he stepped away, both cheeks red as berries. “Nya, we owe you our—” He frowned and looked at something behind me. “There’s someone watching us.”

  I turned around and Soek stepped into the alley.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Who are you?” Danello asked, pulling open his coat. His hand darted at a rapier on his belt.

  “What are you doing with a rapier?” I gaped at the gleaming steel. It looked well made and deadly, probably his mother’s.

  He didn’t answer, just kept staring at Soek with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

  “That’s Soek,” I explained. “One of the apprentices. We helped each other escape.”

  Soek chuckled and shook his head. “I didn’t do much. Nya’s the hero here. I owe her my life.”

  I blushed again, and the glint in Danello’s eyes turned to worry. I put my hand on his arm. “Danello, it’s okay.”

  He let me pull his hand away, and the coat slid back to cover the rapier. Wearing either was a big risk. Folks didn’t usually wear those coats around the city, so it might draw just as much attention as the actual rapier.

  “What are you doing out here with a weapon?”

  “We were coming to rescue you.”

  “Danello planned it all out,” Tali said. “We were going to go back in and save you this time.”

  “You were?” I wasn’t sure whether to be touched or angry. After everything I’d done to get her out, she’d risk coming back and getting caught again?

  “We couldn’t just leave you there,” she said.

  “We were all so scared,” said Aylin. “Tali told us you took her pain and her place. I can’t believe you were that—”

  “Stupid,” Danello finished.

  “Danello!” Aylin gasped.

  With a quick glance at Soek, Danello reached out and took my hand, his jaw clenched and lots of worry in his eyes. “You shouldn’t have gone back alone, Nya. You had the pynvium—you could have brought another Healer to us.”

  “Going back was the only way to get Tali out.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was the only way you thought of.” He ran his hand over his lip and looked torn between hitting me and hugging me. “You helped us,” he said. “What made you think I wouldn’t help you?”

  My mouth dropped open, but it was empty of answers. Why hadn’t I thought he’d help me? Did I no longer expect folks to help each other out unless they were family?

  No one but Tali and Aylin had cared about me in a long time, and no boy ever had. “Why would you? You have your own family to look after.”

  “You take care of family first, friends second, and neighbors when you can.” He smiled sheepishly and rubbed a thumb over my knuckles. I noticed how scraped and dirty they were, but didn’t want to pull away. “It’s something my da says.”

  Aylin nodded. “My mother said that too. Gevegians stick together. Those greedy Baseeri would steal the clothes off our backs without friends watching them for us.”

  “Um, hey, Nya,” Soek said, tugging on my sleeve. “I hate to interrupt, but something’s going on.”

  I looked up. The street was crowded, but that wasn’t unusual these days. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Don’t look—listen.” He walked to the front of the alley and cocked his head. After a second, Aylin followed.

  “Nya, he’s right,” called Aylin, motioning us forward. “Everyone’s talking about the League.”

  We left the safety of the cluttered alley and walked a few steps into the street.

  “…some kind of announcement…”

  “…about the ferry accident?”

  “…what will we do without…”

  Dread settled into my stomach. People were running toward the League, worried looks on every face. Over the fearful voices, the faint toll of the gathering bell rang.

  “We need to find out what’s going on,” I said.

  “I’d rather not go back there,” Soek said nervously.

  “Do you have any family here?” I asked him. “Friends?”

  “No one. It was just me in Verlatta, and I got out right before the siege started. I knew it was about to get bad. I left, came here, joined the League. It hasn’t been a good week.”

  “We’ll be safe if we all stick together. Danello has his rapier. No one will spot us with so many people. We’ll just go over there, hear what they have to say, and then we’ll leave.”

  Soek still looked uncertain but nodded. “Okay, I trust you.”

  I trusted him too, though I couldn’t say why. Maybe because we were both different, and we both risked a lot by going anywhere near the League.

  Danello took my hand. “Come on, stay close in case there’s trouble.”

  We merged with the crowd and flowed down to League Circle. The gathering bell rang loudly here, but after another minute it stopped, the sharp clang drifting away on the late-morning breeze. A small speaker’s platform had been carried out, and the crowd hushed as Heal Master Ginkev stepped up onto it.

  I swallowed and fought the urge to duck, but he couldn’t possibly spot me in the crowd. I moved closer behind the safety of Danello’s broad shoulders anyway.

  “Good morning,” Ginkev began, sounding saddened and uncertain at the same time. “I have tragic news to announce, and I beg all of you to remain calm.”

  A nervous murmur ran through the crowd.

  “Five days ago, several Healers fell ill with an unknown disease. They were quarantined immediately, but it’s clear now that the rest of the apprentice and junior Healer population were exposed. Since many of those recently afflicted are Healers who were present at the tragic ferry accident two days ago, we surmise that their weakened conditions made them more susceptible to succumbing to this illness.”

  More nervous muttering. Folks around us looked scared. There’d been diseases during the war too, near the end when we didn’t have enough people to clear the streets of all the bodies.

  “Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to discern the nature of this disease, and therefore have been unable to heal it.”

  The crowd grew panicky, and Ginkev held up his hands.

  “This is not cause for alarm. This disease is limited to Takers only, and you need direct contact with those infected for it to spread. The general population is perfectly safe.” Ginkev paused. “I am sad to report that within the last hour, all of the afflicted have died.”

  Gasps and shocked cries raced through the crowd.

  No! It couldn’t be true! I’d just seen the apprentices. Surely it hadn’t taken us over an hour to escape. I couldn’t be certain though. It was all such a blur. I glanced at the sun directly overhead. Hadn’t it been much lower before?

  “Are there Healers left?”

  “Who’s going to take care of our injured?”

  “How could you let this happen?”

  “Rest assured the Luminary is saddened by this terrible loss, and is working with the Duke to rectify the situa
tion. To ensure that no more Healers fall ill, the Luminary has instituted a full quarantine of the League. He asks that those needing healing contact the pain merchants, as the League will be working closely with them to maintain the care Geveg needs.”

  “You can’t trust the pain merchants!”

  The crowd started yelling and shoving forward. I’d have bruises on my bruises by morning. Danello moved closer, putting his arms protectively around me. Ginkev shouted over the crowd, words of reassurance, but no one was listening anymore. Angry mutters were growing louder.

  “Liar!”

  “They’re not really dead! The Duke stole them for his war, didn’t he?”

  A rock flew up and cracked Ginkev on the temple. He yelped and toppled off the speaker’s platform. People surged forward, smashing between us and shoving us apart.

  “Nya!” Danello called, reaching for me.

  I lunged for his hand, but the surging crowd swept me away, hurtling me toward the League.

  SIXTEEN

  “Nya!”

  “Over here!” I waved my arms but couldn’t tell where the voice had come from or even who had yelled it. The mob kept shoving forward, banging me between them as they surged forward.

  It felt like the first food riots at the end of the war, during the siege when all we had left was what we’d stored on the main island. When the Duke had control of our farming isles and the marsh farms, and trapped us so we’d turn on each other and stop fighting him. More riots had come in the early days of the occupation, when he’d kept us hungry, giving us food from our own farms and making us beg for it.

  Memories flashed through my mind as anonymous feet squashed my toes and kicked my shins. Dozens of folks were trampled to death every riot, and those mobs had been desperate and weak from hunger. This one was angry and strong.

  Danello’s head popped above the crowd to my right.

  “Danello!”

  He found me and our eyes met. He called something I couldn’t hear and struggled to get past the men trying to tear down the speaker’s platform. Another surge, and I stumbled farther away. Danello vanished back into the mob. For a crazy moment, I felt as if I’d never see him again, but he had to still be there behind the crowd.

  A man fell into me, and his elbow smacked my stomach. I gasped and doubled over, sucking in breath. Another person hit me from behind, and I staggered sideways. I bounced off the crowd and flailed for anything to grab and stop my fall. Images of trampled bodies flashed behind my eyes. I fell to one knee, and pain raced up my leg. My other foot slipped, and I was falling.

  A hand shot out between broad backs and grabbed my arm. “Got you!”

  “Aylin!” I sobbed as Aylin yanked me back to my feet. Someone tripped on me and I fell forward again, but she caught and steadied me.

  “I’m so glad to see you,” I cried, fighting the crowd.

  “Me too. I thought we lost you. Hold on, and follow me.”

  She held tight to my hand and headed against the surging mob, twisting and ducking, using her dancer’s grace to get through. She kept one hand in front of her, pushing aside a shoulder or elbow and directing the surge of people around us. When one didn’t turn, she found a soft spot and pinched.

  I wanted to lift my head higher and search for Tali, but I was too afraid to break the smooth ribbon Aylin had somehow made of us.

  “I got her,” Aylin said, dragging me forward and pushing me against the outer League fence. Danello, Tali, and Soek stood clustered against it, protected from the crowd by the thick pillar and the gate.

  Tali pulled me in and hugged me tight, her face streaked with dirt.

  Aylin squeezed in near enough to yell over the mob. “My room is closest. Think we can get there?”

  We all nodded. Aylin grabbed Danello’s hand and wound her way back into the crowd that poured around the pillar. Danello grabbed my hand, I grabbed Tali’s, and she took Soek’s. We struggled through the crowd, but people kept surging forward, trying to get to the League. Rocks and other debris whizzed past us. Danello took an elbow to the eye, and someone shoved Aylin so hard she crashed into Danello and nearly knocked them both down.

  The crowd had clogged up the more narrow entrance where the road led into the League.

  “Get ready to shove forward, hard,” Aylin called back, then a piercing scream split the air. People startled and froze, heads swiveling. Aylin screamed again and yanked us, darting into the small crack opened by the now-still crowd.

  Was everyone in Geveg racing to the League to yell and fight? What could they hope to accomplish? Anger wouldn’t bring the Healers back. It would only bring the Duke.

  We crawled over a low wall and into someone’s garden, clinging to each other as people rushed by.

  “I can’t believe they’re dead,” Tali whispered first, but we were all thinking it.

  Soek nodded slowly. “We got out just in time.”

  “You were lucky,” Danello added.

  Were we? They’d lied about the disease, so what if they were lying again now? Not all the apprentices had been that close to death. Lanelle certainly wasn’t, though it was possible she hadn’t been counted as “one of the sick Healers.”

  “What if they killed them?” I said, not wanting to believe it.

  Aylin hugged herself, rubbing her arms vigorously. “I believe they’d be that monstrous, but the logistics of it.” She shook her head. “Wouldn’t it be a lot easier for them to get more pynvium than murder that many people? Where would they even put the bodies?”

  Soek nodded. “She’s right—it would have to take longer than an hour to do all that. They couldn’t have had time.”

  Danello nudged me and pointed at the street, past the crowd. “Soldiers are coming.”

  The Governor-General’s soldiers shoved their way through, their blue uniforms cheery and bright on a day that wasn’t. How many of them remembered the riots during the second year of occupation, when we’d tried to rebel, tried to regain our independence despite the soldiers lining our streets?

  “It’s going to get bad out here,” Aylin said. The look on her face said she remembered those riots too, and the ships full of new soldiers the Duke had sent to stop them. “We’d better get to my place.”

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  I clung to Tali as we hurried, wondering how long it would be before the Duke sent his soldiers to crush us again. And if any of us would survive.

  Aylin gave me the last of her dresses, and I went to the washroom and changed out of my filthy clothes. When I got back, Danello and Soek were sitting on opposite sides of the door, with Tali by the window. We barely had room to move with five of us in there.

  “How’s it look outside?” I asked Tali. She was watching at the window while Aylin rubbed a sweet-smelling salve on our cuts and bruises. Aylin acted embarrassed to own it with so many real Healers in the room, but no one seemed to care.

  Tali turned to me. “Smoke’s getting thicker near the League. I think one of the market squares is burning. People and soldiers are running past us, but no one is stopping.” She pushed sweaty locks off her face. “I guess there’s nothing here to loot.”

  “That’ll change,” muttered Soek.

  “Can you see my neighborhood?” Danello asked from his spot on the floor. “Is there smoke?”

  Tali leaned out for a few seconds, then drew back in. “No, I don’t think so. It looks like it’s all in the Baseeri neighborhoods so far. And around the League itself.”

  “I’m sure they’re okay,” I said to Danello, putting my hand on his shoulder. Jovan was a smart boy—he’d keep everyone safe until their father got home.

  He nodded absently but still looked worried. I couldn’t blame him. If Tali hadn’t been with me, I’d be out there trying to get to her. But Danello was smart enough not to risk himself like that. He was older, and probably remembered the riots better than I did. The soldiers hadn’t killed just those who were causing trouble.

  “It’s happening
again, isn’t it?” Aylin whispered.

  “No, it’s different this time,” I said.

  “Only the politics. We’re angry again, and you know how this always ends. First the riots, then the denouncements of the Duke. People are already blaming him, and they’ll turn on the Governor-General soon. All those soldiers are still in Verlatta. How soon before the Duke sends some here?”

  “Maybe the Governor-General will calm everyone down.” Even as I said it, I didn’t believe it. Soldiers just made everything worse. Blue uniforms stirred up a lot of hatred in Geveg.

  “I don’t think so,” Tali said, gesturing us over to the window. We squeezed in around her and stared out.

  Six soldiers were herding people along the street, shoving and yelling at them. Several of the people had bloody heads. Those in the street yelled back, grabbing rocks and whatever smashed items were lying around and waving them threateningly. A man dashed forward and threw a broken chair at the soldiers. It hit one on the head and shoulders, and the others lunged over and clubbed the man who’d thrown it. He fell. They left him lying there, and blood slowly pooled beneath his head.

  “This is how it started in Verlatta too,” said Soek, pulling away from the window. He settled back on the floor near Aylin. “We even had a treaty with the Duke. Didn’t matter.”

  “Maybe we’ll win this time?” Tali asked. She didn’t understand. She’d been too young to remember.

  I shook my head. “We won’t. We couldn’t win when we had our own soldiers, and plenty of Healers and pynvium. How can we possibly fight without any of that?”

  A knock banged on the door, and we all jumped. Aylin started to rise, but Danello waved her back down and went to the door. Soek stood opposite him, but out of sight and ready with a footstool in his other hand if anyone wanted trouble. Danello glanced his way and nodded as if he approved.

  “Who is it?” Danello called through the door. He reached over and grabbed his rapier off Aylin’s table, though there wasn’t much space to use it if he needed to.