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I notice her eyes begin to flicker. ‘I think she’s waking,’ I say, but when the healer looks, he immediately lurches forward and grabs her shoulders, pinning her to the bed as her body bows like it did by the Gate, and she begins to shake.
‘Hold her arms and legs for her own protection,’ the healer commands, urgency in his tone. ‘She’s not waking, she’s seizing.’
We do as he says, Grey and I taking her legs and Kallum her closest arm. We hold her until her body goes limp again, and the healer waves us away. He turns her over and tuts when he sees the lash marks, but he doesn’t say anything as he puts her on her back once more and covers her carefully.
He straightens and turns to us. ‘You’re newcomers here.’
Grey nods cautiously.
‘And you’ve been somewhere remote for a long time?’
We all glance at each other.
‘Alcana,’ I say.
His brows rise. ‘Alcana, the shielded city of the eighteenth circle with the dead gate,’ he breathes with a nod. ‘I’ve heard stories. If their ring is open once more …’
‘It was only for a night,’ Grey says. ‘We were lucky to get out.’
The healer nods slowly. ‘And I suppose you’re traveling back to the inner circles …’
‘What does any of this have to do with what’s wrong with her?’ I throw up my hands impatiently. ‘Or are you stalling because you don’t know?’ I ask, the anger in my voice giving the healer pause.
‘She’s Breach Blet,’ he blurts.
We stare at him blankly.
‘Gate sick,’ he amends, glancing around at us.
He shakes his head and mutters something about foolish young males. ‘Too many trips through the Breach. Not enough time in between,’ he says very slowly as if he’s talking to tiny children.
‘But we’re all fine,’ Grey says.
The healer shrugs. ‘It’s a human affliction. They weren’t made for the Breach like magick folk. Make them travel too fast through the Dark Realms, and this is what happens.’
‘Will she be all right?’ Kallum asks quietly.
The healer harrumphs. ‘That remains to be seen. You three clearly have no idea what keeping a human entails, especially not a human female.’ He shakes his head again. ‘Breach Blet, whip marks, bruises, breaks, underweight. I’d hazard a guess this is your first time.’
‘First time?’ Kal asks.
‘Owning a breeding-age human female,’ he clarifies.
I stare at him. ‘I don’t understand,’ I say finally.
‘You’ve been cut off from the rest of the Dark Realms for years,’ the healer says. ‘I remember humans being paraded through the Dark Realms en masse, group after group … stolen by their hundreds from the Light Realm.’ He looks over his spectacles at me. ‘But things are different now. Humans are a commodity. There are laws protecting their treatment in all the Dark Realms these days. Breeding females like this one are considered very precious.’
Kallum balls up his fists. ‘That’s why those mercenaries were so excited by her.’
The healer lets out a long-suffering grunt. ‘I’ll treat her for the Breach Blet, but you won’t be able to travel with her for at least a fortnight. And that’s if you’re permitted to leave with her.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Grey splutters. ‘She’s ours.’
‘That may be.’ The healer stands a little taller. ‘But unless you can prove that you’re able to care for her properly, I will advise the Council that you’re not to travel through the Gate with her.’
‘You can’t do that,’ I snarl.
The goblin’s lips stretch into a thin line. ‘Actually, as the lead healer at the town of Rondorai, I can. Easily.’
