And then the castle was in view, and all other thoughts flew out of Perian’s head; all he could do was lean into Prince Horsey and encourage him to gallop as fast as he could—as if he wasn’t already doing that, but they were near the end now, and that’s when there was a little extra burst of speed, right?
They were on the fastest horse ever, Perian had remembered the tonic and the ribbon, Nisal had known about making the bandages, and if you needed someone with a positive outlook, that was all Perian was concentrating on right now.
Molun was going to be totally, totally fine, and he was going to be fine the quicker they got to the doctor.
Perian didn’t even realize he was yelling until he heard the echo of the words out loud. He had no idea what he was saying, and he decided after a moment that it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was getting everyone’s attention, because a screaming rider on a horse that was racing for the stables meant there was something wrong, right?
They thundered into the stable yard amidst a great explosion of sound, including screams that weren’t Perian, but he didn’t even care. All that mattered was that they were here. Prince Horsey had got them back, and they were going to be all right.
Hands were lifting Molun down, and then they were lifting Perian down, which was good, because he wasn’t sure any of his limbs worked.
He realized he was chanting, “doctor, doctor, doctor,” over and over again only when the woman appeared.
“What happened?”
She was already running over as soon as she saw them, and Perian could have faintedwith relief.
She was looking anxiously at both of them, although she’d gone to her knees in front of Molun. Why was she looking at Perian like that? Only then he looked down, and he realized he was covered in blood.
“It’s just Molun,” Perian hurriedly explained, voice sounding hoarse and strained. “There was a lesser demon attack when we were separated in the woods. It’s his leg.” Wait, that was wrapped, she could probably tell that. He was giving unnecessary info. He had to focus on what was important. “There was so much blood. It was kind of spurting—Nisal and I are a mess—and they thought it hit an artery, but I’m sure it’s not that. We got the wound covered to stop the bleeding, and I got two tonics into him, and I really hope that it’s all right to give someone two, Doctor, because that was what I had, and I figured that had to be better than one, right?”
He wavered a little on his feet, and someone was suddenly holding him upright.
“That’s fine,” she told him, scrutinizing him carefully. “Are you sure you aren’t injured?”
“The demon got Molun,” Perian repeated. “It was coming after me because I yelled to stop it, but then Nisal was there, and they drove it off. Or killed it. I wasn’t watching. I was trying to help Molun.”
The doctor had already mobilized people to carry Molun back to her rooms.
“I need to come with you,” Perian said. “I promised I would stay with him. He wouldn’t like to be alone right now.”
She nodded and said, “Bring him.”
Perian thought this was a funny thing to say until someone scooped him up, and he realized that he didn’t have to try to walk—oh, they weren’t walking, they were all running through the castle, the corridors blurring together. He couldn’t have kept up without the nice person who was carrying him. Unless he was on a horse. You were probably not supposed to have horses in the castle, though. He was pretty sure that was a rule. Was that a rule?
“It’s a rule,” someone told him, and he nodded, because that made sense. There wasn’t any grass, so they probably wouldn’t like it anyway.
Suddenly, they were in the doctor’s workroom, and it was chaos that Perian couldn’t totally track. Someone set him down in a chair, and he managed to sit up and sort of watch everything a little bit blankly. It was like he was seeing everything through glass, until suddenly Cormal was in his face. He looked angry.
Where had he come from?
“They said it was demons?”
Perian blinked at him, managing to nod. “Lesser demons. I don’t know why you call them lesser, really. They’re terrifying!”
Cormal grabbed his arms, fingers grasping hard. Perian sucked in a breath.
“How many demons?” Cormal demanded, voice hard. “Where are the others?”
Perian shook his head. “I think two went by us? Three? One got Molun, and then Nisal was able to stop it, but the other kept running. I think? Or was there only one?” He sucked in a breath. “It happened really fast. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
Cormal looked worried, and his grip on Perian’s arm was painful, but that was actually a bit grounding.
Emotion pinched Cormal’s face. “The others?”
Perian shook his head. “We were split up. Training exercise in the woods. I don’t know where the others were when the attack happened. Nisal said they would take care of everything, that I had to get Molun back, because Prince Horsey is the fastest horse.” He suddenly gripped Cormal back. “You’ll send others to help?”
He looked even angrier for a second, but then his expression softened a little. “Of course, I’ll send others to help. That’s why I’m trying to find out what happened.”
