“Just a precaution,” Tanner said, grimacing at the mess. “While I make up my mind.”
I realized I was straining against the hold of a soldier, who cursed and yanked at my arm. “Theo?” I called.
But Theo was bent over his wrist, his breaths ragged, one side of his shirt turning crimson.
“You’ll kill him!” I shouted at Tanner, trying to wrench my arm free.
The lord turned to the soldier at my side and nodded in kind.
Hands clamped over my forearm, shunting my sleeve up.
The mottled skin where Idia once resided bore up. A blade flashed down, and in it sank, all the way to the bone.
I screamed and wrenched myself free, falling to the floor. Somewhere above, a voice thundered. A shout of pain. More feet smattered across the tiles. I looked up wearily to see Patrick with his arms looped over a soldier’s neck, his roped hands pressing tightly against the man’s throat.
Patrick’s eyes were on me, bulging desperately.
A huddle of soldiers grasped Patrick from every side, but Patrick was bigger, far stronger, and the soldier in his grasp flailed.
One soldier held a pistol to Patrick’s temple.
“STOP!” Tanner bellowed. It rebounded into the vaulted ceiling. “I SAID, STOP!”
The soldiers froze, confused.
They doubled in my vision, tripled. I blinked rapidly.
“Enough,” Tanner growled, the cords of his neck pulsating. “Remove your hands from the Alchemist.Now.”
One by one, they did. They stepped back reluctantly, leaving Patrick to stand as he was, the rope of his restraints sitting firmly against the windpipe of his captive.
The soldier’s face was puce. His fingers dug desperately at Patrick’s hold.
“Help her,” Patrick said. Not to me, but to Tanner. His hands shook, and his shoulder was bleeding again, the ropes of muscle in his arms flexed.“Now.”
My eyes closed of their own accord, and I forgot how to open them. When I did, all I saw was blood pooling in the cradle of my hands. It rushed from the wound, eager to escape. Nausea descended.
“HELP HER!”
“Calm yourself,” Tanner commanded, his expression livid. “Once enough idium has drained away, they’ll be treated with bluff to keep them from bleeding out. They’ll recover. Precautions must be taken while I ascertain which side you’ve aligned with, Miss Clarke, Mr. Shop. Until then, I’m afraid I can’t have you wielding your mediums, now, can I?” Tanner peered at the soldier in Patrick’s grasp, whose eyes were beginning to roll back. “If you plan to kill the man, then do it quickly, Mr. Colson, for Idia’s sake. The hour is late.”
Theodore fell sideways, his eyes closing. The wound at his wrist continued to flow.
“Fuck,” Patrick spat, and he released the man, who promptly collapsed. Patrick staggered and groaned, his hands rising to grip the bullet wound on his shoulder. “You have me,” he said, panting painfully. “You got what you wanted because ofher,” he righted himself, hissing another curse. “You’ve no reason to punish her. She followedyour fucking orders.”
“She did,” Tanner agreed. “For the most part. Though I’m not a fool. She’s a slippery, defiant little thing. She developed a rather obnoxious habit of being a traitor when she was young.”
I thought perhaps I’d fallen sideways, too. Something hot and slick puddled against my cheek.
“You and I have business to discuss, Mr. Colson.”
“Get her a doctor, or there’ll be no business.”
The ceiling seemed to be rising, lifting away into the night. And I was sinking, sinking. Warmth escaped me, and it took with it all the light, the color.
“Don’t worry yourself, Mr. Colson,” Lord Tanner’s voice said, as though it were whispering into my ear. “There’s a greater purpose at hand. One in which I’d very much like the both of you to remain alive for.”
THE TRENCH TRIBUNEREBEL ALCHEMIST UNCOVERED
