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“How many innocent men have to die before someone does something about this madness?” Lucius hissed, angrier than I’d ever seen him, once we made our way, dejected and traumatized, back to the house.
There was no answer to that question. I think we all knew that any one of us could have been singled out without particular cause at any moment. Every single one of us at the college was living on borrowed time.
Which was why I was thrilled when, a week later, Magister Marcellus called me aside after supper again.
“Your presence has been requested on the south hill again,” he said. “You will go tomorrow.”
“And Mara and Appius?” I asked, not mincing words, but also unwilling to say too many things out loud.
Magister Marcellus nodded. “And them.”
I shifted my weight and quickly asked, “Can we take Leander, Darius, and Lucius with us?”
Magister Marcellus considered for a moment. “I wasn’t aware you were more than housemates.”
I tried to puzzle out that comment. Magister Marcellus must have guessed there was something between me and Appius—though what that was even I didn’t know—but did he think I was carrying on with Mara as well?
“I’m friends with all of my housemates,” I said, once again stuck in a conversation where I wanted to say everything, but couldn’t say anything. “We’re like a family now.”
Magister Marcellus frowned as if I’d given him a problem to deal with.
Before he could say anything, I went on with, “Magister, will we be called up to the hills after tomorrow’s visit? Is this something that could become a regular occurrence?”
Magister Marcellus blinked out of his thoughts and focused on me. “Perhaps it could.”
“It’s only just that some of the cases I was sent to treat on the hills require a great deal of thought and preparation,” I rushed to say. “And perhaps a few extra supplies to treat specific ailments.”
“I see what you are saying,” Magister Marcellus said, stroking his chin.
“And if, perhaps, I knew that we would go up to the halls, say, every Thursday, if it became routine, so that even the soldiers grew used to the whole thing, we could treat more people for a greater number of ailments, even complex ones.”
Magister Marcellus broke into a slight grin. “You do your king proud for thinking of such things,” he said.
We both knew he wasn’t talking about King Julius.
He nodded, then went on with, “I’ll consult with Magister Titus and General Reuben about forming a specific advanced class to make regular visits to the hills in order to treat the nobility.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “In the meantime, I trust that you, Mara, and Appius will do the college proud by seeking out patients with complicated ailments who need your help the most.”
“Yes, magister,” I said with a smile and a nod.
My pulse raced underneath all that. Magister Marcellus had handed me a way out, and he would try to make certain I could take my friends with me. Because, honestly, I would need all of my friends to do something as audacious as escaping Royersford and the Old Realm with things the way they were at the moment.
Mara, Appius, and I got up early and prepared to leave the college as quietly as possible the next morning. We were up and out the door before the sun rose…which also happened to be before anyone could see us go. The soldiers were waiting for us as they had been the first time, and like the first time, they searched our satchels thoroughly. That would be a problem if we ended up using one of these trips to make our escape.
The calls we paid on nobles in the hills went nearly exactly the same way things had on our first trip. Only a small handful of the nobles had any real need of a healer. But I made a point of speaking with the people I treated as much as I could, nobles and servants alike, and asking subtle questions about their understanding of the situation in Royersford and on the frontier.
The three of us were split up during that trip the way we had been during the first one. Unlike the first trip, the soldiers didn’t pay very much attention to us once we were actually treating patients. It was the first glimmer of hope that we could carry out whatever escape plan we might come up with.
“Old Gabe was happy to see me again,” Appius commented casually as the three of us met up at the place where the soldiers said they would pick us up to escort us back to the college late in the afternoon. “He’s had word from his grandsons too.”
“Oh?” I asked, feigning only casual interest.
“Yes,” Appius said with his sweetest smile. “One is in the king’s city right now, and the other is up in Orsogna.”
“Is that so?” I shrugged.
It was perfect. Part of me hated taking advantage of an old man, but from the description Appius had given us all after that first visit, Old Gabe’s estate would be the perfect place for us all to slip away from.
The soldiers came to collect us, and we were on our best behavior.
