The Queen's Blade Prequel II - God Touched (4 page)

He almost
smiled at her sharp wit, which he enjoyed, and even admired a
little. The taps with the broom had been unexpected and painful,
but had taught him a little respect for her.

“
It is exceptional.”

She thrust her
face closer. “After what they did to you, you're not such a pretty
picture yourself.”

A shaft of
dread shot through him. He did not want to look like he had been
beaten. That would be humiliating in front of his peers. “At least
I still have all my teeth.”

“
I'll knock some out if you rile me.”

This time
Blade did smile, simply because he knew it was a lie. She stared at
him, then averted her eyes and rose to go over to the cupboard. An
air of melancholy hung about her, and he reasoned that this was the
result of her unsavoury work. She pulled another tatty dress from
the wardrobe and started to unbutton the one she wore.

“
What are you doing?” he asked.

“
Getting ready for work, of course.”

“
I need you to stay here.” He dug in the pouch and took out a
silver. “Here, buy me some wine, and I need to use the
pisspot.”

She frowned.
“Let's get something straight. I'm not your damned servant. What's
more, you're in no condition to drink wine, and if you need to
piss, here.” She slammed a flat bowl down on the bedside table.
“Use that.”

He glanced at
it. “I always knew whores enjoyed their work.”

She glared at
him. “I do it because I have to eat, not because I enjoy it.”

“
And yet it must be better than tending to an injured assassin,
otherwise you'd stay instead of rushing off to the
whorehouse.”

She looked
confused, shaking her head. “I don't get paid to tend to... Are you
offering to pay for your keep?”

“
Are you going to house and feed me for free?”

“
No... Well, I hadn't thought about it.”

“
Perhaps you should.”

Lilu placed
her hands on her hips. “You can certainly afford it.”

“
So I may be a meal ticket after all.”

“
Fair work for a fair wage. It's no picnic tending to you, with
your foul temper and acid tongue.”

“
If you were in this much pain you'd be in a foul temper
too.”

Lilu tossed
the dress back into the wardrobe. “You've had a draught for the
pain. It will still be better than entertaining those louts.”

Blade held out
the coin. “The wine.”

“
Water.” She poured a cup from the pitcher on the table and
offered it to him.

“
Wine would put me in a better mood.”

“
And probably kill you.”

“
Then you'll be rich.”

She thrust the
cup at him. “Drink it before I drown you with it.”

Blade sighed
and took the cup, draining it in a few gulps.

Lilu refilled
it, looking puzzled. “Why didn't you say you were thirsty?”

“
I did, when I asked for wine.”

Blade drained
the cup twice more, then handed it back and closed his eyes. The
pain draught made him sleepy, and darkness closed in.

Chapter Three

Blade glared
at the peeling, mildewed ceiling, fighting the urge to shout in
frustration. The skin under his casts itched unbearably and his
stench sickened him. After two tendays abed, his muscles twitched
from inaction. The time had been a trial of daily agony when Lilu
changed his dressings and endless pain in between. That had faded
now that his stab wounds had healed, and she no longer had to clean
them, but the enervating boredom and endless itching were on the
brink of driving him crazy, coupled with the lack of wine. Lilu had
removed his stitches a tenday ago, but being bedridden was
humiliating, especially when it came to his bodily functions.

Blade hated
everything about his life now, and the prospect that he may never
be able to dance again filled him with despair. If he could not
perform the Dance, even in its simplest form, the Guild would burn
off his mark. Then what would he do? How would he earn a living?
Perhaps the Guild would allow him to retire at two and twenty, and
then he could take on apprentices. The future loomed dark and
bleak, and he wished, for the umpteenth time, that Lilu had left
him in the gutter to die. Even training stupid boys did not appeal
to him, although it was better than joining the crippled beggars in
the gutter.

Blade flexed
his leg, finding that the pain was not so bad, and raised his right
arm with its tatty, stained cast. Soon, he hoped, the healer would
remove them. Levering himself upright, he swayed as the room spun
after so long lying on his back. Bile stung the back of his throat,
and he swallowed. Lilu had gone to the market to buy food. His left
leg was encased in plaster from mid-thigh, and he cursed the
healer. Why could he not have left his knee free, so he could bend
his leg? Whatever his reasons, it made life exceedingly awkward.
Bowing his head, Blade waited for the dizziness to pass, and then
tried to rise to his feet. His good leg trembled under the strain,
and dull pain came from his broken one. Cursing, he sank back onto
the bed.

Dragging the
rickety chair closer, he used it as a prop and struggled to his
feet. For a few moments he stood, triumphant, then his head went
cold and his good leg buckled, sending him crashing to the floor.
Pain flashed up his leg and arm, and he cried out. He lay still,
biting his lip while the pain washed through him, waiting for it to
recede. Apparently he was not ready to get up yet, and now that he
lay on the floor, he was stuck. He dragged the chair closer and
tried to pull himself to his feet, but with his rigid knee and
useless right arm it proved to be impossible. Blade sagged back,
able only to shift into a more comfortable position, and resigned
himself to waiting for Lilu, cursing her for taking so long.

A time-glass
later, as he was dozing off, a scream from the door made him jerk
in alarm and raise his head. Lilu dropped her bag and ran to him,
falling to her knees, her eyes wide with alarm.

“
What happened? Are you all right?”

He frowned,
nodding. “Fine. Help me back onto the bed.”

“
How did you fall?”

“
I was trying to get up.”

“
You what?” She stared at him in disbelief. “How could you be
so stupid? You might have hurt yourself! Your bones aren't strong
yet.”

“
I'm sick of lying in that bed.”

“
So you thought you'd just get up and go for a walk? Are you
mad?”

“
I'd be fine if I had crutches. I need crutches!”

She glared at
him. “You need your head examined! Of all the idiotic... and you
had to do it when I wasn't here, too, as if trying wasn't bad
enough on its own!”

“
Just help me back onto the damned bed,” he said. “I don't need
a bloody lecture.”

“
Yes you do, and if you want my help you'll have to ask for it,
nicely.” She folded her arms.

“
Bugger off.”

“
Fine.” She stood up and went over to pick up her bag of
shopping. “You can lie there all day then.”

Blade glowered
at her while she took the items from the bag and placed them on the
table, humming a little tune. The ditty told him that she was upset
and anxious, for Lilu did not usually sing. She was concerned about
him, and struggled to hide it with too much cheerfulness. He lay
back and studied the ceiling, wondering which of them was more
stubborn. The floor was hard and cold, and he strived to hide his
shivers. Only the sheet that he had dragged from the bed and
wrapped around his hips covered him. He closed his eyes with a
sigh.

Lilu stacked
jars of pickles on the shelves, humming tunelessly as she tried to
ignore Blade's palpable anger. She longed to help him back into bed
and tuck him in, and noted his shivers with a swift glance. He was
so stubborn that he would rather lie there and freeze than be
polite. Whatever he had been through had left him indifferent, and
hardened him to the point where he would rather suffer than be
forced to do something he disliked. She sensed that she would lose
this battle of wills, and regretted entering into it. Still, she
let him lie there a little longer, to make her point.

Turning, she
studied him. His bruises had faded and the swellings had gone down,
and the sight of him lying floor was hard to bear. With a sigh, she
went over to gaze down at him, and he opened his eyes at her
approach.

“
You're making the place untidy. Come on, let's get you on the
bed before you get sick from the cold and I have to nurse you
through another fever.”

Blade held out
a hand, and she noted the thin scars on his fingers as she clasped
it. Probably from dagger throwing practice, she guessed. She pulled
him up, bent and slipped her arms around his chest, lacing her
fingers behind his back to lift him. He was lighter than he had
been when she had carried him from the alley. When she lowered him
onto the bed, she overbalanced and sprawled on top of him as he
flopped back. He tried to shove her away, but her fingers were
locked together and jammed under him. His nostrils flared and his
brows knotted.

“
Get off me.”

“
Relax, my hands are stuck.” Lilu tugged her fingers loose and
pulled her hands free. “Your rudeness never wanes, does it? I help
you, and all I get is more insults.”

“
You're crushing my ribs.”

“
No I'm not. You just don't like to be close to anyone, do you?
Why is that?”

“
None of your damned business, and you stink.”

“
I do not.” She glared into his icy eyes. “If you want me gone,
ask nicely.”

“
What is it with you and manners?”

“
They're pleasant.”

“
I'm not a pleasant person. You should have left me in the
gutter and found someone more polite to rescue.”

“
Perhaps I would have, had I known how rude you are.” Lilu
gripped his face and thrust hers closer. “You want me to let you
go? Say please.”

“
You really don't want to know how easily I could make you let
go,” he said.

“
You know what will happen to you if you hurt me? You'll end up
out there on the street with the urchins, and they won't look after
you.”

He closed his
eyes. “Please get off me.”

“
That wasn't so hard, was it?” She stood up and lifted his
splinted leg onto the bed, pulling the sheet over him.

Blade rolled
onto his side to face the wall, and she sighed as she went back to
packing away the food. She had bought fresh, warm bread and a
selection of jams, tarts and pastries to tempt his appetite, such
as it was. She had taken a parcel of food to her children on her
way home, better fare than they usually got, thanks to the
assassin's money. He had not stipulated a wage for her work, and
merely handed her money whenever she asked for it, but she only
bought food and paid her rent and the fishwife who cared for her
children. He had paid back the three goldens she had spent on the
doctor, however, and given her money to purchase the rickety cot on
which she now slept.

Lilu sliced
bread and ham while she pondered the youth in her bed. His deadly
skills had earned the money that now fed them, but would he ever be
able to work again? What would happen to him if he could not? She
could not keep him, but nor could she throw him out into the street
to fend for himself. She had the impression that his family was
dead. She hoped his recovery would be complete, but if it was, he
would be a killer again, and that thought made her shiver. Then
again, had he ever stopped being one? She remembered the pure aura
Symbell's song had revealed, and wondered at it afresh. Perhaps, if
he was crippled, the priestesses at the temple would take him in as
a servant.

Lilu closed
the door behind the doctor and turned to smile at Blade, who sat on
the bed, scratching his leg as if he could not stop. The casts lay
on the floor in dirty heaps, and he looked much better without
them. At first, the healer had been daunted when faced with an
awake assassin, but had rallied to the task with the aid of two
goldens and pronounced Blade's bones to be healed. Lilu scooped up
the casts and dumped them outside her door for the trash men to
remove, then sat beside Blade.

“
Now you need a proper bath.”

“
I'll return to my rooms if you bring me my
clothes.”

Lilu's heart
sank. “You're not strong enough yet. You still have to learn to
walk again.”

“
I'll manage.” He looked at her. “Why would you want me to stay
any longer?”

She shrugged,
averting her eyes. “I just don't want all my hard work going to
waste when you fall down the stairs and break your neck.”

He drew his
money pouch from under the pillow and took out a handful of
goldens, holding them out. “Here, this should make it worth your
while.”

She glared at
him. “I didn't do it for money.”

“
Then why?”

“
I wanted to help you.” Lilu shook her head in disgust. Even
after four tendays in her constant care, he still treated her like
a stranger. “Why won't you believe me?”

He hesitated.
“It isn't rational.”

“
It doesn't have to be rational, but it's the
truth.”