Page 63 of The Thirteenth Child
My mouth fell open. “I’m sorry?” I said, on the verge of a laugh. “I’m not going to leave with you just because you say I need to. I don’t know who you are, what you’re asking.”
The captain looked down at his uniform as though it should be obvious.
“You’re clearly from the palace,” I went on, and a flicker of irritation kindled against my sternum, the way it always did when I thought of the palace and the callous, horrible boy who lived within it. “Am I to presume someone there needs my help?”
The captain chewed on the inside of his cheek, as if reluctant to part with that information. “Well…yes.”
I waited for him to divulge anything further. When he didn’t, I did laugh, struck by his audaciousness. “I need to know more than that. Who is it? What’s wrong with them? There are things I’ll need to bring…balm, tonics, surgical equipment if necessary…. I can’t pack up my supplies with nothing to go on.”
The captain shifted from foot to foot. “You’ll find everything you need at the palace.”
“What I need is more information. Right now, otherwise I must bid you good day.”
I knew I was being surly, taking out the anger I felt at my memories of the prince on this hapless captain, but I couldn’t find it within me to care.
The captain let out a sigh, glancing toward his men. “May we…may we speak privately?”
I gestured to the side yard, where a low stone bench was situated beneath an arching mirabelle tree just on the cusp of blossoming. The captain stepped toward the bench but did not sit.
“You’re a healer,” he said without preamble. “I assume you have ears everywhere on such…sensitive matters.”
“Sensitive matters,” I repeated blankly, feeling every one of the days I’d been away in the Between with painful acuity. The royal family could have all sprouted horns and tails in my absence and I would be none the wiser.
He sniffed irritably. “What have you heard?”
I couldn’t even guess at what I was meant to know. “About?”
“Don’t be insolent with me, girl,” he warned.
“I assure you, I know nothing. Truly.”
The captain’s eyes roamed over my house once more as he weighed the truth of my admittance. Now that I was outside, I could see that the roof was in desperate need of new thatching and a few windowpanes had cracked.
The captain took a step toward me, lowering his voice to a near whisper. “The healers at court have tried everything. Nothing has worked. They’ve sent for priests, holy men, oracles, and seers. They’ve all failed.” His wiry eyebrows furrowed. “One of the oracles mentioned a healer, far away in the town of Alletois and blessed by the Dreaded End himself. A girl. You. She said you were the only one in the kingdom with a hope of fixing this.”
“This?” I repeated, wishing he would just speak plainly. “Who? I don’t understand what you’re dancing around.”
“It’s…” He sighed. “It’s the king.”
My eyebrows rose. “He’s sick?”
“Apparently,” the captain answered unhelpfully.
“And what is he suffering from?”
“I don’t know,” he answered, his eyes darting cagily back toward his men.
“They sent you here. You must know something.”
The captain squirmed, looking miserable. “Even so far out in the farmlands as you are, you must have heard of the great sickness from the north? The one causing so many in the capitol to…” He stopped short and I eyed all his badges and medals, skeptically wondering how so decorated an officer could be squeamish talking of death. “The Shivers?” he went on, then waited for me to confirm I had. I remained still. “They…they think it might be that.”
“Tell me more about it?”
He sighed but began to fill me in, claiming the sickness felled nearly anyone who came into contact with it, saying whole villages were fine one day and dead the next. He made a sign of protection over himself.
“And there’s no treatment for this yet?” I asked, already knowing the answer. This oracle, whoever she was, must have seen me because I was the only one who would be able to discern its cure. In the back of my mind, I was already putting together a list of what I’d need to pack.
The captain’s dark eyes turned grim and he wordlessly shook his head.
