Patient #307 is calm and cooperative this morning, but he appears to be nervous. I have been informed that his cranial MRI has been scheduled for the end of this week. - Parce
A pounding on the door woke me up the next morning, cutting short a pretty decent night of sleep. A glance at the clock told me it was two hours before the clinic’s opening time. It was still dark outside. I staggered over to the sliding door and then out onto the balcony, where I could yell at whoever was on the front step. I reared up to put my forelegs on the railing and leaned over. My irritation turned into anxiety when I saw who was standing under the porch light.
It was Mayor Wilter. With him was Slog, the bank manager, and an identical pair of thin, red-haired pharaoh hounds. I recognized them as clones, even without seeing the corpse-like white eyes that would give them away.
They must have heard me opening the sliding door, because they looked my way before I said anything.
“Good morning, Healer,” the mayor said. “We need to talk to you.”
“You could have called.”
“Let us in, please.”
I sighed. “One minute.” I took a last look at the balcony and swept off the ashes from the letter I had gotten from Ponder last night. Then I went downstairs to hide the shutters I had installed in the windows. Last, I unbolted the front door.
They didn’t wait for me to open it for them. The door banged into my shoulder as the two clones scrambled through and into the gym.
“Search the place,” Slog called out. He stayed on the front step.
“Hey, hey,” I snapped. “Anyone mind telling me what’s going on?”
“We could ask you the same thing,” said Wilter. He was flustered, eyes darting around as he followed the dogs across the gym. “I know you were involved.”
“With what?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
I got in his way, forcing him to stop and look at me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.
“You don’t?” Wilter jerked a hoof toward a TV mounted high on the wall. “Turn that on and refresh your memory, would you?”
“Whatever you say.” I went to the corner kitchen, pulled open a drawer, and fished for the remote. Then I clicked the TV on. I didn’t even have to change the channel. They were broadcasting it everywhere.
The Fleece City square was wrecked. A pig reporter was chattering in the background, but I wasn’t listening. I was too focused on the visuals. The camera panned back and forth, showing shattered windows and broken television screens. Massive claw marks ran through buildings and sidewalks. Every instance of Chugg Corporation insignia had been torn apart. The Optera fountain in the center of the square was full of fire—someone had poured oil in it.
Every streetlight was broken except the one right outside City Hall. The shaft of amber light illuminated a shocking display. A stuffed rag doll hung by a noose under the lamp, rotating slowly. Its arms were tied behind its back and its legs swayed in the air. The doll had been painted to look like Charlie Chugg, with big red X-marks splashed over its eyes and a cloth tied over its mouth.
I stared at the TV; Wilter stared at me. I guess my reaction convinced him I was telling the truth, because he didn’t ask me any more questions. The dogs, however, continued their search. They ran upstairs. Slog followed them.
“Whoever did this will be found out,” Wilter said. “We have zero tolerance for anyone making pigs feel unwelcome in my city.”
I nodded. I had no doubt who was responsible, but I had nothing to say to Wilter. I was thinking about what I would say to Ponder. He was really doing it. Was there anything I could say? Or was it better if I listened to him and stayed out of it?
Slog came back downstairs, rubbing his snout. “What have you been burning up there?”
I shrugged. “Old papers. You know. Keeps the magpies off the roof.”
Wilter grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face him. “You’ll let me know immediately if you hear anything.”
I nodded.
“And whatever you do, don’t let any of your patients talk about this in a positive manner. You are to condemn this situation in no uncertain terms. Other than that, things are going to be strictly business as usual around here until I tell you otherwise.”
“Of course,” I said.
Slog followed the dogs to the front and then stopped at the doorway. “Dr. Gobb will be sending me a written report every day until this matter is resolved.”
“That’s fine,” I muttered.
Wilter gave me a last doubting look before heading outside with the others. I shut the door behind them and then sank to the floor, trying to get my nerves under control. I didn’t understand. This was what I wanted. Why was I freaking out?
I think I knew in my guts that this was about to go very wrong.
On the other side of the city, someone else was discussing my guilt or innocence in the vandalism case. The University campus was abuzz with the story, and Caper was tied up dealing with investigators like I had been, so he canceled classes and told everyone to wait in their dormitories until things settled down. Dreamer and her roommate were stuck in there together, so she had to sneak her orchid into the bathroom and shut off the light.
Her eyes glowed, and a second later so did the center of the flower. Arghast came to her. “My child, what has you huddling in this dark corner?”
“It’s happening,” she said. “Someone’s making threats to the Chugg Corporation. Is this what you meant? Are the gods about to do something to them? Or is this worse than that?”
“Worse?” The flower’s petals shimmered. “This is how it must be if you are to achieve the peace you desire.”
“I know,” she said, “but I’m scared. I don’t want to be involved. And I don’t want Healer to be involved either.”
“Ah.” Arghast drew closer to Dreamer’s face. “Would it put you at ease to know that he did not do this? Healer has not made a move against Chugg. He was as surprised as you, in fact. Your friends in the Megatropolis did this on their own.”
“I’m glad to know he’s keeping it together,” Dreamer said. “But this is just as bad. Ponder is… I don’t know. His priorities are mixed up sometimes.”
“Ponder will be relentless in following what he believes to be his purpose.”
“I’m not worried about him failing. What I’m worried about is what’s going to happen to the rest of us along the way. The pigs will make it worse on us before it gets better.”
“You should be concerned,” said Arghast. “As he is now, Ponder will indeed fail. The true power of Karkus is not yet his.”
“It’s not? Why? Karkus gave him a blessing.”
“Part of a blessing.”
Dreamer hesitated. “That’s right, so did Mauler. He and Mauler have to combine into Render again. That’s all of Karkus’s power. And I’m supposed to keep them from going too far. But they don’t listen to me. I can’t stop them.”
“It’s not all on you.” Arghast cupped Dreamer’s chin with a writhing root. “Remember what Karkus showed you in your vision. He is missing three of his pieces. His heart, his strength, residing in Mauler. His teeth, his terrible will, living in Ponder. And…”
Dreamer thought. “His hand. The part that keeps all that power in check and focused on the right things.”
“The hand of Karkus lives in another. This is the part that is receptive to the calming gaze of Optera and helps to constrain his wild wrath.”
Dreamer’s hooves trembled and she almost dropped the flowerpot. “It was right there in front of me all this time. I should have known.”
“We often don’t see what we refuse to look for. Your greatest fear was that he would have to become involved in this war.”
“What…” Dreamer trailed off, distracted by the faint sound of their dorm phone ringing. But she dismissed it. “What should I do?”
“Go to him. Now. Only together can you keep this from spiraling out of control.”
“I guess Caper would understand.”
A polite knock at the door prompted Dreamer to shove the orchid in her satchel and turn the light on. “Sorry, I’ll be right out.”
“That’s OK,” her roommate said. “Phone for you. It’s Healer.”
At noon, my two co-workers took their lunch break in their usual way; Dr. Gobb was in his office—which, may I remind you, was actually my office—and Swifter sat in the back yard. Normally I either went to the corner kitchen or retreated to my living quarters upstairs. But on this day, I was on the front porch, keeping my eyes toward Fleece City.
I was still anxious. My stomach still burned from Wilter’s visit this morning, but now I had another reason on top of that. I swallowed a lump in my throat when I saw the tiny vehicle puttering this way from town.
Almost everyone in Fleece City walked everywhere they went, but a select few could afford not to walk. They got to be taken around in little motorized taxis. They looked like the go-karts that kids drive around on this world. They didn’t go very fast; the pigs weren’t going to let us have something dangerous.
Dreamer had insisted she’d walk all the way from University to Whole Hogs. Like hell she was. I had called a taxi over her objections. Now she was almost here. I started down the concrete path to meet them at the gate.
The young sheep behind the wheel didn’t wait around. They didn’t like to travel far from the city and miss out on fares. As soon as Dreamer had stepped out, he did a hard U-turn.
I opened the gate. She gave me a soft smile as she walked onto the pavement. “Hey, Healer. You didn’t have to pay for—”
I didn’t let her finish; I embraced her, first touching my cheek against hers and then bringing her in closer. She lay her head on my shoulder, and I felt her relax. I took in the floral scent of her golden hair and kissed her forehead.
“Don’t push me away anymore,” she said. “Please.”
I thought about what to say. She must have felt my hesitation, because she pulled away to look at me.
“I understand why you did it,” she said, “but none of it matters. Even what my father wants. Do you understand? Whatever’s coming, we have to face it together.”
I let out a breath that made my chest shudder. With it went the last of the armor I’d built up. I nodded. “You belong here with me.”
She smiled. “I’m glad we agree. We’ll talk when you’re done with work.” She kissed my cheek and turned to the clinic. “Do you have time to show me around?”
I surprised myself with how at ease I felt. “I sure do. Next patient is at one. Gives us about thirty minutes.” I pointed south. We looked toward the small station where the train stopped for passengers before entering the Quarry. Where we’d crammed ourselves inside a suitcase to be smuggled on the train not that long ago. The engine rumbled next to the guard shack and a few distant figures were climbing out of the passenger car at the back.
“In fact,” I said, “I bet that’s the patient on his way right now.”
I took her satchel, slung it onto my own shoulder, and started walking down the path. She followed. “I can’t wait to watch you work.”
I glanced at the giant face of Charlie Chugg over the front door. “What do you think of the place?”
“It’s really nice. You know, I had no idea what this was at first. I was just mad that the Chugg Corporation tore down what was left of your old house.” She prodded my ribs with an elbow. “You could have let me know what was going on.”
I laughed. “Sure.” I opened the front door and let her go in ahead of me, then I set her pack at the bottom of the stairs.
Swifter was just coming in from his lunch break. The two exchanged a polite greeting. From the far office, Dr. Gobb glanced between her and me with a look that evolved from confusion to annoyance. He picked up a pen and scribbled something down.
That didn’t bother me as much as it would have just an hour ago. With her here, I couldn’t help but think things just might turn out fine.
I led Dreamer around the bottom floor and showed her all the exercise equipment. I offered her something from the kitchen. She declined any food but accepted a cup of hot tea. Then I found her a seat off to one side.
Just then, the one o’clock patients let themselves in through the front door. Half a dozen sheep and one pig. The group of sheep headed over to the mats near the back door, where Swifter waited with a weighted ball for each of them.
The pig hesitated by the door. He was a stout little porker wearing a hard hat and an orange reflective vest. He favored his right foreleg a little.
“There he is,” I said to Dreamer. I beckoned to the pig and he made his way over to the raised mat table next to me. I patted the mat. He climbed up and lay on his stomach, setting his hard hat beside him. Then he carefully repositioned so his right foreleg was out in front of him, unweighted.
“Good afternoon,” I said. “You must be Hork.”
He grunted. It sounded a little like “yep.”
“This is Dreamer,” I said. “She’s here observing. Does she have your permission to watch the treatment?”
Hork’s head sank to the mat, resting his chin on the other foreleg. “Makes no difference to me. I just want it to stop hurting.”
I gestured with my head, and Dreamer slid her cushion over so she could see what we were doing up close. I didn’t have to explain it to her. Hork’s right trotter was swollen and red.
“The referral I got didn’t have much information besides ‘injured wrist,’ Hork. How did this happen?”
He grunted again. “My crew and I work twelve-hour shifts at the Megatropolis. They’ve got us putting in overtime to finish up… some renovations I’m not supposed to talk about. Point is, I was tired and I got sloppy. A big pallet of bricks was swinging on a crane and I tried to steady it with my bare trotter. Sprained the crap out of it.”
Dreamer winced. “Yikes.”
“I had a lot of choice words to say, and ‘yikes’ wasn’t one of them,” said Hork. “Anyway, they want me back on the job. The worker’s comp guys at Chugg said you were the one to see. Can you fix it?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s the easy part.” I took a gentle hold on the sprained trotter and focused. My vision turned green and dived into the flesh, mending the partially torn ligament and clearing out the swelling. It was a simple job, a matter of seconds.
I did a more careful examination after that, taking the repaired wrist through its full range of motion. “How’s that?”
“Wow. Feels great.” Hork put the foreleg down on the mat, testing it with some weight before climbing down to the floor. He put his hard hat back on. “Unbelievable. I thought they were exaggerating when they said you were magic.”
“Like I said, the healing is the easy part.” I walked with Hork toward the front. “Would you consider coming back once or twice? I’d like to go through some strategies to keep your fatigue in check, maybe talk about your sleep schedule or have Swifter teach you some ergonomic exercises.”
“Uh, maybe. If I have time. Look, I gotta catch the train on its way back to the Megatropolis.”
“Alright. Get back out there. I’ll call in a couple of days. Thanks, Hork.”
“Thank you.” The little pig headed out and I heard him whistling as he ambled down the concrete path.
I shut the door. “There you have it,” I said over my shoulder. “The job’s really easy, honestly. The trick is getting them to follow up.” I turned back to Dreamer. “What do you think about…”
I trailed off when I noticed the deep stare she was giving me. I waved a hoof in front of her eyes. “You OK?”
She blinked. Her cheeks turned bright red. She covered her smile with her hoof and gave a shy laugh. “I’m sorry. That was just really impressive.”
I shook my head and grinned, feeling my own face warming up. “If you say so. It’s pretty great here, other than Gobb over there using my facility for a pharmacy. We just hang out and play and talk to people. Swifter seems to be really happy here, too.”
“I love it, Healer.”
“I’m glad you do. Just make yourself at home while I clean up here and get ready for the next one. It’s going to be a little more complicated. We’ve got an older sheep with a broken pelvis coming in ten minutes. Mining accident. A real one.”
She stood. “Then I’ll clean up and you get ready for the patient.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Let me pitch in.”