Would You Help Me?

There are many strange things in the north

---- common Prydainian saying

Alexandra and Luca had found Sophia and now the three of them were searching for their group's fourth member. They were strolling down one of the main streets towards the center of town, leisurely taking the sights of Alloa as they looked for Zooey. They had asked around, but no one near the caravan had seen her for quite some time, so they had decided just to wander the city, hoping to bump into her while doing some sight-seeing at the same time.

"So, are we going to stay here?" Luca liked the new city.

"I don't know, I don't even know what we're supposed to look for here." Alexandra was at a loss of what their next steps should be.

"Or are we going to go with the caravan when they leave in a month or two?" Luca persisted.

"I don't know."

"Either would be cool," he went on, "I love horse riding with the caravan and hanging with all the guys, but I also love being back in a city. It feels like home, like before."

"A little, yeah," Sophia hummed, "it reminds me of the capitol, just better in every way."

"Yeah, no one's yelling at us here." Luca liked not having people stare at them like they were carrying a plague.

Alexandra was weary of their identities getting out. "Let's just hope no one finds out."

"No one will," Luca was confident of that, "it's too far up north. This is a whole different world."

"We haven't had anything really bad happen in weeks. Maybe things have already gotten better." Sophia chimed in.

"Yeah," Alexandra couldn't disagree and finally let out a smile, "this is a nice place, I really wouldn't mind staying here."

"I'm for that," Sophia could imagine them staying in the town, getting a place, keeping their pasts far away in the south as a distant memory and starting anew.

"Me too." Luca still wanted to travel, but the thought of living in the familiar setting of a city again did appeal to him.

Alexandra tried taking a few steps on her tip-toes, trying to spot Zooey's white hair in the predominant mass of brunettes that filled the street.

"Anybody see her yet?"

"Probably found a good place with a drink," Luca thought it sounded perfectly reasonable.

"She's not that bad." Alexandra tried in vain to defend her predictable friend.

Sophia was smiling as her friends bantered. "He's probably right you know, she has a sixth sense for finding good food."

Alexandra smiled as well because she herself could not count the times that Zooey had managed to scrounge up food so good it had no business being in the hands of Oonskat, "she certainly does."

"What's this?" Sophia had noticed a large crowd ahead of them on the road.

"Probably the city square," Alexandra had noticed how all the streets were leading in the same direction, "makes sense there'd be a lot of people there."

Luca was seeing the way everyone was staring in the same direction towards the center of the square.

"Looks like something is going on."

"Zooey's probably here then if there's anything to see," Alexandra reasoned, "we should find out what's going on"

"Probably a sale or minstrel show," Sophia's was a good guess, those were the usual events to occur in town squares as they had learned traveling with the caravan.

Being Oonskat, they were adept at getting through a crowd without being seen or really noticed. Holding hands, they weaved their way through the pressing mass of city folk and people from the caravan towards the center of the square. It was a skill they had acquired over many times visiting the Market District during the peak hours to beg for work or see if anything could be scavenged.

They finally broke through and were in the front of the crowd with a clear view of the massive city square. Hundreds were gathered around the periphery of the square, each with their eyes focused in the center.

Alexandra noticed something was wrong, their expressions were ones of fear, dread, and worry. Bringing her eyes across the crowd, she set her gaze to the center of the square where everyone else was looking.

"Alexandra," Sophia squeezed her hand and leaned close.

"I see it."

A young girl was tied up to the stone crossbeam arch that sat over the covered well in the middle of the city square. Her legs were spread apart, each tied to the opposing support pillar; her arms were also apart, tied to the tops where the two posts supported the crossbeam. She was tied facing the well while three men stood fifteen paces behind her, talking and joking to themselves.

Alexandra had seen it instantly: they were wearing red and black tunics.

They were from House Cornelius.

The girl was crying and shaking, but was tied so tightly that she could hardly move at all.

"Let her go!" a young man several yards away was being held back by other townspeople, "let my sister go!"

"Keep quiet Patrik!" one of the men holding him said, a tinge of regret in his voice. "They might decide to bring more people up, please boy, just keep quiet!"

"It isn't right!" his pleas fell on terrified and unwilling ears, "she didn't do anything! Torpha!"

"What's going on?" Alexandra tugged on the arm of a man to her right.

"They said they caught her stealing from them, poor Torpha," the man's eyes were red and his nostrils flared, "she's the sweetest girl in the world, she'd never..."

"House Cornelius," a housewife right behind the man spat on the ground, "they can do whatever they like and they enjoy it. Look at them."

"Why doesn't anybody do anything?" Alexandra looked around the crowd.

The boy, the one they had called Patrik was still struggling, tears streaming down his face as his attempts to break free became more and more fatigued.

"Didn't you hear?" the man looked surprised at her, "they're from House Cornelius, there's nothing we can do."

"And that gives them the right to do something like this?!"

Alexandra could not believe it, she knew it was certainly not legal by Prydainian law and her hackles were rising fast.

"They control everything now," the housewife shook her head, "it's only a matter of time before their soldiers patrol our streets; prisoners in our own city."

One of the Cornelius men began to speak to the assembled crowd.

"Good people of Alloa! This girl has been caught stealing from House Cornelius. We understand that some of you may be reluctant to follow House Cornelius' lead into a new era, in fact, you may even harbor thoughts such as this little whore. Due to her misguided feelings, she stole quite a sizable amount of gold from us."

Tears streamed down Torpha's face as she heard the men laughing behind her, the whole city looking on, desperately craning her neck to see behind her.

"What's going on?" Zooey was suddenly right behind them.

"Zooey!" Luca was relieved to see her, just as surprised he was at how she suddenly appeared. "People from House Cornelius are here!"

"Are they?" Zooey pretended this was news to her.

"Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you." Sophia probably saw the look of distress on Zooey's face.

Zooey swallowed and tried to calm down and act normal, "just around, seeing the sights y'know. So...what's this?"

"They say this girl stole gold from them," Alexandra did not take her eyes off the Cornelius men or Torpha.

"Oh, well, um, that's terrible." Zooey shut up quickly, a heavy weight on her heart.

"We are going to punish the thief," the man who Zooey knew to be Treyor was the one speaking.

From his belt he pulled a small tube eight inches in length with a single button where his hand rested. They had seen this before, in the slums: it was a steam-powered whip. They had never seen it before or since their visit to the Dark District, it was not a civilized weapon, certainly something never used to punish lawbreakers.

The girl was innocent, Alexandra just knew it from the look on her face. The girl's terrified turquoise eyes spoke volumes, enough that Alexandra knew that she was being used for entertainment for the Cornelius men. It was all too obvious that she had done nothing wrong except for probably being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was nothing more than a demonstration for the sake of fear and power. There was no justice or retribution in this.

"Stay and watch!" Treyor was actually laughing, "here we go!"

He pressed the button at the end of the tube; the end close to him emitted a small and quick burst of steam. Instantly, the other end opened and a piece of treated leather flew out almost too fast for the eye to see. It shot across the distance and struck Torpha on the back. The girl screamed as it ripped into her tunic and drew blood. Almost as quick as it had come out, the whip had flown back into the tube as if it had never even been there at all.

The other two Cornelius men were standing close, their hands resting on their blades, joking to each other and complimenting Treyor on his accuracy. The one with the whip did a mock bow and released the whip again. For a second time the horrible crack was heard followed by Torpha's cries.

Patrik yelled, but one of the men covered his mouth so the Cornelius soldiers wouldn't hear him. The man too was crying, but he refused to let anything possibly stir the wrath of Cornelius any further against the crowd, not matter how much what was going on disgusted him.

"Isn't anyone going to stop this?!" Alexandra stood in shock.

"Quiet girl!" the housewife hissed, "if we interfere, House Cornelius will punish us. Best we can do is hope this is over quickly."

Alexandra continued to plead, "there's hundreds of people here and only three of them!"

"They're from House Cornelius!" the man elbowed her to make her be quiet, "we can't do anything to them! Now be silent lest they hear!"

"But she doesn't deserve this! You have to help her!"

"Poor girl," another man lowered his head in shame, "she has to suffer this so the rest of us can be untouched this day."

Alexandra scowled at him; she realized everyone gathered were too afraid. Even in the hundreds, they would not lift a finger to help the single innocent girl.

"Just keep quiet Alex," Zooey pleaded, the weight she felt almost too much, "maybe they'll let her go soon."

The third crack came suddenly. Tears flew from Torpha's face as he body convulsed against the strike but was held in place by the tight bonds that trapped her there. No one from the gathered hundreds were moving, the very name of Cornelius had cowed them.

Alexandra took a step forward, but Zooey grabbed her arm.

"Alex...," she pleaded, "just let it be, don't do anything stupid!"

"I'm sorry Zooey," she removed Zooey's hand gently from her arm, "I'm going to do something you disapprove of again."

"Alexandra!" Sophia tried to say but her friend was already several paces out of the crowd and into the square.

"Oh look Treyor," Vercio noticed her advance first, "someone approaches us."

"What of it Alloan?" Treyor spared her a glance as he released the whip again.

Alexandra blinked as it struck Torpha for a fourth terrible time.

"Please stop," she implored, "whipping this girl here won't do anything to bring your money back. Please let her go and I'm sure we can look and find it."

Treyor turned to her now, giving her his full attention. "It's not about the money. You see, we are teaching a lesson to all you ignorant commoners that live here. You're ours to do with as we please."

"Please let her go."

"No."

The conversation was going to go nowhere and Alexandra knew it. Words were falling on deaf ears and hearts of stone.

Swallowing, Alexandra began walking towards them again with a determined pace. All three of them reached for their swords, ready to cut her down the moment she tried to attack them. She had thought about it, but she quickly saw that she would not last but a few moments in a fight with the heavily armed and probably well-trained soldiers. Alexandra's path did not lead her to them, instead she walked calmly over to where Torpha was tied up.

Glancing at the three Cornelius men again, she knew that if she tried to undo the bindings she would not have enough time before they ran her through. The three men were waiting to see what this crazy girl was doing, they had a morbid curiosity now.

Turning back, Alexandra kept her eyes firmly on the captive girl now before her. Tears were streaming down Torpha's face freely as she craned her neck to look at Alexandra. Without a moment's more hesitation or looking back at the Cornelius men, Alexandra stepped fully onto the platform. She moved directly behind the prisoner and braced her own legs around hers. Reaching up, Alexandra wrapped her arms around Torpha's and gripped the ropes with all her strength.

"Alexandra!" Zooey took a step forward.

"Get back here girl!" a burly man wrapped his impossibly large arms around her, immobilizing her, "don't do anything to upset them!"

"Let me go you big oaf!" Zooey raged, kicking and punching, but she could not break free.

"What... what are you doing?" Torpha could barely manage to speak.

Alexandra said nothing, she jammed her eyes shut and waited for what she knew was coming.

"What's this?" Vercio slapped his knee, "why I never... are you seeing this Udul?"

"Looks like she wants to take the punishment instead."

"Doesn't matter who's in front of me," Treyor was excited as he raised the whip again, "doesn't matter in the slightest. One whore meat-bag is as good as the rest!."

Alexandra heard the click as he pressed the button, then she heard the exhaust of steam. A split second later, there was nothing but blinding pain. Alexandra yelled as the whip hit her square on the back. She squeezed the ropes tighter and gritted her teeth, knowing the next strike would be just as fast.

"Alexandra!" Sophia reached out but a woman behind her caught her and held her back just like Zooey.

"Don't go out there," the woman whispered in her ear, "that girl's crazy!"

"No," Sophia turned and said in a firm voice rarely heard from her, "she's magnificent."

"Alex..." Zooey could not move, she could not find any words.

She tried to break free but found herself still firmly held in place as the next two lashes of whip hit Alexandra in quick succession. This was her fault and she knew it. Zooey cast her eyes down, unable to bear watching her friend take the blame for something she did and she couldn't even go out there and help her.

She had been mad at Alexandra for always rushing in and getting herself into trouble, now she was trying to help someone out of trouble Zooey had caused. The guilt and blame were laid at her feet and Zooey could do nothing but stare at the ground. What had she done? Why was this happening? How was she supposed to know?

No matter what question she asked, the answer was always that this was her fault, something of her own making. No one else to blame but herself. She could hear Luca yelling but it was all a dull ringing in her ears, like all the sound was a million miles away.

"We've got to help her!" Luca was pointing and exhorting the crowd to no avail.

Zooey could see his frantic motions, the tears welling in his eyes, it was all too much to bear.

The whip shot out again and was another perfect direct hit. Alexandra's vision was beginning to get blurry, her legs shaking. The pain was unbelievable, she felt blood dripping from her nose.

"Go, please," Torpha begged her, "you don't have to do this... I... I don't even know you."

"Doesn't matter. Somebody has to do something," she weakly replied.

Alexandra could see the crowd still, safely keeping their distance around the square.

Their faces were of shock, confusion, and shame.

Treyor licked his lips as he pressed the button again, the steam felt good on his face as it ejected from the back of the device. The leather shot out the front, catching a slight wind it veered just off center and hit her square on the left shoulder. Alexandra jolted as the whip made contact with the tattoo. All the strength in her shoulder giving out, her vision went white for a moment. Alexandra's hands shook violently and involuntarily let-out a blood-curdling scream.

The Cornelius men were too far away to see the tattoo clearly, as was the crowd, but her friends knew exactly what had happened. Sophia again tried to rush forward but was held back, she kicked but could not get away. Zooey heard the scream and shut her eyes, the hair on the back of neck bristling.

"Alex," she whispered, "please, this time, why couldn't you let it go?"

Zooey knew the answer in her heart, she knew her friend well enough. Alexandra would never not help someone in need, it's a trait that had made their group somewhat famous throughout the slums of Avindr. Zooey had stopped fighting to get away from the arm holding her, it was to no avail and she was just wearing herself out with no results.

Alexandra's hands were weakening in their grip, she knew she couldn't hold on very much longer. She had already started losing sensation in her limbs, pain arcing from her shoulder across her whole body. She could barely keep her head up now, all of her muscles protesting the strain they were put under so suddenly.

"This is just getting good," Treyor had enjoyed the last scream and whipped her again trying to elicit another.

Her legs quivering, Alexandra let go of the ropes, put her arms around Torpha's shoulders and locked her hands in the front.

"Don't!" Torpha did not know why this girl was taking the beating for her, but she knew the stranger was making sure that even if she lost her conscious grip she would not fall away from covering her body.

Alexandra could not speak, she could barely even hear anything. She buried her face in Torpha's shoulder and shut her eyes as tightly as she possibly could.

The next strike came quickly, tearing even more of her tunic off. A mixture of fabric and blood hit the white stone that paved the ground in the city square. Alexandra was dizzy, she could not hear anything now, all she could feel was the pain and the shaking body of Torpha in front of her.

She was not sure what she was doing out there, she knew it was a possibility that they would just whip her until she passed out or even died. She had no plan, she just knew she had to do something. This was probably one of those cases Zooey had been mad about earlier; Alexandra just doing something without thinking it through. Stopping the whipping of an innocent girl was the extent of the plan and it had quickly become clear that the only way to be assured of that was to put herself between the girl and the vile men from House Cornelius. That is where the plan ended, it had no second part or even a plan 'b'. This was it, this was all she could do.

The seventh hit caused her legs to begin to give away. She slid down a little as her footing became weaker. Because of how she had locked her arms around Torpha's shoulders, Alexandra remained upright and covering Torpha's body with her own. She coughed up some blood and the buzz in her ears grew louder. She could not see the crowd anymore, everything beyond a few inches in front of her was a dark blur; all she could see was some of Torpha's auburn hair that was right in front of her eyes.

The hit on her tattoo had been a bad one, sending ripples throughout her whole body. Her arm had long since gone numb and it was spreading quickly. She felt a breeze on her back, it hurt as it curled around the lacerations on her skin. Most of the back of her tunic had been torn to shreds, the pieces stuck to the ground by globs of blood.

Luca had enough of watching, he knew this could not go on any further. Fortunately, the people holding him back had underestimated because of his age and size. With one mighty effort he kicked them away, he drew his sword and with a mighty yell charged forward.

It startled the Cornelius men, not expecting an attack from someone in the crowd at this point. Vercio and Udul stepped forward to block his path to the whip-holder Treyor, their weapons leveled and ready. Luca continued at full-speed without breaking a step, his own sword in front of him and ready.

Udul swung first, trying to get Luca with a straight downwards strike. It was deftly batted away with Luca's own sword and then he swung his sword to stop a side-slash from Vercio, sending the Cornelius man reeling backwards from the counter-hit. Udul recovered and jabbed forward, Luca dodging sideways and using Udul's own momentum to send him toppling over.

Vercio was quick to press the attack and tried a downward slash but Luca was fast enough to block it and kick Vercio away. Udul was back with a slash which Luca caught with his own sword. Seeing Vercio coming back, he pushed Udul away with all of his strength in time to block Vercio's strike. Luca knew that he was outnumbered and their skill was superior to his, he had just surprised them at first. They would beat him, they would kill him, Luca was sure of that. He just knew he had to do something to try to save Alexandra, just she had done something to save Torpha.

The clanking of swords pierced Zooey's haze, she forced her head up to see what was going on.

In the middle of the square she saw Luca doing his best to fend off two swordsmen while the third with the whip was watching with amusement. Luca was sweating and was straining against their powerful hits on his sword, he was losing ground. Zooey then dragged her vision to the left and tried to focus. She saw Alexandra slumped over, still holding on to the Alloan girl, blood dripping from her exposed back.

Zooey snarled, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up again. This starting was her fault but it being allowed to continue would not be.

The man holding her had gotten distracted watching what was going on and his grip had weakened! She summed all of energy to her, her entire body trembling. With an explosion of kicks and elbows, she surprised the man and slipped out his grasp! Hand shaking with anger, Zooey drew her sword and launched herself forward out of the crowd before anyone could stop her.

She let out a yell, one fueled entirely with hatred and anger. Her vision was red; all she could see was Alexandra and the three Cornelius men.

They were startled by her yell and re-positioned to face Zooey, giving Luca a moment to catch his breath and strike back. Distracted, Luca kicked Vercio and brought his sword down onto the surprised man's with a thundering hit. Fueled by adrenaline, Luca was fighting with greater speed and strength then he thought he ever had.

Zooey tore across the courtyard, her sword raised above her head. Udul smiled and dared her with his eyes to try it. She flexed her arm as if to strike and Udul brought his sword up to block her incoming hit. Suddenly Zooey shifted her feet and allowed herself to go to the ground. She slid forward, under his guard and jabbed him in the side as she slid past. Udul gasped and stumbled back, clutching his bleeding side. She dug her feet into the ground and used her moment to jump upright in the flash of an eye.

Udul looked at his wound and renewed his attack with anger, swinging wildly at her. Zooey easily ducked and side-stepped his slashes, just like back in Lerwick. This man did not know who he was fighting: Zooey grew more dangerous the more she was caged and was the most deadly when her friends were threatened.

Her purpose was clear, her senses even more so. She knocked his slash aside with her sword and slid ink, delivering a powerful kick to the chest.

Having Zooey join the fight had given Luca a second wind and he pressed the attack on Vercio, who was a skilled swordsman in his own right. He was outmaneuvering Luca but the young boy kept coming at him undeterred and Vercio's attacks were getting slower. Luca blocked his attacks, each sending tremors down his sword. Luca's hands hurt, his legs hurt, but he would not give up the fight. Vercio struck low, leaning forward to extend his reach. Luca saw it and jumped to the side, bringing his balled fist around from behind him. Vercio did not see it until it was too late, Luca delivered a strength that had all of his strength behind it. Blood came pouring out of Vercio's broken nose.

Zooey was too fast for Udul and jabbed him again in the side. He was getting slower and weaker, Zooey managing to land successful strikes on him. Seeing what was going on, Treyor brought his whip up and pointed at Zooey. He grinned as he pressed the button, he would get her right in the back of the head.

A small steam puff shot out of the back of the whip as the front of the small metal tube opened. It shot forward in the blink of an eye but it did not hit its mark.

Looking down the length of the whip, Treyor stood in disbelief at what he saw: the whip was wrapped around Zooey's raised sword! She had heard the release of steam and had brought her sword up between herself and the leather strip shooting out at her. It had hit the sword first and wrapped around it. Zooey looked up at him and with a terrifying smile she twisted the blade and broke the whip into several pieces. They fell to the ground, intermixing with Alexandra's ripped tunic and blood.

The soldier reached for a throwing knife and had it half out when suddenly Patrik slammed into him! Treyor tumbled backwards, not even seeing the hit coming. Patrik had finally broken free as well and ran forward with no weapon but his desire to help. The throwing knife clanked harmlessly to the ground.

"Thanks," Zooey nodded.

Vercio and Udul backed up to stand next to a scared Treyor, their swords all raised. The pair were breathing heavily, both realizing they were losing their respective fights.

They could not believe it, who were these fighters?

They had not been prepared at all for a real fight, expecting the Alloans to be passive and easily subdued. Everything went wrong and they had to get out of there before the crowd overcame their fear of House Cornelius and turned against them as well.

After a few whispers, they turned back to Zooey and Luca.

"We're leaving; I'll see you again," it was Vercio who spoke.

"Next time you see me will be the last time you do," she pointed the tip of her sword at him.

The three men quickly hurried out of the square, doing their best to maintain their air of superiority after losing to two teenagers in front of the entire city.

Zooey watched them go, her own sword shaking in her hand, not from fear or exhaustion but anger and indignation.

Luca was staring at his sword, his adrenaline calming down. He could not believe what he had done, he never took action like that usually until after Zooey had started a fight of some kind. This was the first time he went into a fight without Zooey leading the way. This time, he had started it, he had decided on a course of action by himself. He dropped his sword, the full realization that he had charged straight at three highly-trained Cornelius soldiers setting in; he was not sure how he was still alive.

"Alexandra!" Sophia cried out, those holding her finally letting her go as the Cornelius soldiers retreated.

She covered the distance with remarkable speed, Zooey was surprised at how fast she was moving as she had never seen Sophia run so fast. Sheathing her sword, Zooey began a slow walk to where Alexandra was, not sure if she could face her. Patrik took off running as well.

Sophia reached the well and ducked in front of the two girls.

Torpha looked at her, "help her, I don't think she's in good shape!"

"Just hold still," Sophia tried to keep the fear and worry out of her voice, "we'll get you down."

"Torpha!" Patrik came running up behind them, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Let me help"

Sophia stepped around behind them and reached around the two bodies, grasping Alexandra's still-locked hands. They were held so tightly together that Sophia had trouble coaxing them apart. Alexandra's head fell back on her shoulder, her breathing shallow and ragged.

Luca had arrived at the well and instantly went to work cutting Torpha down with his ever reliable pocket-knife.

Sophia gently pulled her friend back from the well, bracing Alexandra's body against her own. She slowly lowered herself down onto her knees, laying Alexandra ever so gently onto the ground and placing her head on her lap. Putting her hand to her chest, Sophia felt Alexandra's heartbeat though it was very faint.

Zooey stood over her, tears clouding her eyes. She could barely look at Alexandra, every terrible crack of the whip replaying in her ears. She wanted to tell Alexandra what she did, she wanted to say she was sorry.

But how could she? How could she tell her friend this was all her fault?

Alexandra's eyes were unfocused, her fingers twitching.

"They hit her right on her tattoo," Sophia felt Alexandra's shoulder which was noticeably trembling involuntarily, "it's bad."

Sophia did not take her eyes off of Alexandra. For a moment their eyes locked and Alexandra breathed out. It sounded painful, blood dripped down the side of her mouth.

"What can we do?" Luca and Patrik had helped Torpha down and into the hands of some Alloans that had finally come over.

Patrik took over the care of his sister, holding her close and with relief. He checked her wounds and found that they were not too bad. Deep cuts on her back, it looked like the muscle tissue was still okay and there was not a lot of blood loss. Alexandra was another story though.

"We need a healer!" Sophia knew a little of the healing practices but this was a dire situation and she knew her limited knowledge would be of no real help here.

"Bring a healer!" Zooey announced to the gathered populous. We need a healer or I'll tear through every house in the city until I find one!"

She was in no mood for excuses or cowardice. She had enough of her own to deal with.

An older man with short gray hair stepped forward. "I'm a healer, Hughes, the city's healer."

"Please," Sophia begged, "please help my friend."

The man quickly came the rest of the way over to assess the situation. He frowned and bit his lower lip, it was bad just as Sophia had said. Blood was slowly pooling around Alexandra's still form, coming from the many open gashes on her back.

All around the crowd stood watching, waiting to see what would happen next. A few had come forward to help Torpha limp out of the square with Patrik, all the others just stood in shamed silence.

The healer knelt down and took one of Alexandra's arms to feel her pulse. It was very weak, and that was of great concern. He quickly checked over her body under Sophia's watchful eye, trying to feel if anything was broken. With Sophia's permission, he lifted her right shoulder so he could get a view of her back. It was purple and had many deep cuts from where the whip had connected with it.

Hughes saw the 'Benham' tattoo. The healer's own heart skipped a beat, he had to swallow to avoid gasping in shock. He regained his composure and waited a moment before straightening his glasses.

"She's very weak," was the prognosis, "her body has gone into shock. We need to get her to my place so I can try to help her. I can't do anything out here in the middle of the city."

"How can we trust you," Zooey was not in a very trusting mood, "you didn't do anything to help your own when they strung her up."

"Zooey!" Sophia scolded her.

"All I'm saying is no one lifted a finger to help, Alexandra had to come out here alone and take a punishment not hers. How can we trust any of them?!"

She shot the crowd an angry look.

"Please," the healer sounded sincere, "you are very right. Fear of House Cornelius has kept many a good man from acting to prevent evil, including myself. But please, I can help, I can help your friend and she needs it."

"Come one Zooey," Luca whispered, "we don't have any options, we can't help her."

Zooey relented, "do what you need to do, healer."

"Okay," he stood up, "we need to get to my clinic, the faster the better."

"I'll take her shoulders. Luca, support her back."

Hughes stepped around and took up her ankles. They all raised at the same moment and held Alexandra's listless form a few feet from the ground. Sophia held her shoulders, the healer her feet, while Luca rested her back on his arms, her blood staining his sleeves. Zooey could not touch her, it did not feel right. She felt she had no right to touch her after what she had done.

The crowd parted as they carried her out of the city square, the people staring and whispering as they passed. Zooey hated them all for not helping, she hated them for letting it happen, she hated herself for making it happen. With Hughes directing their path, they made their way as quickly as they could to the Alloa infirmary a few streets away from the square; making sure to be careful not to make the ride too bumpy for Alexandra who was fading in and out of consciousness.

The healer did what he could, he cleaned her wounds and tried to get her fever down with a mixture of local herbs. It looked like for a moment Alexandra tried to say something but then she was unconscious again. Hughes worked with amazing skill and with experienced depth of knowledge but no matter what he did, Alexandra was not improving very much at all.

Her left shoulder was swollen and still trembling on its own, blood oozing out from around the tattoo. The healer did everything he could think of and before anyone noticed it was night already. Zooey had remained sitting in the waiting area of the infirmary, unable to watch, her head in her hands staring at the wall. Luca had sat down next to her; knowing nothing about medicine at all he could do nothing more than stare at the wall as well. Of course he did not feel her guilt or even was aware of it, but every second was an excruciating eternity for Zooey.

After awhile Sophia joined them, sick of seeing blood everywhere. She sat down on one of the wooden benches, her eyes red and tired. Zooey got up after awhile and leaned against the wall in the corner, away from the others.

Outside they heard voices; a small crowd had gathered outside the infirmary.

No one spoke. They just waited.

It was two hours past dusk when the healer emerged from the back room, wiping sweat from his brow. Two pairs of eyes eagerly looked at him waiting for what he was going to say, meanwhile Zooey's eyes just stared at the floor.

"I've stopped most of the bleeding," he wiped his hands with a nearby towel, "but the fever's still there with no signs of getting better."

"What can we do then?" Luca did not want to waste time talking, he just wanted to hurry up and help Alexandra.

"If it were a normal fever I would have been able to abate it, but it's because of the metal that's in her body. When the whip hit that awful tattoo your friend seems to have, it dumped even more metal into the surrounding tissue as far as I can tell. It's become more infected and is what's causing the fever."

"Tattoo wasn't her choice," Zooey muttered from the corner, "and don't tell anyone about it!"

"I have an idea but it's risky." Hughes seemed reluctant to even mention it.

"What is it?" Sophia frowned, she was not sure she would like what she was about to hear.

"I think I do have one last method to get the infection and fever down. I'm confident it will probably work, if it works at all."

"Plain words," Luca just wanted to know simply what was going on.

"Basically," Hughes scratched his head, "if it's successful it'll take care of the infection and fever. If it doesn't work then it'll just make it worse."

Not the best odds.

"What is it?" Sophia could not think of a medicine that they could try.

"Red Sand"

"What?!" Luca jumped up.

Zooey raised her head in disbelief.

"No!" Sophia was also now on her feet.

"She doesn't do stuff like that!" Luca was insulted at the idea of giving Alexandra the drug, "she's not a duster!"

"You can't...." Sophia could not believe the very suggestion, she was speechless.

"Please hear me out," they had given the reaction Hughes was expecting. "Red Sand is a terrible thing, I agree. It ruins many a good life and tears families apart. But, just like most chemicals, it can have medicinal properties; the lederan and city council allow me to keep a small jar for that very reason. Red Sand typically just rips through the body's pathways and breaks down whatever is there. Usually that's irreversible damage to the poor user who is throwing their life away, but I think if we give her a small enough dose it will attack the infection!"

"You think?" Zooey was prepared to kill him if we went near Alexandra with the dangerous substance.

"Like I said," he acknowledged the inherent risks, "it's potentially a harm instead of a help. But honestly I'm out of medicines and ideas. This is it. We can wait and hope she gets better, but in my professional opinion it's just not likely."

Zooey was ready to punch him, but Sophia's voice interrupted her escalating feelings.

"Is it the only way?"

"I think so," he nodded gravely, "please trust me, I want to help your friend. She took action when everyone else in the city was too scared for themselves to help a poor innocent in trouble. If she dies for it then it's an unforgivable and everlasting shame on the entire city and every single person who lives here. Please, let me try to help her. It's risky but it's all we have left."

The silence hung in the air, the atmosphere heavy with the choice before them.

"Okay," Sophia relented, she hated hearing her own words.

"Sophia, are you sure?" Luca did not like the sound of them either, not quite believing they were going ahead with the plan.

"It's the only way," she shook her head, "please Hughes, let's just get this over with."

"Okay, here we go."

Sophia and Luca followed Hughes into the back room where Alexandra was, Zooey remained in the waiting area. She was doing her best to keep her armor on, to keep her feelings bottled up inside. She just knew that if she saw Alexandra right now then the dam would break and she would break down with it. She just went back to staring at the floor and hoping that the healer's extra plan worked.

If it did not, Zooey was not sure she would ever be able to live with herself.

Reaching for the top shelf, Hughes pulled down a small jar of what looked like rust-coloured dust. Sophia knew it to be Red Sand, the highly dangerous drug. Avoiding it was just a fact of life in the slums, they had seen the terrors it wreaked upon its addicts.

Carefully measuring just the right enough, Hughes poured some of the vile compound onto a spoon. Sophia had never really seen it up close before, but had seen enough of what it did to people. A friend Alexandra and Zooey had before Luca and Sophia joined their group had become hooked on Red Sand and disappeared into the Dark District never to be seen again.

Sophia stood at the head of the table Alexandra was laid out on and used her fingers to gently open Alexandra's mouth as Hughes poured the spoonful of the Red Sand in. She cupped her hand around Alexandra's chin, closed her mouth and waited.

"How long does it take?" Sophia had never actually seen anyone take the drug before.

"We should see some kind of reaction in a moment or two."

Hughes was just as nervous as Sophia about this plan.

Luca had his hands tightly gripping the bottom of his tunic, "it's got to work, it just has to."

Alexandra's hands started twitching.

"Here we go," the healer stared intently.

Her shaking became worse, the twitching turning into shudders. Alexandra's eyelids strained, squeezing down tight. Her breathing became even more erratic, more like violent gasps of air. Suddenly her back arched into the air, her legs kicking violently.

"Alexandra!" Luca started.

Sophia put her hand on Alexandra's chest and could feel her heart beating fast. It almost felt like it would explode right out of her body!

Sophia gently used her hand to push Alexandra back down onto the table.

"Just like when you held my hand when we were hiding from the patrol so long ago in the field of long grass next to the highway," she whispered, "now I'm letting you know I'm here and I'm not going to let you go."

Alexandra's eyes were moving rapidly behind her eyelids, flying back and forth seemingly in an unending spasm. After a painful minute or two, her legs finally stopped kicking and returned to resting on the table. Her breathing also normalized and her hands just sat still at her side.

"Is she okay?!" The waiting was killing Luca.

Hughes leaned over and put his hand to her neck to feel her pulse.

He let out a long sigh of relief and smiled.

"Everything feels okay." H felt her forehead, "her fever's dissipating as well."

"It worked?" Sophia could barely dare to hope.

"It certainly looks like it," Hughes was just as thankful as they were, "she's pulled through the worst of it."

"Of course she did," Sophia was so proud of her friend. "I knew she could."