It was a good thing that the door into the box wasn’t accessible from the floor where the patrons watched. Blaze was certain that he would have been mobbed by the crowd if they saw him exit or knew who he was. As it was, the crowd noise only diminished enough to think once the door to the back area from the box was closed.
Hopefully they hadn’t gotten too good a look at him through the box’s walls.
Blaze could see that Raul waited for him, but Blaze had higher priorities. He turned to Rockfist. “You need some healing before you go any farther.”
“I’ll stop by the healing area, that’s why they’re there.” Rockfist held up a hand when Blaze started to protest. “I need to go out there with visible injuries. This is too important; we can’t afford to have it look like we’re faking a Phoenix.”
Blaze frowned. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he could still work with it. “At least let me heal your lungs. I can leave some of the burns for them.”
Rockfist stopped walking away and let Blaze catch up. “Fine, but tell me. How did you end up choosing Phoenix? I know you’re not Karite, but surely someone warned you? I thought you were trying to cause trouble.”
“Aorc accepted his application.” Raul walked closer, then stopped at a convenient conversational distance. “He ought to know better, but…”
Rockfist gave an exaggerated sigh and finished the sentence. “But Aorc is an idiot who wants open fighting even though he knows what would happen.”
Raul shrugged. “He doesn’t believe. As useful as that is here, it’s not the first time it’s gotten him into trouble.”
Rockfist’s lungs weren’t as badly damaged as Blaze expected; he must have some Heat resistance. That made it easy to finish healing them. “What are you talking about? What is the problem with phoenixes?”
Both Raul and Rockfist stared at Blaze for a moment.
Raul cleared his throat. “A phoenix was the symbol of the Karit royal family.”
Blaze frowned. “So you’re telling me it’s become the symbol of people who want to restore them to their throne?”
Raul shook his head. “That’s what they say, but I think it’s people who want to be on a new throne. Not that it matters; I remember the riots. All they’ll do is make the streets run with blood again.” He ran a hand through his hair. “One appearance of a fire-based fighter shouldn’t set anything off, but I don’t want you fighting again. I’ll tell Aorc not to schedule you, Phoenix or not.”
Blaze grinned at Raul; that meant he had leverage. This wasn’t the reason he’d planned for, but it was in some ways better. “You know what I want.”
He hoped Raul and Rockfist were wrong, but there wasn’t much he could do about it if they were right.
Raul gave Blaze a long look, then turned to Rockfist. “Get out there and get your healing. You don’t know who Phoenix was, it was someone you don’t know. Got it?”
Rockfist nodded. “Blaze wasn’t here today.” He headed for the door at the end of the hallway; it let out near the healers’ area, well away from the viewing area for the box.
“As for you,” Raul turned back to Blaze. “Rockfist has the right idea. You need to get out of here without being seen; can you do that? If you’re not sure, you can wait here until the crowds are gone. Still, if you can leave now, it would be better. And stay home tonight; with your red hair, you won’t be safe from either side.”
“I can. So how about that greendust?” Blaze was beginning to worry that the arena might not survive what was coming; both Raul and Rockfist seemed more concerned than simple “riots” should require.
Raul shook his head. “You have no idea. Fine. We’re going to be closed for a tenday after tonight, whether or not anything happens. It’ll be longer if anyone starts sniffing around. You should stay away longer than that; don’t come back immediately.”
“What about the people that need healing?” The greendust was the reason Blaze had fought, but it wasn’t why he’d come to the arena in the first place.
Raul shook his head. “Stay away. You don’t want to get caught healing the wrong person. Not right now, not you. You’re too recognizable.” Raul’s mouth twitched.
“As for greendust, here’s one fight’s worth.” Raul handed Blaze a small pouch tied closed at the top. “If you are going to use it, I recommend burning it or boiling it instead of directly inhaling it. I’d rather you didn’t use it at all.”
Blaze shook his head. “I’m not planning to. Is that it?” It was an awfully small amount for the effort of the fight and not being able to return any time soon. Maybe he should have gotten Sillon to fight for him, but how was he supposed to know that Phoenix was a bad name to use?
“No, but you’ll have to grind it yourself.” Raul pulled another sack off his belt; this one wasn’t just a tiny pouch, it actually had some heft to it. “This is the greenstone we’d give away as greendust for the tenday we’ll be closed. You’re getting it instead of your pay for the fight and the past couple tendays.”
At that price, either Blaze’s pay was worth a lot more than he thought it was or “greenstone” was worth a lot less than any fight-enhancement drug Blaze had ever seen. Neither seemed particularly likely. “Thanks, Raul, this will help.”
“Keep yourself safe. And remember to stay away for three or four tendays! I need healers like you, but I need you alive or you’re not going to do me any good.” Raul turned and walked away from Blaze.
Blaze couldn’t help but smile at Raul’s statement. He wasn’t sure he’d be back; three tendays was after the eclipse, and Blaze wasn’t certain what would happen then. Even so, it was good to be valued. “Thanks, Raul.”
The days of rioting were incredibly helpful and incredibly annoying at the same time. Ekari couldn’t believe that Blaze, of all people, was the one who set them off.
Serenity? Sure, she could see him accidentally starting riots. He was the right mix of idealistic and powerful with a dash of cluelessness; he’d say the wrong thing at the right moment and everyone would decide they loved him or hated him. Either way, he’d be the reason people were fighting.
Blaze wasn’t like that. Blaze was reliable and prone to disappearing into the background. He was sharp-tongued and caring, but when you got right down to it, that was expected of a healer. The fact that, completely unlike Serenity, he could blend into a new group as though he’d been there for years made this a truly unexpected blunder. She’d have understood if he said it was deliberate, but she believed him when he said it was an accident. The situation must have already been bad; otherwise, something as simple as the name used in an illegal underground fight wouldn’t have had this result.
If she’d known it was this easy, she’d have asked him to do it on purpose two months ago!
Admittedly, she would have needed a completely different plan two months ago.Getting five people out was very different from getting one out, and she’d have needed to keep them somewhere that wasn’t their rooms as well. That wouldn’t have been easy, especially not if they died for Blaze the same way they’d died in the infirmary.
All she could do now was get the one that was left out, take him to Blaze, and hope there was something there to save or at least that Blaze would learn something. She was certain this man was somehow different from the others; he was the one she’d heard speaking English three months ago. None of the others had lasted more than two weeks before they died, usually leaking green liquid everywhere.
Ekari ducked into an unsecured door on the back of a building across the street from the infirmary. Sillon and Kerr were right behind her; they’d wait for her here.
No one watched the alley to begin with; with the rioting only a few blocks away, she’d have called leaving it unlocked careless if she hadn’t been the one to unlock it after everyone was sent home. She didn’t think she’d need it for long, but it was likely she’d need it for a short period of time even if this went well.
Ekari originally planned this mission to happen at night, but during daylight was better with the rioting. The back of the infirmary was poorly staffed to begin with; with the rioting, there was only one person watching the area. She’d checked.
She wished Blaze could be with her, but he was doing a completely necessary part of the mission himself: he should be heading in the front door of the infirmary right now, offering to help heal. That was something he’d done regularly and it should be completely believable right now, with the riots happening. Healing was necessary and Blaze showed up regularly to offer it, even though he was repeatedly told it was unnecessary.
Most of those times, he knew it was unnecessary, but he also knew that pulling people away from other tasks would let Ekari search the hidden areas, which she’d done repeatedly. Blaze was especially interested in any notes they were keeping about the people with green blood, but she’d never found any past a list of care instructions.
Searching for instructions wasn’t her primary mission today.
“You know what to do here?” Ekari looked at Sillon and Kerr.
Kerr nodded. “We’ve got this. Been over it enough times with Blaze, anyway. You go do your thing.”
Sillon just waved at her.
Ekari nodded and let herself back out. It was time for the hard part.
No one was looking, but she walked like she belonged there anyway. She went across the alley and over a few feet; that took her to the rear entrance to the Infirmary. Where they took the trash out, but also the service entrance. Anything that wasn’t pretty would enter and leave through that door. The Priest-healers would come in the front, but orderlies probably came through the back.
It was a large pair of doors, easily wide enough for a bed to be rolled out. Ekari strongly suspected that happened somewhat frequently, but most of the time it was probably covered in bags of dirty linen that needed to be washed rather than bodies being disposed of. Unlike some places she’d been to, there simply weren’t that many people at the Infirmary. It was restricted to priests, after all.
Officially, at least.
Ekari glanced down at the bracelet Ita had given her. It was nothing more than an anchor for a spell to let Ita and Ekari pass prearranged signals to each other. Ita had wanted to help, but the Sterath was simply too obvious to be out back. She was instead with Blaze; the priest-healers didn’t like letting her in, but they’d found that it was better than trying to keep her out.
Ita did an excellent impression of an upset pet when she was separated from Blaze; obviously, she immediately calmed down when he told her to.
The quartz crystal that hung from the bracelet glowed with a yellow hue. That meant everything was on track but Ita didn’t think she should go in the back yet. Ekari stepped to a spot where the door would hide her if it was opened and waited, watching the crystal.
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