A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(52)

“I’m going to get hot water, don’t move.”

He cocked an eyebrow up at me in amusement as I hurried out of the room. Guards were back in position outside the door, five nodding a good morning to me, all looking shame-faced. They obviously realized that they’d failed in their job to protect me. Not their fault, obviously, but I didn’t want to discuss it or pretend that everything was fine when it so blatantly wasn’t.

I entered the bathroom, and while I searched for something to use as a bowl, and located some clean towels, I felt anxiety starting to consume me. I tried to push my fears for Ruby to one side. There was nothing that I could do to help her right now. To go off on my own in Nevertide felt like an irresponsible thing to do, especially with Benedict now fully possessed by the entity. If I went missing like Julian and Ruby, then who would help him?

Finding an old brass bowl that had obviously once been used to hold dried flowers, I washed it out as thoroughly as I could and then ran the hot water until it spilled out with billows of steam. I carried all of the equipment back to the living room.

“Do you have alcohol here?” I asked one of the guards.

“Umm…” He looked taken aback by the question. “Like mead?”

“No—like spirits; really strong alcohol…vodka? It’s to clean a wound.”

He looked puzzled, but then nodded.

“I think I know what you mean. I’ll have some brought up.”

“Thanks,” I murmured as he opened the door to the living quarters for me.

Placing the bowl on the floor by the sofa, I looked over at Tejus. He was still conscious, but his breathing had taken on a rasping quality, as if the effort of moving his chest was becoming harder.

“What did this?” I asked, kneeling up to slowly try to remove the makeshift bandages. His skin was too hot. He winced as my colder fingers touched the swollen skin around the wounds.

“Ghouls. But they were out of control. The ministers took our powers, and we tried to fight them, but they seemed so much more alert and intelligent than the ones you and I came across in the Labyrinth…almost as if they were organizing themselves at one point. King Thraxus died.”

I was speechless. It was completely barbaric! To remove the sentries’ powers and put them in front of ghouls? The Impartial Ministers were insane. Surely the last trial and the faulty disk had been enough for them to learn to temper the tests that they put the contestants under? Didn’t they learn? They were meant to be the council of Nevertide…but to me they seemed about as dumb as a bunch of hens.

I also felt a wave of relief pass through me that it wasn’t Tejus who was dead. Ghouls were foul creatures, and my family had plenty of experience to support that.

“You knew what they were,” Tejus murmured, “when we were in the Labyrinth…are those creatures something that your people have come across before?”

I briefly told him about my uncle Benjamin in The Underworld—kept there with thousands of other spirits like goldfish for the ghouls’ amusement.

“I was surprised to see ghouls here,” I remarked.

Tejus took a sharp intake of breath as I removed the last of the bloody bandages. “I thought they came from another dimension…but the ministers claimed that the ghouls have long been creatures of this land.”

I wondered why they hadn’t been mentioned in any of the books that I’d read of Nevertide’s history. More evidence of the ministers being vague and inept? I wasn’t sure. And I wondered if the sentries truly knew how dangerous and malicious the creatures were—especially if they’d been willing to let them take part in a trial. Then again, so far the ministers of Nevertide hadn’t exactly shown that they valued the lives of their people very highly.

I wet the towel and placed it as gently as I could against Tejus’s wounds. Now that the bandages were removed, I could see that there were four deep gashes torn into his skin. The skin around them looked faintly bluish, as if it were infected. I needed the guard to hurry up with the alcohol.

“You should really get a minister to take a look at this—or who else in Nevertide knows about healing?” I asked.

Tejus’s eyes flickered open.

“We normally heal quite well on our own,” he replied softly. “My energy will just take a little while longer to come back.”

“You can syphon off me when this is finished,” I replied. “Take as much as you need—I spent the night in the stone room, so I should be good.”

“Thank you,” he breathed.

The guard knocked at the door, and I hurried to get the alcohol I hoped he’d brought me. He handed it to me with the same bemused expression as he’d exhibited earlier. It was a tall glass bottle, with the liquid inside completely clear.