“What’s he saying?” I heard repeated.
“I’m blind! I’m blind! I can’t see!” I shouted but they acted as if I were moaning.
“He’s aphasic. We were worried because of the extent of his blood loss and oxygen deprivation to his brain. Clearly, there’s been some brain damage due to that or the hemorrhagic shock.
“Raven, can you open your eye? Are you in pain?” The voice matched the face. Tall, dark haired with gray at his temples. Kind blue eyes. He wore a white coat over the blue, it gaped open as he leaned over me and shone a light in my eye. “Reaction time seems normal. Can you blink, Raven?” He picked up my left hand and placed his finger in my palm. “Squeeze my finger, Raven.” I squeezed as hard as I could yet my fingers barely moved. Still, he seemed pleased. “Do you know your name, Raven? I’m Dr. Michael Algernon. I’m a thoracic Trauma Surgeon. I did open heart surgery on you a week ago. You’re doing fine. In another few days, we’ll remove your staples and let you get up for some gentle exercise.”
I gagged and was able to touch the heavy bandages on my right eye. Asked again and this time, he understood what I was asking. “Your right eye was totally destroyed by something that pierced the iris. We had to remove it. When the orbit is healed, you can either get a prosthesis or wear an eye patch. There are some remarkable prosthetics out there you can’t tell from the real thing. The wounds on your neck and back are healing well although we did have the reconstructive surgeon in to repair them. He had to take large grafts of dermis from your thighs to cover some of the areas where bone was showing. Do you know who did this to you, Raven? The police want to question you but I put them off until you were stable.”
I closed my eye, the entire ten minutes with him had exhausted me. “Raven, do you understand everything I’ve told you?” I squeezed his fingers again less tightly than I had before. “Can you say something, Raven?” he encouraged.
“Dragon...piss,” I said and that wasn’t what I meant. I tried again. “Mirror. Glass. Beer.” I could see the pitcher of ice cold water in my mind’s eye but couldn’t get the right words out. Licked my dry lips and swallowed. Grew frustrated and started to cry with my inability to make my wishes known. “Ice...rocks,” I screamed.
“Are you thirsty?” One of the other blue people asked and it was a she. With blonde hair and blue eyes that were complimented by her clothes. “I’m Sally, one of the CCU nurses. You want a drink, don’t you?”
“No, no, no,” I said, nodding my head. She filled a paper cup and held a straw to my lips. I drank two sips and was gently spiraling back down in a cave.
Woke up later that afternoon after a dream that scared me so bad I woke screaming and thrashing which brought the man in the beautiful three piece suit leaping to my bedside. “Raven? Are you in pain? Nurse!” He turned to face what I saw as a dark gray blob and was a door. “He’s moaning and moving. Is it time for his pain shot?”
The lady with the blue eyes checked my eye, my wrist and looked at her watch. “No, Mr. Merle,” she said quietly, smiling at me. “He had his last dose of roxynol only an hour ago. He shouldn’t be feeling any pain yet. Probably just a bad dream. One of his meds has that side effect. Raven, honey, are you awake?” She moved and watched me track her. “Thirsty?” She didn’t wait for my answer but held the cup and the straw to my lips. Some of the water dribbled down my chin and made a cold wet spot on the pillow beneath me. “Would you like me to raise your head, Raven?” I nodded and she inclined me, stopping when she read some reaction on my face.
“Majesty?” I whispered and the nurse thought I was saying something else.
“This is Mr. Merle, your father. Do you recognize him?” she asked and plumped up my pillows. I didn’t like her being on my blind side. My heart beat faster and the machines made a loud alarm.
“Would you leave us, nurse?” the King asked politely and she nodded once, saying to push the button if either of us needed anything.He waited until she was gone. “How do you feel, Raven? Do you understand what’s going on around you?”
“Styx,” I said and he looked puzzled. “Coin on...eyelashes.”
“River Styx or pick-up sticks? A copper for Charon. Death?”
I nodded and turned my head away. He picked up my hand and I tried to jerk it away, I couldn’t stand to be touched by anyone but males made it worse.
“What did that bastard do to you, Raven?” His eyes searched my face. I retreated into my stolid silence. I wouldn’t talk about it, I couldn’t talk about anything I had gone through without going nuts. “Talk to me. Tell me what I can do to help you. Do you want to go back to Dad’s house or the castle at Amber? Or Rebma with Vialle? Any place you want, Raven. The doctors say you’ll recover nearly 100%.”
“My ball?” I asked bitterly holding my eye.
“Dad had both of his eyes burnt out by his brother, Eric. He spent four years in the dungeons blind and half starved, Raven. But his eyes grew back. You must have enough Amber blood in you that the same thing might happen. If not,” he shrugged. “Look at Vialle.”
I bared my teeth. “Go far.”
“No, I won’t go away. Nor will Dad, or Uncle Random. Or Roelle, Rinlon or Murphy. They have all come to see you, hardly left your side since you’ve been here.”
“Prison? Crow?”
“The Blackbird died with the dragon, Raven. All that’s left is a boy who needs his family and a long convalescence with his friends.”
“Have zero.”
Gently, he put his arms around me and I stiffened, terrified that it was the Master holding me again. “Please, Master,” I whispered. “Don’t hurt me more. Do any wants if don’t harm.”
“Raven, Jurt is wounded and on the run. The last thing he’ll do is look for you. Besides, you have guards and a gargoyle watching out for you. And magic. I’ve put spells and wards around this place and you. If one scent of Jurt or his men approach this shadow, every man I command will stand between him and you. Plus me, King Random and Dad.”
“Why?” I searched his face for answers and saw compassion, love and fear.
“Because you’re my son and I love you. I have Ghost tracking Jurt. He’s good at that sort of thing. Go to sleep, Raven. Let us worry about him now. It’s no longer your task.”
“Don’t know me,” I said. I closed my eyes just for a little while and it was hours later when I woke again to find myself being handled like a package as I was rolled, bathed and my bed changed. I knew the nurse, she was a small woman and completely unassuming. She didn’t trigger my panic mode even as her hands invaded my body. I looked out the window and saw the night sky with the moon riding high. Recognized the stars, saw Orion and the Pleiades, the Dipper and Cassiopeia. Wondered how long it would be before I was called to task for the evil things I had done.
Lifted the sheet off me and stared at my naked body as the nurse finished bathing me. I gaped at the huge raw, red line that split my chest from neck to belly. She washed around it with warm moist wipes that were soapy, dried me with warm soft towels and applied fresh dressings over the staples.
“Ninety-three,” she said. At my uncertain look, she added, “ninety-three staples on the exterior and several dozen more on the inside. Dr. Mike cut your chest open, cracked your ribs to work on your heart. The staples come out tomorrow, the others will dissolve on their own.” She hummed as she finished and pulled a clean gown on me. She’d already changed the bedding, pulled me up and checked my nails, my ears and combed my hair. “Want me to brush your teeth for you, Raven honey?”
“No. Please,” I nodded and watched as she put paste on the brush, a cup of water to rinse and a pink basin to spit into. I had a flashback of flying harpies and orange men spitting acid at them, lunged and tossed the stuff across the room, crying in agitation.
Corwin was first in the room and when he grabbed me, I immediately fought him. He was much stronger than me and simply held me until I was gasping for air, sweat stained my face and gown and I was spent. “Get the doctor in here,” he growled not letting me go. Minutes later, two of them were in the room fussing over me.
“Blood pressure and pulse are both elevated. What triggered this upset?” the doctor named Algernon asked. “Raven, what’s wrong?”
I tried to get loose and run, even managed to make it to my feet before they forced me back into bed. I tried to fight them, I was as weak as a used tea bag, just couldn’t get my body to cooperate. I cursed them and he turned to Corwin.
“I want to sedate him before he does himself harm.”
Corwin agreed. “Do whatever you need to do to keep him safe.”
“Nurse, 10 cc of Ativan,” he ordered and she ran from the room. I jerked my arms and flailed, screaming at them to leave me alone. Saw the room waver and change shape. Saw Corwin start, his lips grim as he countered my instinctive use of the mental image of a Trump in my head. Screamed louder when I recognized the Master’s room in the Tower, the last place I wanted to enter.
“Raven!” he shouted and dug his elbow into my neck. The sight and sounds of everything wavered and turned dim. When the focus sharpened, I was strapped down on the bed and struggling to remain conscious. I was floating and lacked the will to care about anything. They were speaking over my head as if I couldn’t hear their conversation.
“The boy has all the hallmarks of a child that has been sexually molested, Mr. Corey. When he was admitted, we did tests for occluded blood and it was positive but due to the severity of his other injuries, we put it aside to deal with his cardiac issues. I’ve found further evidence of severe sodomy and torture. I had to look up the name of the device used on his back. From the state of the wounds, it could only have been the Roman flagellum. What the English called the cat-o-nine-tails. There are over fifty individual whip scars on his back and buttocks alone. Not to mention broken ribs, fingers, lungs scarred from pneumonia, puncture scars on his belly and surgical cicatrices. He’s worse than any gang-banger ever brought in here for bullet trauma. What was this kid into?”
“He was kidnapped from my country house over two years ago,” Corwin explained. “No ransom note. They wanted to broker a deal with him as bait. Sold him overseas to some cartel after he escaped.”
“You got him back.”
“Not without a heavy cost. He was nearly dead and you’re saying he might have brain damage.”
“He does, he has aphasia. The inability to speak correctly. How extensive the damage is we won’t know until we do tests.”
“Will his brain recover?”
“The brain isn’t like a arm that is broken. We can set the arm and it heals with hardly a trace it was broken. Not so the brain. Once tissue dies or is damaged, the area doesn’t come back. We can train another part of the brain to take over some of the dead area’s function but it’s still dead. His personality may change, he won’t be the same boy he was before.”
“But he’ll be alive,” Corwin argued. The doctor hesitated, his voice dropped.
“I’ll send the staff Psyche Doc up. He really should speak to her. Boys that have been in his situation always try suicide after an incident like what he has obviously gone through. We’ll have to be vigilant around him. Don’t leave him alone no matter what he tells you.”
“No worries there, Doctor. He has his own personal bodyguard. You met him. Murphy.”
“Not an easy man to forget, he’s like a stone warrior,” the doctor agreed. “Where was he when the boy was kidnapped?”
“Raven and a friend ditched him in a...tavern.”
“He’ll sleep six or seven hours with the Ativan and it will lessen his anxiety.” He hesitated. “I hate to ask but if you can afford it, I recommend a private duty nurse on 24/7. Or else, he should go to the Psyche Wing where he can be monitored 24/7.”
“I can afford it,” he said dryly. “Frankly, I can buy this hospital out of petty change. If there is anything you or the hospital needs, and I stress anything, you have only to ask, Doctor Algernon. My grandson is the only one I have and my son’s only child. He is the most important young man in all the...world.”
“Do you have a particular agency in mind for the nurses? If not, I can recommend some of ours that are looking for private duty and he already knows most of them. Less stress on him if he doesn’t have to get used to new people and none of them are men,” he offered.
I saw them go out the door and called him. He didn’t hear me. I tried again. “Corey. Grand sire?”
He came swiftly to my side, standing where he knew I could see him. “Raven.”
“No go far way,” I begged him. “Danger. Mouth up side down.”
“It’s all right, Raven. Your guard is outside this door. Shall I send him in? He wants to talk to you, anyway.” He turned to the doctor in the doorway. “Would you ask Murphy to come in? Perhaps the others as well? I know CCU has a policy of only two per visit? Would you please make an exception?”
The doctor nodded and a group of people eagerly entered to ring my bed. Even through the haze of the sedative, my panic escalated. My eye darted back and forth, my hands clenched the sheets. The gray man clamped his huge hand on my chin and forced me to stare into his gray eyes only they flared red. “Raven, mi carriádhe sei eamön,” he spoke in a harsh tone. It made me sit up, be still and I expected a box on the ears.
“Murphy,” I whispered and kept my gaze on him.
“You are safe, Corbin. I swear this on my soul which is yours. You are warded and protected by magic both arcane and Chaotic, both Amber, Irish and by good, clean steel.”
I saw Rinlon and he winked at me, opening his long jacket to show me his blade. Corwin carried Grayswandir at his side. I blinked and it was gone, obviously spelled so no one could see it. “Go to sleep, I will stay at your side and protect you, even in your dreams.”
The pretty blonde girl pushed her way in and kissed me on the cheek. I blushed as my thoughts immediately went to what I would do to her if I was mobile.
“I’ll protect his dreams, Murphy,” she retorted. “You stay out of his head. Do you remember me, Raven?”
I had vague memories of her but images of other encounters and what the Master had done made me turn my head away in disgust. I wanted to force her down and take her, subjugate and humiliate her as had been done to me. Murphy pulled her away. “Roelle, he is still confused and mind addled. All of you had best leave and leave him to me.”
Corwin whispered in his ear and his gray eyes widened, turned red as he stared down at me. “Aye, my Lord Prince. I will be vigilant. As for nurses, no need. I do not sleep and will be with him where ever he goes.”
They left me alone with Murphy. He sang me to sleep with lullabies in Gaelic and Erse, languages my mind remembered in my dreams if not the waking world.