Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen – Third Quarter

CHAPTER 13

 

"What are you?!" Dihya wails, throttling my neck with surprising strength. 

Lina quickly jumps to my aid, and gently, but firmly peels the woman's hand from my throat. 

"Please, we mean you no harm." Lina says, gently restraining her. 

With her attack quelled, the old healer collapses to the ground, crying uncontrollably. 

"Please! Oh Please! Pl-please just tell me. Tell me what you are! All these years, I knew you'd come for me. Please just tell me before you kill me!" Dihya balls uncontrollably, in a heap on the floor. 

Lina and I look at each other. Confusion and worry bounces between us. Lina kneels down and gently touches the old woman's shoulder, causing her to jump in fear. 

"Hey, it's ok. Look at me, we're not going to hurt you. What are you talking about? What's wrong with her aether? Is she sick?" Lina tries her best to comfort the woman. 

"Don't play dumb with me, monster! I've met your kind before!" Dihya spits at Lina, vitriol dripping off every word. 

"Look, I promise I won't hurt you, just tell me what you mean, I'm sure there's been some kind of misunderstanding." Lina tries to convince the earth channeler. 

Dihya raises an angry finger at Lina. "Oh no, oh no, don't feed me that shit! I met your kind! A loooong time ago.” The old woman's eyes look up at us full of tears.

“You’ve met our kind? What are you talking about?” Lina asks with fake confusion. 

Dihya hesitates, weighing her words carefully. “In 1956 I was a young woman, working as a healer at the hospital in Algiers. When fighting started in the city that year, the French came with paratroopers. They wanted revenge for the FLN bombings. The French did…horrific things that year." 

She takes a deep breath, and speaks slowly. "I was walking home from work one night, and I heard a girl screaming. I followed the noise, and saw a lone French soldier chase a young girl out of her house, and down the street. I-I thought about walking away, pretending I didn't see anything. The French did barbaric things to the people they caught. Rape, torture, executions of civilians, elders, babies, you name it. I treated a pregnant woman once that French soldiers had disemboweled. She died on my treatment bed, just like the one you're in now." Dihya gestures to where I lay. 

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"So I had half a mind to look the other way, but I knew I would regret it forever if I did. I ran down the street, following at a distance, gathering up and waking up anyone I could find. By the time we ran down the soldier, a mob had formed. I don't know why this soldier was alone that night, the French never went anywhere alone. But we found her in an alley, with the young girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old. The girl was screaming. So much screaming…" 

Dihya begins to tremble, and swallows a lump in her throat. Lina offers her some water, but a single glare from the woman prompts a retraction. 

Dihya continues. "The mob got a hold of the soldier. They tore that woman apart. They beat her, stoned her, stabbed her, and eventually just shot her in the head. I… I don't even know if the girl escaped." A tear rolls down the healer's cheek.

"I was in shock, I don't know what I expected when I formed that mob, but I was in shock. I stood there, unable to leave as everyone else ran away. Once I was alone, the soldier, sh-she… She started moving. People have survived a bullet to the head before, but not like this. This woman was unrecognizable. Her body was so mangled, that it didn't even look human. Until…it suddenly did. She slowly just came back together. Once the woman's mouth reformed, she started moaning and screaming in agony. I don't know how I got over my shock, but I eventually leapt into action. I'm a healer, I can’t walk away from someone who needs my help. I couldn't just leave her, monster or not. 

"So I started my treatment as I always do, with a diagnostic. I used the same spell I put into that paste." Dihya points at me again. I'm too paralyzed by the horror of her story to react, but she doesn't wait for me to. 

"Back then I channeled it into mushrooms, a local variety naturally attuned to it. I shoved them into every gash and hole in the woman's body I could find. The results sent back to my mind were…horrifying. The woman should have been dead. Not just dead, but dead dead. Internally, she was like minced meat. At least her body was, but her aether profile was strong, the strongest I'd ever seen. But it wasn't right. It was different… It was darker, colder… It was evil. I stayed with her for hours. I shouldn't have helped her. Who knows how many more people she hurt… But helping people is all I know how to do..." The woman's lip quivers as she holds her small, wrinkled hands in front of her face.

She chokes down a sob, then continues. "I made her as comfortable as I could as her body slowly formed back into shape. It took hours, but by the time the sun rose, so did she. She stood up, gave me a horrifying delightful smile, as if she enjoyed the whole process, then just…walked away…" Dihya trails off, and resumes crying. 

Lina rubs the old woman's back as she lets out her emotions. Soon Dihya stands, straightening her robes. She looks me in the eyes. "What I saw that night has haunted me every day of my life. I haven't seen aether like that since. Not until today. You're different though, you're almost normal. You only have a drop of it in you. That soldier had nothing but darkness inside her. Please, I'm an old woman, I'll take your secret to the grave. Please, just tell me what you are!"

I'm so moved by her story that I don't even look at Lina, or stop to think. I open my mouth to tell Dihya the truth, but Lina must have felt my intentions. Before I can take a breath her hand is over my mouth. 

At the sight of Lina's inhuman speed, Dihya closes her eyes, and backs into a corner, trembling, as if Lina was the personification of all her worst fears. 

Lina shakes her head in sadness. "I'm sorry, we can't tell you. You're right, you did meet a monster that night. But there are no monsters in this room. We won't hurt you, or anyone else. I'm so sorry, I'd tell you if I could, but it's not my secret to tell." 

Dihya slumps into a chair in front of her neutralizing plate, defeated. I can almost see a lifetime of fear and torment fall off the woman's frail shoulders. 

"That's it then?" She says, staring past Lina, far into a distance only she can see.

Lina sighs. "I'm so sorry. Here-" Lina digs in her bag, and pulls out her amber orb. “This is-”

“Red amber!” Diyah cuts her off, grabbing the orb out of Lina’s hand. She can barely hold it, even with both hands, but the old woman stares at it in wonder. “Where did you get this?! Do you know what a skilled earth channeller can do with this? Do you know how many lives can be saved with this?”

Lina nods. “Yes, I do. It was given to me by an old friend. It’s currently charged with a simple numbing spell, but I think you could do a lot more good with it. It’s yours if you can treat my friend, and do so discreetly.”

The weathered healer hesitates, her wrinkled brow furrows as she glances back and forth between Lina and the orb. “You really won't tell me what you are?” She asks one more time, her pleading eyes filled with desperation.

Lina frowns, and shakes her head apologetically.

Dihya’s eyes fill with tears again. “I'll treat her. I always help anyone who needs it, and I never ask for payment for my healing. My healing is free, but this…this will buy my silence.”

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