Chapter 27: Part 27

For the second time in three days, I woke up to find myself in a day bed. I hadn’t ever really kept track before, but I suspect that I probably doubled the number of times I had slept in a day bed this week. I checked the room. The packs that had laid there last time were gone, of course. I don’t know what Maps had done with his, but Boddy’s and my own were still on the grounds of Opulence, back in the Alley. The wooden case, still latched shut, was there instead.

I patted around the bed for my phone, until I noticed it on the little table of knick-knacks on the other side of the room. I tried to sit up, only for the room to spin violently. I laid back down on my pillow and groaned. I think the groan helped more than the laying down. Without moving again, I tried to take stock.

Okay, I had been bludgeoned pretty badly by a leprechaun with an anachronistic weapon from Irish history. I probably had a concussion. I seemed to remember something about falling asleep being a bad idea after a concussion. That was not reassuring. What else had happened?

Maps had been tied up outside. Well, if I assumed that this was in fact the room in Inheritance where I had recuperated last time, and not some exact replica designed to confound me, specifically. That’s wasn’t the concussion making me loopy. It was a genuine concern at that point. So…if Maps had been tied up, he would either have been freed, captured, or left there. I was pretty sure the shoelaces wouldn’t hold him more than a couple minutes, and the sleeves probably not much longer than that. So left there was the same as having been freed. I had no way of knowing until I could move around.

I raised my hand to my head as I thought, afraid I might find blood or signs of a cracked skull. Though I supposed in the latter case, I likely wouldn’t have woken up until it had healed, if it ever did. But what did I know about medicine? I found a slightly damp cloth bandage wound tightly around my head. Once I had touched it, I realized I could feel the pressure from it where it had been tied off. My fingertips were slightly red when I looked at them. Bleeding, check. Seems to be under control, though. Cracked skull, maybe. Bound to prevent further damage?

Cudgel, the newcomer. The leprechaun. I was pretty sure that after he gave me a new outlook on color theory, courtesy of a blistering headache, I had managed to release the sleep construct, and it seemed like it had grappled him. Cudgel was strong, but I would have bet a lot of money on the other guy in this case. Which meant that he could have been captured also. The creature likely hadn’t been, unless Carver (or Carver’s thought constructor mercenary) was around. I doubted whether Boddy would have had enough coffee to even put a dent in it. Besides, ever since it grew that eye it seemed like…more than it had been originally. Could thought constructs develop without their constructor’s knowledge?

I wiped my hand on my shirt, and pushed the covers further down. I was not wearing my clothes from the fight. I seemed to be in an extremely old-fashioned night shirt. I patted the pillow and found that it was actually an extremely fluffy, if somewhat course, towel. There seemed to be some sort of rubbery sheet underneath me. When I realized why, I was glad that it seemed to be dry.

Rookie…I knew the creature had been released. Given the sheer destruction it had wrought on all of Rookie’s hard work, I was fairly certain it wouldn’t give up until it caught him in its grip. The nap monster would have won that fight eventually. If nothing else, Rookie would run out of ammunition at some point, and he couldn’t run forever. I didn’t think.

Okay, I couldn’t walk. My head was bandaged, presumably by someone who knew what they were doing or at least thought they did. I had been stripped and changed into an honest to goodness nightshirt, knee length. A towel under my head kept me from bleeding on the bed. A sheet under my hips kept me from staining it with other involuntary functions while I was unconscious. My phone was out of reach. I patted my wrist and found my cheap watch still in place. It was…five hours, roughly, since Boddy and I had entered the Lane.

Right, Boddy. I wasn’t sure if the creature would continue to attack him, given its new vendetta, but as far as I knew the creature couldn’t fly and Boddy could still turn into a bee. Okay, so Boddy was probably safe. Whether he was free to act was a different question. The creature could track people by their levels of sleepiness. I was certain of that. So it could follow Boddy on the ground until he was forced to land. Even if he landed on a tall tree or building, the creature was capable of climbing. Not enough information.

I pushed down a swell of nausea through a force of will. Urg, getting bonked on the head sucked. I couldn’t remember ever doing so badly.

I focused, summing up my earlier conclusions. Optimistic outcome: Boddy okay, Rookie, Cudgel, Maps captured, sleep creature on the loose but distant. Pessimistic outcome: Boddy in a coma, Rookie, Cudgel, Maps waiting outside to forcibly drag me to Opulence. Most likely it was something in between. As far as life-threatening scrapes go, though, it wasn’t bad.

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My hands found something in their search. A heavy piece of twine had been looped around the day bed’s metal backboard, within my reach. I turned my head slowly and carefully to look in that direction. The other end of the twine was attached to a heavy-looking silver bell near the ceiling. Either it called for help, or it called for help but that help came from the people who put me here, because they needed me alive. I liked those odds, all things considered. I grabbed the cord. The bell went jangle-jangle-ding. Footsteps approached from the hallway outside the door.

It was Little Cousin who opened the door. Given that we had been ambushed here, I wasn’t sure whether that was a good sign or a bad one. I tried to ask her to tell me what happened. Instead, I let out a slow wheeze, groaned again, and slumped back into my pillow. Shit, was my language brain thingy damaged in the attack?

“It’s okay, Mister Daniel,” said Little Cousin, apparently understanding my concerns. “There’s no damage to your functions, as far as anyone in the house can tell. It’s just a side effect from the pain. Now that you’re awake, we have some tonics that should help with that. We weren’t sure if you could manage them while you were asleep, you see.”

I turned my eyes to meet the little cobble’s. I groaned again, not even trying to say actual words, just trying to think them loudly, hoping that Little Cousin could interpret them as well as she had interpreted my concern.. Who did these bandages? Is Boddy okay?

“You have to stay here and rest, Mister Daniel. Don’t worry, though, once we get the right tonics brewed up you’ll be right as rain in a few hours. The Mistress insisted that you receive only the best care we could. She even brought in a doctor from the House of Compassion and a mystic from the House of Superstition! It’s a fair bit better job than I would have done. Well, the medicine part. Between you and me, the good doctor needs to practice his stitching some more. If I had known what a botch he was going to make of that thread I would have stitched your scar myself!”

While she talked, seemingly without needing to stop for breath, Little Cousin checked my bandage and replaced it with a fresh one from a box under the bed. She also, to my embarrassment, checked the rubber sheet. Finally, she changed the towel under my head, her tiny cobble hand giving a surprising amount of support to the back of my neck as she slid a fresh towel into place.

I still didn’t know if Boddy was okay, but it seemed like Lady Liu had come down solidly on my side. Cudgel and Rookie only needed me alive for a few hours. I allowed myself to relax. The pain even seemed to recede a bit. As Little Cousin pulled the sheets back up to my shoulders, I managed to get one hand on top of them.

“Okay, you’re still in the same shape as last time I checked, other than being awake. I’m going to go tell the doctor and the others. I’ll bring back some water for you; the doctor said anything else was too risky until they finish the tonics. Should only be a couple more hours. Try to rest, Daniel. But uh…try not to sleep. If you can manage it. I’m sending Youngest Grandson in to keep you company. That should help. I think he recently got a realis video game as a gift. He’ll probably talk your ear off about it. It’s been the coolest thing since the wheel.”

Little Cousin left the room. A few seconds later, Youngest Grandson entered. He was aptly named, as he seemed even younger than the Gofers I had worked with way back at Community. Three days ago? Or was it four?

Youngest Grandson cheerfully launched into an extremely rambling description of his new game. I let my thoughts drift, but didn’t allow myself to go into sleep. For now, just doing nothing seemed like my most prudent course of action.

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