The Iron Butterfly (Iron Butterfly #1)

Kael came over, kneeled by me inspecting the damage to my leg without touching me. My leg was a bloody mess but I knew that I would survive. I was more concerned with the blood I saw oozing out of his stomach to disappear into the dark black folds of his pants. The blackness of his clothes disguised the blood and the rest of his injuries I knew he must be hiding. I reached for his stomach and opened my mouth to ask about his own injuries when he flinched from my touch and interrupted me.

“So, you’re still getting into dangerous situations that you can’t get yourself out of.” He looked frustrated with his brows furrowed and he wouldn’t look me in the eye. My arm dropped limply to my side.

“What?” I was dumbfounded. It was the absolute last thing I expected to hear. This was all wrong; this is not how I pictured a reunion with Kael to be. If I pictured a reunion at all, considering I didn’t even know if he was alive or not. I looked at his face closer and noticed he had a cut along his cheek. His square jaw had drops of blood on it, but obviously no damage to his head to blame the sudden moodiness on.

“Here, put this salve on the bites.It will keep it from getting infected until you get back to the Citadel.” He handed me a small leather pouch, which I unfolded to find a salve that smelled like cat urine. The smell distracted me from even asking how he knew where I was staying.

“Ugh, no thank you. I would rather wait until I can see a healer,” I pushed the pouch back at him.

He grabbed the pouch and ordered, “You will put this on. I won’t argue with you.” He flung it at me instead of handing it to me, which only made me grit my teeth in stubborn refusal. My head started to pound and I started to feel a throbbing ache in my leg.

“I will not! Even if it smelled of roses I wouldn’t put it on because of how callous you are being toward me.” I gritted my teeth and spat out, “What have I done to you?” I tried to stand and collapsed, crying out in pain, realizing that my leg was hurt worse than I thought.

Once again he reached out as if to help me but stopped before he made contact with my skin, his blue eyes changing from anger, to worry and then back to stubbornness. “You need to learn to be more careful. I won’t always be here to watch out for you when you decide to get cozy with the next pack of dogs you run into.” Before I could even think up a mean retort, Kael held out his hand to silence me.

Curiously I watched as he cocked his head as if he were listening to something in the distance. Sprinting into action he ran, pulled his knives out of the dead dogs, jumped onto two of the crates and leapt onto the roof of a building, and was gone.

“THALIA! Are you okay?” I looked away from where Kael had disappeared over the roof and saw that Avina, Pim and Jury were running down the alley with who I assumed were the city guards dressed in their dark uniforms riding closely on the children’s heels. Dismounting at the entrance to the alley, they started on foot toward us.

“I’ll live,” I smiled sheepishly at her. “How did you guys get down from the attic?”

“We crawled out through another door in the attic that let us drop down onto a roof on the next building over, but we had to hurry across a couple of rooftops until we could find another way down. We were running for help and we ran into the Commander.”

I looked at the Commander with his bald head and grey beard, who took charge instantly, giving orders to some of his men to remove and burn the dead dog’s carcasses. His eyes were quick and calculating, his face and hands showed faded scars of previous battles and his towering frame left little doubt as to who was in charge.

Commander Meryl leaned down and looked at my leg. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, still confused over what had happened and the reason why Kael disappeared. Rising, he called over another of his men and gave orders for a splint. Picking up the leather pouch that Kael had thrown to the ground by my feet he opened it giving it a quick sniff before declaring it as an ointment.

“It’s a good thing that you had this on you. Those dogs may have had rabies, and this will kill any foreign bacteria.” He immediately started to apply the salve to my leg and all I could do was mentally grumble and complain that even though he wasn’t here, Kael had won this round.

“It’s called Hartswood, and it’s great for horses and cattle when they get any serious cuts or scrapes.”

“I’m not cattle!” I interjected.

The Commander threw his head back and laughed. His deep laugh was reassuring even if it was at my expense. “Relax, it’s also good for human wounds; it keeps away infection.” He looked at me, his face going serious and still. “I’m not sure why those dogs attacked you. But my guess is that they were sick or diseased. In any case, this attack was highly unusual. But how did you kill them?”

A soldier with red blonde hair brought over strips of bandages and large pieces of the splintered crate. Expertly he started to wrap my leg to keep it still.

“I didn’t,” I said through clenched teeth, trying not to cry out from the pain. My tears betrayed me as they leaked unwillingly out the side of my eyes. Seeing my discomfort the Commander let the question drop and opted to get me home.

“Let’s load up!” the Commander yelled now that they were done.

I looked around to see that Pim and Jury had made themselves scarce and Avina was fluttering around trying to help an attractive young soldier, bringing him wood and tinder. The alley was lit up with a bonfire made from the broken crates and the burning canines. The smell of the burning flesh and hair made me sick to my stomach. A few soldiers stayed behind to control the fire as the rest made ready for departure.

When we were ready to leave, the Commander handed me up into the arms of a mounted soldier. I noticed immediately that it was the one with the reddish blonde hair who bandaged my leg. He carefully adjusted me so I sat sidesaddle and didn’t put any weight on my injured leg; grabbing the reins he followed the Commander out of the alley.

Avina, I noticed, sat in front of the same soldier she was fawning over earlier. She caught my eye and gave me a huge smirk. Looking back at the soldier who was seamlessly maneuvering the horse through the maze of people, I noticed he had a slight scar on his chin. The soldier spoke first.

“So what did you do to attract the attention of a pack of dogs?” His comment was asked sincerely and without accusation, but it brought to mind a different conversation altogether.

“I’m a rat, and that’s what rats do, attract the attention of dogs.” I spoke without thinking, letting Syrani’s earlier comment rankle. Partially because of the pain, partially because I was now somber and morose from Kael’s unbidden cruelness.

He chuckled. “Well then, that must make you the prettiest, not to mention the luckiest, rat I’ve ever seen. Though I would have to say, not the best smelling considering you smell like cat urine. No wonder you attracted the dogs.”

“That is because of the smelly salve Commander Meryl applied,” I said defensively. “Not because of my lack of hygiene!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell,” he snickered good-naturedly. Then when he regained his composure he introduced himself. “I’m Garit… or Garit the Great would suffice as well, considering I’m the best to have around in case of major injury and a healer isn’t near,” he boasted. “And who do I have the privilege of escorting to the healing ward?”