Kayseo, Healing Shrine of Mugash

I believed I was dying and hoped I would perish soon as the burden of staying alive held no appeal. By some miracle, I awoke to find that I had a pair of working eyes, a nose, a tongue, a chest, all my teeth, and two ears---though I remembered all the pain and violation and terror of having pieces of me cut off or mutilated. Then I discovered that I had no feet, which told me my assault was real after all.

I could not stop sobbing because I could not banish the faces of my tormentors out of mind. Twessera stayed with me for the first two days. She held me and comforted me and never left me alone. I might have dashed my life out by smashing my head into the wall if not for Twessera. I calmed down a bit by the second day but backtracked into despair when I heard the bad news about my adoptive father, General Bobbo.

The Blessed Lisaykos stopped by several times a day. When Twessera needed to step out, either the Great One, another senior healer, or Thuorfosi would sit with me. Despite being constantly attended, I never felt so alone in my life. I began to lose weight because I couldn't keep any food down.

Lisaykos authorized the regression of memory treatment, offered only in cases of extreme emotional trauma. I was a healer. I knew what this meant. I agreed to the treatment because I knew it would help prevent the worst of the long-term consequences of post-rape trauma. The treatment didn’t prevent post-event trauma but it could blunt the worst of it.

Lisaykos reassured me that justice was already taken care of, though some thought it was too lenient. Usruldes the Wraith, who had found me and healed me, had exterminated the Impotuan garrison left at Pinisla, all 300 of them.

Usruldes was such a strange and mysterious man. The Great One incapacitated him immediately after he rescued my adoptive father. This was to force the spymaster to rest. When Lord Usruldes woke a day and a half later, he intruded into my father’s room and used his strange magic techniques to heal him, which was a feat of healing that most healers considered impossible.

To hear the healers who worked that wing tell it, Usruldes appeared out of nowhere in Lord Bobbo's room, sat down, and started healing. When Priestess Kibbilpos tried to stop him, she found a barrier in her way. Lisaykos came at a run. She passed the barrier somehow and then tranced and watched what Usruldes was doing.

As Senior Healer Kibbilpos related to me later, the Blessed Lisaykos told Usruldes: "I should be angry with you for acting without permission in my shrine."

He replied: "I confess that I am so used to acting on my own initiative that it did not even occur to me. I apologize. I will remember next time. I have undone most of the brain damage except for the spot that had two blood clots on the right motor cortex, which was under the fracture of his skull. The damage there was beyond my ability to completely repair. The Queen may have the strength to do the complete repair but I don't. It may be worth asking her. Also, it might be possible with therapy to establish new pathways to replace the damaged functions, but you already know that."

"Which areas are still not recovered?"

"Left side of his face and neck and some or all of his left arm. I'm not familiar enough with healing magic to tell how much function may still be damaged."

"Mouth, tongue, and throat?"

"Should be fine."

“I could be wrong, but it felt like there was another presence with you."

“The person who taught me magic helped me with the difficult task of constructing the framework to unravel time for a magic user.”

“All the way from...?”

He cut her off, “yes, from there. She is more powerful than the Queen. We once conversed while I was in Mattamukmuk --- that's how powerful she is.” That city was halfway around the world.

"Will you teach me this unknown technique of brain repair?"

"Of course I will."

"Is there anywhere else in my shrine you intend to visit today?"

"Kayseo."

"Kayseo is..."

"On the fourth floor, north wing, west side, the room nearest the atrium," he cut her off.

"I will walk with you there."

"I know the way, Great One."

"You will scare my healers if you wander about any further without an escort. This is not negotiable."

"Your will, Great One."

This frightening masked and hooded man in all black came into my room with the High Priestess.

"Twessera, these two need to talk," Lisaykos gestured to Twessera to leave the room. Then she turned to Usruldes, "come see me when you are done, and this is an order."

He nodded, then turned and tapped her on the shoulder before she could leave, "thank you."

She glowered at him. Then her expression lightened and she nodded, patting the top of his head. She closed the door behind her as she left. He just shook his head and then cast a barrier on the door.

I think he was the tallest man I have ever met, and I had met the king. Unlike the king, Usruldes was a lanky, wiry man. He lacked the king's impressive muscular bulk. He was as tall as many healers, and obviously, he had some unorthodox but effective training in healing.

He pulled up a chair and sat next to my bed.

"There are some things I believe you need to know before Emily and the Queen return, especially since you are so close to Emily and because you were present in the Vault at the Shrine of Galt. But first, have you had the regression memory treatment yet?"

"Earlier this morning."

"And how are you feeling?"

"Better, I think.” I wasn’t sure, to tell the truth. “At least I no longer feel that living is meaningless and full of despair," I managed to smile. The only thing that was removed was the memory of the rape and the torture. The memory of hanging on the palisade in chains was still there, as was most of the attack and losing the opportunity to escape because I was helping others to escape before me.

"If you ever get flashbacks at all, even if it's five to ten years from now, promise me you will get it treated, please."

"I can do that." I knew what flashbacks could do to a person. Look at poor Emily, after all. "So what is it you need to tell me? I can feel your doubt and just a tad of nervousness."

"Damn, you are every bit as good as my mother and you're only 16. You're going to be a monster when you come into your full power."

"Your mother? Who is your mother and what does she have to do...Oh!" He pulled off his mask and his head covering.

"I used a forbidden magic called unraveling time to heal General Bobbo.” His voice changed in subtle ways. It was the same bass voice but the inflections were different and the timbre brightened so it became the recognizable voice of Irhessa haup Gunndit, better known as Hessakos hat Kas'syo.

"Let's get to the immediate problem," he continued. “There's a problem because Emily and Hessakos left to find the Queen but Emily and the Queen returned with Usruldes. The latter can not become common knowledge. People know that the Queen met Usruldes when she returned, but traveling with him must be forgotten. You are the only person in a position to make the connection by accident. That's why I'm telling you now so you can avoid making that mistake in front of anyone out of the loop.

"The only people in the loop are the king, the queen, my mother, Thuorfosi, Wolkayrs, Emily, Bobbo, and now you. That's too many people and I must now start thinking about my retirement as Usruldes before my cover is destroyed, to protect my family."

"My other matter is that my teacher, a monster named Ud, taught me..."

"Ud actually exists? It's not a tall tale?" I was shocked.

Hessakos smiled, "yes, Ud indeed exists. She took me in after I ran away from home and taught me my magic, which is why it is so different from the magic taught at the shrines. Among the things she taught me was how to deal with the kind of brain damage that your new father had. The General went over two sets of waterfalls on the White River, which is why he fared so poorly. Before I came to visit you just now, I healed most of Bobbo’s brain and spine damage. The thinking part of his brain will be fine. I was not able to undo all the damage to his left arm and neck so I do not know how much recovery he will have there, but at least he won't be a breathing brain-damaged turnip for the rest of his life.

"That being said, because of your own injuries, Ud asked that I pass on some advice. I'm not sure if it's advice rather than precognition. Ud said Emily will be able to help with your leg injury."

"Really? But how? She has no magic."

"Kayseo," he smiled with amusement, "are you forgetting that Emily is an idea factory?"

"Oh."

---

Emily, traveling

I spent most of my time in Yant questioning the adepts who managed the tests for admission to the shrine, trying to figure out if Cosm used body mass for magic storage or as magic conduit. I learned a great deal about how mages think about magic but made little progress by way of formulating hypotheses.

On our third day at the shrine, which was the fifth day of the second rotation of the growing season, I also took Asgotl for a ride. I wanted to fly along the new road between Surdon and the newest additions to the kingdom to the east, to see if there was any further Impotuan activity. It was probably a stupid thing to do but with my very own griffin shuttle service, who could tell me no?

When she failed to dissuade me, Fassex sent ten adepts with me. I told her I did not need any sort of protection. Fassex said they weren’t for my protection. The ten adepts just needed some time practicing their riding skills. Right.

The road was clear but after I dropped down into the basin of the north Boro River, followed by the ten adepts needing flying practice, we found a land populated by only dead bodies left to rot, farmsteads burned down and the crops burned in the fields. There would be no grain from the east this year.

It was dinnertime when we got back and I was exhausted. Both Fassex and Aylem nagged me about overexertion. Just what I needed: tag team nagging.

On the fourth day at the shrine, Aylem was up and about and completely recovered from single-handedly making an entire army disappear three days earlier. She had spent her time talking with Fassex about serious stuff, listening to my guitar, and sleeping. We left the day after, myself and Aylem on Asgotl, and Fassex on her eagle, whose name was Dray. Yes, Fassex was coming with us. She was serious when she said she wanted to help with fixing Aylem. She was traveling so she, Lisaykos, and Aylem could have a serious talk about Aylem's little temper problem.

Before we left for the King's army camp, both Asgotl and Dray were equipped with baskets of the phosphorus balls. I made another request of Aylem, this time to ask her if she could make phenolphthalein. She gave me the strangest look when I asked but she said she could make it easily whenever she wanted. “If you want to spend the rest of your life sitting on the necessary smelling foul is up to you,” she declared, clueless as to my motivation for the question.

It was nippy out when we left Yant, so I was the victim of Aylem's usual routine of wrapping me up in a flying cloak. Of course, being toasty warm resulted in my falling asleep again while flying all way down to Queenstown. I woke up in time to see Fassex and Aylem having a grand time dropping white phosphorus balls around the largest pavilions and tents in the Impotuan encampment. The Impotuans couldn't get their mounted cavalry in the air fast enough to stop them. The fires burned late into the evening.

We flew across the river and landed in front of the royal pavilion. Imstay was waiting for us, or should I say, for Aylem. Oh boy, did he pour on the charm. He even flirted a little with Fassex, who was vastly amused by it. It was going great right up to the moment Aylem dismounted.

"Aylem?' Imstay asked in a little voice.

"Yes?"

"You got taller," he said in an even smaller voice.

She sighed and grimaced, "it was an accident."

"Ah," was all he could manage for a reply. Given he was a man's man, with that eye-candy physique, I could see where the height difference might take a chomp out of his self-image.

"Well, Mighty One," Fassex jumped in, stampeding the awkward moment out of existence. "how do you like our little welcoming gift for the Impotuan camp?" Flames and smoke were rising from multiple places behind the palisade surrounding the Impotuan camp.

"Are those the instant fireballs Emily invented?" He smiled humorlessly. “Better them than me. What’s wrong with their mages? They should be getting those fires knocked down by now.”

“The charm of extinction doesn’t work on white phosphorus,” I reminded the King. “Remember the shoe?”

The momentary fish face he made told me he had forgotten. Then the smile he made was evil and full of schadenfreude. “So sad for those shrine-attacking rapists,” there was some real anger in his words so I assumed he knew of some atrocities that the Impotuans had already committed.

"Well, my two... sorry, Great One," he made a bowing obeisance to me. "My three lovely ladies, will you join me? We're having a variety of meats done on an outdoor spit for dinner." He held the tent flap open for us.

Fassex sat down and then said to the empty tent, "whoever you are, I am not fooled so show your face."

Usruldes materialized in one of the corners of the sand table room.

"Excellent," I said and ran up to tug on his pant leg. "Can I have a w...word with you, Lord Usruldes, in private?"

He bowed an obeisance at me, "of course, Great One."

---