Book One – Chapter 18

Yu did not know what was wrong with him. He had heard and seen everything — had understood, somewhere deep down, that something was demanded of him, but at the same time, he was just not there anymore. Sometimes it was like this, when he heard many voices from different places, and listened to all, all of them loud and equally close in his head, until he lost track of where he actually stood, physically. Above that, he was also … just utterly exhausted, body and mind. He had arrived not a day ago, and since he got up, there had not been not a single moment of rest, and about one million moments of terror.

And yet, somehow, his body moved. A single step forward. Then he faltered.

“Can I eat something after?” he asked.

Bubs’ black eyes fixed on him. “No.”

“But —”

“I will tell you when to eat. Now get Deltington.”

So Yu left, got to the common room and told Deltington.

And then, God help him, he said he was going to the toilet. He did not even go back to the medical room first. He just blurted it out to Deltington, so there would be no chance for Bubs to object. And then, without waiting for conformation, Yu bolted upstairs.

Voices followed him – one voice.

The borman’s low, rumbling insistence drifted after him, repeating again that the selder needed only rest and that Bubs should treat the human.

“This selder,” Bubs cut in. “I assume you conscripted him for the trail?”

A pause.

“You paid him to guide you,” rephrased Bubs.

“He is the guide of we,” the borman confirmed. “He leave the tribe. He is with … with we.”

“I guessed as much. Listen. The selder mountain guides have their own arrangements with the guild —”

“He come to speak with the captain. With the guild captain.”

Bubs halted.

So did Yu. He halted on the stairs, thighs clamped tight, squeezing hard and listening with every scrap of focus he had left.

“And so he may,” Bubs said at last, very slowly. “But before that, I treat him. What you need to understand is this: the selder is your guide, not your party member. You do not decide how he is treated. We do. The guild knows how the selder want to be treated. This is an arrangement that we have. And so I will examine him. And I will do so without any further disturbance from you.”

Yu aborted. He turned and stumbled up the stairs. There were more words and then Deltington, but he could not catch them. He needed the toilet so badly that he could not listen a second longer.