The Warded Man

arm, and give the apprentices their lesson. Before she knew it, the sun had set, and the apprentices wereall in bed. She turned the wicks down to a dim orange glow, and made a last sweep through the rows of beds, making sure the patients were comfortable before she went upstairs for the night. She met Rojer’s eyes as she passed, and he beckoned, but she smiled and shook her head. She pointed to him, then put her hands together as if praying, leaned her cheek against them, and closed her eyes.
    Rojer frowned, but she winked at him and kept on, knowing he wouldn’t follow. His casts had come off, but Rojer complained of pain and weakness despite the clean mend.
    At the end of the room, she took the time to pour herself a cup of water. It was a warm spring night, and the pitcher was damp with condensation. She brushed her hand against her apron absently to dry it, and there was a crinkle of paper. She remembered Vika’s letter and pulled it out, breaking the seal with her thumb and tilting the page toward the lamp as she drank.
    A moment later, she dropped her cup. She didn’t notice, or hear the ceramic shatter. She clutched the paper tightly and fled the room.
    Leesha was sobbing quietly in the darkened kitchen when Rojer found her.
    “Are you all right?” he asked quietly, leaning heavily on his cane.
    “Rojer?” she sniffed. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
    Rojer didn’t answer, coming to sit beside her. “Bad news from home?” he asked.
    Leesha looked at him a moment, then nodded. “That chill my father caught?” she asked, waiting for Rojer to nod his recollection before going on. “He seemed to get better, but it came back with a vengeance. Turns out it was a flux that’s run from one end of the Hollow to the other. Most seem to be pulling through it, but the weaker ones …” She began to weep again.
    “Someone you know?” Rojer asked, cursing himself as he said it. Of course it was someone she knew. Everyone knew everyone in the hamlets.
    Leesha didn’t notice the slip. “My mentor, Bruna,” she said, fat teardrops falling onto her apron. “A few others, as well, and two children I never had the chance to meet. Over a dozen in all, and more than half the town still laid up. My father worst amongst them.”
    “I’m sorry,” Rojer said.
    “Don’t feel sorry for me; it’s my fault,” Leesha said.
    “What?” Rojer asked.
    “I should have been there,” Leesha said. “I haven’t been Jizell’s apprentice in years. I promised to return to Cutter’s Hollow when my studies were done. If I had kept my promise, I would have been there, and perhaps …”
    “I saw the flux kill some people in Woodsend once,” Rojer said. “Would you like to add those to your conscience? Or those that die in this very city, because you can’t tend them all?”
    “That’s not the same and you know it,” Leesha said.
    “Isn’t it?” Rojer asked. “You said yourself that it does nothing to serve the dead if you stop living yourself out of guilt.”
    Leesha looked at him, her eyes round and wet.
    “So what do you want to do?” Rojer asked. “Spend the night crying, or start packing?”
    “Packing?” Leesha asked.
    “I have a Messenger’s portable circle,” Rojer said. “We can leave for Cutter’s Hollow in the morning.”
    “Rojer, you can barely walk!” Leesha said.
    Rojer lifted his cane, set it on the counter, and stood. He walked a bit stiffly, but unaided.
    “Been faking to keep your warm bed and doting women a bit longer?” Leesha asked.
    “I never!” Rojer blushed. “I’m … just not ready to perform yet.”
    “But you’re fit to walk all the way to Cutter’s Hollow?” Leesha asked. “It would take a week without a horse.”
    “I doubt I’ll need to do any backflips on the way,” Rojer said.
    “I can do it.”
    Leesha crossed her arms and shook her head. “No. I absolutely forbid it.”
    “I’m not some apprentice you can forbid,” Rojer said.
    “You’re my patient,” Leesha shot back, “and I’ll forbid anything that puts your healing in jeopardy. I’ll hire a Messenger to take me.”
    “Good luck finding one,” Rojer said. “The weekly man south will have left today, and at this time of year, most of the others will be booked. It’ll cost a fortune to convince one to drop everything and take you to Cutter’s Hollow. Besides, I can drive corelings away with my fiddle. No Messenger can offer you that.”
    “I’m sure you could,” Leesha