The Mantis Corruption - Book Three - 16. Chapter 16 - Home

A pale light was still emanating from the wound in Harakin’s neck. Her voice sounded harsh and raspy in the quiet darkness. “Are we safe?” she asked. She looked up at Sumi’s face, which was illuminated by the faint glow.

Sumi was cradling her.

Dozi and Ilya looked at each other.

“Safe?” asked Ilya.

Dozi lit a candle.

“Where are we?” Harakin whispered.

Instead of answering, Dozi spoke up, “How did you get in here?”

Ilya ignored her. “What did you mean are we safe? Did something happen? Where did you come from?”

Harakin’s head dropped and the light from her neck died.

Dozi’s eyes went wide, and she leapt to her feet. “Ilya, the mystic’s wound patch!” she ordered, as she rushed to Sumi’s side. “Bring me more candles!” she demanded. “It’s a deep cut. I need his pilipili ointment!” she called to Ilya. Dozi then looked into Sumi’s eyes. “What’s your name, girl?”

“Sumi,” she replied in a frightened voice. It felt like Harakin’s life was slipping away, and there was nothing she could do.

Ilya stepped up behind Dozi. “Here!” She handed Dozi the patch.

“I need more light!” Dozi barked.

“Got it!” Ilya replied.

A moment later, several candles were burning.

With careful precision, Dozi spread the ointment over the terrible wound. She laid the patch over it and wrapped Harakin’s neck in a long bandage strip.

“Put her in my bed,” Dozi commanded.

Sumi stood, holding Harakin in her arms, and gently placed her on the cot. Dozi spread a blanket over her, and Sumi could not stop a sob that choked its way up her throat. Tears welled in her eyes.

“Come on, Ilya!” Dozi snapped. “We’re not done here! Is that dispenser set up yet?”

“Almost!”

“Hurry up!”

“She’s lost so much blood,” Sumi managed between shuddering breaths. The emotions that she always felt toward the cruel medics back at the compound began to prickle in the back of her mind.

However, as she watched the two young women treating Harakin, there was something unfamiliar happening in the shadowy basement. It was something Sumi was not used to, something she had forgotten.

Dozi and Ilya cared.

Although the two of them were shouting at each other in a jarring way, and Harakin and Sumi may have both been complete strangers, they were trying to save Harakin’s life.

“Get the tube connected!”

“Where’s the clamp?”

“Wheel that thing over here!”

“Move it out of the way!”

Dozi reached down to Harakin and released the top few buttons of her shirt.

“What are you doing?” Sumi managed to ask. She felt the urge to step in and stop Dozi from disrobing Harakin while she was unconscious.

“We need to apply this directly over her heart,” Dozi explained. She indicated things as she spoke, none of which Sumi recognized. “The alchemical potion, here, will run down this tube for the next hour, and she will slowly absorb the medicine through her skin.”

Sumi was uncomfortable with what she was hearing. “That’s not how the medics treat us. What if it hurts her?”

“What medics?” Ilya asked.

Sumi looked at Dozi, then at Ilya. “We are…” she began, but her voice went up at the end like a question, “soldiers.”

The constant threat of torment stole much of Sumi’s free will while living at the compound, but in the basement, her mind started moving like lightning. She thought about her existence for the first time in years. Sumi’s brain was never given the opportunity to feel hope.

As Dozi and Ilya finished their care for Harakin, they left her sleeping and brought Sumi into the kitchen.

“We can’t go back,” Sumi whispered, and she looked back at Harakin. “We were taken from our families, a long time ago. They make us do bad things there. We can’t go back,” she repeated.

“Can’t go back where?” Ilya asked.

Sumi furrowed her brow. “There are officers, a commander, prisoners, the medics,” she listed. “It’s underground. We can’t go back!” she said again, with more urgency.

“We are not going to make you go back,” Ilya replied. She reached out and put her hand on Sumi’s arm.

Sumi flinched, but that did not stop Ilya from gently taking ahold of Sumi’s limb in a gesture of affection that was entirely foreign to her.

Dozi pointed back toward her bed and asked, “What’s her name?”

“Harakin,” Sumi replied.

“Can you tell us how you got here?” Ilya said in a gentle voice.

Sumi nodded and answered, “I can make doorways. They let me go from one place to another.”

“You’re a Shift?” Dozi asked.

“I don’t… I don’t know what that is,” Sumi responded.

Dozi and Ilya looked at each other.

“How do you not know what a Shift is?” Dozi asked.

“I’m a Shift,” Ilya said, and she activated her powers. Her feet lifted off the floor of the basement, and she hovered with a smile on her face.

Sumi looked amazed, and Ilya planted her feet back on the ground.

“I can’t do that!” Sumi declared.

“No, no,” Ilya replied with a chuckle, “each Shift is unique. I can fly.”

“Can she do something?” Dozi asked, and she tested her name. “Harakin?”

Sumi turned her astonished gaze from Ilya and nodded at Dozi. “Yes,” she answered, “Harakin can make blades out of light. I’ve never seen a wound glow like her neck was glowing though. That was…” she paused, “weird.”

“So, wait, how did you get here?” Ilya asked again.

“I made a doorway, but I don’t know why it brought us here.” She looked back at Harakin. “Thank you for helping her,” Sumi whispered.

The three women stood in silence for a moment.

“By the by, I’m Ilya and this is Dozi. Did you two come from somewhere outside of Teshon City?”

Sumi looked puzzled. “I don’t know what that is.”

“Teshon City?” Dozi asked. “This is Teshon City. We live there, or rather, here. You’re in it.”

“I’ve never heard of it before. The compound is near the Ru River.”

“The compound?” Ilya asked.

“The Ru River?” Dozi added.

Sumi was confused. “You don’t know the River? It’s the lifeblood of Xin.”

Dozi and Ilya made eye contact again.

“Shin?” Dozi asked.

“Xin,” Sumi repeated in her accent, “it’s where we’re from.” She looked over at Harakin again, and her eyes lingered on her only friend in the world.

“I’ve never heard of Xin,” said Ilya. “Is that a village located somewhere in the forests or mountains that surround Teshon City?”

“What?” Sumi was bemused and her head was spinning. She looked like her head was spinning. “I… I don’t even know what you mean.”

Ilya decided to give the newcomer a break. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “Would you like some food?”

Dozi followed Ilya’s lead. “Yeah, let’s throw something together and let her sleep.” She indicated Harakin and handed Sumi a cold meat pie. “Start with that,” Dozi added, “and I’ll make something hot.” She put a frying pan on her single-burner stove as Sumi took a tentative bite.

Her eyes began to sparkle, and she took a much bigger bite. “What issh thissh?” she asked with her mouth full. She sounded astonished.

“It’s just a meat pie,” Dozi said with a dismissive shrug.

Ilya was scrutinizing Sumi. “You’ve never eaten something like this?”

“The only thing,” Sumi mumbled with her mouth stuffed with meat pie, “they ever us,” she swallowed, “was carbohydrate bars and protein gruel, nutrients sufficient for what they made us do.” She looked over at Harakin and tears came to her eyes again.

“It’s okay,” Ilya comforted. “We’re not going to make you do anything. Don’t worry,” she continued. “Meat pies are a common dish here. Dozi’s are good, though, aren’t they? And hey, you can relax a little. You’re safe here,” she added.

Dozi looked up from the frying pan and over her shoulder at Sumi. She gave her a warm smile and a small nod. “This place has been home to a number of us strays over the time that I’ve lived here.” Dozi then turned all the way around and looked over at Harakin. “Sumi, if you two need a place to stay, you can stay here with us for as long as you want,” Dozi offered.

Ilya smiled at Dozi and added, “Welcome to Teshon City!”

A few hours later, Harakin began to stir, and she sat up. She brought her hand to the bandage on her neck.

“Careful,” Ilya said in a quiet voice, “don’t mess with that.”

Harakin looked over at her and mumbled, “Where’s Sumi?”

“I’m right here!” Sumi called, coming out from Dozi’s kitchen area. “I’m here,” she repeated softly. “You’re safe. Somehow, we’re not in Xin anymore; my doorway took us to a completely different part of the world. This is Dozi and Ilya,” she added. “Neither of them has ever heard of Xin. We’re in a place called Teshon City.”

“That’s a lot of information to lay on someone who just woke up,” Dozi commented. She turned to Harakin. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

Harakin furrowed her brow. “Weak,” she replied.

“Do you want some food?” Dozi offered.

Harakin nodded.

Ilya jumped up and grabbed one of Dozi’s meat pies. “Here you go,” she said, handing it to Harakin.

“You need to regain your strength,” Dozi encouraged. “We’ve been chatting with Sumi, and when you’re up for it, we’d like to take you to see some friends. One of them is a healer who can provide you with better treatment for your neck. That’s just temporary,” she added, indicating on her own neck.

Harakin nodded with her mouth full. She also seemed amazed by the simple meat pie.

“Sumi told us about where you came from,” Ilya said. “It sounded horrible.”

“Dozi’s offered us a place to stay here with her and Ilya,” Sumi informed Harakin. “We never have to go back,” she said in a choked voice, as a lump rose in her throat. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes again.

Dozi nodded. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through, and look, this city can be tough, but at least you’ll be able to make a life for yourself. Sumi told us that you were made to feel like you don’t belong around people.” She looked over at Ilya. “We both think you’ve simply met the wrong sort of people.”

“Yeah,” Ilya agreed, “I’m a Shift, too. For a long time, I kept myself hidden, but now I’m part of a family.”

“What’s a Shift?” Harakin asked between bites.

“We are,” Sumi replied. “That’s what they call people like us in this part of the world.”

Harakin frowned. “I didn’t think there were any other people like us.”

Dozi interjected. “Erm… I’m not actually a Shift,” she said. “I’m just a boring old human.”

Ilya gave her a playful slap. “Don’t say that!” she said with a smile. Ilya turned to Sumi and Harakin. “Our neofamily is made up of several Shifts, like us, a few wonderful humans, like Dozi here, a couple of ex-Messiahs, and even a Bio-Shift!”

“They’re all good people,” Dozi confirmed, “accepting people. Once you’ve finished eating, we can head over to the mystic’s place so he can give your wound proper care.”

Sumi perked up and asked, “Mystic?”

“He’s a healer,” Ilya explained. “He lives with his husband and daughter in Shifton. They used to live over here near us, but they moved more than a year ago. Tchama is another friend you’ll get to meet. She lives with them, too.”

“She used to live here in the basement with us,” Dozi added, “but she was injured a few months ago during a battle, and it’s been easier for her to stay with the mystic while she relearns how to do some things.”

Harakin finished eating while listening. Then she informed the others, “I think I’m ready to go see him.”

The four of them headed up the stairs with Sumi and Ilya assisting Harakin. They slipped out of the secret entrance behind the old fan cage and started to head inland toward Gate Town.

The city was beginning to lighten with the rising sun.

“That pile of rubble,” Ilya said, pointing toward the ruins of the Messiah Tower, “was until recently, the home and headquarters for many of the city’s Messiahs. They’re the ones who attacked Gate Town a few months back. Good riddance,” she added.

“They’re still out there,” Dozi commented.

“Yeah, but the resistance took out a lot of them, and now they don’t have a base.”

Harakin asked, “Who are these…” but she groaned and grabbed her neck.

Sumi and Ilya stopped walking and held her upright, and Sumi said, “Are you okay?”

Harakin held up her hand to indicate that she was alright. She decided to keep her question brief. “Messiahs?”

Ilya continued. “We told Sumi a little about them already while you rested. They are a group of super-strong people who stole their power by murdering Shifts like us, and eating their mantis glands. They’re bad people.” She then seemed to correct herself, “But some Messiahs have left their kind. They aren’t part of that group anymore, like Auntie Peg.”

The quartet reached the edge of Gate Town and Dozi informed their new friends, “This is actually the safest place for Shifts to live, and more specifically farther in, the neighborhood of Shifton.”

“Why don’t you live there?” Sumi asked Ilya.

She shrugged. “I lived as a human and kept my gifts a secret for so long that it’s still easy for me to do.”

They took their time with Harakin through the quiet streets, and Ilya pointed out when they entered Shifton.

In a few blocks, Dozi said, “That’s the house, there,” and she nodded to the end of the street.

Ilya knocked on the front door. “They’re going to be surprised to see us at such an hour,” she commented.

The latch on the other side clicked and Theolan opened the door.

“Well, hello there, ladies,” he exclaimed. “To what do we owe this early morning pleasure? And hello, new friends,” he added to the two women with Dozi and Ilya, who he did not recognize.

“This is Sumi and Harakin,” Dozi informed him. “We are hoping your hubby can take a look at the wound on her neck.”

“Where are my manners?” Theolan questioned the world at large. “Come in, come in! Honey,” he called back into the house, “we’ve got company!”

“Who’s here?” Tchama’s voice hollered back. Her head popped out of the kitchen, and her eyes lit up. “Dozi! Ilya!” Tchama came into the foyer and wrapped each of them in a single-armed embrace. A sash with rainbow stripes was pinned around her neck, and it draped over her recent injury, covering the healed remains of her shoulder.

Ilya stepped close and asked Tchama quietly, “How are you feeling today?”

Tchama guffawed. “You say that as if you don’t come to check on me almost every single day.” She tied to speak cheerfully, but her tone was a little flat.

Ilya worried that if Tchama stopped trying to keep herself pepped up, she would plummet into the dark dour doldrums of misery.

Sumi came up behind Ilya and Tchama and said, “They told me what happened to you at the battle recently. How has it been, learning to do everything with one hand?”

Tchama sighed. “There are frustrating moments. I’ve broken a few things here in the house,” she added, and she turned a guilty expression toward Theolan.

“You’ve done so well!” he encouraged.

Dozi interrupted. “Theolan, we need your husband!”

“Greetings!” the mystic called from upstairs. The little round man descended and hugged Ilya and Dozi. “Introductions, introductions!”

“This is Sumi,” Dozi indicated, “and this is Harakin, who needs some fairly immediate medical attention!”

The mystic snapped to action. “I noticed the bandage but suspected it was an old injury.” He was already heading into another part of the house.

“It’s very fresh,” Dozi informed him as she followed with Harakin.

“To the kitchen,” the mystic instructed them all. “Tell me your name again, my dear,” he requested of Harakin, and she did. “What happened to you?” he asked.

Harakin looked at Sumi, who replied for her.

“We were on a mission. It didn’t go well. I thought she was going to die.” Then Sumi added quietly, “I thought she did die.”

The mystic gingerly removed the bandage from Harakin’s neck. “That won’t be happening on this day,” he informed Sumi with a confident smile. He then looked into Harakin’s eyes. “You’re not going to die, Harakin. Did I get the pronunciation correct?”

Harakin nodded, but she winced.

The mystic looked mortified. “I apologize for making you move your neck! That was terrible timing on my part. Please, remain still for the sake of your wound,” he warned her.

It looked angry, but he treated her with masterful skill.

“I need to put in a few stitches,” the mystic said. “This is not going to feel nice, but it will be over quickly.” He dabbed some liquid on a cotton ball and pressed it around the edges of the wound. “You’re gonna have one serious scar when this heals, but at least it will heal.”

Harakin was used to the rough treatment of the medics back at the compound, and the mystic’s ministrations were nothing like theirs.

He threaded a curved needle and said over his shoulder, “Tchama, can Harakin hold your hand?”

“My only hand,” she mumbled to herself.

The mystic looked at Harakin. “Tchama’s very strong, and she can take it, no matter how hard you need to squeeze her fingers.”

Tchama sat beside Harakin and extended her arm with a small smile. They clasped hands.

The mystic said, “Here we go,” and Harakin sucked air through her teeth as he began to apply the first stitch.

Suddenly, the horrible wound started to glow.

“It’s doing it again!” Sumi declared.

The mystic looked shocked. “I can feel it,” he said.

“Heat?” Theolan asked.

The mystic furrowed his brow. “No,” and he touched the wound with his fingertip, “I can feel something physical where the light is.”

“That’s what she can do,” Sumi replied, “make light into knives, but before this, I’d never seen it come from a wound.”

The mystic looked into Harakin’s eyes. “You can make light become physical?”

“Yes, that’s how I survived,” she said, looking back at Sumi. “When my throat was cut, I could feel myself getting weaker, and I told my light to stop the bleeding.”

They all looked at her glowing neck.

“Then you brought down the entire castle,” Sumi whispered.

Everyone turned in Sumi’s direction.

She scrunched up her face in concentration. “When I thought she was about to die,” Sumi informed them, “Harakin made…” she paused to find the right word, “a ceiling, yeah, it was like a ceiling of her light daggers, and she brought it crashing down on the throne room. I escaped back to the compound without her.” Sumi’s voice trailed off.

“Castle?” Tchama asked.

Sumi took Harakin’s other hand. “You haven’t even told me how you survived when the roof caved in.”

Harakin moaned, but then she said, “I’m not certain.” She took a deep breath. “I told my light to stop the bleeding, but in that instant, I resigned myself to die with all those secondary targets.” She sighed. “Everyone else was killed by my assault, but somehow I was protected. It was like a bubble of light appeared on its own and shielded me from my knives.”

The mystic touched the solid light on Harakin’s wound again. “It seems to be keeping your wound closed, but can you please make it go away for a moment? I know these stitches won’t feel good, but you need a few of them.”

She closed her eyes and the light vanished.

“I’m sorry for the discomfort,” the mystic said, as he completed the first stitch.

Harakin squeezed Tchama and Sumi’s hands.

The mystic continued. “I think five should do the trick. Then I’ll apply some ointment and a bandage that you will be able to remove as necessary.” He moved swiftly. “That’s two stitches done,” he informed her. “Three more…” he said and paused. “Last one.”

Harakin was gritting her teeth, but her solid light did not return to the wound.

“Finished!” the mystic proclaimed. “That was the rough part. This will be easier.” He smeared a little bright green salve over the stitches, and Harakin let out a sharp breath. The mystic then wrapped her neck in a fresh cloth bandage. “Perfect,” he concluded.

“Thank you,” Harakin managed. She looked down at Tchama’s hand. “Did I hurt you?” she asked.

Tchama gave her a half smile. “No, it’s pretty hard to hurt me.” She shrugged and her smile faded.

Sumi gingerly pulled her fingers away from Harakin’s other hand. “Ouch,” she whispered.

Harakin smiled a little apology.

Theolan stepped up to his husband, turned to face their guests, and he offered, “Breakfast?”

The group ate muffins with plenty of butter, and the mystic insisted that Sumi and Harakin stay for the day, so that he could give her a fresh bandage in several hours. He also extended the invitation to Dozi and Ilya, and the group spent the morning together.

As noon approached, Theolan said, “If you lot are staying through lunch, you’re in for a treat. Peggy and Dotty are coming here today with Ninyani.”

As if on cue, the front door opened and Auntie Peg called out in a singsong voice, “Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?” She strode in wearing tall high-heeled boots, leggings, and a corset. A bright blue wig was on her head, and her makeup was as dramatic as ever. “Hey, gurls,” she said to them all, “the queens have arrived!”

Ninyani was behind Auntie Peg. The boy was dressed in a lovely floral frock and a dark skirt. He was draped in a sheer shawl and there was a little turquoise eye shadow on his upper lids. Tchama waved at him and he scampered over to her.

“I love your rainbow scarf!” he proclaimed in a squeaky voice.

A tall woman entered behind the boy. She closed the door and struck a pose. “Who’s serving the cuntiest cunt?” she asked, expectantly awaiting an answer.

“Dotty,” the mystic said to her, “you look as ravishing as always!” The little round man stepped up and took her hand. He kissed the back of it, then turned to the others. “This is Harakin and Sumi,” he declared. “They are new friends who will be staying with Dozi and Ilya.” He waved his hand toward the three individuals who just arrived. “And this is Ninyani, Dotty Marbles, and the most elegant of women, folks ’round here call her Auntie Peg, but we all have the privilege of referring to her as Peggy,” the mystic finished.

“This magical trio lives together not far from here,” Theolan added.

“Charmed,” Auntie Peg replied with a wide smile, and she reached out to Harakin and Sumi.

Sumi’s face scrunched up in confusion. “You’re… men?” she asked.

Auntie Peg burst out laughing and Dotty Marbles snickered behind her.

“We are queens, my dear,” Auntie Peg replied, “but yes,” she added with a chuckle, “my beloved, Dotty Marbles, and I undress at night down to the boys that are hidden beneath all this fabulousity and glamor.”

Auntie Peg now posed for them all and Ninyani giggled at her display.

“Righty-oh,” the mystic said, rubbing his belly, “who’s hungry?”✪