Book 1: Chapter 39

Book 1: Chapter 39

Kay moaned in pain as Coultron kicked him in the ribs.

“Now, do you know your place?” Coultron leaned forward and spat in Kay’s face. “I am Coultron Basilin, and I will not have some beast-lover getting in my way!” He shifted the hammer to a two-handed grip and raised it up above his head.

“City Guard!” Someone shouted. “Drop your weapon!”

Coultron swung for Kay’s head.

A hand grabbed the hammer out of Coultron’s grasp as easily as picking up a rock from the ground. Captain Armis looked down at Kay’s broken body, then back at Coultron. “You’re under arrest.”

“This man is an intruder who-”

“I’ve spoken to three different witnesses that identified you and two others as responsible for kidnapping this man off the street two days ago.” Armis glanced at the hammer, then tossed it on the ground. “You’re under arrest.”

Coultron said something as more guards showed up and started dragging people away, but Kay didn’t understand anything. The pain was a visceral force pulling him under.

Captain Armis crouched down next to him, a grimace on his face. “Someone get me a healer!” He shouted.

That was the last thing Kay remembered.

When he woke up, he was blissfully free of pain. He tried to look at his arms to see how they were, but someone pushed his head back down onto the pillow.

“Go back to sleep now, if you would.” A blurry person with an indistinct voice told him. “We’ll wake you up again when we’re done.”

Kay drifted back into unconsciousness.

Someone gently tapped Kay’s cheek. “Time to wake up, please.”

“Muh?” Kay’s head rolled to the side as he tried to look at the person next to him.

“So?” Eleniah watched Captain Armis as she held open the door.

“So, you’re under house arrest until further notice.” Armis very carefully maneuvered Kay through the doorway. “While there were mitigating circumstances, you did attack people and do significant damage to the front of that building.”

“They-”

He cut her off. “I know. They kidnapped your student, and anyone who thought you wouldn’t go after him is a moron. I would have preferred that you come to the Guards first, but I understand why you didn’t.”

Eleniah closed her eyes and sighed. “So, house arrest.”

“For the duration of our investigation, yes.” They paused a moment to reposition Kay. “It’s probably going to be longer than I like to finish, with everything else that’s going on.”

She rubbed at her forehead. “At least it’ll give him time to heal before we leave.”

“As much as I hate to say it, that’s probably a good idea.”

“We’re leaving?” Kay asked, his head bobbing side to side.

Eleniah looked at him and chuckled wryly. “Yes, but we’ll talk about it when you’re all the way here.”

“Okay!”

The rest of the trip back to the house was a blur. The next solid thought Kay had was when he started laying down in his bed. “Hey, Eleniah?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

She paused and looked at him, then smiled. “Yes. Things are much better than they could have been.” She gently rubbed his head. “Now, sleep until you can think properly. I need you to understand me when I yell at you about situational awareness.”