Page 37 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

“You’re going to be fine,” he repeated to Molun, bending all his will to it, to believing that it would be true because he was going to break down if he thought of the alternative.

“I’m going to stay with you, I promise. And Arvus will be back in no time.

As soon as they take care of the demons and can find the horses.

Prince Horsey is clearly the smartest of them, and that’s really handy when something goes wrong.

Not that this is wrong, this is just a… a setback ,” he said triumphantly, as he thought of the word and almost sagged in relief.

“Yes! This is just a setback, like what happened with Renny, but you saw how she came back better than ever. This is going to be the same. ”

Perian might be crying now, but he still managed to tell Molun all sorts of things.

He rambled about how he apologized for running in the wrong direction with the ribbon, he was going to feed Prince Horsey every apple and carrot that the castle had—even if it meant there was an apple pie shortage—Nisal was awesome, everyone else was fine, obviously, because they were Mage Warriors, and the doctor was clearly the best, or they wouldn’t be taking care of Renny, so absolutely everything was under control.

Molun was totally fine, because he obviously needed to have this best training story to tell all his friends.

And then the castle was in view, and all other thoughts flew out of Perian’s head; all he could do was lean into Prince Horsey and encourage him to gallop as fast as he could—as if he wasn’t already doing that, but they were near the end now, and that’s when there was a little extra burst of speed, right?

They were on the fastest horse ever, Perian had remembered the tonic and the ribbon, Nisal had known about making the bandages, and if you needed someone with a positive outlook, that was all Perian was concentrating on right now.

Molun was going to be totally, totally fine, and he was going to be fine the quicker they got to the doctor.

Perian didn’t even realize he was yelling until he heard the echo of the words out loud.

He had no idea what he was saying, and he decided after a moment that it didn’t really matter.

All that mattered was getting everyone’s attention, because a screaming rider on a horse that was racing for the stables meant there was something wrong, right?

They thundered into the stable yard amidst a great explosion of sound, including screams that weren’t Perian, but he didn’t even care. All that mattered was that they were here. Prince Horsey had got them back, and they were going to be all right.

Hands were lifting Molun down, and then they were lifting Perian down, which was good, because he wasn’t sure any of his limbs worked.

He realized he was chanting, “doctor, doctor, doctor,” over and over again only when the woman appeared.

“What happened?”

She was already running over as soon as she saw them, and Perian could have fainted with relief.

She was looking anxiously at both of them, although she’d gone to her knees in front of Molun. Why was she looking at Perian like that? Only then he looked down, and he realized he was covered in blood.

“It’s just Molun,” Perian hurriedly explained, voice sounding hoarse and strained.

“There was a lesser demon attack when we were separated in the woods. It’s his leg.

” Wait, that was wrapped, she could probably tell that.

He was giving unnecessary info. He had to focus on what was important.

“There was so much blood. It was kind of spurting—Nisal and I are a mess—and they thought it hit an artery, but I’m sure it’s not that.

We got the wound covered to stop the bleeding, and I got two tonics into him, and I really hope that it’s all right to give someone two, Doctor, because that was what I had, and I figured that had to be better than one, right? ”

He wavered a little on his feet, and someone was suddenly holding him upright.

“That’s fine,” she told him, scrutinizing him carefully. “Are you sure you aren’t injured?”

“The demon got Molun,” Perian repeated. “It was coming after me because I yelled to stop it, but then Nisal was there, and they drove it off. Or killed it. I wasn’t watching. I was trying to help Molun.”

The doctor had already mobilized people to carry Molun back to her rooms.

“I need to come with you,” Perian said. “I promised I would stay with him. He wouldn’t like to be alone right now.”

She nodded and said, “Bring him.”

Perian thought this was a funny thing to say until someone scooped him up, and he realized that he didn’t have to try to walk—oh, they weren’t walking, they were all running through the castle, the corridors blurring together.

He couldn’t have kept up without the nice person who was carrying him.

Unless he was on a horse. You were probably not supposed to have horses in the castle, though.

He was pretty sure that was a rule. Was that a rule?

“It’s a rule,” someone told him, and he nodded, because that made sense. There wasn’t any grass, so they probably wouldn’t like it anyway.

Suddenly, they were in the doctor’s workroom, and it was chaos that Perian couldn’t totally track.

Someone set him down in a chair, and he managed to sit up and sort of watch everything a little bit blankly.

It was like he was seeing everything through glass, until suddenly Cormal was in his face. He looked angry .

Where had he come from?

“They said it was demons?”

Perian blinked at him, managing to nod. “Lesser demons. I don’t know why you call them lesser, really. They’re terrifying!”

Cormal grabbed his arms, fingers grasping hard. Perian sucked in a breath.

“How many demons?” Cormal demanded, voice hard. “Where are the others?”

Perian shook his head. “I think two went by us? Three? One got Molun, and then Nisal was able to stop it, but the other kept running. I think? Or was there only one?” He sucked in a breath. “It happened really fast. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Cormal looked worried, and his grip on Perian’s arm was painful, but that was actually a bit grounding.

Emotion pinched Cormal’s face. “The others?”

Perian shook his head. “We were split up. Training exercise in the woods. I don’t know where the others were when the attack happened.

Nisal said they would take care of everything, that I had to get Molun back, because Prince Horsey is the fastest horse.

” He suddenly gripped Cormal back. “You’ll send others to help? ”

He looked even angrier for a second, but then his expression softened a little. “Of course, I’ll send others to help. That’s why I’m trying to find out what happened.”

“I don’t know much,” Perian apologized. “It happened so fast, and then all I could worry about was Molun. Sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Cormal said. “I’ll take care of it.”

Perian nodded. “Thank you.”

Cormal disappeared again, and Perian refocused on Molun. The doctor had already cut away the ribbon and bandage. Someone was sponging off blood as she peered at the wound and snapped out instructions.

“He’s going to be fine, right?” Perian asked before it occurred to him that she probably needed to concentrate.

He pressed his lips together and tried to remind himself that now it was time for others to work, and he needed to not interrupt. He felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that he is.

” Her eyes darted to him, and then she continued, “You know, I think you were right, and he wouldn’t like to be alone right now.

Would you come and hold his hand and tell him that he’s going to be well?

Positive reinforcement is very helpful.”

Perian nodded hurriedly, even though this made the world swim a little.

But the doctor had given him a purpose. Perian pulled the chair closer to the table and squeezed Molun’s hand, which was limp in his grasp.

But that was all right, because it was definitely better to be unconscious when the doctor was sewing up part of your leg and some of the parts that were usually on the inside were on the outside.

“It’s actually kind of gross,” Perian told the unconscious man in a low voice.

“But that’s all right. The doctor is making sure that your insides stay on your insides and your outsides are on the outside, the way it’s supposed to be.

Nisal and I tried as hard as we could with our clothes and the ribbon, but the doctor actually has practice at this. It’s her whole job.”

The moment when the doctor reset the bone was one of the most disturbing that Perian had ever experienced—which he would have thought he’d maybe hit his limit on, what with all the blood and the bits of Molun’s insides that he’d seen.

But when she set it, he could actually hear the sound of bone grinding against bone, and Molun, even as unconscious as he was, had let out a groan of pain.

“Oh, wow,” Perian said, stomach a little queasy.

“I’m so sorry that hurt so much, and I’m really glad you were unconscious for it.

But now your leg is straight again, which is really awesome, and if I never have to hear that sound again, I would be perfectly happy with that.

” He gazed at the doctor. “You really just… pull it into place like that, huh?”

For a moment, his mind had spun totally blank.

She huffed out a breath and sounded almost amused, though her face was still pinched with worry, and her hands were covered in blood. There were bloody towels around her workbench, where she kept wiping them clean.

“Just like that,” she agreed.