INITIATION ULTIMATE, Chapter 18.2: Narrated by Saphara

One of the Initiates has been inflicted with a bite that means death if left untreated.

Talaimai, Attenti, and I arrive at the New Initiation Shores Wall in less than twenty minutes, only to see that Rede has disappeared from the spot Talaimai had left her.  "Messenger Enrico, where's Messenger Arwain?" my brother asks the first Messenger he can find.

            "'Fraid I can't tell you that, sir."

            Talaimai takes the Messenger by his collar and pushes him up against the tree, shining his flashlight in the Initiate's eyes.  "I am your Warleader, I am a higher rank than you are, and I have every right to know."

            "M-My Reg told me not to tell anyone, s-sir..."  The younger Initiate cowers under Talaimai's grip, head bowed and shoulders hunched with submission, but he holds his ground.

            "Yes, you are not to tell any civilians or any soldier Initiates lower ranking than you.  It's to keep the peace.  Believe me, Messenger, I know what I'm talking about.  Now... where is she?  You are to tell me immediately."

            The Messenger shakes his head stubbornly, lips flattened in fear and head turned to avoid looking at the flashlight.  "J-Just following my orders, sir..."

            "Hrr...  I don't have time for this.  I will be speaking to you later."  Talaimai shoves the Initiate away and then looks around anxiously.  He spots someone in the distant forest and sprints toward them, Attenti and I following close behind.

            "Salitaris!"

            "Wah!" The second Messenger startles at the sight of my brother.  

             "Where's Rede?"  Talaimai asks, a pleading tone creeping into his voice.

            The Messenger, Salitaris, quickly regains his bearings and then gestures for us to follow.  "Wowit'sgoodtoseeyouTal.  Come quick!  They wanna cut her leg off!  You gotta stop them!  They won't listen to me!"

 

            Salitaris rushes us back through the dark forest to a medical tent, identified by a painted on red cross.  Lanterns and torches illuminating the tent, Rede lays awake on a cot as Initiates posing as medics draw lines below her knee with a permanent marker.  Below the knee, there's a bloody bite wound, and around the bite, a black web-like pattern snakes around her leg.  Talaimai grabs the first medic he can find and shoves him into a table of tools, causing the tools to go flying and nearly knocking over a lantern in the process.

"Whoa!" the medic yelps, staggering to his feet and brandishing a scalpel in Talaimai's direction.

"Hey!  Get him out of here!" the head medic orders.

"That's the Warleader!" another Initiate medic exclaims.

"What are you doing, Talaimai?" Rede cries worriedly.

"They're going to cut off your leg!" Talaimai shouts, pointing angrily at the team of frightened medics.

"Shh, shh...  Come here, Talaimai," Rede soothes, voice quaking.  My brother kneels by her cot, and for the first time I realize that he's shaking.  Shaking like...  He must have looked Rede's attacker in the eyes.  It's a wonder he can move after the effects, has his body adapted to resist them?  Or maybe it's just fear that causes him to tremble.

When Talaimai speaks, his voice is steely and insistent, as if he's wearing one of those emotional masks that my mother would wear so often.  "You can't let them do this," he tells Rede.  "You remember what happened the last time?"

"I remember," Rede says bravely, wearing an emotional mask as well.  "But do I really have a choice?  If this venom spreads, then I will die a long painful death.  Right now, the bite location is numb...  This point is when surgery will be the most optimal.  It's either lose a leg or die, Talaimai..."

"These people don't know what they're doing!" Talaimai shouts.  "They're young, and they're as untrained and inexperienced in removing legs as you and I are!  I can handle a finger now and then, but a leg?  It will be the death of you!  You saw what they did to Antakai!  Rede... I cannot lose you.  I.  Cannot.  Lose.  You.  These people are going to bleed you to death!  I can't have it!"

"Don't scare me, Talaimai!  You're only making it worse!"  Mask broken, tears run down Rede's cheeks, and this time, she doesn't try to conceal them.  "Look, you have to let them try to save me," she chokes out.  "It's either die like this, or die from the painful nervous damage that the venom brings on.  It's already affecting me... You have to let them operate before it gets any worse."

There's a moment of stony silence, and a sinking feeling overwhelms the tent when Talaimai finally speaks.  "Every day," he begins, "I think about what happened to Antakai and what we could have done to save her.  There came a point in time where I was like, 'hell with it!'  My hero, Antakai, was dead, and there's nothing I could have done to save her.  And then, I found in my heart a love for you, Rede, and my hopelessness became 'what can I do to protect the one I love if this was to happen again?'  I came up with a plan to protect you.  If this plan works, you do not need to lose a leg, Rede.  You do not need to risk bleeding to death."

"What can I do?"  Rede's gazes into Talaimai's eyes hopefully, waiting to hear his solution.

Talaimai looks at Attenti and I, and for the first time I remember that I'm standing at the large tent's entrance, watching the scene unfold.  "It's up to Attenti and Saphara this time.  Attenti, do you remember where the Beacon is located?"

"Yes, sir!" Attenti says, serious and focused.

"Take Saphara with you to the Beacon.  Once you get there, ask for an Exodus.  The people guarding the beacon will know exactly what you are speaking of, and they will give it to you.  Once you have received an Exodus, bring it back to us as fast as you can.  It's Rede's time to return home for treatment."