Chapter 34 – The Clocksmith and The Doctor

Tel looked right down the street, clear, then left over the top of Shara’s unconscious head. Also clear. He’d made it… somehow.

“We’re… here…” he said, breathing ragged and his chest on fire from exertion. Mostly carrying Shara through damn-near half the city was not something he was built for, but at least she’d been conscious for most of it. Only after Tel was sure the Tailcoats weren’t following them – they had bigger things to deal with – and turned off their stopwatches had she finally relaxed enough to pass out. It’d still been almost a dozen blocks through back-alleys and side streets to get them here. “Just hang on.”

Making sure her right arm was draped enough over his shoulders to give her some support, he secured his grip on her belt, careful to keep his hand away from her shattered ribs, and lifted his right hand to the door. His skin was reddened from using the control-gauntlet he’d left back in the enclave, but it didn’t hurt as he pounded his fist on the wood.

“Doctor Pain! Doctor, are you in there?” he called while he banged.

“No,” Tel hissed at the voice. He’d already given in to it too much back in the enclave, and where had that gotten them? Shara was hurt. Badly. And he may have killed Anad. He’d tried to kill Anad. “This is my fault. This is…”

“She doesn’t think of me like that.”

“It’s who I want to be,” Tel hissed back, then banged on the door. “Doctor Pain. Please open the door. I… we… we need your help.”

Still no answer, and no sound from beyond the door. But, it was a big clinic. Maybe the doctor was just in a back room or something? If he’d been able to come through the tunnels to the underground entrance, that would’ve been easier. And likely would’ve led the Tailcoats right to the doctor…

Wait, what if they’d already found him? What if Anad and that other Tailcoats were in there waiting for him?

“How many times do I have to tell you? That’s not who I am anymore! I just want peace and quiet. To be left alone to work,” Tel shouted at the voice in his head while his fist hammered on the door.

“You’re not the only one,” Doctor Pain said, the door swinging open, and Tel had to catch himself from falling forward as his fist didn’t meet any resistance.

Shara grunted at the sudden jerk, and Tel looked over at her as soon as he had his balance. She was still unconscious, so he turned back to the doctor.

“You’re really a doctor, right?” Tel asked the man who stood in front of him, casually scratching at one of the numerous scars across his bare chest.

Doctor Pain pointed up with his other hand. “That’s what the sign says, if you can read.”

“I need you to help her. She’s hurt, badly,” Tel said, taking a step forward, but the doctor didn’t step out of the doorway.

“I can see that,” Doctor Pain said, taking a quick look up and down the street. “And I also know where you’ve been. Why would I want to risk you leading Tailcoats right to my doorstep?”

“We weren’t followed, I promise,” Tel said. “Look, I can pay for your help. Please.”

“Don’t really need money,” the doctor said, back to scratching his chest. “There’s another clinic that way,” he said, pointing down the street to Tel’s right.

“She doesn’t have time for that. Her breathing doesn’t sound good, and the blood,” he said, pointing at her lips, his stomach twisting into knots just at the thought of having to take her further. The man in front of him didn’t even look where he pointed. This wasn’t working. Tel needed something more… something this man would want...

Tel’s eyes widened at the voice. That was it!

“Thanks for the idea,” he muttered under his breath, then scrambled in his pocket for his stopwatch. “You’re a sorcerer, aren’t you? That’s why you know Born and Neela.”

Doctor Pain’s eyes narrowed, and something about the way he stood went from calmly relaxed to dangerously still, making goosebumps rise across Tel’s skin.

Tel pulled the watch out of his pocket, then thrust his hand forward, palm up. “This watch, it works better than any you’ve seen. You can have it, as payment, if you save her. Please.”

Doctor Pain’s eyes dropped down to the watch for a heartbeat before going back to look at Tel’s face. “Why should I believe you?” he asked, but there was a hint of curiosity in his voice. Every sorcerer wanted a better watch.

“I’m a Clocksmith, but you already know that, right? Well, I’m also a sorcerer, too. I’ve been perfecting this watch for years. I promise, you won’t find another one like it,” Tel said, forcing himself not to look away from the man, despite the predatory look on his face.

Doctor Pain glanced at the watch once more, then again up and down the street, but stepped back out of the doorway. “If you’re lying to me, it won’t only be your friend on death’s door. Huh, that’s pretty good. I should put up a new sign. Death’s door,” he went on, but Tel mostly ignored him and hustled in before he changed his mind.

“Where?” was all he asked.

“From the looks of your friend, she’s going to need the special treatment. Downstairs near where that oaf broke in,” Doctor Pain said, not even offering to help with Shara, and simply walked past to lead the way.

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“We can’t go back into the enclave,” Tel said.

“I figured that when you showed up at my front door,” Doctor Pain said.

“How long do we have before they find us here?”

“Don’t worry about that. There are at least three secret walls between us and the closest passage that sees regular use. If the Tailcoats find us, it’ll be a long time, and a whole lot of luck,” Doctor Pain said, standing at the top of the stairs leading to the basement.

“So, we’re safe?” Tel asked, shuffling forward again.

“Really depends on if that watch is as good as you say it is,” Doctor Pain shrugged, then headed down to the basement.

Getting Shara down the stairs was a process, each step eliciting a grunt of pain from her and threatening to send Tel tumbling forward. He really needed to work out… or something. By the time he got to the basement below, he was breathing even more heavily, his legs were practically jelly, and the doctor was standing down a hall opposite to where they’d gone last time.

“You coming?” Doctor Pain asked, turning to a door with a bar across it. Sliding the heavy metal bar to the side, he opened the door, beckoned for Tel to hurry up and follow, then stepped inside the room.

“No, that’s not suspicious or anything,” Tel muttered, then looked back up the stairs the way he’d come. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to get Shara up those stairs and to another clinic in time. His body was at its limit… if not a mile beyond it. “I hope he isn’t some psycho who chains people up in his basement,” he said quietly to Shara, even though she was still unconscious, and made his way to the open door.

“Bring her in and put her on the table,” Doctor Pain said from inside the room where he stood in front of…

“Shit,” Tel said, looking at the two people chained to the wall.

“And make sure you close the door. This room is insulated so Tailcoats won’t sense chaos energy,” Doctor Pain said, like it was pretty normal to have bound prisoners.

“You want to explain them first?” Tel said, his thumb moving to the plunger of his stopwatch.

“Rapist,” Doctor Pain said, pointing at one. “Child murderer,” he added, pointing at the other. “Any other questions? Table.”

“Yeah, a lot more,” Tel said, not moving.

“Doesn’t look like your friend has time for those, but who am I to judge a patient’s condition? Oh, wait, I’m the doctor. Table,” Doctor Pain said, pointing at the wooden table beside him. It looked clean, like the rest of the room did, actually – even the two chained men – but the stains in the wood couldn’t be anything but blood.

Still, looking at Shara’s pale face and blue’ish lips, it was either trust the doctor or watch her die, so he brought her over to the table and put her on it as carefully as possible. Finally, with her weight off his shoulder, Tel leaned heavily on the table, struggling himself to just stay upright.

“Watch,” Doctor Pain said, holding out his hand.

Tel wanted to ignore the voice, but his eyes lingered on the watch when he pulled it out of his pocket. He’d spent years on making it perfect. More than that… it was the symbol of the new life he’d built for himself. But then he looked past his hand to the woman lying on the table in front of him.

Yes, she’d probably used him to get to the enclave. There was something off about her story from the beginning, but he’d chosen to ignore it. She’d helped him, no matter what her reasons were. And, more than that, he’d simply enjoyed her company. He didn’t want that to end… even if his time with her was connected to the memory-door opening again.

His time with her was building good memories for once. Maybe he could use those to block out some of the bad?

“Here,” Tel said, dropping the watch into Doctor Pain’s hand.

“Door,” the doctor said, shooing Tel back to the open door while he inspected the watch, but didn’t turn it on.

“Sure, sure, I’ve got plenty of energy for that,” Tel said, shoving himself off where he leaned on the table, then slogged over to the door. Pulling it closed, he looked at where it met perfectly flush with the wall that had a thin layer of cushioning on it. The insulation the doctor had mentioned. He’d read theory on it, but the enclave had never used it, relying instead on the literal mountain to shield them.

“Good, now sit yourself down before you pass out. This payment only covers her,” Doctor Pain said, interrupting Tel’s thoughts, and pointed at a chair near the table.

“Happy to,” Tel said, practically dragging himself to the chair and flopping into it as his legs gave out. “Can you save her?”

Doctor Pain put the stopwatch on a small stool beside the table, then turned his attention to Shara. The arm was an obvious injury, bloody and broken with bone poking through the flesh, and he only spent a moment on it before moving on to her chest. He tore aside the fabric of her shirt, causing Tel to look away even has heat ran up his neck, but he couldn’t help but glance back. Just to make sure he wasn’t really hurting her. Really. Each small poke and prod elicited a groan of pain from the unconscious woman, and Tel had to force his mouth to stay closed each time. It wasn’t like he could actually stop the doctor if he wanted to – his body was far too tired.

“Well?” Tel asked as Doctor Pain stepped back, scratching again at that same scar.

“Arm is broken in two places, badly. So are all the ribs underneath. Probably a collapsed lung from the sound of things, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was internal bleeding. Honestly surprised she’s still alive,” the doctor said.

“And…?”

“You’re lucky it isn’t burns, I can’t do much about those,” Doctor Pain said, cracking his knuckles and then… beginning to stretch? “This is fixable. She’ll be as good as new by the morning.”

A weight heavier than carrying Shara all the way there fell off Tel’s shoulders at the words. She’d be okay? Thank goodness.

“So, you have healing magic then?” Tel asked. Sorcerers with healing powers were so rare. So rare.

“Ehhh,” Doctor Pain said cryptically in return, turning on the stopwatch. Chaos butterflies burst to life as the perfect ticking of the watch sounded in the room, the sound smothering some of Tel’s stress. “Huh. You weren’t kidding,” the doctor said, the butterflies fluttering up to circle around his hands. But, instead of getting to work on Shara, he instead turned and walked over to the rapist bound to the wall.

“Shouldn’t you be healing Shara?” Tel asked, scooting forward to the edge of the chair, but not quite having the energy to actually stand up.

“Patience,” Doctor Pain said, placing his hand on the rapist’s head, and the man’s eyes snapped open. “Wakey wakey,” the doctor said, doing a quick inspection on the chains, but the man was securely hanging on the wall.

“What… what… where am I?” the man asked, looking quickly around the room, and then his eyes settled on the half-naked doctor. “I… you… you jumped me in an alley…”

“Yup,” the doctor said with a nod. “And now it’s time for you to make up for all the pain you caused.”

“What the f…?” the man started to ask, until Doctor Pain’s right fist slammed into his ribs with bone-cracking force and lifted him off the ground until the chains around his ankles reached their full length. The man gasped and wheezed as his feet came back down to the floor, his knees already going slack, but the manacles around his wrists held him good and upright. “Wha… wha…?” he tried to ask, but the doctor hit him again, the rapist’s chest caving in around the piledriver-like fist.

Tel froze, eyes wide as Doctor Pain casually leaned in to inspect the man’s chest, already discolored and misshapen.

“Almost there,” Doctor Pain said, the man in front of him convulsing where he hung, blood flecking his lips and his breath sounding wet and laboured. “Hey, don’t pass out on me yet. This is how you balance out what you did.” Then he hit him again.

“Gaaah,” the man said, crimson splatting out of his mouth at the impact and tears bursting from his eyes, which immediately closed in pain. His whole body twitched, like it was trying to curl in protect his caved-in chest, but the chains held him firmly in place. Blood ran down his flesh from where the broken bones had burst through and drip, drip, dripped onto the stone floor.

“What… what is this?” Tel finally forced the words out, but slid back in his chair as Doctor Pain turned around and stepped in his direction.

“Balance,” Doctor Pain said, chaos swirling around his hands like a storm, and walked up to Shara as the man behind him gasped and cried. “Like chaos and order balance each other out, so do injury and healing.” Then he gently – so gently compared to the brutal violence he’d just inflicted – put his hands on Shara’s side. The butterflies racing around his hands immediately shot into her as the man closed his eyes.

Crackling like dry twigs breaking sounded from where his hands touched, but Shara’s ribcage visibly reformed as Tel watched. Her side, which had caved in, rounded back out, the bones knitting themselves together under flesh that closed itself back up.

Seconds of the ticking stopwatch turned into a minute, then to two, until finally Doctor Pain opened his eyes again and stepped back.

“That’s her lungs and ribs,” he said, turning to the second prisoner. “Now to fix her arm.”

Tel pushed himself all the way back in his chair as the doctor walked over to the bound man and prepared to repeat the healing process.