Champion Kevintor Neverloss's Arc

Chapter 23 of 42

On the second morning Kevintor woke in a clean robe with his ribs taped tight. The hot pool had done its work. He could close his hand again. He could put weight on the bad leg without the knee folding. He sat on the edge of the stone pool and watched steam curl off the water. Scarlet Violet was not in the courtyard. The scroll was not in his room. He had checked twice already. He walked the path up to the stone yard behind the main hall to see what waited for him. The page on the post was where he had left it. Two circles crossed out. Four open. A rock held it flat. Someone had set a painted card beside the stone, propped against the post so he would find it. The front showed a hot spring and flowers and the words about friends who care. He turned it over. Nothing on the back. A reminder, then. Stay in the water. Eat what she brings. He left the card on the post and walked down. Rita Ripley met him on the lower path with a bucket of cold water and a folded cloth. She trained warriors for a living and had seen worse wrists than his. She did not say much. She wrapped the joint, pressed two fingers to the swelling, and said, "You will keep this iced through tonight. Tomorrow you can try a grip." Then she added, plain, "I have watched you in the long sessions. You outlast everyone. Sit in the water." She left the bucket and went. He sat. He counted the hours. On the third morning Scarlet Violet came down the steps with the scroll under her arm and Lina Invi a pace behind her. Lina had found the bath house on her own. She looked at Scarlet Violet and said, "She did not open it. I checked the seal twice while she slept." Scarlet Violet did not argue. She held the scroll out flat in both hands. "Three days," she said. "As agreed." Kevintor took it. The iron plate behind the silk was still sewn shut. The wax on the outer tie had not been cut. He paid her what he had promised and more. She tucked the coin away and told him a rider had come through the valley yesterday asking after a man with a wrapped wrist. She had sent the rider east. He thanked her. He did not ask why she had kept the bargain. Some people did. He climbed back to the stone yard with Lina at his shoulder and the scroll against his chest. He pulled the painted card off the post and dropped it in the pool by the dragon. He weighted the ledger page fresh. Two circles crossed out. Four open. Judo waited. So did whoever the rider rode for.