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Bryce could smell the cold off the stone. He hadn’t realized there was such a thing. He had often smelled heat and dust rising from the ground in the afternoons since joining the Order. But this was a new sensation.
The stone against his face was equally cold. It was rough and slightly uneven. He tried to lift his face, but the pain cut that option short. He would not be moving.
Just as well.
Lying on the floor of the church dormitory, he considered the choices that had brought him to this spot. Prelate Ybarra was always telling him to think before he acted.
He supposed this would count.
He tried to get up again. The pain was excruciating. He hurt everywhere. Better to stay put and inventory what was wrong. Yes. That made sense. Figure out what didn’t work and then focus on using what did. Good use of Paladin Goodman’s triage training.
Okay. Head? Yes. He definitely had a pressure headache. That he could power through. Ringing in the ears? Check. The result of the initial fall. The grease the GSS agents deployed had been impossible to miss. It might have been intended for Miz Tharnen and Commander Rowan, but he was the one who’d run right into it.
Arms and torso? He’d felt way too much pain when he attempted to get up, especially along the upper back. His left arm felt like it was dead. All right. Probable shoulder injury, maybe some spinal bruising. That was probably from the Greybacks…no, he was not going to call them that. He didn’t care what Inez called them. They were Granblue Security Service agents. They were just doing their job. He was a paladin of the Order of Truth. He was going to treat people the way he wanted to be treated, whether they deserved it or not.
Right. Calm down. That was just making the headache worse. Inez might be a paladin-sergeant, and his training supervisor, but he would keep trying to help her overcome her biases against the GSS. After he got up.
Okay. What else? Upper abdomen felt off, especially on the left. Goatmilk. That might mean internal bruises, maybe some broken ribs. They did kick him. A lot.
So, field diagnosis? Blunt-force trauma, serious but survivable. But why? This didn’t make any sense. GSS agents could not be on Church grounds. The entire nation of Granblue would find itself excommunicated by the Church for violating that law. The Mercadine Union had found that out the hard way nearly three hundred years ago, when…
Stop that. He needed to stay focused. He just needed to let the general know he would…
The general.
Before he could think about it, Bryce rolled to the side, pivoting back to see the dining area. His chest exploded, radiating from the front to the back. The pain felt like a lightning bolt that ran up his spine, hitting the ground about six inches above his head. Right in the center of his headache.
But he could see the dining room. Empty.
No. No. No. No. Son of a three-legged goat. They took them. The general. His wife. Commander Rowan. All of them.
And then the pain caught up to him.
Next week on Blood & Iron.
Chapter 2—She Hates You But She Needs Me
They know each other too well for comfort.
That’s why this works.
Either way, they’ll win.
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It's too short for me to comment anything meaningful, but enough to feel the character pain.
Can’t wait for the next Chapter, my friend!