Crooked Kingdom (The Six of Crows Duology #2) - Leigh Bardugo Page 0,187

that shirt back , Matthias willed silently. Jesper had used a wax-and-rubber bullet that had shattered when it struck the bladder lodged behind Kuwei’s shirt button, bursting the bladder’s casing and spraying blood and bone matter everywhere. The gore had been collected from a butcher shop, but there was no way the medik could know that. To everyone in the church, it appeared that Kuwei Yul-Bo had been shot in the heart and died immediately.

“Damn it,” said the medik. “Where is the emergency boat? And where is the dock steward?”

Matthias suspected he could answer those questions easily enough. The steward had abandoned his post as soon as he’d heard that plague siren, and even from this narrow vantage point they could see the canal was clogged with watercraft, people shouting and jabbing at the sides of one another’s boats with their oars as they tried to evacuate the city before the canals were closed and they were trapped in a plague warren.

“Here, sir!” called a man in a fishing boat. “We can take you to the hospital.”

The medik looked wary. “Has anyone aboard shown signs of infection?”

The fisherman gestured to the very pregnant woman lying at the back of the boat, sheltered by an awning. “No, sir. It’s just the two of us and we’re both healthy, but my wife’s about to have a baby. We could use someone like you on board in case we don’t make it to the hospital in time.”

The medik looked a bit green. “I am not … I do not treat female problems. Besides, why aren’t you having your baby at home?” he asked suspiciously.

He could care less if Kuwei survives , thought Matthias grimly. He’s looking after his own hide.

“Don’t have a home,” said the man. “Just the boat.”

The medik looked over his shoulder at the panicked people spilling from the doors of the main cathedral. “All right, let’s go. Stay here,” he said to Matthias.

“I am his chosen protector,” said Matthias. “I go where he goes.”

“There isn’t room for all of you,” said the fisherman.

The stadwatch officers exchanged furious whispers, then one of them said, “We’ll put him on the boat, but then we have to report to our command station. It’s protocol.”

Kaz had said the officers wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a hospital during a plague outbreak, and he was right. Matthias could hardly blame them.

“But we may need protection,” protested the medik.

“For a dead guy?” said the stadwatch officer.

“For me! I am a medik traveling during plague time!”

The officer shrugged. “It’s protocol.”

They hefted the stretcher onto the boat and were gone.

“No sense of duty,” huffed the medik.

“He don’t look too good,” the fisherman said, glancing at Kuwei.

“He’s done for,” said the medik. “But we must still make the gesture. As our uniformed friends would say, ‘It’s protocol.’ ”

The pregnant woman let out a terrible moan and Matthias was pleased to see the medik skitter back against the boat’s railing, nearly upending a bucket of squid. Hopefully the squeamish coward would keep well away from Nina and her fake belly. It was a struggle for Matthias to keep his eyes from her when all he wanted was to reassure himself that she was safe. But one glance told him she was better than safe. Her face was aglow, her eyes luminous as emeralds. This was what came of her using her power—no matter what form it took. Unnatural , said the old, determined voice. Beautiful , said the voice that had spoken the night he’d helped Jesper and Kuwei escape Black Veil. It was newer, less certain, but louder than ever before.

Matthias nodded to the fisherman and Rotty winked back at him, giving a brief tug on the beard of his disguise. He poled the boat rapidly down the canal.

As they approached Zentsbridge, Matthias caught sight of the huge bottleboat parked beneath it. It was wide enough that the hulls scraped as Rotty tried to pass. The bottle man and Rotty broke into a heated argument, and Nina let loose another wail, long and loud enough that Matthias wondered if she was trying to compete with the plague siren.

“Perhaps some deep breathing?” the medik suggested from the railing.

Matthias gave Nina the barest warning glance. They could fake a pregnancy. They couldn’t fake an actual birth. At least he didn’t think they could. He wouldn’t put anything past Kaz at this point.

The medik yelled at Matthias to bring him his bag. Matthias pretended to fuss with it for a moment, extracted