It took a couple hours for an acolyte to help Falcon remove his ruined clothes and mail, wash the blood and gore from his body, and stitch closed the now deceptively superficial cut in his stomach. He was directed to a cot in a quiet corner of the main ward beside Sebastian, who had also been cleaned up and his cuts tended, but was still asleep. Falcon paused quietly beside the cot and watched Sebastian for a moment. The priest seemed dangerously young and vulnerable lying in the hospital cot, several shallow cuts standing out against his pale face and arms. Falcon’s hand went to his own wound, the memory of the blow ghosting pain across his side. He should be dead right now. It would have been a worthy death, saving a hospital no less, but clearly God had another plan for him. A plan tied to the young healer and his still unfulfilled vision.

  “Sir, Peregrine, you should be resting,” Father Mattias scolded as he approached.

  The governor’s man followed closely behind, his cunning gaze sizing up Sebastian like a weasel might a hen. “This is the miracle worker? He looks like a child.”

  Falcon shot a questioning look at Father Mattias, who gave him a grim glance and a small shake of his head. Falcon took a half step closer to Sebastian’s cot and laid a protective hand on the young priest’s shoulder. He kept his mouth closed, though, as much as he wanted to defend the healer that had saved his life. Something in the official’s face and Father Mattias’s posture told him that Sebastian was in more danger from this man than just doubts and insults.

  “If even half of what they claim he did is true, he could be more powerful than any sorcerer in the kingdom.” The governor’s man gave Falcon’s hand on Sebastian’s shoulder a narrow look, then his gaze widened as he followed Falcon’s thick arms to his broad chest and finally to his disapproving expression. “I take it you were the knight he raised from the dead, then. A man who can kill with the wave of a hand hardly needs a knight to protect him.”

  “I wasn’t dead, only wounded.” Falcon measured his tone carefully to not create more trouble for Sebastian than they clearly already had. “And God healed me and slew the ogre armies today. Father Alexander is just God’s servant, not a sorcerer.”

  “I promise you that the governor does not care whether the seer who raises the dead and wipes out entire armies with a word gets his power from God or from Satan himself.” The governor’s man waved off Falcon’s explanation carelessly.

  And Falcon only barely resisted the temptation to tear off the man’s arm. He tightened his free hand into a fist at his side and thanked God that Sebastian was spared the indignity of listening to the foolish man in front of him.

  “Of course once he awakes, he’ll need to go to the palace to answer to the governor.” The weasel-faced man reached out as if to touch Sebastian’s arm himself, but a murderous glare from Falcon stayed his hand. “The governor could use someone with his skill in his court.”

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  “Father Alexander is a healer in this hospital, and has taken a vow not to shed blood.” Father Mattias seemed to be watching Falcon’s reactions as closely as he was the governor’s man.

  Falcon briefly wondered how much penance he would have to do if he followed the man outside and threw him into the pyre built to dispose of the bodies of the ogres.

  “That certainly didn’t stop him from killing the entire ogre army today.” The governor’s man laughed as he turned to go. “Any man will kill given enough incentive. Let me know when he awakens. The governor is eager to meet him.”

  Falcon watched the man leave silently until he was out of earshot. “I can make sure he never reaches the governor, Father,” he offered softly, his voice trembling in anger in spite of the lack of volume.

  “You’re talking murder, Sir Peregrine. You know I can’t condone that.” Father Mattias seemed almost amused by his offer. “Sebastian wouldn’t either.”

  “Sebastian wouldn’t have to know. No one would. What’s one more casualty on a day like today?” Falcon grunted his disappointment. He probably still wasn’t strong enough to kill the weasel yet anyway. “You have a better idea, I hope?”

  “I do.” Father Mattias scrutinized Falcon’s face as if trying to read his soul. “You said earlier you would do what was necessary to help. Exactly how far do you mean for that to go?”

  “I just offered to kill a man for him, Father.” A small smile tugged at the corner of Falcon’s mouth. “It doesn’t go much farther than that.”

  “No offense to you, Sir Peregrine, but you’re a knight well accustomed to killing. I’m not sure that offer from you goes far enough.” Father Mattias shook his head. “Please sit. Sebastian is in no danger until he awakens, and I’d rather you not pass out from your own wounds.”

  Falcon sat gingerly on his own cot, the pain from his wound reasserting itself now that the threat was gone. “I owe Sebastian my life. No man survives his entrails being spilled, Father. And no man mends such a wound either.” He gestured to the patient filled ward around them. “Beyond that, it’s clear that Sebastian is uniquely gifted by God to help others, and I would not see that corrupted by evil men. If I can protect Sebastian through either my life or death, I will do so without hesitation.”

  “Your duty to the Knights of the North Star?” Father Mattias raised an eyebrow in question.

  “I am well aware of your and Sebastian’s opinion of my order.” Falcon laughed a bit more bitterly than he intended. “As far as I am concerned, they renounced any claim they had on me when they abandoned both the city and me to die at the ogres’ hands. Besides, I suspect I would have died the night I was brought here if not for Sebastian, and I certainly would have died today doing the job they should have carried out. So they can’t have any further claim on me. If you determine otherwise, I’ll gladly pay whatever penance you deem appropriate for my breach of faith.”

  “Your vow of devotion to Sebastian will be enough penance, I suspect.” Father Mattias blew out a long breath. “Neither Demas nor Governor Scaduto will be happy to find their miracle worker slipped their grasp.”

  “If Demas is the name of that worm that just left, he will certainly not be happy if he finds himself within reach of my axe when I am healed enough to deal with him.” Falcon groaned and pressed his arm to his wounded side as he lay down on the cot. “Remember, I’m the bird in Sebastian’s vision, Father. This is God’s will, and I am more than happy to submit.”