Christopher led her through a smaller gate, where the two guards on duty nodded pleasantly to them, asking curiously, “Who’ve you got there?”
Deciding to take things into her own hands, Jade smiled brilliantly at them as she spoke cheerfully, “I’m Lady Jade, a healer. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Christopher grinned as he said, “This is Andrews and Cozzens.”
Thankfully, he pointed as he introduced them, so she identified the light brown haired man with a scar on his cheek and twinkling brown eyes as Andrews and the guy with black hair and a cheeky grin as Cozzens. “Pleased to meet you, miss.” Both of them had made little respectful bows. She was pretty sure in the hierarchy of things that she was actually supposed to be the low man on the totem pole amongst the guards, mostly due to the fact that she was only a lady while they were knights. However, her extra title of ‘healer’ made everyone much more respectful, she figured. It was the number one rule of life: never piss off the person who might be called to save you.
Christopher pulled her through the gate as he explained, “We’d love to stay and chat, but Count Ammon is expecting her.” The other two looked curious, but nodded and let them pass. He guided her swiftly through the fairly empty area, and she absently wondered where all the people were. Her question was answered a moment later when she realized they were all standing in neat lines in the giant open courtyard in front of her. She felt Christopher straighten completely, his back ramrod straight as he guided her unerringly past all the lines of guards.
She felt her own back straightening, the tension of the alert guards getting to her. When she glanced curiously at them, she found that although no one had moved, their eyes were following her progress as soon as she came into their line of vision. She was suddenly self-conscious of her messy bun. Oh well. Deciding that she wasn’t military, so she had no need to be as serious as they were, she grinned at them and saw a couple of them look shocked. She barely contained her laughter.
She was still smiling as she turned back to the front and saw an extremely imposing older gentleman standing on a small platform there, staring down at her seriously. Oh. Oops? In for an inch, in for a mile! She smiled sunnily at him and saw his lips twitch as if he was trying to suppress a smirk. She was a little less confident when Christopher stopped at the base of the little platform, letting her walk up the stairs by herself to greet the count. Gee thanks, leave me alone at the important part! Glad that she’d at least gotten his name, she greeted him cheerfully with a tiny salute, “Lady Jade, reporting for duty!”
She heard a bunch of low chuckles from the masses at her bright chirp, and even Count Ammon let out a tiny smile as he grasped her hand, bringing it up to his mouth so he could brush his rough lips against it briefly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Jade. I’m Count Ammon Whitaker.” She smiled as she studied him. His hair was a radiant silver gray, and he looked to be in his sixties. His hands were covered in the calluses of hard training, and though he was older, she didn’t doubt his capability in the slightest. His light green eyes—she wasn’t the only one who had green eyes here, yay!—were sharp as a tac, and she could feel the barely contained strength in his hands. He exuded the air of an experienced military general, which made sense, because she figured that was exactly what he was.
Turning to the troops, er...guards? Did they call them troops? Anyway, he turned to the general populace of armed people as he boomed in his military voice, “Attention!” Everyone stood a little straighter, if that was even possible. “This is Lady Jade, a healer who has discovered a possible way to get rid of the mesmer taint.” There were a few gasps at that, and people were staring at her incredulously. He continued, “You will afford her the highest respect and help her if she needs anything.” Wow, that was pretty generous of him. He went on, taking care of some of what she figured were routine military announcements, and she took the opportunity to stare at the troops.
Activating mana sense, she scanned the crowd, happy to notice quite a few auras. Yellow, blue, green, purple, red, some glowed a sparkly silver or a pretty cyan. There was one, though… She barely managed to keep her face neutral as she scrutinized a man in the third row. His aura kept shifting colors, and her spidey senses were tingling. She needed to figure out a way to touch him and make sure.
“Miss Jade, would you like to say anything?” Count Ammon drew her attention back; apparently he’d finished talking.
She smiled and nodded, stepping forward. “I’d like to thank you all for your future cooperation. All those that have been attacked by the mesmer in the past, please come to the…”
She paused and glanced at Count Ammon, who helpfully supplied, “The infirmary.”
She smiled. “Right, please come to the infirmary after this. I would also like to conduct random health checks when I come. So…” and here she waved her hand, finally stopping on the right half of the third row as she pointed, “why don’t we start with the third row there, the right side, so it’s not too much for now. Please come to the infirmary as well. I’d just like to start doing random routine checkups.”
Count Ammon met her gaze as she turned to smile serenely at him. There was a question in his eyes, but she just smiled and it disappeared as he turned back to the troops. “You heard the lady. Unit five and those affected, follow us to the infirmary immediately. Everyone else, dismissed.”
The soldiers broke apart then, but unit five remained, much to her relief. The cacophony of chatter rang out in the air as Count Ammon offered her his arm. She took it with a graceful smile and turned as he whispered, “What was that about?”
Keeping her lips as still as possible, she disguised her movements as adjusting something on her shirt as she whispered, “There’s something off about one of them. I might just be paranoid, but better safe than sorry.”
He nodded thoughtfully, giving her a look of consideration. As they reached the bottom of the platform, she saw Christopher still standing there. Ammon seemed to expect this, as he curtly ordered, “Escort Lady Jade to the infirmary. I’ll follow shortly.” She was skillfully handed off and Christopher began to escort her away. The fifth unit, as she now knew them, and several others who’d broken off from the crowd were following behind her.
She smiled as she whispered out of the side of her mouth, “Are you my personal guard now or something?” Christopher nodded almost imperceptibly. She smiled serenely at the guards around them, trying not to give her emotions away. The fact that they felt she needed a bodyguard in the middle of the compound said something about either her importance or her viability as a target. Maybe both.
They walked sedately, perhaps because Christopher realized something was up and that she was buying time. She rather liked her quick-witted bodyguard. Smart people were much easier to work with.
By the time they reached the infirmary, which was really just a large governmental building, she was happy to see more guards at the entrance where Count Ammon was waiting.
One of the guards opened the door for them, and she, Christopher, and Count Ammon walked in as she said pleasantly, “That was quick.”
Ammon chuckled. “The wall demands fast actions.” She supposed that made sense. Upon entering the building, she was rather pleased with what she saw. There was a large front desk, an open area filled with beds, tables, and medical supplies, and around the edges were individual rooms that would suit her purpose perfectly.
Stopping in the entryway, Ammon and Christopher stopped with her a beat after as she turned around to grin at the guards coming in behind her. “I will try to make this as fast as possible so that you can get back to your daily life, but I’d like to meet you all first and then do things individually. So please, form a line. I’d like your names as you enter.”