Bitter Gold Hearts

"Another dream shattered by bitter reality. Still, it's a pity. A pity—that's sweet. Let's go see Saucer head and find out which way to lay our bets."

______ XII ______

The bledsoe infirmary is an imperial charity, mean­ing it's supposed to provide medical care for the indigent. If you're in the place, though, your chances improve a hell of a lot if you or a friend happen to come up with some cash. Human nature, 1 guess. I'm not always the biggest fan of my own species. They weren't going to let me near Saucer head at first. He was supposedly in real bad shape and would be check­ing out very soon. Then somebody saw the flash of gold between my fingers and heard a hint or two about metal changing hands if the prognosis improved, and first thing you knew the whole infirmary had a new attitude. Zip! Morley and I were in Saucer head's ward watching a gang of physicians and healers do their stuff.

Saucer head looked terrible when they started, paper pale after losing what appeared to be several gallons of blood. He didn't look much better when they finished, but his breathing was steadier, less inclined to the charac­teristic sighs. I scattered a few marks and showed that I had a few more that might want to keep the others company. Saucer head didn't do anything but breathe for a couple of hours. Good enough by me. That put us a few points up on Death.

Morley spoke only once the entire time we were wait­ing, in a tiny whisper. "If I ever get so desperate I come in here, you come cut my throat and put me out of my misery." The remark illuminated the side of Morley Dotes with a morbid dread of sickness. After this visit he would be on double rations, stoking up on green leafies and whatnot, for weeks.

Not that the Bledsoe was anybody's idea of heaven. One look around was enough to curdle a vampire's bones. And this was just a ward to die in. The insane wards are supposed to be ripped straight out of the dungeons of hell. I couldn't figure why Saucer head had picked the Bledsoe. He was no tycoon but he wasn't a pauper, either.

We saw only one other vertical human being after the staff left, a priest who was probably the only decent human being working the Bledsoe. I knew him vaguely. He was one of the bigger names in one of the more obscure and bizarre of the several hundred cults hag-riding TunFaire. He came over and stared down at the huge slab of muscle that was Saucer head Tharpe. There was a nobility about Tharpe even in his extremity. It recalled the nobility of the lion or the mammoth. A good guy to have on your side, a bad guy to have for an enemy, simple, trustworthy, and as tough as they make them.

"Has he had his rites?"

"I don't know, Father."

"What gods did he have?"

I put temptation aside. "None that I know about. But we don't need sacraments. This is a life watch, not a deathwatch. He's going to make it."

The priest checked the name chalked on the wall above the head of Saucer head's cot. "I'll say a prayer for him." Small smile. "It never hurts, even with a sure thing." He went on to those who needed him more, leaving me with the suspicion I had been one-upped.

Saucer head must have been awake awhile before he let us know. His first remark, a hoarse croak, was, "Garrett, remind me to stay the hell away from your women."

I grunted and waited.

"Getting that one out of the Cantard got me half killed. I thought this one did me all the way."

"Yeah. What the hell did you come here for? If you had go-power enough to make it this far, you could have got yourself to somebody who could have done you some good."

"I was born here, Garrett. I had it in my head I was done for and it seemed right it should end up where it started. I guess I wasn't thinking too good."

"Yeah. You big dumb goof. Well, you're going to make it in spite of yourself and these jackals. You got enough energy to tell me what happened?"

"Yeah." His face darkened.

"So? What happened?"

"She's dead, Garrett! They killed her. I got five or six of them but they was too many and they got past me and cut her ..." And he started by god getting up off that cot.

"Hold him down, Morley. What the hell are you doing,

Saucer head?"

"I got to go. I never blowed a job like that before, Garrett. Never."

Morley put him back down with one hand. Saucer head was running on spirit alone.

There were tears in his eyes. "She was just a little bit of a thing, Garrett. Sweet as a sugar bun and cute as a button. They shouldn't ought to have done that to her."

"You're right. They shouldn't have." Part of me had known the worst all along, but the part that wishes and hopes was just getting the word.

Saucer head tried getting up again. "I got to, Garrett."

"You got to heal up. I'll take care of the rest. I've got an interest that came before yours. After you give me everything you've got, Morley is going to get you out of here and take you wherever you want to stay. And I'm going headhunting."