The Island (The Madion War Trilogy #1)

Chapter One, Part IV - Galian

The Kylaen hospital was world-renowned for the quality of care provided. Doctors from all nations flocked here to take advantage of the research and most technologically advanced tools, and only the best doctoral candidates were accepted as interns and residents. Except if you were the son of the man paying all the bills. Then you just got in.

The medical staff was led by the chief of medicine, Dr. Sebastian Maitland. He'd been my own doctor since I was in diapers, and one of the reasons I'd decided to go into medicine. Even before I put on my first lab coat, he was always available to dispense wisdom and guidance, and he was the man I wanted to see before this stupid farce of an air raid.

He met me at the entrance to the hospital, undoubtably tipped off to my arrival by trailing tabloid photographers. As soon as I fought my way past them, I shook the hand of my mentor. His bald head was covered in age spots, but he was as spry and as agile as ever.

"Your Highness!" I had begged him to lose the formalities a long time ago, but it was rare that he called me by my given name. "How goes the flying?"

"Ugh. I've got...a thing in a few hours." Even though I trusted Maitland with my life, Raven had become desperate lately with their spying. I wouldn't put it past them to have a spy stationed at the hospital.

"In the meantime, we are understaffed today," he said with a knowing sparkle in his eye. "Perhaps I could persuade you to step in and help examine some of them?"

He didn't have to ask twice. As quickly as I could retrieve them from my locker (which they'd kept out of respect for me), I was back in my lab coat and scrubs, following Dr. Maitland as he did his morning rounds. We paused at the nurse's station to get the latest, and I ignored the gaga-eyes from a young blonde while the head nurse spoke to Dr. Maitland. She recommended we pay a visit to a veteran in room four, as he was there alone without any family. I was pretty sure she only suggested it on my account, but I was more than willing to play "Prince Doctor" for one of our veterans. Or at least, that was what I'd tell my father later today when he asked why I returned to the hospital instead of prepping for the mission that afternoon.

"It's...His Highness!"

The man was seventy, in the hospital with a broken hip from slipping down some stairs. He began trying to get out of bed to bow to me, but I stepped forward quickly to keep him from reinjuring himself.

"Please," I said, gently pushing him back to bed. "Please sit back down."

"Bless you, sire," he whispered. He gripped my hands with his old, weathered ones, and smiled. I gently removed my hand to look at the tablet in my hand and check his progress.

Dr. Maitland quizzed me on the patient's chart and my recommended procedure, and it helped ease some of my worry. Being in that room, talking medicine instead of war, felt right.

A nurse popped her head in to request Dr. Maitland's assistance with another patient, so he left me in the room to continue by myself. More excited that I was actually helping someone, I glanced through the chart three times before I actually read anything. I questioned the patient on his pain levels and then, remembering what the nurse had said, asked him about his family.

"Never had one," he said. "Spent twenty years in the Kylaen forces before I retired."

The reminder that I was getting ready to go into battle and kill a bunch of people was unwelcome, and I let the grimace show on my face.

"Sire? Did I say something to offend you?"

"No," I said. "I'm just... Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course." He nodded.

"I'm sure you know I...joined the Kylaen forces," I said, hoping I didn't sound too bitter. "Today is my very first air raid. And to be perfectly frank, I don't think...well, it doesn't sit right with me."

"Sire, I, too, was a pilot in our great Kylaen forces, on behalf of your grandfather. The Ravens are better off under Kylaen rule, and it's only their misguided need to be independent that causes their suffering. They're squandering freedom as it is."

I smiled and thanked the man, squeezing his hand and asking if there was anything else I could get for him then left. His words would've had more impact if I hadn't seen them blazed across propaganda posters, or spoken at my brother's funeral to try to appease my grieving mother's heart.

Dr. Maitland met me outside with a grim smile on his face. "Your sergeant is waiting for you at the nurse's station," he said quietly. "He said you're needed back at the airfield."

My heart fell into my stomach. Dr. Maitland, perceptive as ever, offered to walk me to his office to delay the inevitable a bit longer.

"I hate this," I said, finally, as he closed the door behind him. "My stupid father—"

Dr. Maitland cut me off. "Sire, your father simply is trying to stem the tide of the war."

"Yeah, I'd believe that if he'd quit starting all the fights," I noted, watching the old doctor bristle. Dr. Maitland and I had spoken at length about my father since I was old enough to have a problem with him, but the good doctor was never comfortable when I disparaged His Highness.

"I have a gift for you," Dr. Maitland said, retrieving a black bag from under his desk and handing it to me. "For your first mission."

The bag was filled with medical supplies—antibacterial wipes, needles and tubes, and some gloves.

"I doubt I'm ever going to need these in the air."

"Galian, you're a perceptive sort of fellow, one who I've had the utmost pleasure watching grow from an inquisitive boy into a very well-rounded and genuinely kind young man. I was so proud when you asked me to help you apply for medical school, and even prouder when you joined me here at the hospital."

"Will you be proud of me when I kill someone today?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"I believe you will do what is necessary for your safety and the safety of those around you," Dr. Maitland said. "Including any Ravens."

I glanced up at him, confused.

"Galian, you know we get all kinds of patients in this hospital," he began quietly, and I knew this conversation was to stay between us. "I don't have the luxury of discriminating between Kylaen and Raven patients when they come into my hospital bleeding to death. I heal who needs to be healed, and leave politics to your father.

"I'm giving you this bag not to use, but to remind you that you are not..." He paused, swallowing. "You are not your father's man. You are your own, and you can choose to do whatever you will with the time given to you."

I was shocked at the boldness of his words, and knew he was breaking his own strict code to say them. But I also needed to hear them.

He smiled at me with sadness in his eyes. "Good luck, Your Highness."