Mica (16 page)

Sun smiled, edging her horse up on Mica’s other side. “That’s what the Knights always say. Maybe you should become one instead of a Priest, Mica.”

“I’ve already made my decision,” he snapped, resisting the urge to shiver in spite of the heat.

“So what’s this settlement like?” Sun asked.

“Similar to the one we just came from but much smaller. No more than thirty people. They also speak the northern dialect.”

“I’m stopping.” Blaze slowed his horse.

Sun kept up with Mica but glanced over her shoulder at the Knight. “Maybe he’s right.”
“You both do what you want.” Mica’s gaze fixed on the horizon. His vision blurred and he blinked a few times to clear his eyes. At times the symptoms took hours to fully appear. He needed to travel while he could. If he was lucky he might even make it to…

“Mirrored Rock,” Blaze shouted. “Don’t be foolish.”

“Mind your own business for once,” Mica snarled, glaring at the Knight, irritation at war with guilt. Blaze had been nothing but kind and helpful since they’d met but the man couldn’t seem to keep his opinions to himself. The last thing he wanted was for Sun to witness his greatest weakness, his curse, the one thing his father had given him along with the skill to destroy.

“He’s only trying to be nice.” Sun turned to Mica. Her brow furrowed and her furious expression faded a bit. Mica knew he must look as bad as he felt. “What the hell is wrong with you, besides a foul temper, that is?”

“Nothing.” He edged his mount away from her.

Blaze, having decided not to stop after all, rode beside him though his gaze fixed ahead.

“I’m sorry,” Mica said.

“It’s not uncommon for a man to tie his own noose,” replied the Knight.

Mica tugged his horse behind his companions. Perhaps Blaze was right and they should stop at the next cave. He shivered beneath his robes. It felt like a hundred steel fists were squeezing every bone and muscle in his body. His vision blurred again and he clenched his teeth.

I will not make a fool of myself in front of her. Not in front of this beautiful bitch who
reveres strength above all else.

“One thing’s for sure I prefer a good blizzard to all this heat any day,” Sun said, brushing a stray lock of sand-coated hair from her mouth. “I don’t know about anyone else but I’m getting hungry. Let’s stop for a few minutes at least and rest the horses.”

“There’s shade ahead.” Blaze pointed to several caves in the side of a mountain a short distance away.

“Let’s head for it. We should—”she paused, glancing over her shoulder upon hearing a loud thud behind her. Her stomach tightened. Mica had fallen off his horse.

She dismounted quickly and hurried to him. “Blaze, stop.”

In an instant the Knight was beside her. She grasped Mica’s shoulder, feeling him shake beneath her hands. At the sight of his unusual pallor and chattering teeth, she experienced a wave of sympathy and concern she had never expected to feel for him.

“What’s wrong with him?” she whispered to Blaze.

“Bog tremors, I’m guessing.” The Knight touched a hand to Mica’s brow. “Am I right?”

“Y…Yes,” Mica gasped.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Sun said.

“It’s very rare. I’ve seen it few times. It’s caught in wet, dirty conditions hence its name. It cannot be passed from person to person, Brightest Star.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that.” Sun spoke truthfully. Her concern with Mica’s condition overcame her fear of catching the disease herself. Still it was good to know that in a week or two she and Blaze wouldn’t be in his position.

“The cave,” Blaze said, hoisting Mica up. “He’ll travel with me. Lead his mare, Brightest Star.”

Blaze helped Mica onto his gelding and mounted behind him, supporting him until they reached the cave. Sun started a fire while Blaze helped Mica to sit against a wall and covered him with a blanket.

“What do you use for the pain?” asked the Knight.

“Black haw.” Mica’s voice wavered from chills.

“I have white willow which I think will work better.” Blaze searched through his leather bag of healing supplies.

Sun finished building the fire then took her blanket from her saddlebag and brought it to Mica. She removed his kaffiyeh. The material and silky hair beneath were damp with sweat, his brow clammy.

“We can’t stop long.” Mica pushed himself onto his elbows. “I have to get the message to Ademene.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Sun touched his shoulder. “The message will get there.”

Mica looked ready to argue—for all of ten seconds before he dropped to his side, shaking violently. She covered him with the blanket and glanced at Blaze who approached with medicine and a water flask. Mica managed to swallow the medicine and some of the water.

“When did you first get sick?” Blaze asked.

“Five years ago in the prison before banishment.”

Blaze nodded and stepped aside to repack his supplies.

Sun approached and whispered, “How long will this last?”

Blaze shrugged. “Usually bouts last about an hour with no more than three hours between each. After three hours without symptoms the attack is over.”

“How long between attacks?” Sun’s brow furrowed.

“Sometimes days, sometimes weeks. If a person rests and avoids emotional upsets he can go months without an attack.”

“No wonder everyone was so concerned with him back in Ademene,” Sun

murmured. “And you, Blaze. You knew.”

“The spirits spoke yet they did not tell me which disease.”

Sun glared in Mica’s direction. “Damn him. Why didn’t he say he was sick?”

“Pride and guilt can be deadly.”
“Will anything else happen to him besides fever and chills?”

“Those whom I knew with bog tremors described pain. Like his bones were crushed, one man told me. Each attack gains in intensity until the victim expires.” Blaze held her gaze. “A slow, painful death.”

“All right, I understand your point.” Sun’s teeth clenched. “And no, I’m not glad he’s been infected.”

Blaze took her hand. “I knew.”

She glanced at Mica again, this time her anger dulled by sadness. Even if she never saw him again after she left the Kennas she would miss knowing he was alive and flashing his stupid grin. “Isn’t there a cure?”

Blaze tugged her away from Mica and lowered his voice even more. “There is. A plant called portia. When properly prepared it will lessen the symptoms until they diminish. Here we have two problems.”

“What?”

“The portia works best if given when the disease is new, preferably within the first year. After that the chances for a cure are slim.”

“But there’s still a chance. What’s the second problem?”

Blaze opened his hands helplessly. “I have none left with me. During my last journey I aided a man with bog tremors and depleted my supply. Portia is not available in the Kennas, only certain islands in the north—or back home in my garden.”

“We have to get it for him.” Sun paused, straining to listen. “Sounds like hoofbeats.”

She walked to the mouth of the cave, hoping the horses belonged to more travelers and not enemies. Milady and Valor were dismounting near the cave.

“We’re on our way to the coast where my family’s ship waits to bring us home,”

Milady explained. “We saw your horses and figured you were heading to Ademene so we decided to say goodbye. It was nice meeting you, Dame Sun.”

“And you.”

“Where’s Sir Blaze and Mica?”

“Mica’s very ill.” Sun wondered if she looked as concerned as she felt.

Milady’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Not unless you have some portia on you,” Sun muttered.

“The herb?” Valor spoke so seldom that Sun was almost startled by the sound of his deep voice.

“Yes. Don’t tell me you have some?”

“I know where I can get it. Nalmar, the ancestral home of my people, grows portia.

My father is a healer and uses the herb often.”

“Where is Nalmar?”
“In the Unownland,” Milady said. “We’re less than two weeks’ journey both ways.

We could bring you the portia, if needed.”

Sun’s heartbeat quickened and she smiled, grasping Milady’s wrist and tugging her into the cave. Valor followed.

“Blaze. They’re going to get your portia,” Sun announced.

The Knight squatted beside Mica, attempting to force him to drink more water.

Blaze nodded. “Very good. How soon?”

“About two weeks,” Milady said.

“We should leave right away if you’re ready.” Valor glanced at his charge.

“Of course I’m ready. We’ll send the portia as soon as we can.”

“Thank you so much for your help. And be careful. As you know, there are dangerous warriors somewhere in this desert. Who knows where they could turn up next,” Sun said, escorting them back to their horses.

“You’re welcome.” Milady mounted her petite white mare, a startling contrast to the big-boned stallion Valor rode. Like its master, the horse had a mane of wild chestnut hair and a fierce expression in its eyes.

The Nalmite nodded in Sun’s direction before he and Milady rode off.

Sun stepped back into the cave, kneeling beside Blaze who wiped sweat from Mica’s eyes.

“We have to warn the settlement.” Though his shivering had lessened Mica’s voice sounded weaker than before. Sun guessed the first bout was over. She wondered how much time he had before the second—if there would be a second. Hopefully there would not.

“You cannot travel,” Blaze stated. “I will go to the settlement then to Ademene.

When you’re rested, you’ll follow.”

“What about me?” Sun demanded. The last thing she wanted was to tend Mica.

Already she cared too much about him. If she nursed him through this she’d lose the last shred of anger that kept her from loving him more deeply than she’d ever imagined loving anyone. “I can ride on. You stay with Mica. Blaze, you’ve treated this disease before. I haven’t.”

Blaze sat back on his heels. “There’s nothing I can do that you can’t. You’re a good healer, Brightest Star. And I speak the northern dialect. You do not.”

He was right. Though Blaze was difficult to understand in any language he had a better chance of communicating with the villagers than Sun did.

“I’ll leave right away.” Blaze turned to Mica but he’d already fallen asleep. “Stones or gulls. The hands that touch all with gentleness shall prevail.”

At the moment, Sun was too distracted to attempt to decipher the meaning of Blaze’s comment. She followed the Knight to his horse.

“See that he drinks as much water as possible,” Blaze instructed. “Give him the
white willow at your discretion. He might need much. I’ve known even the strongest warriors to scream in the disease’s clutches. After the last bout, make sure he rests for at least a day, preferably two.”

“I can’t believe I’m stuck here.”

“Your vocation.” Blaze shrugged then mounted the horse. “Blessings.”

“And to you.”

From the mouth of the cave Sun watched Blaze ride away.
Chapter Eight
Sun removed her healing supplies from her saddlebag and sat beside Mica who was deeply asleep. She touched his forehead, noting his fever hadn’t dropped but the white willow would help with that. Her hand strayed to his cheek. For the first time she felt no hatred of him, no anger, only sympathy. He’d seemed so strong both in the ring at the Circle and later when they made love. By the Spirit no man had ever made her feel so aroused and cared for just with a kiss.

“Why did I have to get stuck here?” she murmured.

“I’m sorry,” Mica whispered.

“You should have said you were sick. What were you trying to prove?” She reached for the water flask and held it to his lips. “Drink this.”

He swallowed then lay still. Apparently even that simple motion tired him. “I hoped to make it to Ademene before I got to this stage. Should have known it was impossible.”

“If you’d have taken better care of yourself you wouldn’t have gotten sick at all.”

“It was inevitable.”

“But not right now. Blaze said if you rest you won’t have attacks as often.”

“Doesn’t matter, Dame Sun. One way or the other it will be a slow, painful death.”

She glanced away, feeling the sting of her words thrown back at her for the second time that day.

He continued, “I’m not exactly undeserving of your words.”

“I was angry when I spoke them.” She placed the flask aside and settled her back against the cave wall. “You don’t deserve this.”

“In my past—”

“You can’t change the past but I’ve seen and heard about the work you do with the Bedouins and others. You’re a decent man. On the dumb side though. You should have told us how bad you were feeling long before you fell off the damn horse.”

“I didn’t want you to think me weak.”

Stunned, she turned to him. “Why should you care what I think?”

“I don’t know. I just do.” His eyes slipped shut.

He slept for nearly half an hour before waking to another bout of chills and bone-crushing pain. He hardly complained but Sun knew the extent of his agony by his glazed eyes and the pallor of his skin. She administered more white willow and covered him with blankets but the shivering was worse than before and the attack lasted longer.

Blaze said things will get worse before they get better.
All Dames were experienced healers and Sun was usually sure of her actions. She’d never contended with bog tremors before. Knowing Mica could die disturbed her. The attack left him too drained to drink from the flask so she let him sleep. Once he’d rested she’d make sure he swallowed more water. She bathed his face and neck with a damp cloth then rekindled the fire.

Dusk dimmed the world outside the cave. Soon the wind howled through the cold night. Sun wrapped herself in her cloak and sat by the fire. She hadn’t intended to drift off but it had been almost three days since she’d last slept.

She awoke chilled. The fire had burned low and as she rekindled it an agonized moan drew her attention to Mica.

“Not again,” Sun murmured, kneeling beside him. He shook, his breathing ragged.

His fingers weakly clutched the rocky floor and he groaned. Dark circles sagged beneath his eyes, a ghastly contrast to his corpse-pale skin.