On the Meldon Plain (The Fourline Trilogy Book 2) (9 page)

She turned in a circle, scanning the high cavern walls. Little pockets of blue light emanated from them. A single light, halfway up one wall, shone with a bright, beckoning hue. She found the base of a narrow trail chiseled into the rock and set out for the light. The trail wound around the cavern, leading her upward, past narrow openings. She peered into a few of the dark gaps, but a sensation pulled her onward toward the special light.

When she reached the source of the light, she found an entrance similar to the dozens she’d passed. A wave of cold air washed over her when she ducked into a passage leading to a small chamber. Someone or something had chiseled a bench into the wall on the opposite side of the chamber. The body of the Nala Nat had killed on the riverbank was lying on the bench.

She approached cautiously from the side, pulling her dagger free from her belt. Her heart pounded as she held her dagger above the inert Nala. Sweat trickled from her forehead down her cheek and landed on the Nala’s smooth head. Its eyes flew open. One silver eye and one with familiar green and brown flecks stared at her. The Nala’s face transformed, taking on Soris’ features. Her dagger clattered to the floor.

“Break from its thoughts, Natalie! Remove it from your dream space!” Annin’s urgent command echoed in the chamber. The chamber grew blurry and Nat found herself in total darkness. She clenched her jaw and thought of the crashing waves barreling against the cliff. A wave bursting with blue light formed in front of her. The Nala tumbled from the crest of the wave onto another wave Nat imagined in her mind. Water poured over Nat as she ran next to the wave, propelling it along until it crashed into the ledge of her dream space. The Nala disappeared the moment it passed over the barrier on the crest of the wave. Her protective lights shot up. Silence replaced the roar of the water. She stumbled from the ledge into the emptiness of her dream space, realizing she was completely alone.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sun burst through the window of her room. Nat opened her eyes. The cheerful light did nothing to erase the dark images from her mind. Annin barged in and set a steaming mug on the table.

“Compliments of Ethet. Drink up, we’re leaving shortly.”

Nat sat up, rubbing her eyes. The tea tasted like algae mixed with soy sauce. She forced a few gulps before standing and stumbling toward her clothes hanging from a hook behind the door.

“How much of the Nala’s thoughts and my thoughts did you see in my dream space?” Nat asked warily as she pulled on her boots.

“Enough.” Dark circles hung under Annin’s eyes, and Nat wondered how much sleep she’d had after she’d left Nat’s dream space.

“What about Soris?” Her fingers caught in the leather laces, and she silently hoped Soris hadn’t seen the Nala when it had opened its eyes.

“You’ll need to ask him. He wasn’t too communicative when we broke the connection to your dream space.”

Nat’s heart sank. Annin tossed her a leather bag. She caught it with one hand and swung the straps over her good shoulder. She grabbed her orb and tucked it into the inner pocket of her cloak.

Annin led Nat down the hall to a set of thick wooden doors emblazoned with the emblem of the sun. When she pushed them open, the hallway flooded with light. Even at this early hour, dozens of people, young and old, tended the gardens that grew just beyond the door. The looming fortlike walls cast geometric-shaped shadows over the gardens. Nat followed Annin down a twisting stone path that bisected the rows of plants. A woman with brown plaited hair looked up from a mound of slender-leaved stalks and watched them pass. Annin gave her a curt nod. The woman’s hand holding the harvested stalks formed a perfect tapered tip. Nat quickened her pace.

“Does she make you nervous?” Annin asked, hopping over a stray rake.

“No, just mad.”

“Good, you’ll need that anger where we’re going.”

“Have you ever seen the cavern from my dream before?”

“No. But based on the pinnacles in the sea, we know where it is. Two days’ journey from here will get us to the coast . . . That is, if you don’t slow us down.” She nodded respectfully to a pair of Sisters conversing with a duozi boy whose only Nala feature was the bluish tint of his skin.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Nat said. “My leg is good. Whatever Ethet and Ethes did worked. Soris is kind of slow, though, he couldn’t keep up with me when I was here before.”

Annin laughed.

“What’s so funny?” They passed under an open-air walkway. Stone replaced the wood, and worn carvings covered a section of half walls. Nat ran her fingers over a frieze of flowers. She recognized the flower with the small petals. They were the same ones in the meadow near Benedict’s house and the field where she’d hit her head days before.

“Soris!” Annin beckoned him as he and Ethet emerged from behind a stone pillar. Soris and Ethet joined them. “Nat’s worried you might not be able to keep pace with us.”

“I’ll do my best not to slow you down, Sister,” he said as he adjusted the strap of a satchel over his shoulder. Nat mouthed a sarcastic “thanks” to Annin.

“All of you must travel swiftly.” Ethet gave each of them a stern look. “Once you emerge from the safety of the meadow, you’ll be in Nala territory. You have the map in your head, Soris, correct?”

“Head Sister Ethes gave it to me this morning,” Soris answered.

“Good.” Ethet nodded. “Traveling through the Meldon Plain is the most secure route. The Nala won’t venture anywhere near the flowers. You must rest before you leave the plain and enter into the southern tip of the forest for the coast.” She looked at each of them in turn, letting the admonition settle in. “You’ll have no safe place to stop once you enter the forest. If the Nala are bringing duozi into the woods like Natalie said, they will have sentinels looking for escapees. You’ll travel north once you reach the coast. I know the route adds more time to the journey, but I believe you’ll sense the Nala better in the open area near the sea.”

“Sense them, Sister?” Nat asked.

“Soris and Annin can tell if Nala are near,” Ethet explained. “Stay close to them, Natalie. Once you arrive at the cliff opening, it will be you who must lead them. Based on what Annin told me, you controlled your dream space and the Nala despite the remnant in you. Soris, like so many other duozi infused with remnant, would never be able to control a Nala without assistance if it entered his dream space.” Nat looked past Ethet toward Soris. His jaw tightened. “Your success in your dream space suggests that you will be able to maintain control of your thoughts when you do encounter the Nala.”

“I won’t let the Nala control me, either, Sister.” Soris interrupted Ethet before she could continue.

She folded her hands together and shook her head. “With more time, training, and treatment, possibly, Soris. But right now, I can’t be certain you will be able to maintain yourself once in the cavern. Rely on Sister Natalie and Annin if you feel yourself fading.” Ethet handed Annin three vials of yellow liquid. “Pure meldon-flower extract. Drink it before entering the cavern. It offers some, though not complete, protection against the effects of the Nala venom.” Without comment, Annin tucked them into a pocket in her tunic and buttoned the pocket closed.

Ethet placed a sheathed sword in Nat’s hands. “Natalie, this sword is very old, designed by the first Warrior Sisters. They used it for the efficient beheading of the Nala. It was among a collection of items Ethes saved from one of the Warrior Houses.” Nat removed the sword from its sheath. Sunlight glinted off the sharp blade. A delicate vine-and-spear pattern was engraved above the fine edge. “If the Nala see it, their response will be . . . aggressive.”

“They’re always aggressive, Sister.” Nat gently touched her thumb to the blade. A drop of blood welled into her fingernail.

Ethet watched Nat sheath the sword. She gestured toward two Sisters guarding a stone stairway extending up the exterior wall of the House. The Sisters stepped away from the stairs, and Soris flew up the steps before Nat had her foot on the first step. His Nala eye glimmered in the sunlight when he looked down at her.

“What are you waiting for, Sister?” he called from above, a smirk on his face.

“That was fast,” she admitted.
What else has changed about him?
she wondered and proceeded up the steps. She glanced down. Annin tucked an orange vial into her cloak and nodded at Sister Ethet as if in agreement. She then pulled the hood of her cloak over her thick hair and ran up the stairs.

“Annin!” Ethet called from below. “Did you reach Estos?”

“No, the trip to Nat’s dream space took too much time. I’ll try before we enter the forest.”

“Don’t. It’s too dangerous from this distance. You may end up in someone else’s dream space.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem, Sister. He’s an easy mark for me,” Annin said confidently.

They reached the narrow ledge of the stone wall and made their way down a series of steps and walkways that spanned the exterior of the House. At the base of the steps, a single Sister guarded a wooden door that rose high above her head. She unlatched a series of locks and opened the door onto a blazing yellow meadow, and Annin, Soris, and Nat left the safety of the Healing House behind them.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

After running at a slow jog for several minutes, Nat glanced over her shoulder and took in the sprawling Healing House. From a distance, it looked like an old Western fort. She wondered why the Nala left the House alone, and why Mudug’s men hadn’t yet learned of its location.

She stooped to pick one of the tiny yellow meldon flowers that made up the pale carpet covering the undulating meadow. The bowl shape of the small flower consisted of five delicate petals. Multiple stamens made up a fuzzy, circular interior. The flower looked familiar to Nat, as if she’d seen it in her world.

“Nat!” Annin waved to her. She and Soris were already well in front, standing on a low rise. Nat pocketed the flower and hurried to catch up. Despite the bump to her head, gash on her leg, and shoulder wound, she felt good. Ethet’s rancid teas and poultices had served their purpose.

“She’s slower than a turtle,” Annin said when Nat reached the pair and matched their pace.

“No, she’s slower than that. Plenty of time to turn back and go home, Sister. Annin and I don’t need you,” Soris said with his face turned aside. He continued to jog. She glanced at his profile, then skipped ahead and got a glimpse of his face. His green eye flashed and his Nala eye looked foreign and cold.

Her heart ached. She missed the open way he used to speak to her, the smile that never seemed far from his lips, his optimism even during the darkest moments when he’d been in excruciating pain from the porc needles Benedict had stabbed into his hand. Now, the negative emotions rolling off him left her feeling like she’d never known him.

“You never complained about me being slow before,” she said quietly, thinking about all the times she’d purposely slowed her pace to let Soris catch up.

He stopped. “I don’t make a habit of criticizing Sisters, so I didn’t want to make you feel bad.” His eyes flickered over her as if she weren’t worth more than a glance.

“Really?” She tossed her satchel on the ground. “Let’s race and see who feels bad.” If she had to prove to him that she was up to the task, so be it.

“You’re injured. I’m not racing you,” he said dismissively, but the arrogant look on his face that reminded her of his brother Andris disappeared.

“I’m just fine. To that ring of boulders.” She gestured to a curve of rock in the distance and took off through the field. She hit her stride and glanced back. Seeing his pinched lips and narrowed eyes a few paces behind, she picked up the pace. Her fear and uncertainty served as fuel, and she sprinted ahead.

“Stop, Natalie! Your leg’s bleeding.” He raced up from behind. His voice rang with impatience, as if he were speaking to a misbehaving child.

She ignored him and pressed on toward the boulders. A warm, wet sensation spread down her calf. Within arm’s reach of the boulder, she caught her foot on a ragged stone and sprawled to the side, barely missing cracking her head against the rock.

“What are you trying to prove?” he yelled as he crouched next to her.

“Why are you so mad at me?” she yelled back, letting out her pent-up emotions. “I know I messed up! I know you must hate me for what happened to you. But I’m here to fix my mistake.”

“So you do think I’m a mistake.”

“No, I—”

“Don’t, Natalie. Your dream space vision said enough. Deep down, you think I’m just like the Nala.”

“No,” she said adamantly. “Last night, I opened up my mind to the Nala’s thoughts to find out where it was. It projected your face onto its body. I had no part in creating that image. It’s using you to get to me since we both carry its remnant.”

Annin jogged up behind them and tossed Nat’s and Soris’ satchels at his feet. “Get a mule next time.” She eyed Nat’s bloody leg. “That’s the dumbest stunt I’ve seen in a while. Use your head, Sister. Do you really want to enter the Nala cavern with blood dripping down your leg?” She dropped to the ground and pulled a clean roll of linen from her bag.

“You shouldn’t have come back.” Soris watched Annin wrap the bandage around Nat’s calf. A look of angry desperation flashed behind his eyes. “You should have stayed home, stayed where it was safe. You don’t belong here. You never did.”

The words stung. Nat squinted and glanced at the ground to keep him from seeing her wounded expression. “Maybe, but it’s not your decision to make, it’s mine,” she said, fighting to keep tears from welling in her eyes.

Soris clenched his fists and jumped effortlessly on top of the boulders behind her. He disappeared from view without another word.

Annin secured the wrapping around Nat’s calf. “If—”

“Don’t say anything.” Nat held up a hand, then wiped her eyes.

Annin grew silent. She packed up the extra linen and extended her hand to Nat. “We have a lot more ground to cover before dusk.” Nat stood, and they walked in silence, watching Soris’ figure in the distance.

“You want to know why we’re safe in this meadow? Why the Healing House remains undisturbed?” Annin asked.

Nat nodded, not really caring at the moment but thankful for an opportunity to move her mind away from Soris.

“It’s the meldon flowers. Nala never venture into the meadow. There’s something in the flower that repels them.” She extracted one of the vials filled with yellow liquid from her pocket. “The Sisters use the flowers as an herbal remedy to protect them from the venom. The extract lessens the effects of the venom. If administered immediately after a bite, it can even prevent transformation into a duozi.”

“Would the extract have helped Soris if I’d gotten him to Ethet right away?”

“Maybe.” Annin shrugged. “But it doesn’t prevent a transformation in every instance.” Nat mulled over the information.

“Why didn’t the Sisters plant meldon everywhere?” Nat asked, looking at the sweeping field of flowers in front of them. “They could have kept the Nala away from everyone.”

“They tried, but the meldon flower only grows in two places. Here”—she gestured to the field around them—“and on another small plain near Benedict’s.” She spat his name. “You are walking on one of only two Meldon Plains in Fourline.”

Nat stooped and plucked another flower while Annin walked ahead. She twirled it between her fingers, wondering how the little flower and its extract worked to counteract Nala venom.
Would it weaken a remnant tie as well?
she wondered.
Maybe Ethet will let me see how they prepare medicine from the flower when—if—we return to the Healing House.

Nat stood up and tucked the flower into her pocket. Favoring her good leg, she jogged over the carpet of flowers to catch up to Annin. The spring grass bent under their boots as they walked. She kept glancing at Annin, wondering how she’d ended up a duozi but avoided being infused with remnant.

“Stop looking at me, Natalie, it’s wearing on my nerves.”

“You don’t have active remnant, do you?” Nat shifted the strap of her bag to keep it from digging into her shoulder.

Annin lifted her chin and her curls brushed her shoulders. “No.”

“Did someone behead the Nala that bit you?” Nat knew the answer was obvious, but maybe there was another layer she was missing, something that would help her better understand how remnant and Nala venom affected people.

“Yes.” Annin looked at Nat as if she were an idiot.

“I’m just trying to understand how someone can be a duozi without remnant.”

“The venom, if not counteracted with the right medicine made from the meldon flower, will make anyone a duozi regardless of remnant. But, like I said, you need the medicine immediately after you’re bitten. My guardians had a small complication to deal with before they were able to get me to the Sisters for treatment. A few hours’ delay and there I was, a duozi for life.” She increased her pace.

“What complication? So many Houses were open before Mudug destroyed them,” Nat pressed, wondering what had delayed Annin’s guardians.

“I was with Benedict when the Nala bit me.” Annin’s hateful expression sent a chill through Nat. “Enough questions,” she said curtly and pulled away, leaving Nat standing by herself in the bed of yellow flowers.

Why didn’t I keep my questions to mysel
f
?
Nat wondered as she scanned the woods, looking for any movement in the treetops. Nat had volunteered to watch the woods the moment the three had reached the edge of the Meldon Plain, knowing neither Annin nor Soris wanted to talk to her. The trees that lined the edge of the meadow stood motionless. She glanced at Annin and Soris, who were on the other end of the rock outcropping that bordered the Meldon Plain and the forest. Their eyes were closed and their hands were clasped.
Are they picking up any sign of the creatures?
Her eyes lingered on their hands, and she felt a twinge of jealousy.

Her thoughts strayed to the evening she’d spent with Soris above the merchant wagon train during her last foray into Fourline. She’d felt so close to him then, after their successful but harrowing venture into Rustbrook. She remembered how his eyes had settled on hers before he’d kissed her. All the fear and stress she’d been carrying had melted away in that one moment. Now, it seemed her only link to him was the Nala’s remnant.

A cracking sound brought her attention back to the forest. She watched the motionless woods.
Must have been a branch,
she thought and lowered her crossbow. Her eyes again strayed to Soris. The setting sun glowed against his forehead, leaving the rest of his smooth face in shadow. His now open eyes widened, and he leaned in toward Annin, exposing the blue skin of his neck. He whispered in her ear. She opened her eyes, and they exchanged words that came across as low murmurs to Nat’s ears.

Nat cleared her throat. Annin glanced in her direction, then returned to their conversation. Nat looked away, toward the forest, feeling her jealousy grow.

“See anything?” Annin asked when she joined Nat by the tree line.

“Not in the woods, no,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

“We didn’t sense any Nala,” Annin responded, oblivious to Nat’s mood. “But I want to wait before we move into the woods. The Nala could be anywhere. We both feel them better at night, when they’re moving freely.” Soris walked past Nat and stood near Annin.

“When do you and Soris think it’ll be safe to enter?” Nat kept her eyes locked on the forest and kicked a loose stone by her foot.

“Later tonight.” Annin brushed an unruly lock of hair away from her eyes. Soris fiddled with a leather quiver of arrows. “I’m taking first watch so I can reach Estos once night falls. We leave after I’ve made contact with him. Soris, you take second watch.”

“I’ll take second,” Nat said, knowing she wouldn’t sleep.

“No,” Soris said firmly. “I’ll take second watch.”

“Frosty,” Annin said in an exaggerated tone and shivered. “Both of you can take second watch for all I care.” She shrugged and clambered up to the crest of the boulder.

“Soris . . .” Nat turned toward him, but he walked away as if he’d heard nothing.