SpringFire (9 page)

“A scandal? What kind?”

“I … I don’t really know. Of course, the lord didn’t like them doing that to his precious son, so he stirred up the order against them. About six months after they forced Rennirt out, the order forced
them
out.”

“So it didn’t do them much good in the end, did it?”

“Not really. Except for keeping their integrity. Then the old lord died shortly after that, and Rennirt took his place. He purged the house of anyone who still supported my parents.”

“And this Rennirt, his lands are nearby, and it’s his healers who are nearest?”

Shandry nodded her head miserably. “The road skirts his lands.”

“I still don’t see why it’s a problem,” I said. “No one knows who you are.”

She looked straight at me now, fire smoldering behind the tears in her eyes. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“No! I don’t!”

“Why can’t you just believe me that we don’t want to come any closer to that man than possible?”

“Because we’re talking about my best friend being hurt!” I was shouting now, not caring about the noise.

Shandry shouted back. “Has it occurred to you that there are more important things?”

“No! No, it hasn’t! Because Traz is almost the most important thing in the world to me right now.”

“Well, that’s your problem, isn’t it?”

“It’s your problem, too! We’re all three stuck here, in case you hadn’t noticed.” She didn’t say anything to that. “So what if this Lord Rennirt is as horrible as you say? What possible difference does it make?”

We stared at one another, tension boiling up between us. Shandry’s jaw worked for a moment, then she finally blurted out, “Because he’s my father.”

My anger instantly evaporated as her words left me speechless. I felt like I’d just been punched in the stomach. Shandry rose to her feet and left the hut, letting the door slam behind her. I stared at it for a few moments, torn between understanding her reluctance and wanting to get help for Traz.

When it occurred to me that she’d left without putting on her cloak, I went to the door and called out to her. No reply. I put on mine and took hers, then went outside. I called again, but still no answer. It was too dark to go looking for her, but I made a circuit of the hut anyway. She didn’t come back, so I went back inside.

I still hadn’t resolved the dilemma of what to do when she returned an hour later.

“You must be freezing,” I said. “Why don’t you wrap up in both our cloaks and get some sleep? I’ll take first watch.”

Shivering, she nodded.

I took a double watch, thinking she needed the extra rest to get over being chilled. When I woke her to relieve me, it felt good to lie down and fall asleep in a warm room.

I dreamt of Anazian. Watching me. Laughing at me. My mouth was dry, and I felt thirsty deep in my soul. Oh, so thirsty. A rattling noise, and then something shook me, hard, as if to tear my flesh from my bones.

But, of course, it was only Shandry shaking me. It must be time for my next watch. The dream had been disturbing, and I didn’t feel at all rested as I sat up.

“Sorry to wake you so soon, but it’s Traz,” she said. “He’s mumbling in his sleep.”

I scooted over to him. His lips moved, and random, unintelligible sounds came from his mouth. His voice grew louder and stronger, as if it were getting used to speaking aloud again after a long silence, but the words were no more distinguishable than before.

Then, without any warning, his eyes flew open and he sat up. If his leg hadn’t been immobile, bound to his staff, I was sure he would’ve sprung to his feet.

“What?” he cried out. “Where? Who?”

I am trapped like an animal in a cage. I pace round and round in an endless circle. To my surprise, I find I’m crawling on all fours. Have I become an animal? Tears stream down my face, and I lick them, their saltiness filling my mouth and increasing my thirst.

“We have only just begun,” says a voice nearby. Is he speaking to me? Of me? My thoughts are vague and dim. “All will be well, and you will learn the error of your ways. Then we shall dance together with joy. You will see.”

But I cannot dance; I cannot even stand. I can only pace. Round and round and round I go as that which makes me human flees.

I put a hand on Traz’s shoulder, trying to convey a sense of calm to his spirit. His eyes lost a little of their wildness.

“Donavah?” he said, peering at me. “Is that really you? I thought … but no, that must’ve been a dream.” He rubbed his face. “What happened? Where are we?”

Shandry went to Traz’s other side and handed him a steaming cup. “Here. Drink this. You need it more than I do.”

Traz took the cup and sniffed it, then sipped. “I still don’t understand. Where are we? What is this place?” He made a move as if trying to stand. “And why is my staff tied to my leg?”

We told him what had happened.

“But,” he said with a frown when we’d finished, “I feel fine. My leg doesn’t hurt at all.”

I examined it again. It did indeed feel perfectly normal. But even if we’d managed to set it properly, Traz should still be in a great deal of pain. “Well, I’ll take the splint off,” I said. “I can check it over better that way, anyway. But if it hurts, you tell me immediately.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll shout.” And his impudent grin flashed in the firelight. If I hadn’t known better, I’d never have believed he’d just awakened from almost a full day of being unconscious.

Shandry and I worked together to unbind Traz’s leg. We went slowly and carefully. About the time we reached his knee, Traz winced loudly. We both froze until he started giggling. I swatted his arm, then went back to work.

“Now, don’t bend it,” I said when we’d finished. “Just sit there until I say.” I felt his leg, paying special attention to his knee, but as before, nothing at all seemed wrong. “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt?”

“Why would I lie about something like that? Now would you please just let me get up? I’m kind of stiff, you know.”

Shandry and I shared a confused look. “Start by trying to bend your knee,” I said.

He drew both legs up to his chest. “There. Are you satisfied?” And before either Shandry or I could say anything more, he rose to his feet and started walking around the hut. He stretched out his arms and swung them around, then raised them high over his head. I could almost feel his spine pop.

Still sitting facing me, Shandry whispered, “It’s not possible. It’s just not possible.”

I agreed, but still hadn’t found my voice with which to express it.

Traz came back to the fire, picked up the cup of tea, and drank some more. “Now,” he said, “is there anything to eat in this place? I’ll cook it myself if you two are just going to stare at me like a couple of noodges.”

I almost burst out laughing.

The next few days we made good progress. The weather held reasonably fine, the hunting was good, and we hadn’t come close to running out of supplies. Every day, I got better and better at husbanding the use of my maejic so that I stayed comfortable but didn’t use too much, and each afternoon’s meditation refilled me. Traz went on as he’d started, walking ahead of us twirling his staff in ever more complicated patterns, and now I didn’t begrudge a moment of it.

Shandry and I never talked about the argument we’d had and the revelations she’d shared. I felt uncomfortable knowing these intimate things about her life and wished I could just forget them. She, in turn, grew distant from me, as if she wished she hadn’t spoken up, especially as events turned out.

Three days after Traz’s accident, we passed a stone marker. The four-sided obelisk stood about waist high, and on each face, carved in relief, was a dragon whose impossibly long tail swirled into complex curlicues. The design somehow tricked the eye, making it appear as if the dragons were in motion.

Shandry stood in the middle of the road, arms crossed over her chest and a closed expression on her face, while Traz and I examined the marker, laughing in fascination at the illusion.

“C’mere and look at this,” Traz said, trying to coax some interest out of Shandry. “It’s just about the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

She gave a stiff shake of her head. “I don’t need to see it.” Her words came out tight and clipped. “I know what it is.”

I looked at her closely and asked, “And that would be?”

“Can’t you guess?” Her eyes were black as well as bleak.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. What is it?”

She let out a hiss of exasperation. “It’s the marker for Rennirt’s lands. Now, can we please get moving? It’s three days to the other marker, and the sooner we get there, the better.”

Traz scowled at me in frustration when I agreed with Shandry that we should be going. I could only hope he wouldn’t question me about it later. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I couldn’t tell him Shandry’s secrets, either.

We didn’t come to the next way station until well after dark. When the sun set, Traz complained and said it was warm enough to camp, but though he was right about that, Shandry and I both wanted to push on.

When we finally reached the way station, we followed our usual routine. Shandry unloaded and stabled Dyster, I gathered more wood so we wouldn’t have to do it in the morning, and Traz started cooking the meal. Shandry hadn’t wanted to let Traz out of sight in the afternoon, which is when he’d typically do the hunting for our supper, so we had to settle for porridge. Traz started to complain again, but I quelled him with a look. Shandry was taut with tension, and I was afraid she might come completely undone at any moment.

After the meal, I went into a corner, which was as much privacy as I could get in the way stations, to meditate.

At first, it had been hard to meditate in such close proximity to others, but I was growing accustomed to it. I slid through the steps easily this time. I’d not used much maejic during the day, so wasn’t in need of refilling. Instead, my spirit soared through the openness of the ether where lights of every color shot like falling stars across the sky. A warming sense of welcome enclosed me like a mother’s embrace.

“What have we here? Well met again, indeed.”

The words, spoken in that same quiet, melodious voice as before, froze my blood. And as before, I didn’t reply.

There was a soft gasp of sharply drawn breath, then, “Ride like the wind!”

Everything went black, and I fell to earth.

I came to myself with a bit of a start. I blew out the candles but remained sitting where I was. Pondering. I’d been so sure that it had been Shandry back on that first day. After all, she’d admitted that she’d been seeking me, and I hadn’t encountered that presence while meditating since then. I glanced surreptitiously over a shoulder to see what she was doing, only to find her engaged with Traz in a quiet conversation. Just as they usually did while I meditated. It didn’t make any sense. For the first time since arriving on Stychs, I missed Yallick. Surely he would’ve been able to explain what these strange meditation sessions meant.

Eventually, unable to make any sense of what had happened, I put my meditation kit away. I felt sleepy and yawned.

Shandry said, “I have first watch tonight. If you’re that tired, why don’t you go to sleep?”

“I think I will,” I said with another huge yawn.

I rolled up in my cloak, and the crackling of the fire and the soft voices of the others sent me to sleep.

Later that night, it seemed as if I’d scarcely fallen back to sleep after my watch when I was awakened by the door of the hut slamming against the wall, followed by a rush of people inside. I sat up, blinking my eyes in the dim light of the low fire. Beside me, Traz was doing the same.

Someone shouted, “Don’t move!” and kicked Traz in the ribs.

Before I could move a muscle, someone else swept into the hut, bowing his head so as not to strike it on the door frame. Fear spread out from this man, filling the room like a black fog and gripping my heart. I shrank back, wishing there were something to hide behind.

His presence reeked of power; I could practically taste it, and its flavor was sour and rancid. I tried to get my breath as magic used up the air in the room.

Traz let out a moan and vomited, drawing the attention of the man, who stooped over him and prodded him with a toe.

“Ah, interesting.” The man dragged a finger across Traz’s brow. Traz cried out in pain, and I scrambled to his side. The man held up a hand, freezing me in place. He looked through my eyes and straight into my soul.

I couldn’t breathe. My heart stopped beating. I closed my eyes, struggling against panic. My thoughts grew cloudy. Then he released me, and I fell to the ground before him, gasping for breath.

“This one,” he said, pointing a long finger at me, and this time, I recognized his strong, melodious voice.

Hands grabbed me, lifting me to my feet. The man took my chin in his hand and forced my face upward. With his other hand, he traced my lips with a finger. Something tightened in my throat. He passed his thumbs over my eyes, and everything went completely black. I cried out in surprise, but no sound came out. He chuckled.

“And something to keep you from using all that luscious power. Open your mouth.”

I wanted to resist. I intended to. But as if I were being controlled by someone or something other than my own will, my lips parted and my mouth opened.

Something hard and round was shoved in. It had a bitter flavor that made me gag and try to spit it out.

“Now, none of that,” said the man, and a moment later a strip of cloth was wound around the lower part of my face. “I leave her to you, now. I shall expect you before sundown tomorrow.”

With an evil laugh, the man stepped away. A moment later, he and his magic were gone.