Taste of Darkness

by Maria V. Snyder

  The men rushed to obey as Kerrick assembled his travel pack.

  I lingered until he noticed me still standing there. “Thanks.”

  “Anytime. Now git! You have nine minutes.”

  “Yes, sir!” My smile lasted until I reached the cave. Estrid held court in her corner of the infirmary. The shortsighted, ungrateful, selfish woman had refused to listen to reason. As the creator’s chosen representative, she ensured I wouldn’t be joining her religion ever.

  I skirted the crowd of people, keeping an eye out for Ryne. He wasn’t in any of the common areas. Rifling through the medical-supply cabinet, I only took a few items, making sure there was plenty left for the patients. A line of containers gave me an idea and I swiped one. Most of my personal things were with Kerrick, but I stuffed the rest in with the supplies.

  When I finished, I turned and almost ran into Christina. She stood in my path with her arms crossed.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “On another rescue mission. I’ll be back.”

  “Were you planning on telling me?”

  No, and another lump of guilt landed on the proverbial pile I carried. “Time’s tight and I’d figured Ryne would fill you in. But I realize now that it would be wrong to leave without talking to you. Sorry.”

  A brief smile touched her lips. “So what’s going on?”

  I detailed the mission. Mindful of the minutes ticking away, the words tumbled from my mouth in a fast rush.

  “That’s going to be almost impossible. That place is a fortress.”

  Ryne had said the same thing. “How do you know?”

  “I grew up in Chinska Mare,” Christina said.

  Without stopping to consider, I said, “Come with us.”

  She crinkled her nose. “I...can’t.... Too many bad...memories. However...” She searched for a piece of parchment, then grabbed a stylus and sketched. “There’s an abandoned aqueduct that is underneath the city. Now, it doesn’t go under the monastery, but there is an entrance nearby.” Christina marked an X on her sketch. “If you somehow manage to rescue your friend and reach this entrance, follow the water. It should lead you out on the south side of the city.”

  “Should?”

  “It’s been years, and there’s always the chance one of the tunnels has collapsed or been blocked off. A river of water used to flow under the city, but the High Priestess wanted to control the water, so she diverted it to an enclosed pipeline only her people can access.” Christina handed me the paper. “And watch for smugglers—they use the tunnels to get into the city.”

  “This is wonderful. Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. Getting into and out of the monastery is the real challenge. The guards don’t take kindly to strangers and have orders to kill on sight.”

  Lovely.

  “I’m surprised Prince Ryne approved this mission,” she said.

  Unable to lie to her, I said, “Uh. He didn’t. We’re going without his permission.” I braced for her reaction.

  “He’s left you high and dry before. I’d say that’s fair. Good luck.”

  “Thanks.” I rolled up the parchment and added it to my stash.

  As I wove through the patients’ cots, I spotted Odd standing near Estrid. I should probably say goodbye, but his betrayal still hurt. How could he leave when he knew what we faced? I almost tripped over my own feet as I realized I was about to do the very same thing. But I planned to return despite Ryne’s threat. Did that count for extra...morality points? Ah, hell, who was I kidding. I was just as bad as him. And, no, I didn’t wish to say goodbye to Odd.

  Shouldering my pack, I hurried out before Kerrick sent the monkeys to fetch me.

  No surprise, they all waited near the entrance.

  “What took so long?” Kerrick asked.

  “I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s go before Ryne changes his mind and arrests us now.”

  Setting a quick pace, Kerrick led us east through the dark forest. He kept his normal appearance so we could see him. A small bit of moonlight lightened the darkness, but not enough to discern smaller obstacles like vines, rocks, and exposed roots. We stayed close behind Kerrick, trusting him to find a safe path.

  As we traveled, I filled them in on Christina’s aqueduct. “She wouldn’t come along. She mentioned having too many bad memories there.”

  “I don’t blame her,” Loren said. “Chinska Mare is the main center of Estrid’s religion. It might have changed, but before the plague, the streets were filled with acolytes seeking people not following their commandments. They raided houses looking for alcohol, musical instruments, or other banned items and dragged the poor person or even whole families in for punishment. They were big on punishment. I think the acolytes were paid by the body.”

  “Sounds like a great place. Can’t wait,” Quain grumbled.

  “It’s good she stayed behind. Christina hasn’t had the silent training,” Loren said.

  “Estrid didn’t either and we managed,” Quain said.

  “Yeah, but it took us three times as long to get anywhere.”

  “Are we going to find horses?” I asked Kerrick.

  “I’d rather not,” he said.

  “But we need to stay well ahead of Estrid. Ideally we should be long gone before she arrives.”

  No reply.

  I tried again. “We’ll only use them to cross Pomyt Realm. There shouldn’t be any danger along the way. And once we reach the border, we can stable them for when we return.”

  “All right, I’ll see what I can find,” he said. But he didn’t sound happy.

  We continued on in silence. The plan was to travel all night, stop for a brief rest at dawn, then continue on until nightfall. By then we should be far enough away from Ryne’s forces to switch to daytime hours.

  A respectable plan, except recovering from the poison had taken more out of me than I’d thought. My steps slowed and drawing breath became difficult. Kerrick and Flea also seemed to struggle. They had given me a considerable amount of their energy, although neither of them would admit to being tired. I concentrated on Melina, seeking strength from her plight. It worked for another hour, but then I had to stop or fall flat on my face.

  Kerrick turned around. “What’s wrong?”

  “I—”

  “Can you find us a safe place to rest?” Quain asked. “I need my beauty sleep.”

  Loren opened his mouth, probably to tease Quain, but he closed it after a moment.

  Kerrick nodded. “There’s a cave—”

  “No caves,” I said. “We stick together.”

  He gave me a tired grin. “All right.”

  We trudged through the forest for an eternity before Kerrick stopped.

  “This is a nice high spot. We should be safe here and if the forest alerts me to any danger, we’ll have time to prepare. How much beauty sleep do you need, Quain?”

  Quain pretended to fluff invisible hair. “A few hours should do it, don’t you think, Avry?”

  “Dawn will wake us and that should be enough.” I hoped.

  Kerrick wouldn’t risk a fire so we set up our bedrolls in a circle. I shared mine with Kerrick. He slid in behind me and covered us with his blanket. With his arm around my waist, warmth soon engulfed me.

  “Does anyone else miss the old days?” Quain asked into the sleepy silence.

  “Old days as in before the plague or before we found Prince Ryne?” Loren asked.

  “Missing the time preplague is a given. I meant before Prince Ryne.”

  “I miss the simplicity of those days,” Loren said. “We had one mission.”

  “I miss Kerrick and Avry arguing,” Quain said with a laugh. “It’s too boring with them being all lovey-dovey.”

  �
�Give it time,” Loren added.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “You know it’s true.” Loren settled on his pillow.

  Kerrick agreed and I elbowed him in the ribs. Chuckling, he said, “Although I like it better when she’s fighting with Ryne.”

  “Well, I don’t miss being chased by mercenaries,” I said. Tohon had set a bounty on healers and once word had spread that I was with Kerrick and his men, they’d come after us in force.

  “And I don’t miss all those awkward meals with Avry glaring at Kerrick,” Quain said.

  “He deserved every one of them,” I said, remembering.

  “Not all,” Kerrick protested.

  “Yes, all.”

  “No. You were just too stubborn to understand—”

  “Told you,” Loren said, gloating.

  I clamped down on my reply. No sense arguing about past events even half-kiddingly. He lived and breathed right next to me. All else were mere annoyances of the past.

  Silence descended as the others fell asleep, or so I thought.

  “I miss Belen,” Flea said.

  Quain and Loren were quick to agree.

  My insides turned cold and Kerrick’s arm tightened around me. “We do, too,” I whispered.

  “Since we’re not welcome to return to Prince Ryne’s army, we should search for Belen after we rescue Melina,” Flea said.

  Not a bad idea. “I’m in.”

  “I’m all for it.” Kerrick pushed up on his elbow. “But before we go rushing off, we need to have an idea which direction to search. With Melina, we know exactly where she is. If Belen’s been taken by Cellina, he could be anywhere in Vyg, Sogra, or Lyady Realms. That’s a lot of ground to cover and it’s all in enemy territory.”

  “But we haven’t heard a word. Not even a hint of where he might be,” Loren said.

  “Tohon claimed to have turned him into one of his dead soldiers, but Sepp said he froze Belen in a stasis. Neither can be trusted to tell the truth,” I said.

  “After Melina, we concentrate on Belen. Agreed?” Flea asked.

  It was unanimous. Kerrick settled back. He pulled me in tighter.

  “It’s fitting we make sure Melina’s safe first. Remember how upset Belen was when she went missing?” Loren asked.

  “Good thing he didn’t find those kidnappers, or he’d have ripped their arms off.” Quain made a tearing sound.

  “They deserved to have their arms ripped off,” I said. The men had quite a profitable operation. They’d kidnap older teens and sell them to men looking for wives. One of those activities that had benefited from the loss of almost all law enforcement due to the plague.

  “The ladies we rescued wanted to cut off another body part,” Kerrick said. He still sounded horrified by the idea.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “Too bad Mengels’s town watch had re-formed or I’d have given them my sharpest knife.”

  The monkeys groaned in sympathy. Men.

  “Uh, Avry. Can you heal...uh...you know...man pain or would a patient need a male healer?” Quain asked.

  Suppressing a fit of giggles, I imagined his face was bright red, even the top of his bald head.

  Loren laughed. “What’s the matter, Quain? Did your last encounter give you a case of the clap? I didn’t know cows carried that disease.”

  A yell followed a grunt and then the unmistakable sounds of two men wrestling accompanied a cloud of dirt.

  “That’s enough, you two,” Kerrick said in his no-nonsense voice.

  They stopped, both panting from the exertion.

  “Quain, you really need to ignore Loren’s comments,” I said. “He’s just doing it to get a reaction from you.”

  “And he falls for it every time,” Loren said.

  “Easy,” Kerrick said to Quain.

  “If he stops, we’ll lose hours of entertainment,” Loren added.

  Quain didn’t twitch, but his glower promised Loren future pain. Loren kept his amused expression, unfazed by his friend’s demeanor.

  “Enough. Everyone needs to get some sleep. I want to cover at least twenty miles tomorrow.”

  Ugh. The monkeys fixed their bedrolls and settled down.

  My thoughts returned to Quain’s question. “I’ve never had to deal with any...man pain before, but if I do, I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  “Thanks,” Quain deadpanned.

  Once again everyone quieted down. I was about to drift off to sleep when Flea said, “I miss being Flea.”

  “You’re still Flea. Nothing’s ever gonna change that,” Quain said.

  * * *

  Dawn arrived far too soon. Groggy and achy, I balked at leaving the toasty warmth of Kerrick’s arms. The air had cooled overnight and a light frost coated the ground.

  We ate jerky for breakfast and packed up, continuing east. Kerrick set a brisk pace. Gazing at the surrounding landscape, I searched my memories. When I’d traveled to Galee to become Tara’s apprentice, I’d cut through Pomyt Realm. While Grzebien was the largest city in Pomyt, the realm had many smaller settlements tucked around farm fields and wooded areas. That was true for all the realms. Most had only two or three large cities.

  Which meant we shouldn’t have to go too far out of the way to remain in the forest until we reached Ozero. Now all we needed were some horses. Except Kerrick avoided all the small towns and farms we passed.

  I understood his reluctance to ride the noisy animals, but time was critical. After we bypassed a farm with horses grazing in a pasture, I reached for his shoulder, or rather where I thought his shoulder should be, since he’d gone woodsy as soon as we had set off this morning. I touched nothing but air at first. Then he took my hand and my skin turned the colors of the forest.

  “Hey,” Quain said right behind me. “Give a guy some warning before you just disappear, will ya?”

  Flea stood next to him, but Loren stayed back in the rear-guard position.

  “Sorry,” I said, but stared at Kerrick. When we both blended in, I had no trouble seeing him clearly. At those times, he was all mine.

  “Something wrong?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Yes, why did you pass that farm? They had horses, lots of them.”

  “We’re not ready for horses.”

  “We or you?”

  “We. Trust me on this.” He squeezed my hand.

  “All right.”

  He let go and vanished once again.

  “Welcome back,” Quain said to me. “Remember those times we wished Kerrick would disappear?”

  “I can still hear you, you know,” Kerrick said.

  “Is that so? I’d thought maybe you had vines growing out of your ears or something. Since you’re now...a weed of the forest?”

  Kerrick the weed. My laughter bubbled up my throat, unstoppable. The boys joined in.

  “Go ahead and laugh,” Kerrick said. “We’ll see who’s laughing when you all need to hide and I’m suddenly a rare plant, unable to be found.”

  “Empty threat, weed boy,” Quain said.

  “Oh, I think you know me better than that. I hope you look good in white, Quain. I’ve heard the Ozero priests make all their initiates wear white.”

  “Really? I heard they don’t let them wear any clothes for the first two years,” Loren added.

  “Wouldn’t they get cold?” Quain asked, sounding worried.

  More laughter, but this time Kerrick joined in. Quain’s face turned red.

  “Don’t listen to them,” I said. “Ever. You can trust me or Flea.”

  “I’ve heard they tattooed the creator’s name on your...er...man part,” Flea said.

  Loren high-fived the young man.

  “Don’t encourage him.” I swatted Loren’s shou
lder. But we all knew it was too late. Flea had been monkeyfied.

  We resumed our trek. I tried not to count all the horse opportunities passing us by. Stopping for a quick meal, we pressed on until the sun dipped low.

  Kerrick reappeared. He pointed to a narrow trail. “Keep on this path. It’ll lead you to a clump of Lilys, which will make an excellent camp for tonight. I’m going to do a little exploring. I’ll meet you there.” He met my gaze. The promise to return shone in his eyes.

  Even though I’d rather go with him, I stayed with the others as we followed his directions. The scent of vanilla filled the air around the Lilys. While they waited, I walked up to the cluster of six. Five Peace Lilys and one Death Lily. It hissed, parted its petals and dropped two toxin sacks onto my open palms. Ryne might arrest us on sight, but he wouldn’t refuse more toxin. I thanked the plant, tucking the sacks into my pack.

  The monkeys and Flea kept well away from the Death Lily. I ignored the Peace Lilys. After the debacle with Yuri, I never wanted to interact with another Peace Lily again.

  Waiting for Kerrick was difficult, but I had to admit his choice of campsite was ideal. No one would dare approach a clump of Lilys.

  Loren and Quain debated about setting a small fire. Tired of cold food, Quain hoped for at least a mug of hot tea.

  “Just wait until Kerrick returns,” I said, setting up my bedroll. “There must be a reason he wanted to explore.” Like rounding us up a couple of horses, I hoped.

  However when Kerrick arrived a few hours later, he was alone. And his serious demeanor said more than words.

  “No fire. Pack your stuff, we’re leaving,” Kerrick ordered.

  We assembled our gear.

  “What aren’t you telling us?” I asked as we hustled through the forest.

  “I’ll explain when we get there.”

  Intrigued, I kept the rest of my questions to myself.

  After a couple miles, he stopped and gestured to a rocky slope, covered with vegetation. “There’s a cave entrance hidden behind those vines. I want—”

  “No caves,” I snapped.

  “Just hear me out. We’re being followed by a couple of groups of soldiers. I don’t know if they’re just returning to Ozero as per Estrid’s orders, or if they are searching for us in particular. Just to be safe, I want you to stay out of sight, and that cave’s the best thing around right now.”