“How bad is it?” I finally asked when she didn’t say anything.
“I’ve seen worse,” Sabina answered, not meeting my eyes. “Let me have a look at the other one now.” She helped me to take off my cloak, muttering to herself as she inspected my shoulder. “This one isn’t as bad as I thought yesterday,” she finally said, sitting back on her haunches. “The cut is deep enough, but it’s straight and clean, and it doesn’t look as though any of the muscles or tendons were severed.”
I moved my arm experimentally, careful not to break open the wound again. “Feels pretty good,” I said, surprised.
Sabina held up the soiled bandages. “These need to be cleaned. I’m going to find a spring and wash them.”
“I’ll come with you,” I said, starting to get up.
Sabina put her hand on my chest, her eyes flashing with anger. “Are you really this stupid, Hadrack?” She gestured to my leg. “You can’t walk on that, let alone climb down from here.”
“Of course, I can,” I grunted stubbornly, pushing her hand away. I started to rise, then fell backward on my rump, feeling dizzy and disorientated. My leg was screaming at me as though I had just doused it in pitch and then thrust it into a roaring fire.
“Satisfied?” Sabina asked, her hands on her hips. She threw the rope over the ledge and glared at me as she headed down. “Don’t do anything foolish while I’m gone, Hadrack. Just stay here and rest. I will be back before you even know it.”
I waved to her in defeat, too weak to speak as she disappeared over the edge. I lay back, gasping for air. My face felt on fire, but my body felt ice cold. I started to shake, and I reached for my cloak and drew it over me. I couldn’t find a comfortable position lying prone on the rocks, and finally, I pulled myself to the wall, groaning at the pain as my heel dragged across the surface of the ledge.
Our refuge, I saw in the light of day, was no more than ten feet wide, scoured smooth by wind and rain. I looked south, realizing that the ledge ran along the rock face for as far as I could see. At times, the narrow shelf was no more than six or seven inches wide. If we needed to, I figured we could follow it along the gorge while we hunted for the Tapeau tunnel. I snorted in frustration at the idea. Who was I trying to fool? I was in no shape to move right now.
I lay my head back against the stone and closed my eyes. Our only hope was that Sabina could somehow stop the infection in my leg that I could feel burning inside me. I remembered what Baine had looked like after the Cardians had captured us after Gasterny fell. I shuddered. It had taken my friend weeks to recover, and only then because of Haverty the apothecary’s skill. As much as Sabina had impressed me over the last few weeks, when it came to medicine, she paled in comparison to the strange apothecary.
Thinking of Baine had not helped my frame of mind any, and I could feel a deep depression taking over me. I had been through so many tight situations already in my life, but this time, I reflected bitterly, things may have gotten the better of me. I thought of Emand laughing happily at my predicament as The Father burned his soul. I angrily shook the vision of that traitorous bastard away as another image arose. It was my father again, but this time he appeared to me as an old man. Gone were his mighty muscles and long brown hair, replaced with a balding pate, a bent back, and stooped shoulders. This was what he would have looked like now, I realized, had he lived.
“So, you are giving up, then?” my father said, his face twisted in disapproval.
“I never said that I was giving up,” I snapped, irritated that he, of all people, would think that.
“Yet, there you lie dying and doing nothing to prevent it.”
“What would you have me do?” I demanded. “I’m hurt. Can’t you see that?”
“All I see is a boy who says I can’t, when what he should be saying is, I can.”
I waved my hand in annoyance. “What do you know? You don’t even exist.”
My father leaned forward, and I studied his lined face, marveling at the changes that had taken place. The features that I remembered from my youth lay hidden somewhere within all those cracks and crevices, I knew, yet I couldn’t help but feel that I was staring at a stranger. I found the idea oddly amusing. I giggled.
My father frowned in displeasure. “Hadrack,” he said. He drew even closer, almost hovering over me. “Listen to me. I do exist.”
I shook my head, trying to quell the oddly-pitched cackle coming from my lips. “No, Father. I saw you die. I buried your head, remember?” I wiped tears of mirth and pain from my eyes. “I was too small to bury all of you, so I dug a hole and put your head in it.” I paused, blinking up at him in sudden confusion. “How come you still have a head, Father?”
“Hadrack,” my father said again, speaking gently. “As long as you live to fulfill your vow, then I live along with you. If you give in to this, then you will not only lose your life, your sister and I will become nothing as well. We will be forgotten and never avenged. Is that what you want?”
My smile died on my lips at the mention of my long-ago vow. I sat up, ignoring the pain and the fever burning along my flesh as I thought furiously. My father was right. The war had made me complacent toward the remaining nine. I couldn’t find any of them because of it and I had accepted that fact, allowing myself to get caught up in my oath to Daughter Gernet and the quest for the codex. If I died on this ledge now, then five men I had sworn to kill would live, while my family and I faded into nothingness. I couldn’t let that happen. I reached up and grasped my father’s hand, surprised at how cold and hard his flesh felt.
“I have lost my way,” I said. “I am sorry. Please, forgive me.”
My father stared gravely at me. “Swear to me that you will avenge us, Hadrack.”
“I swear,” I promised.
“No matter what?”
“No matter what,” I agreed solemnly. “You have my word.”
My father bowed his head, his features becoming blurry as he put his hand on my shoulder. “You truly are the king of the dragonflies and so much more, my son.” He smiled sadly as he straightened his crooked back. “Remember, Hadrack, that you must never forget your surroundings. Not everything is obvious at first glance. Remember what I told you.”
Then he was gone.
I lay back and closed my eyes again. I must have slept, for I didn’t hear Sabina coming until the rope began to grind and twist against the jutting rock spire that she had tied it around. I thrust off my cloak with determination and stood, using the wall to support myself with my injured leg held off the ground several inches. I took a deep breath, then set my foot down and cautiously put weight on it. Crushing pain seared through me and I moaned, but I took the step anyway, absorbing it stubbornly. I took another unsteady step just as Sabina’s head appeared over the rock ledge. She saw me standing there and her face registered surprise and alarm.
“Hadrack! What are you doing?”
I didn’t answer, concentrating fiercely on staying upright as I leaned over and offered her my hand.
“Have you lost your mind?” Sabina snapped in anger. She ignored my outstretched hand.
“Maybe,” I grunted as she pulled herself onto the ledge on her own. I grinned lopsidedly at her. “How would I know?”
Sabina snorted and she wrapped her arms around me. I could feel her entire body shaking with emotion. “You could have fallen to your death,” she scolded me. “What were you thinking?”
I held her, grateful for the support as I swayed in her arms like a drunkard. “I was thinking that if I just lie on this ledge all day waiting for the gods to take me,” I whispered in her ear. “Then, that is exactly what will happen. If I’m on my feet, they might decide I still have a fighting chance.”
“Of course, you have a chance, silly,” Sabina said, looking up at me in irritation. “I have more goldenseal and the bandages are clean. As long as we are careful, you will be fine in a few days. Now stop talking like that and let’s get those wounds cleaned up and bound again.”
>
I nodded, feeling light-headed as Sabina led me away from the lip. She helped me sit with my back against the wall again, and then she went to work cleaning my leg and adding more goldenseal. I sat through it grimly, determined not to cry out as I watched her delicate hands on me. I thought about mentioning that Malo had mixed the leaves with water and heated the concoction, then I decided to keep my mouth closed. We had no fire and nothing to carry the water in, so why mention it? I stared past her head instead, enjoying the view of the swaying trees and fluttering birds. The western wall of the gorge across lay mostly in darkness still, but the sun was rising rapidly. I watched as the light slowly crawled down the rock inch by inch, fascinated by the steady progression.
“There, all done,” Sabina said in satisfaction. She cleaned and rebandaged my shoulder next and then covered me with my cloak when she was done. “How do you feel?”
“Really good,” I said, lying.
Sabina tilted her head sideways and she studied me critically. “Are you telling me the truth?”
I smiled wearily and shook my head as I looked away, watching the sunlight glinting off the frozen rocks along the rim of Oasis. Sabina withdrew several long-stemmed white flowers from inside her cloak and began stripping them of leaves.
“Daisy’s?” I asked in surprise.
Sabina shook her head. “No, these are called feverfew. They should help you relax and sleep better. Hopefully, it will take away some of the pain, too.”
Sabina handed several of the leaves to me and I sniffed them suspiciously. They smelled unpleasantly bitter. I tentatively put one in my mouth and chewed reluctantly, trying not to gag on the taste. I swallowed, making a face as I shook my head. “I can’t eat this! Are you trying to kill me?”
“You have to,” Sabina insisted. “Your body needs it. Who cares what it tastes like?”
“Says the woman not eating any,” I grumbled, picking flecks of the bitter leaf off of my tongue.
“Don’t be a fool, Hadrack. This will help, and from the looks of you, you need all the help that you can get.”
I knew she was right, of course, much as I hated to admit it to myself. The thought of eating any more of the bitter feverfew turned my stomach, but I needed a clear head more than a content stomach. If there was a chance the flower could help, then I had to try. I tore off another leaf and put it to my mouth, chewing automatically as I absently scanned the ground behind Sabina. A light grey, rocky protrusion caught my eye about fifty feet down from the rim of the gorge opposite us, gleaming as sunlight washed over it. The stone seemed oddly out of place, and I squinted, shading my eyes as I tried to understand what I was seeing. Then I felt a jolt of excitement flow through me.
“Help me up!” I snapped at Sabina, thrusting the cloak aside.
“What? Why?” Sabina asked, looking alarmed at my tone. She peered down into the valley, searching for any threat as I fought to rise.
“Help me up, damn you!” I hissed urgently. “I’ll explain everything as soon as I know for sure.” I clutched at Sabina as she reluctantly helped me to my feet. “Follow the ledge,” I ordered, pointing south as I glanced again across the gorge. The rock was still there, I saw with relief, standing tall and proud, almost mocking me with its sheer perfection. I had been afraid with the fever taking over me that I might have imagined it.
“Hadrack, what is going on?” Sabina asked as I stumbled forward, dragging her with me.
The pain in my leg was gone now, whether taken away by the feverfew or the excitement, I wasn’t sure. Either way, I was glad for the respite. We reached a narrow part of the ledge and I went first with my back pressed tightly against the wall. Sabina came close behind me, clutching at me like an over-protective mother.
“How long is Oasis?” I demanded as the ledge began to widen again.
Sabina wrinkled her brows in confusion. “What? Uh, four miles, I think.”
“Ha!” I cried, putting the pieces together. “I knew it!”
My leg suddenly gave out beneath me and I stumbled and lost my balance. If not for Sabina, who steadied me, I probably would have fallen over the edge. I grinned at her in thanks. “We’re almost there,” I promised her.
“Almost where?” Sabina asked in exasperation. “What is going on?”
“My father told me something once,” I said. I had no intention of telling her what I was about to say had come from a vision. I think Sabina thought my mind was addled enough as it was right now. I swept my arm out. “He told me to always be aware of my surroundings.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither did I until just a few moments ago,” I said. “Waldin wrote that his cave was four miles from the Complex, right?” Sabina nodded. “And what is the only other clue that we have?” I asked.
Sabina shrugged. “He could see giant mushrooms from the cave’s mouth.”
“Exactly,” I said in triumph. I smiled and pointed across the gorge. “And what do you see there?”
Sabina turned, her eyes gliding over the trees and rocks. I waited, hoping she would see it on her own, but finally, she just shrugged, looking disappointed. “I see trees and bushes, rocks and hot springs, that’s all. No mushrooms.”
I laughed, enjoying myself. “I have a riddle for you. When is a mushroom not a mushroom?”
“What?”
“The answer is when it’s a giant rock,” I whispered. I sighted along my arm, leaning close to her as I pointed across the gorge. “Look there. That tall rock with the rounded head to the right of the crevice. What does that look like to you?”
Sabina knitted her eyebrows. “Well, I suppose it does sort of look like a mushroom,” she said doubtfully.
“Of course, it does,” I said, waving away her doubt. “It’s worn and weathered now, but think what that stone must have looked like hundreds of years ago when Waldin stood here.”
“But he specifically said mushrooms, not a single mushroom.”
I was ready with an answer to that. I pointed. “Look there, and there, and over there. Those jumbled piles of rocks have to be the other mushrooms Waldin mentioned. They just collapsed over the years until only one was left.”
I could see excitement starting to build in Sabina’s eyes now as she worked it through. “And we are almost exactly four miles from the Complex,” she said in wonder.
“It all makes sense,” I said, grateful that she finally understood. “We just assumed when Waldin wrote four miles from the Complex, that he meant outside in the mountains.”
The euphoria that I had felt at my discovery was beginning to wear off, and I suddenly felt weak and unwell. I could feel the pain returning with a vengeance in my leg as well, and I sagged against the rock wall, closing my eyes.
“Hadrack?”
I motioned ahead feebly, trying not to concentrate on the heat that I could feel burning across my cheeks and forehead. “Go on,” I gasped, fighting for breath. “The cave has to be somewhere close. Find it and come back for me. I need a moment to rest.”
Sabina studied me in concern, then she patted my arm and moved away, following the ledge southward. She was gone only a few minutes before she returned, her eyes shining with excitement.
“I’ve found it, Hadrack! I’ve found the cave!”
I smiled, trying to focus on her features, but her face was fading in and out strangely. “Don’t do that,” I mumbled in annoyance.
Then I collapsed as the darkness took me.
20: Waldin’s Cave
Dreams. They have always been at the cusp of my awareness. Something barely remembered that quickly flees as consciousness returns and a new day begins. But now, there was no consciousness for me—at least, not the kind that I had been familiar with all my life. I was alternately freezing or raging hot, sometimes both at once, shivering and sweating in torturous tandem. I could hear a woman’s voice periodically in the background, murmuring, but the words made no sense to me. I had no idea of my surroundings, or for that matter, if I was even
alive.
Was I truly dead? I wondered, knowing that it was a fair question. Perhaps I was, I reflected, for many of the dead I had known in my life had come to see me recently. Some were as they had been, while others, like that bastard reeve, were quite different. The reeve was incredibly tall now, much taller than I remembered he’d been in life. He was still as ugly as a rat’s ass, though. I guess some things just can’t be fixed. The reeve carried a black cane in his right hand, and he had buttons running down the center of his face. Yes, actual buttons. Big, shiny ones like you would see on a rich man’s cloak. It was odd, but far from the strangest thing that I would see in this new world of mine.
“You killed me,” the reeve said reproachfully.
I noticed he floated in the air several inches from the ground, making him look even taller, but for some reason, I didn’t find anything unusual about that. “You deserved it, you bastard!” I spat back at him. “I would be a farmer now, if not for you.”
“Then you should thank me,” the reeve said with a haughty sniff. “I rose you out of the filth and shit so that you could brush shoulders with lords and kings.” He glared at me, his eyes bulging with indignation. “Where is my thanks, you ungrateful wolf pup?”
I grasped my sword. “Come here, you bastard, and I’ll show you gratitude. I killed you once, and by The Mother, I’ll gladly do it again.”
“With that?” the reeve smirked.
I glanced at my hand in confusion. I held Angry’s bridle, not a sword. I heard a whinny behind me and I turned, falling to the ground as Angry reared over me, iron-shod hooves aimed for my head, fire shooting from his nostrils. I cried out and lifted my arms to ward him off, and then he disappeared in a wall of smoke just as something warm and fluffy landed in my lap. It bleated loudly and I looked down in surprise. A lamb lay on me, staring up at me with dewy eyes. Its white ears stuck out to either side comically.
The Wolf On The Run (The Wolf of Corwick Castle Book 3) Page 30
