“As many as you can?”
“We have broken the news to those still in the city, and they were understandably upset. It is too dangerous to allow any to leave the dome, and after being told what the disease they are being quarantined for is, they are becoming panicked. It is hard to get them to come out of their homes and deliver the plant, and we don’t have enough men in the guard to go house to house.”
“Didn’t you tell them that this is their best chance of survival?”
“Of course, but again, we are dealing with a city full of people who are scared for their lives and feel like they are being detained – which they are. Not only do we have the threat of the curse ever looming over us, but now that they are feeling like trapped animals, we’ve also been dealing with looting and riots. So there are a fair amount of them, we guess, that have not come forward to claim their share of chokeroot. Either too afraid to leave their homes or because they lack faith in us, we don’t know.” Layna’s voice broke a tiny bit at the last sentence, her heart breaking from her people’s pain. She felt Gryffon’s reassuring hand find her knee under the table.
“We would send you more men, but…” Lady Ravena on the Ieldran began, but left the thought unfinished. They all knew what she meant. No one wanted to enter the dome. Even with the best mages in both the lands and Katya’s party with the tribes, Layna could feel the ever lessening hope for a cure.
She nodded her thanks to the woman anyway. “We have redoubled our efforts and hope that the damage can be contained and the chokeroot delivered to everyone before it gets out of hand. We have received good news from our party to the north that the means to get the second powerstone has been discovered. They are in the process now of delivering it to the tribe.”
“They did it?” Heinrich asked, his tone very obviously surprised.
Layna bristled. “I had no doubt that they would. The leader of the expedition – Katya – is extremely capable, and all the Knights are exceptional.”
After the meeting, Layna and Gryffon returned to their chamber, dismissing their entourage in its entirety. They had both decided that they needed to see what was happening in the city first-hand, but none of their aides were likely to allow it. Gryffon had managed to get Sir Ruawn alone and though he did not approve of them going out into the city, he had agreed to help sneak them out if they would bring him and a few of his men along.
He told them there was a secret entrance to underground passageways that ran underneath the city not far from one of the entrances to the palace grounds. They hastily changed into dark clothing and Layna tucked her blond ponytail into the back of her hooded cloak. They waited until the moon had risen to its full height in the sky before creeping out the window and into the gardens below.
Though Layna had only been using magic for a few short years now, she had grown very accustomed to its constant presence within her. The strange emptiness she now felt while taking the chokeroot made her feel naked. The jump from the window to the jutting roof below, running along the high edge of the rooftop, and the hop down to the ground after that suddenly seemed a lot scarier when she didn’t have magic to catch her should she fall.
They slinked through the plants of the gardens, hugging so close to the rose bushes that once she had to pause and untangle herself from the thorns. They finally reached the guard post and searched the dark faces for that of Sir Ruawn. Finally, Layna spotted him; the one who was peering intently at the gardens rather than out into the city.
She touched Gryffon’s arm gently and the two of them rose out of the shadows and strolled over to him. The moment they showed themselves, the sounds of weapons being drawn immediately sounded in the quiet night. Three guards surrounded them before they had taken more than a few steps.
“Who goes there?” one of the guards demanded, squinting his eyes to see their faces. Recognition suddenly dawned on him and he hastily lowered his weapon, waving off the others which were pointed at them. “My apologies, Majesties.”
“No apology necessary,” Gryffon told him, “We’re glad to see our guards so efficient at their duties.”
Sir Ruawn had made his way over to them and he gave each a short bow. “Your Majesties. Are you absolutely sure you want to go out into the city? It’s not safe.”
“We have to,” Layna said, “How else will we know how our people are doing?”
“That is our job,” he countered, “What would we do if we lost both of you?”
“Well, that’s why you’re coming with us, isn’t it?” Gryffon said cheerfully, but Sir Ruawn did not look happy. No doubt he did not appreciate the extra pressure to keep them safe. She felt for him, but felt more strongly that her presence was needed in the city.
“Were you able to get the chokeroot?” she asked him.
He nodded and gestured to a sack behind him.
“Excellent,” she nodded, and Gryffon went over to pick it up. Sir Ruawn tried to beat him to it, but Gryffon batted his hand away good-naturedly.
“You don’t want your king getting all soft, now do you?”
“No, sir.” Sir Ruawn sighed. No matter how many interactions they had with the man, he seemed unable to forgo the formalities and simply call them by their names, or at least not address them with titles every single time. A simple ‘sir’ was as informal as they were likely to coax out of him. Amelia was always rebuking her for her attempts to remain informal with those around her. She insisted that it created an atmosphere for disrespect. The thought of her friend gave Layna a pain in her stomach. The woman was stabilizing with the new delivery of chokeroot, but the curse had already progressed to an alarming stage before they had caught on to what it really was. If only they hadn’t overlooked what a danger it posed!
Gryffon’s hand on her shoulder suddenly brought her back to the present and she looked around, realizing that he and Sir Ruawn and his men were all staring at her, waiting to get started.
“Sorry,” she apologized, “Shall we?”
Sir Ruawn gave them another bow and led the way out of the guard tower, looking this way and that with his weapon drawn before advancing farther along the street. After a few blocks of painfully slow progress, Layna exchanged a glance with Gryffon. He just shrugged, and she bit back a sigh.
Resigning herself to the slow progress, she turned her attention to the streets. At first, there was no sign that anything untoward was amiss in the city. But soon, the evidence of the curse and the resulting chaos of it all became apparent. There were shops whose owners were likely currently locked out of the city whose windows had been smashed in and the contents of the store looted. She made a mental note to have someone make a list of these so they could be compensated and had to muffle another sigh. She had no more people to send out.
They finally came to the area where the entrance to the hidden tunnels was and after making sure that no one was watching, Sir Ruawn waved them inside. From there, he said they could make their way to any part of the city easily and without being seen. The progress underground was much faster, and soon they climbed up to the less-affluent end of the city. They had decided that it was likely that there would be street-people there who may not have been able to get out to the chokeroot booths in order to get any and would be a good place to start.
Almost immediately after returning above-ground, they could hear moaning down one of the alleyways. Sir Ruawn immediately held up his hand for them to stay put while he edged along the side of the buildings to check it out. Layna watched as his form retreated down the street, and she itched to be out there with him. The thought surprised her; she had changed a lot since meeting Gryffon.
Smiling, she gave him a quick kiss, and he looked at her with a confused look. She just gave him an impish grin. Before he had come into her life, as a simple maid, the girl she used to be would never have wanted to be out in the action. She’d probably be curled up in bed, terrified. Gryffon – and their adventures – had definitely changed her for the better.
Sir Ruawn had
reached the corner of the alley, and he cautiously poked his head around. Slowly, he unplastered himself from the wall and turned to squarely face the opening. After a moment, he looked back at them and waved them forward.
They quickly scampered down the street, gathering around the mouth of the alley to see what the disturbance was. As it came into view, Layna saw that a dark shape was huddled along the wall next to a pile of barrels. It was this person who was moaning. The man looked up at them and started in surprise. He obviously hadn’t noticed Sir Ruawn’s approach nor heard them gathering around.
As they drew closer, Layna could guess why. His face was already beginning to form pustules, and his eyes were taking on a reddish haze, one of the last symptoms of the disease. No doubt the pain and confusion these and the other symptoms caused made him less than observant. Gryffon hefted the sack he had slung over his shoulder to the ground before him and took out the chokeroot. Prepared, the root resembled an edible, if bland, cracker. The spell which they had formed to make it more effective had already been performed on it so that they didn’t have to worry about having a mage within the dome not taking the suppressant, and it had been mashed into a patty shape.
Gryffon handed the chokeroot patty to the man, who took it warily, eyeing the thing. “Eat this,” Gryffon directed him gently, and at his glance towards the fountain out on the main street, one of the guards read his mind and hurried to get the man a drink. He returned in short order with a cup of water and handed this to the suffering man as well.
After a bit of urging, the man finally brought it to his lips and nibbled a bit off the edge. He wrinkled his nose, then stuffed the whole thing in, chugging the water down afterwards. The effects of the suppressant were instantaneous and Layna was glad to see that not only would it stop new ones from forming – at least for a while – but it seemed to also be making the existing pustules lessen in size almost immediately. It could just be her imagination, wanting it so badly to make her see the shrinking size, but she hoped it was real. The man did became more lucid, and they were able to get him to understand that he should eat one of the patties every few days, and more if he felt the disease was progressing. They really had no idea what the optimal amount to take was, but more didn’t seem to have any negative effects, aside from the dampening of talent, so they didn’t see the harm if he did take more at once.
They left him with a good supply of them, and asked him to spread it around that this was a way to keep the disease at bay, and that anyone could get it by talking to any royal official for free. He was very surprised at this news, which disheartened Layna, seeing as they had tried so hard to get the word out about it. Obviously, as they had feared, the people were not listening to the royal decrees.
They made the rounds around as much of the city as they could during the dead of night, stumbling across many more people who had not heard of, or taken advantage of, the chokeroot being passed out every day. They even had to take one citizen back to the palace to hold in one of the cells because she was simply too far gone. Her eyes had already turned completely red, and she didn’t respond to words. They gave her the chokeroot anyway, but it was likely she was already walking dead.
Exhausted and discouraged, Gryffon and Layna made their way back to their royal suites, successfully sneaking back in without being noticed. Once out of their dark clothes, Layna collapsed onto the bed, throwing her arms out above and behind her and sighing loudly.
“Depressing, wasn’t it?” Gryffon commented, his usual optimism dampened by the clearly sad state of the city.
“Very much so,” she agreed around a yawn, closing her eyes. The bed moved as Gryffon sat on it next to her and she shifted so that her head was lying in his lap. He stroked her hair absently.
“I’ve been trying to brain-storm ways to get more people aware of the chokeroot, but it seems that we’re already doing all we can. Without magic to help there are just too many nooks and crannies that people are hiding in to get the message out to them all.”
Layna sat up and positioned herself behind Gryffon, massaging his shoulders. He dropped his head and let out a moan as she ran her fingers along the base of his neck and down his spine. “I feel that we made at least a small dent tonight,” she said, “although having Sir Ruawn insist on checking every shadow before allowing us to move down a street I’m sure kept us from doing two or three times as much good.”
“I agree,” Gryffon mumbled, his voice muffled by the angle he was craning his neck into her massage. “I vote that we sneak out without Sir Ruawn tomorrow night.”
“Sounds good,” Layna nodded as he turned to face her.
He leaned in for a kiss, but before the two of them got any farther than briefly meeting lips, they were both fast asleep, sprawled across the plush bed.
*
Katya surreptitiously glanced over at Petra out of the corner of her eye. They were almost back to the Kanza tribe, and the girl was fidgeting nervously. She fingered one of the flowers as she walked, hardly watching the ground in front of her. Katya knew the girl was debating whether or not to take the flower herself.
Before they had found it, there seemed to be little doubt in her mind, but now that it was actually before her, she seemed to be having second thoughts. Katya could sympathize. As much as she hated knowing that her body and mind had been sculpted into the perfect killing machine for the purpose of carrying out Karl’s whims, now that she was free of him, she could appreciate their value.
Perhaps now that Petra had a way to be free of them, she felt more in control of them, and could see their value as well. Hopefully, the fact that it had been only because of her unique ability had they found the plant at all would help her realize exactly how valuable her traits really were.
Katya shook her head. It shouldn’t matter to her anyway. She looked over at Hunter instead, who was walking next to her, his eyes roaming the landscape around them. She moved closer and took his hand. A gesture of affection she had never before been able to understand, she now couldn’t seem to get enough of it. The feeling of his hand wrapped around hers simply made the world a better place.
“How much longer until we’re back?” she asked him.
“I estimate it should be within the hour,” he answered, using his free hand to shade his eyes as he looked up at the sun.
“Do you think it will really work? And that they’ll really give over the stone? I got the feeling that this mission was just a way to get rid of us. What if they go back on their word now that we’ve actually succeeded?”
Hunter shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
In just under an hour, they found themselves strolling back into the Kanza encampment. The Kanza leader watched their approach with a cool expression.
“What news do you bring?” he asked, with a tone of smugness that left Katya little doubt that he thought it impossible for them to have found the field.
Petra moved forward to speak for them. “We found it,” she whispered, barely audible, and held the flower she still held out before her. It had wilted during the long, hot trek back to the camp, but it was plain to see that it was indeed a yellow flower.
The Kanza leader scoffed. “You bring us back a pathetic dead flower and expect us to believe that you found the way to reverse the changes that all our mages couldn’t do?”
Petra’s face scrunched up in anger, but before she could snap a response, the others in their party wheeled the cart forward and opened it to reveal the contents. They had dug up and transplanted several of the plants into the cart in order to bring back a full sample to the Kanza, knowing they might be difficult to persuade.
Several people in the gathering crowd gasped, but the Kanza leader was still not impressed. “What does this prove?” he sneered.
“We understand you will want to see it work before you are willing to release the stone,” the Dena’ina leader put in, “So we have gathered several of the plants so that you may put together an expedition of your
own to proceed outside of the protection area and test the effectiveness of the plant yourselves. We won’t ask for the stone until you are satisfied.”
The Kanza leader’s temples bulged as he gritted his teeth. “Fine,” he finally said shortly. “I will head this expedition myself to see the results first-hand.”
“And I shall come as well,” another put in, and then another until a group of ten or so of the Kanza had volunteered to be the test group of the plant.
“Very well,” the Kanza leader nodded, “we shall set out presently.” He turned his attention to their party. “You may wait in the same tents you occupied previously.”
The Dena’ina leader smiled. “That won’t be necessary,” he glanced back over the group, “Unless any are too tired to continue on.” He paused for a moment, meeting each of their eyes briefly to access their reaction, but when he was met only with curt nods, he went on to the Kanza, “We shall accompany you as well.”
The Kanza leader looked ready to argue some more, and Katya wondered if he would sabotage the test if given the chance, but he reluctantly relented. The members of the Kanza tribe hurried back to their own tents with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. There were several hostile glances shot in their direction, some of which were aimed at Petra, and Katya felt a pang of annoyance. How could they still believe that just because she was born with the mark she was in any way bad? From what Katya had seen, she was the sweetest woman she’d ever met.
When the Kanza were finally ready to join them, they set out. It didn’t really matter where they went as long as they traveled far enough away from their powerstone that its effects would begin to wear off, so the Kanza leader pointed out onto the plains where he said would be the safest place to stop and test it.
It was obvious when they began to reach the edge of the powerstone’s reach. Several of the Kanza began to have rather conspicuous changes occur, and not all of them were as pleasant as Petra’s. Katya could understand why these people would want to rid themselves of these. One was morphing into a gigantic bug, mixed with some sort of fish…and the result was not pretty. Another seemed to be sprouting plant-like appendages over the entirety of his body, and not only did they look unbecoming, but they seemed to be causing him pain as well.
Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) Page 9
