by Jaye McKenna
Dani didn’t point out that Coryn had already made his choice. Instead, he nodded and said firmly, “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all anyone can ask,” Coryn said gruffly. “May your gods go with you.”
* * *
Rio had just cinched the saddlebag shut when he heard someone coming up the hill. Moments later, Dani and Coryn came into view. They both looked like drowned rats.
While Coryn led Rio’s horse over to Dani’s and began strapping on the saddlebags, Dani drew near, eyes straying to the dark stain on Rio’s shirt. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Rio lied. “It’s just a scratch.”
Dani pushed a soaking hank of dark auburn hair back over his shoulder and shot a questioning look at Coryn, who responded with a shrug.
“Are you sure—”
“I said, I’m fine,” Rio snapped. He turned to Coryn. “What are we doing about Bajhan?”
“I’ll do what I can to keep him busy, but you know what he’s like when he’s on a mission.”
“Like a dog worrying a bone, I know,” Rio said gravely. “What about you? He’ll know what you did. You can’t hide the effects of a sleep dart. He’s going to be furious when he wakes up.”
“Ai, probably. I hid our supply a few days ago so he couldn’t use them on you. He thinks we’re out of them.”
“He’s not going to believe that once he wakes up.”
Coryn shrugged. “I might be able to blame it on Danakho. Maybe you taught him a few tricks. Maybe he managed to slip free, and maybe I saw him sneaking up behind Bajhan.” But Coryn’s expression was bleak, as if he already knew Bajhan wouldn’t believe it. He glanced down at Rio’s belly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to distract you.”
“You probably saved my life.” Rio followed his gaze down to the dark stain on his shirt. “If the fight had continued, he’d have worn me down until I surrendered. I’d rather be free than retired.”
“I’d rather you be free and unhurt,” Coryn said. “It’s going to kill me, not knowing if you’re all right.”
“I feel the same way,” Rio said. He might never know what became of Coryn, for once he’d delivered Dani safely to his family, Rio would be heading deep into the Tovashi Domains and Coryn would go back to Akhat. It was unlikely he and Coryn would ever cross paths again.
“I’ll be fine,” Coryn muttered.
“Be careful.” Rio held up his left hand, palm out, and Coryn raised his right and pressed it to Rio’s.
“Blood to blood,” Coryn murmured in Djhara, the language they’d used to swear brotherhood.
“Brother to brother,” Rio responded in the same language.
Ice-blue eyes searched Rio’s face, lingering here and there, as if Coryn was memorizing every detail. As if he knew he’d never see Rio again.
“Be safe,” Coryn whispered, squeezing his hand.
“You, too, brother of my heart,” Rio whispered back.
Coryn pulled away and trudged off, but not before Rio saw the anguished expression on his face.
From beside him, Dani murmured, “Will he be all right?”
“He’ll be fine.” Rio led the horses out in the opposite direction to the one Coryn had taken. “Coryn’s damn good at taking care of himself. Always has been.” He mounted up carefully, wincing at the pain in his belly as he settled himself.
Dani did the same, and as they rode slowly down the hill, asked, “Was he an orphan? Like you?”
“No, but he might as well have been,” Rio said, glad to have something to talk about besides the miserable weather and the uncertainty of how severely he was injured. “His mother died in childbirth, and his father was a mean drunk who used his fists when he was angry. And he was always angry.” At the bottom of the hill, he turned east, following the muddy track, but keeping to the forest to minimize the trail they left.
“Coryn said we should find a healer,” Dani said. “Maybe there’s one in Greenhill. We could trade the horses for healing.”
“Ai, we could.”
“Rio…” Dani sounded hesitant now. “I don’t like the idea of killing, and the thought of slitting a man’s throat while he’s helpless makes me ill, but… if you wanted to keep Bajhan from following us, wouldn’t it have made more sense to do that?”
Rio sighed. “Probably. But I couldn’t do it. Bajhan is my uncle. The last surviving member of my tribe.”
Dani’s mouth dropped open. “You fought your uncle… for me?”
“Ai.”
“But… but what happened to them? Your family, I mean?”
Rio hesitated. It wasn’t a story he’d ever told, except to Coryn. But perhaps it would distract Dani, take his mind off of his fears. “I was ten when my tribe was attacked by an enemy tribe. I don’t remember anything before that. Not my parents, not my tribe, not the attack itself. And nothing before that.”
Except in dreams. Dreams of burning tents and people screaming. Dreams that had haunted him all the years since. “My first memory is of my brother and I huddled under the eaves of a building in Vhalion trying to stay dry. Tal was fifteen then, and he took care of me. He worked for a man named Vesh, thieving and whoring in exchange for a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. Tal promised me it was temporary. He said we had an uncle who’d gone and joined the Khalshir. He thought they were a society of warriors based in Akhat, and he promised when he’d saved up enough money, we’d travel there, see if we could find him.”
“And you did,” Dani murmured.
“Ai, eventually, I did. But Tal was long dead by then. Killed in a fight when I was thirteen. His body hadn’t even cooled when Vesh took me aside and told me he wasn’t a charity. If I wanted to eat and sleep safe, I had to take Tal’s place. Didn’t exactly have a choice.” Rio shook his head, glad of the rain that hid his tears. “Two years, I worked for that bastard, until I’d managed to skim enough of the profits to escape. Coryn was supposed to go with me, but there was a raid. Slavers took a bunch of the street kids, and Coryn disappeared. I assumed they took him, but… he’s never said as much. Never told me what happened to him. I looked all over for him, but I never found him, and eventually, I set out for Akhat on my own.” It had killed him to leave Vhalion without knowing Coryn’s fate, but the winter rains were approaching, and he was not spending another winter whoring for Vesh.
“I found Bajhan in Akhat, by asking a lot of questions about how to find the Khalshir Guild. He took me in. Argued with the Guild Master when she said I was too old to begin training, and took me on as his own apprentice when she made that the condition of accepting me. Two years later, Coryn showed up, and when I told him Coryn was my sworn brother, he did the same for him. He’s… he’s the closest thing to a father either of us had.”
After a long silence, Dani said softly, “Does Bajhan feel the same way about you and Coryn?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but… he was ready to take me to face the Guild Master, knowing she’d order my death.”
Dani asked no more questions, but he maneuvered his horse closer so he could reach out and put a hand on Rio’s arm.
Chapter Eleven
Mother Kitra’s lips thinned and her brow puckered as she examined Rio’s wound. “Yer headin’ over the pass?”
“Ai.” No point in lying about it. Bajhan surely knew Dani had relatives in Altan, and given the lack of Guild presence there, it was the only sensible destination.
The old herb woman’s washed-out blue eyes narrowed to the point of disappearing into the wrinkled folds of skin around them. “Y’ought to be in bed, boy,” she said flatly.
“Ai, probably,” Rio agreed. The pain in his belly had grown steadily worse, going from a dull ache to a throbbing burn throughout the previous day. This morning, it was sharper and far more intense. It was impossible to hide his discomfort from Dani, and his refusal to stop had already resulted in more than one argument.
Rio dared not stop, though. Bajhan would be relentless in his
pursuit, and Coryn could only do so much without betraying himself. Stopping now, when they were so close to safety, was simply not an option.
“I can give ye some herbs for tea, and some more for a poultice, though I think there’s more wrong with ye than the wound takin’ fever.”
“I just need to get over the pass,” Rio told her. “After that, it doesn’t matter.”
She clucked, lips pursing in disapproval. “There’s a healer in Whitefell, on the other side of the pass. Valli’s her name. Not that ye’ll make it that far. Yer already burnin’ up.”
Rio closed his eyes. “I have to try.”
She turned to the cabinet in the corner of her tiny workspace. From it, she withdrew two jars, and proceeded to measure herbs into two little fabric pouches. When she was finished, she folded the pouches closed and tied them neatly with a bit of string, then handed them to Rio. “Not that it’ll do ye much good, but there you are. The brown for tea, the green for the wound. Ye know how to make a poultice?”
“Ai, Mother Kitra, I do.”
“Well, then. May Fiora’s light shine upon ye.”
Rio rose from the stool he’d been sitting on and paid the old woman for her time and the herbs. When he left the cottage, Dani was just coming down the lane, leading the sturdy little mountain pony they’d traded the horses for. He’d been tasked with buying supplies while Rio consulted the herb woman.
The pony, Lark, was loaded down with all their gear, and according to the farmer they’d bartered with, she was strong enough to handle a single rider. Rio tried not to think about how fortuitous that might prove.
“What did she say?” Dani’s golden-brown eyes were soft with concern.
Rio held up the pouches of herbs. “She gave me some herbs for tea and a poultice.”
“But what did she say?” Dani persisted. “How long until you’re better? Do we need to stop?”
“We can’t stop,” Rio said. “We took far too long getting here as it is. I was hoping to reach the village yesterday. Just because we haven’t seen any sign of Bajhan doesn’t mean he’s not close.” In fact, Rio was surprised they hadn’t been caught yet. Whatever delaying tactics Coryn was using were working. Rio only hoped Coryn wasn’t digging himself a hole so deep he’d never see the light of day again.
“How long will it take us to get over the pass?” Dani asked.
Rio stared up at the mountains, dark against the lavender-blue of the sky. Less than a day, the farmer had said, but in Rio’s current condition, it would be considerably more than that. “A couple of days,” he said finally. “Depends what shape the road is in, and what the weather is like.”
“And on you.” Dani lifted a hand to feel Rio’s cheek. “You’re still warm. Tell me the truth, Rio. What did she say?”
Dani wasn’t going to let it alone. “She suggested I seek out the healer in Whitefell, once we get across the pass.”
“We should use of the herbs she gave you now, before we leave.”
“We don’t have time,” Rio said firmly. “I want to get into the pass before dark. We’ll do it when we stop for the night.”
“If it will help—”
“Nothing will help if Bajhan catches up with us,” Rio reminded him.
The color drained from Dani’s face. “You’re right. Of course you are.” He took the pony’s lead and started down the road.
Rio followed, breath hitching as a sharp pain tore through his middle. He pressed his lips together and bore it in silence, but Dani’s head whipped around. “I can feel that, Rio. We should—”
“I’m fine.” Rio said, wishing Dani wasn’t quite so sensitive an empath. When the pain passed, he caught Dani’s hand in his own and they headed up the sharply climbing road together.
* * *
Rio stumbled and went down on one knee with a muffled grunt. Dani dropped to his knees beside him. “We need to stop,” Dani said.
Silence.
Sweat beaded on Rio’s forehead, and Dani laid the back of his hand against Rio’s cheek. “You’re burning up, Rio. And you’re hurting.”
“I’m… fine.” Rio’s voice was a hoarse rasp. He struggled to his feet, shaking off Dani’s attempts to help him.
Dani rolled his eyes and muttered, “That’s a damn lie.”
Behind them, the sun hovered just above the horizon. They’d almost reached the top of the pass, but Rio wasn’t going to make it much farther. Dani had watched him struggle up the steep path all afternoon, felt his pain coming in hot, sharp jabs whenever it was bad enough to leak through his shield.
“Dani—”
“We’re stopping. There was an overhang, or maybe a cave, a little way back. We’ll turn back and see if it’s dry and empty.”
“Can’t turn back. Bajhan—”
“Isn’t here at the moment, and it isn’t going to matter if you collapse,” Dani said impatiently. “That herb woman gave you medicine, and it’s time we used it, or what was the point of going to her?”
Rio didn’t have an answer for that.
Huffing out a sigh, Dani moved close to Rio and shifted Lark’s lead to his other hand. “Lean on me. Come on. Even if the cave isn’t any good, there were some trees nearby.”
When Rio leaned against him without protest, Dani knew he’d been right to insist on stopping.
By the time they reached the spot Dani had remembered, Rio was shivering with fever and the sun was nearly gone. The cave Dani thought he’d spotted proved to be only a deep overhang, but it was dry, mostly free of debris, and felt more secure than huddling under a tree. Dani helped Rio under the low lip of rock and told him to rest while he unloaded Lark and settled her.
When he’d finished with the pony, it was fully dark, and as near as he could tell, Rio was asleep. Or more likely, unconscious. Rio’s skin felt hot and dry, and Dani couldn’t rouse him, not even to have a drink.
He dug around in Rio’s things, finding the packets of herbs the healer had given him, but without a fire to heat water, there would be no tea and no poultice to help draw poisons from the wound.
“You’re useless, Danakho,” he muttered to himself. “Just like Father always said. Fiora’s mercy, you can’t even start a fire!”
Dani settled himself next to Rio and chewed listlessly on a strip of dried meat. How long had it been since he’d had a hot meal? Ten days? Twelve? It felt like forever.
Rio moaned and shifted. “Coryn?”
“No, it’s me, Dani.” He smoothed Rio’s tangled hair back from his brow. It was too dark to see his face, but Dani didn’t need to see to know Rio was very ill. He needed far more help than Dani could give him.
He needed a healer.
But the nearest healer was on the Altan side of the pass. Would the border guards let him through? The guards on the Cathan side hadn’t asked them any questions. Rio said they were more concerned with people coming into the kingdom than people leaving, so it stood to reason Altan’s border guards would follow suit.
Would they believe his claim of kinship to High Lord Tyvirion?
Not that it mattered if he couldn’t get Rio down the mountain. He worried his bottom lip with his teeth as he considered how he might go about that. He could try to get Rio onto the pony… but that seemed like a dangerous proposition in the dark, over rough, unfamiliar terrain. If the path down was anything like the ground they’d covered today, it would be treacherous. Doubly so in the dark. It would be too easy for him or Lark to misstep and break a leg.
But what if he went by himself?
Maybe when the moon rose… would there be a moon? He frowned, trying to recall the last time he’d seen the moon. It had been rainy and overcast for the past few days, and Dani had never really paid much attention to the phases of the moon or the times it rose and set.
He got to his feet and moved out onto the path, peering up at the sky hopefully, but there was no sign of the moon. Discouraged, he settled back beside Rio, but dared not close his eyes. What if Bajhan was following them?
Or wild animals came upon them? Or what if Rio woke thirsty or afraid?
He must have dozed off, for Rio’s voice woke him some time later. Rio was tossing and muttering in his sleep. Dani tried to rouse him, but he was deep in fever dreams.
Coryn’s warning echoed in his mind:…nothing you can do except leave him behind and get yourself to safety.
No. He wasn’t leaving Rio, damn it. Not now. Not after all Rio had sacrificed for him.
Beyond the overhang, the nearly full moon floated in the sky, bathing the path in its silver-violet light. Should he try to make it to Whitefell? As long as the sky stayed clear, the moon would light his way. He scanned the sky, and saw no sign of clouds. A low moan from Rio made the decision for him: he’d go down to the village. He still had a few coins in his pocket. Perhaps it would be enough to convince someone to help him.
He dug in the saddlebags for the anzaria and the stimulant Coryn had obtained, and slipped both vials into his pocket. Reaching the village wouldn’t do Rio any good if Dani was in too much distress to make himself understood. He’d just have to deal with the crash when it came. Hopefully, by that time, he’d have fetched help for Rio.
Inside the shallow cave, he knelt at Rio’s side. “Rio? I don’t know if you can hear me or understand me, but I’m going for help. You said there’s a healer in Whitefell… I’m going to see if I can get someone to come up here with me and help you. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Please don’t be frightened.”
He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Rio’s scorching forehead.
“Please don’t die,” he whispered. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.” And then, almost as an afterthought, “I love you.”
* * *
Rio burned and froze in endless waves. His belly cramped painfully and his dreams were dark and strange. The lines between waking and sleeping blurred until he wasn’t certain of the difference. Dani was there and then he wasn’t. Rio called for him, but there was no answer.
