“How long until we can move?”
“A candlemark. I’ve already healed the lung, and I’ve set the bones to healing, although it’ll take some time. There’s some internal bleeding from the bruises. I’d say whoever hurt her did most of his damage with his boots. That’s what takes a little longer to put right.”
“Understood. I just want to get her across the river.”
“Aye. Let me get to work.”
Varren turned his attention back to Aidane, and this time, he met her eyes. “I know you heard all that. So I’ll make you a deal. I’m going to stop the pain, and you’re going to use whatever magic you have to speed the healing. I know what you are. Open yourself to the ghosts and let them fill you. It won’t hurt as much, and the energy will help you heal. I’ll make sure no one overstays his welcome. Trust me.”
Aidane could only nod. It was taking too much energy to keep up her shielding against the ghosts. They had found her, and once again, they clustered around her. Varren lifted Aidane’s head and dropped a bitter liquid into her mouth. She swallowed, and she felt the elixir burn down her throat. Almost immediately, warmth radiated through her body, blunting the pain. She relaxed, and the ghosts rushed in. Aidane gave herself up to Varren and the ghosts, beyond caring whether she lived or died.
• • •
She awoke in darkness. The stale smell of the caves was gone. Instead, Aidane smelled the loam and leaves of a forest. A light rain was falling. She shivered. “Be still. Stay quiet.” It was the voice of her rescuer, Zhan, the Nargi vayash moru.
“Where are we?” Aidane whispered.
“Nearly to the river. There’s a patrol ahead.”
Surely the vayash moru could fight a mortal patrol, Aidane thought. Then again, leaving a trail of bodies would make it that much harder for them to return to free others, and by the looks of the group, they weren’t new at their game.
Before Aidane could reply, Zhan was slammed backward as a dark figure sprang from the shadows. “Captain! Captain! We’ve got runners! Over here!”
Zhan sprang toward his attacker with a growl, eyeteeth bared. Four more attackers seemed to appear from nowhere, and in the dim light, Aidane realized their betrayal. The attackers were vayash moru.
Aidane scrambled out of the way, amazed her body had healed enough to permit her to move. Whether it was the healing elixir, Varren’s magic, or sheer self-preservation, Aidane found that she could stand on her own, and she pressed back into the shadow of a huge oak, although she knew that its canopy could not hide her from undead attackers.
Across the clearing, she could hear the vayash moru leader swearing fluently in several languages. Swords clanged and blades swished through the air, moving fast enough to be just a blur in the moonlight. Not too far distant, Aidane heard the pounding of feet as the mortals, alerted by the traitors, came running.
They’d been betrayed by vayash moru, but not by any of those who had rescued her. No, these vayash moru were newcomers, and by the way the fight was going, their betrayers weren’t doing well at holding their own.
Just then, an arrow slammed into the trunk of the tree beside her, narrowly missing her shoulder. Aidane bit back a cry of surprise and ducked, running for new cover. More arrows flew, and one of her vayash moru rescuers fell as the shaft took him through the heart. He crumbled to dust before he reached the ground.
“ Rethniris,” the vayash moru leader snarled, bearing down on one of their attackers with a two-handed sword press that would have felled a mortal just in its savage strength. Aidane had heard the term. It meant “blood traitor,” someone who betrayed their essence. And from the look on the vayash moru leader’s face, he held it to be a killing offense.
All around her, swords clanged and arrows flew. Only eight vayash moru had been part of the rescue team, counting the healer. Three had fallen in the attack. Of the four vayash moru traitors, only one was standing, and as Aidane watched, the vayash moru leader disarmed his opponent and went for the kill barehanded, tearing the traitor’s head from his body and throwing it with deadly accuracy at the nearest archer.
I can help. It was a ghost’s voice, and in her mind, Aidane could see the spirit clearly. She was a beautiful Nargi woman with dark, straight hair and luminous eyes.
How?
The soldiers got lucky. They weren’t looking for you. They’re posted at the village near here. That’s where I died. Where we all did.
There were several ghosts now, all young women. We were married or betrothed to those beasts, and they killed us for our dowries or in their drunken rage. Give us our vengeance. Let us fill you, and we’ll call them to their deaths. We’ll lend you our strength.
Aidane hesitated, just a moment.
Or do you want to be captured again? the first ghost asked.
Take me.
Aidane stiffened and arched as the first ghost filled her. It was rougher than usual, but Aidane opened herself without reservation. She saw the ghost’s memories of a thick-set Nargi soldier, a captain, and as the ghost filled her, Aidane remembered the spirit’s death at her lover’s hands as if it were her own. Aidane drew a deep breath and smoothed her hands down over her body, as if the ghost were reassuring itself that it had form. Let’s get them.
Aidane took a step forward, yielding her will to the ghost. The vayash moru leader looked at her in alarm. “What the hell are you doing? Get back!”
Aidane kept going. “Varn! You worthless son of a cheap whore! You murdered me for my father’s money. Come here, I’ve got a little something for you.” Aidane felt the ghost controlling her movements, and she let herself sashay into the dim moonlight that filtered through the trees. “Varn! You bastard son of a goat! Dung eater! Show yourself.” Aidane’s movements were both seductive and threatening, and she knew that the ghost’s possession was so complete that even her facial expressions were not her own.
“Sathrie? Sathrie? Is that you? But you’re dead-”
The mortal captain stood transfixed, staring at the shadow that had become his murdered lover. A moment’s hesitation was all it took for one of the vayash moru to send a sword scything toward the captain at shoulder height, taking his head clean from his shoulders. Blood was still pumping from the stump of his neck as his body collapsed to the ground.
Sathrie’s ghost fled Aidane’s body, and another spirit filled her so quickly that Aidane nearly passed out. Aidane ran for the shadows, only to reappear elsewhere in the glade. “Theddan! You limp-hung rat eater! You were too cheap to hire a healer and you let me die from the pox.” Aidane’s whole stance had changed. Where the last ghost had moved with the seductive grace of a dancer, this new ghost stood with hands on her hips, leaning forward, strident as an angry scullery maid.
“Be gone! I paid to have you buried,” a voice came from the forest. The hail of arrows lessened.
“Not deep enough, you lice-ridden thief. Come taste my maggots. Lie in my grave with me, lover.”
A man cried out, and the cry ended in a strangled groan. Aidane could feel the ghost’s satisfaction as it fled her body. This time, more than one ghost forced their way into her consciousness, and the voices that poured from her throat changed from breath to breath.
“Venaddon! Do you remember me? You buried me behind the barn.”
“Jakertan! It’s Nesha. Warm me. My grave is so cold.”
“Mathan! Come to your sweet, dead Tallie. I’m waiting for you.”
All around Aidane, battle raged, but sustained by the ghosts, Aidane moved steadily toward her prey, arms outstretched, sure that her expression carried all the malice she could feel radiating from the ghosts that filled her. The men dropped their weapons and fled, run quickly to ground by the vayash moru. In moments, the glade was silent once more. Satisfied with their vengeance, the ghosts slipped one by one from Aidane’s consciousness, and she sank to a seat on the trunk of a fallen tree.
The leader of the vayash moru stood in front of her, his blue eyes wide. “What are you?”<
br />
Without the support of the ghosts, Aidane once more felt the fatigue of her injuries. “I’m a serroquette. A ghost whore.” It was cold satisfaction to realize that she had actually managed to startle a vayash moru.
“Kolin, we’ve got to get moving.” Zhan laid a hand on the blond leader’s shoulder.
Kolin nodded, and spared one more glance toward Aidane, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to say. Then he turned abruptly and motioned for the others to follow. “Let’s get out of here.”
For the remainder of the trip, the vayash moru seemed to treat her with a combination of curiosity and disdain. Aidane was too exhausted to care, so long as she made it to the other shore of the Nu River alive. She felt a pang of regret at leaving behind the gold coins she had hidden, the passage money she’d been saving. And she had no idea what kind of payment, if any, her unlikely rescuers would demand or whether, after her performance in the glade, they would count being rid of her payment enough.
“Almost there.” Kolin hunched in the cover of tall grass on the river’s bank. The water of the Nu flowed swift and dark. “Wait for the clouds to cover the moon, and then go. I don’t care where you land, but we rendezvous at Jolie’s Place.”
For a moment, terror gripped Aidane as she stared at the cold water of the Nu River. She had never learned to swim. Then one of the vayash moru stepped up behind her and viselike arms encircled her chest. Clouds darkened the moon, and in a breath, Aidane’s feet left the ground. In just moments, they came to land on the other bank, and as she stepped away from her protector, she realized it was Kolin, the vayash moru leader.
“That was some show you put on back there,” Kolin said. From his tone, Aidane was still uncertain what the vayash moru thought about the diversion. Leave it to me to spook the undead, she thought dryly.
“I’m not much good with a sword, at least, not as myself,” Aidane replied. Now that she stood on dry land on the Margolan side of the river, the energy of the fight seemed to rush from her body and she felt light-headed and weak.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kolin replied. Aidane’s head spun, and she fell. Kolin cursed as Aidane collapsed, and only his vayash moru reflexes enabled him to catch her before she hit the ground.
“You’re more bother than I bargained for,” he muttered, scooping her up as he started the climb toward a large, well-lit building that sat on the shore of the river.
“If you go back, I can pay you… I have gold hidden…”
Kolin’s face hardened. “I don’t take pay.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean-”
“Forget it. But up here, let me do the talking. Jolie’s usually good with whomever we bring across, but I don’t know what she’ll make of you.”
“That’s the whorehouse on the other side of the river,” Aidane said weakly.
“Yeah.”
“Drown me now.”
Kolin chuckled. “That good, huh? How about you leave Jolie to me. ”
Jolie’s Place was a large wooden building, part of which was cantilevered off a hillside near the riverbank. Kolin motioned for the others to follow him, and he climbed a set of twisting, wooden stairs toward a rear door. Lights were on inside the building, but for a tavern and bawdy house, the building was strangely quiet.
“Jolie? Astir? Open up. It’s me, Kolin.”
The late-summer’s night was cool. Aidane shivered. They waited for what seemed like a long time in silence until the door opened. A dark-haired vayash moru opened the door.
“Thanks, Astir,” Kolin said, shouldering past with Aidane. The others followed. Kolin set Aidane down on a bench. She looked around. They were in a back room, and by the looks of it, it was the off-duty sitting room and dining area for the tavern’s staff. A wide fireplace sat unused at one end. Their group quickly filled the empty benches around several tables.
“What’s going on? Everything’s pretty quiet tonight.”
Just then, a door at the other end of the room opened. “Kolin! Varren! Thank the Lady you arrived safely. I was worried.” A tall red-haired woman swept into the room. “Astir! Let’s get them some food. Goat’s blood for the vayash moru, and take some of the sausage and cheese for the others.” The woman who Aidane assumed was Jolie moved with grace, gesturing flamboyantly as she spoke. It would be impossible to overlook Jolie. Though Aidane guessed Jolie to be in her middle years, Jolie was trim with a generous bosom, and the cut of her crimson dress accentuated her curves. The dress was fashionable and could have come from any of the high courts. Gold bracelets stacked up both arms, glittering in the candlelight, and the gold and gems in her earrings seemed to dance in the light. Perfume clung to her, heavy and sweet, like incense. Whatever kind of house Jolie ran, it was a profitable one.
Jolie gathered Kolin into her arms, planting a kiss on both cheeks. “I worry about you, Kolin. These raids are dangerous. Even Jonmarc almost didn’t get out of Nargi alive.” She shook her head and sighed. “Ah, but you’re here, and that’s what’s important. And Jonmarc? He’s well?”
Kolin smiled, taking Jolie’s hands in his. “He’s managed to stay out of trouble for a couple of months, which is a record for him. Carina’s feeling well, although it’s not too much longer until the twins come.”
“Which is another reason I’m going to Dark Haven,” Jolie announced. Her voice was deep and throaty, sounding of strong liquor, and her consonants softened into a blur that gave Aidane to guess that Jolie spoke the river patois of smugglers and traders, perhaps as a native tongue. From the surprise on Kolin’s face, Jolie’s comment was obviously the first he had heard of these plans.
“You’re going to Dark Haven?”
Jolie nodded, and her fiery, shoulder-length hair bobbed, catching the light. “We’re nearly packed. I was expecting you to come after this run, and since you’ll be heading back to Dark Haven, we’re going with you.”
Kolin looked utterly perplexed. “You’re closing Jolie’s Place? But you even have the endorsement of King Martris, after you gave him shelter when he went back to fight Jared.”
Jolie chuckled. “Can you imagine that on a plaque? ‘King’s Favorite Brothel.’ ” She sighed. “It’s not government trouble. It’s the plague. No one’s traveling. They’re afraid to go out at night, afraid to be in gatherings, afraid to leave their homes. Whether it’s ill magic or ill humours, no one goes about anymore. Even the soldiers aren’t stopping like they used to. People are afraid. It’s bad for business.”
Astir came and stood beside Jolie, casually putting his arm around her waist. Jolie leaned against him for a moment. It was clear to Aidane that the two were a couple, though Jolie seemed to be mortal. “Anyhow, there’s no one else I’d trust more than you to guide us across Dhasson,” Jolie continued. “We’ll close up the Place, and when the plague passes, well, perhaps we’ll return. Until then, I’ve a mind to set up in Dark Haven.”
Kolin chuckled. “And have you discussed this with Dark Haven’s lord?”
Jolie laughed, a full-bodied, earthy sound that spoke of a zest for life. “Do you think he’ll turn me away at the border, cheche? Jonmarc is the son I never had.” She paused. “Actually, we did discuss it a bit, when Maynard Linton and I went up to Dark Haven for Jonmarc and Carina’s wedding. Maynard had already made arrangements for his caravan to move their base to Dark Haven. Now, with the plague, there’s not much call for caravans and fairs, either. I have some coin put away, enough to buy a new place and set it up. And you know my girls are just as sweet on vayash moru and vyrkin as they are on mortals.”
“You’re the best, Jolie.”
“Damn straight.”
Some of the joviality faded from Jolie’s eyes as she spied Aidane. “Who’s this, Kolin? She’s not your usual passenger.”
Kolin stepped back, and Jolie moved to stand in front of Aidane. Aidane gathered the shreds of her self-respect along with the hem of the borrowed cloak and met Jolie’s eyes. Jolie stared at her in silence, taking in the fading bruises, the cl
oak that barely covered her nakedness, and the jewelry that hadn’t been torn off in the beating or lost fleeing the Durim.
“She’s a-” Kolin began.
“I know what she is.” Jolie’s voice was flat.
“I didn’t intend to cause trouble,” Aidane said, squaring her shoulders. “I can be gone in the morning.”
“The Durim had her,” Kolin said from behind Jolie. “She’d been beaten and left for dead. The Black Robes took her for a sacrifice. She was in the cages, along with our people, when we attacked.”
“I’ve never had her kind in my house. Not sure I want one now.”
“I didn’t come to work,” Aidane said, lifting her chin defiantly. “I just wanted to keep on breathing.”
“Her…‘gift’… helped us get out of an ambush,” Kolin said. “If you’ve any question as to whether or not it’s genuine, the spirits that spoke to her in the glade were real enough.”
Suspicion and skepticism glittered in Jolie’s light-brown eyes. “What do you say for yourself, girl?”
“My name is Aidane.”
The corner of Jolie’s red-tinged lips quirked upward, but it was not a smile. “Aidane, serroquette s often think themselves better than common whores. What do you think?”
Aidane forced herself to meet Jolie’s eyes. “I think a whore is a whore. I had no choice in the matter. The spirits took me and I did as I was bid. Why others choose this life, I don’t know. But the end result is the same.”
“Spirits or no, most had little more choice, if any, than you,” Jolie said. “And in my house, there is no shame. We’re entertainers, companions, and confidants. My girls come of their own will and stay of their own will. And when they will it, they leave, with a purse and skills if they choose to do something else. Most who claim to be s erroquettes are frauds. They beggar the desperate and the grieving. If you’re what you claim to be, there’s comfort to give in that.”
Jolie sighed. “Margolan’s not a good place for us right now. Kolin vouches for you. I won’t object if you want to travel with us. On the road, you see people as they are. If I like what I see, I’ll make a place for you.”
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