Taste of Darkness
Page 3

I slowed as Flea grew stronger.
“Hey! Stop that.” He let go, shaking me off.
“Stop what?” I acted confused.
“Don’t pull that on me. I didn’t ask for help.”
“Yes, you did. You just didn’t know it.” And before Flea could protest, I added, “Healer. Remember? It’s what I do.”
“But what if we find Kerrick?”
What if? Those two words had haunted me all day. And just like with Flea, Kerrick and I shared a bond. I reached for the bushes, touching the leaves. Still no ripple of magic. Yet a tightness deep down inside me wouldn’t let me despair. It clung to the notion I’d been wrong about his death before. In fact, it reasoned that until I had proof to the contrary, I should assume he was alive.
“When we find Kerrick, I’ll have plenty of energy,” I said.
Back at the cave entrance, the other teams milled about, talking in low voices. From their universal serious expressions, I guessed they’d been unsuccessful.
“I’m sorry, Avry, but there’s been no sign of him,” Odd said, joining us. “A few of the teams covered their entire areas. Are you sure he’s sick? I hate to be gross...but we didn’t find any vomit. And it’s hard to imagine him traveling farther if he wasn’t feeling good.”
“Kerrick can be stubborn,” I said, hoping that annoying trait had saved him.
“He had to be sick. Why else would he be out without his shirt or sword?” Loren asked.
“All right. So he goes outside thinking he’s going to throw up...then what?” Odd asked.
We’d all assumed he collapsed, but... What if he’d realized he was dying? I imagined his thoughts and feelings at that moment, putting myself in his place. He’d promised me he wouldn’t die. But it was inevitable. Yet Kerrick didn’t give up easily.
I gasped. “He headed to a Peace Lily!”
CHAPTER 2
“Of course,” Flea said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
And I wished I’d figured it out sooner. Sick and dying, Kerrick must have done the only thing he could—head to a Peace Lily. He’d been there when the Lily had saved my life and he’d recently learned about Flea’s survival. A surge of energy coursed through me.
“Could he find a Lily at night?” Odd asked.
“Yeah, he’s a forest mage,” Flea said.
“Loren, where’s the map you used for the search areas?” I pulled out my Lily map, but the sunlight was all but gone.
“I left it with the captain of the watch in case anyone returned and needed to find us,” Loren said.
“Go get it and ask the search teams how much of their areas were covered today. Oh, and see if they encountered any Lilys and where.”
“Got it.” Loren dashed off.
Quain, Flea, and Odd followed me inside the infirmary cave. I knelt next to the fire and spread my map out. The locations of the clusters of Lilys had been marked on it.
Handy, except the markings didn’t indicate if they were Death or Peace Lilys. For once it didn’t matter, because Kerrick also couldn’t tell the difference. He’d head for the closest cluster since the odds were in his favor. A hundred Peace Lilys grew for every Death Lily. However, I still needed to know if the teams had found any Lilys. Since I’d been using the map, I’d discovered it wasn’t 100 percent accurate.
I paused, letting the irony sink in. Death Lily toxin killed my sister and might take Kerrick, but it stopped Tohon’s dead soldiers, and had given me my healing magic. Ironic or warped? Or twisted? How about plain old sad?
Loren arrived with the information I’d requested. We consulted and pinpointed the closest Lily cluster. Half a day southwest. I remembered that group of six Lilys. One had been a Death Lily, and I’d harvested its toxin sacks. More important, five were Peace Lilys.
Standing, I said, “Let’s go.”
Quain exchanged a look with Loren, doing their silent monkey communication that Belen liked to tease them about. Belen. I bit my lip. No. I wasn’t going to think about him right now. If I did, I’d dissolve into a little puddle of goo. And time was too critical right now.
Pushing past Quain, I fetched my knapsack from my sleeping cavern. Kerrick’s clothes remained where I’d tossed them last night. I shoved them into my pack along with his boots. He’d need them; the air turned cold at nights. I wrapped my cloak around my shoulders.
When I returned, Loren and Quain waited for me with their packs. Flea sat by the fire. Two bright red patches spread on his cheeks, and his lips were pressed into a hard line. Odd stood behind him with his arms crossed. Their body language said it all.
“Here.” Loren handed me a few sticks of beef jerky. “You can eat it on the way.”
“Thanks.” I bit into one as we left the cave. A half-moon lit the sky, giving off just enough light for us to see the trail, but not enough to see well. We traveled slower than normal to avoid tripping. Plus we kept searching for Kerrick. He might have collapsed on his way to the Lilys. I touched the greenery from time to time, seeking his magic. My heart, though, wanted action and it raced regardless of our pace.
“I’d rather you had a hot meal before we left, but I rarely get my way,” Loren said.
“You stopped Flea from coming along.”
“Only because Odd threatened to sit on him. Flea said he wasn’t going to speak to me ever again.” Loren shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for Quain to say that for years.”