Taste of Darkness
Page 54

Shouldering my pack, I hurried out before Kerrick sent the monkeys to fetch me.
No surprise, they all waited near the entrance.
“What took so long?” Kerrick asked.
“I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s go before Ryne changes his mind and arrests us now.”
Setting a quick pace, Kerrick led us east through the dark forest. He kept his normal appearance so we could see him. A small bit of moonlight lightened the darkness, but not enough to discern smaller obstacles like vines, rocks, and exposed roots. We stayed close behind Kerrick, trusting him to find a safe path.
As we traveled, I filled them in on Christina’s aqueduct. “She wouldn’t come along. She mentioned having too many bad memories there.”
“I don’t blame her,” Loren said. “Chinska Mare is the main center of Estrid’s religion. It might have changed, but before the plague, the streets were filled with acolytes seeking people not following their commandments. They raided houses looking for alcohol, musical instruments, or other banned items and dragged the poor person or even whole families in for punishment. They were big on punishment. I think the acolytes were paid by the body.”
“Sounds like a great place. Can’t wait,” Quain grumbled.
“It’s good she stayed behind. Christina hasn’t had the silent training,” Loren said.
“Estrid didn’t either and we managed,” Quain said.
“Yeah, but it took us three times as long to get anywhere.”
“Are we going to find horses?” I asked Kerrick.
“I’d rather not,” he said.
“But we need to stay well ahead of Estrid. Ideally we should be long gone before she arrives.”
No reply.
I tried again. “We’ll only use them to cross Pomyt Realm. There shouldn’t be any danger along the way. And once we reach the border, we can stable them for when we return.”
“All right, I’ll see what I can find,” he said. But he didn’t sound happy.
We continued on in silence. The plan was to travel all night, stop for a brief rest at dawn, then continue on until nightfall. By then we should be far enough away from Ryne’s forces to switch to daytime hours.
A respectable plan, except recovering from the poison had taken more out of me than I’d thought. My steps slowed and drawing breath became difficult. Kerrick and Flea also seemed to struggle. They had given me a considerable amount of their energy, although neither of them would admit to being tired. I concentrated on Melina, seeking strength from her plight. It worked for another hour, but then I had to stop or fall flat on my face.
Kerrick turned around. “What’s wrong?”
“I—”
“Can you find us a safe place to rest?” Quain asked. “I need my beauty sleep.”
Loren opened his mouth, probably to tease Quain, but he closed it after a moment.
Kerrick nodded. “There’s a cave—”
“No caves,” I said. “We stick together.”
He gave me a tired grin. “All right.”
We trudged through the forest for an eternity before Kerrick stopped.
“This is a nice high spot. We should be safe here and if the forest alerts me to any danger, we’ll have time to prepare. How much beauty sleep do you need, Quain?”
Quain pretended to fluff invisible hair. “A few hours should do it, don’t you think, Avry?”
“Dawn will wake us and that should be enough.” I hoped.
Kerrick wouldn’t risk a fire so we set up our bedrolls in a circle. I shared mine with Kerrick. He slid in behind me and covered us with his blanket. With his arm around my waist, warmth soon engulfed me.
“Does anyone else miss the old days?” Quain asked into the sleepy silence.
“Old days as in before the plague or before we found Prince Ryne?” Loren asked.
“Missing the time preplague is a given. I meant before Prince Ryne.”
“I miss the simplicity of those days,” Loren said. “We had one mission.”
“I miss Kerrick and Avry arguing,” Quain said with a laugh. “It’s too boring with them being all lovey-dovey.”
“Give it time,” Loren added.
“Hey,” I said.
“You know it’s true.” Loren settled on his pillow.
Kerrick agreed and I elbowed him in the ribs. Chuckling, he said, “Although I like it better when she’s fighting with Ryne.”
“Well, I don’t miss being chased by mercenaries,” I said. Tohon had set a bounty on healers and once word had spread that I was with Kerrick and his men, they’d come after us in force.
“And I don’t miss all those awkward meals with Avry glaring at Kerrick,” Quain said.
“He deserved every one of them,” I said, remembering.
“Not all,” Kerrick protested.
“Yes, all.”
“No. You were just too stubborn to understand—”
“Told you,” Loren said, gloating.
I clamped down on my reply. No sense arguing about past events even half-kiddingly. He lived and breathed right next to me. All else were mere annoyances of the past.
Silence descended as the others fell asleep, or so I thought.
“I miss Belen,” Flea said.
Quain and Loren were quick to agree.
My insides turned cold and Kerrick’s arm tightened around me. “We do, too,” I whispered.