03 - Sworn (43 page)

Rowan’s aunt stepped closer, hesitant. “Is that the only one?”

“I think so.” I dug up the roots with my knife—a simple task, given the thin soil and shallow root depth, but I took great care not to bruise anything. Moments later I’d moved the tiny shrub to a more likely spot in a patch of dappled sunlight. “It’s the only one I feel that might help, anyway. There must be more around, but the seed may have been carried from far off. Why?”

“I just don’t want to kill it by trying to help, that’s all.”

Rowan gave her aunt a reassuring smile, but rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “You won’t know if you don’t try. Just remember how it felt in that orchard. Take it slow. You can always do more, but not less, right?”

Victoria swallowed hard and nodded as Rowan and Kel backed away. I stayed with the plant. I couldn’t protect it if this Darmish woman found she couldn’t control the magic here in Tyrea, but I might pluck a blossom before things went too far. I hated to think that this little shrub might be our only hope, but I’d found nothing else this promising in our travels.

“Rowan?” Victoria asked. “A little water?”

Rowan seemed confident enough in her power now, at least in small things, and I wondered what had happened on her travels to change the situation. She breathed deep, relaxed her shoulders, and her fingers out in front of her. At first, nothing happened. Then a hint of a smile touched her lips, and a stream of water trickled over the freshly dug soil, soaking in. “Good enough?”

“Thank you,” Victoria said, and looked to me again.

I nodded, and she closed her eyes.

The air trembled with magic I could barely sense, and the plant grew. New shoots unfurled from the ends of nearly dead stems, and bright green leaves appeared all over. I held my breath as buds the color of midnight formed along the thickening stems. Victoria opened an eye to check her progress.

“Keep going,” I whispered.

Five blooms opened, deep blue with turquoise hearts, fresh and perfect as anything a queen might wish to find decorating her chambers.

“Stop!” I ordered, and the blooms held as they were, open to just short of losing their first petals.

Rowan bounced on her toes and reached out to hug Victoria, who couldn’t seem to quite believe she’d done it.

I cut the blossoms and placed them carefully in the basket, then added a few leaves and stems in case they might be useful later. Kel scooped one bloom into the palm of his hand and studied it, then raised it to his nose.

“Incredible,” he said. “Much as I miss the sea, land does have some things to recommend it.”

I snorted. “It took a rose to make you realize that?”

He winked and inhaled again, then put the flower back in the basket and took my arm. “We’ll have those at our cabin by the sea, won’t we?”

My heart skipped. “Climbing every wall if you want them,” I promised. “And a field of everything else out back.”

Rowan hung back as we neared camp, saying she wanted to check on Florizel. I suspected she’d heard Ulric’s voice, and didn’t wish to offend him by being present.

Stupid man
, I thought. Much as I’d once disliked Rowan, she’d proved herself useful many times over, and I had to admit that there was nothing truly objectionable about her. Nothing offensive about her presence or her mannerisms. No excessive pride in her skills, which I’d expected when I met her. Without her and Aren’s unauthorized trip to Darmid, I wouldn’t have these roses now.

So make them count. Fix him, get this over with, and maybe we’ll all find peace.

I ducked into my little tent. Underequipped though I was, I thought I could make something. Kel took his position next to my bag, ready to assist, as I took out the few bowls, knives, and the rough cutting board I’d made from a slice of firewood the evening before. I set everything on the ground.

“Hand me the swampweed,” I said. “No, that’s elvesfoot. I need the soggy one you got from that pond.”

Kel passed me a handful of dark green leaves that I’d wrapped in cloth. He gagged. “Smells delicious.”

“It’s not the smell I care about. Hush for a second.” I breathed deep to calm the tremor of uncertainty in my heart and focused on the items before me. My knife slipped through the swampweed, then a small handful of the rose petals and the only starflower plant we’d been able to find.

This had better work.

I silenced the inner voice and concentrated harder as I hummed over the ingredients, passing my hands over them, placing them into the large bowl with greater care than I normally took. With every movement and sound I projected my influence over them, controlling each reaction. Normally I wouldn’t have tried this particular combination, and would have expected it to be a waste of components. But I’d been working it out in my mind, using every spare minute to practice with less-potent ingredients, making reactions that should have been impossible....

The trance-like state was familiar to me from my years of experimenting, but this went deeper than I’d experienced before. I saw deeper into the plants, understood them better, found more possibility than they showed me when I only looked at the surface of things. Working on instinct, I crushed the leaves, used my knife to cut the shredded petals in rather than mixing them, sprinkled salt only into the left-hand side of the bowl before mixing it all together, added more water than my educated mind said I should and watched it all come together into a glowing purple liquid that the plant pieces melted into. It would need to set for a few hours, but it felt promising.

I didn’t notice my hands shaking until I’d pulled my mind back to my body, and the world came into focus. I stood, stepped back, and stumbled. Kel grabbed onto me. I turned, and we sank back to the floor together with me leaning against him.

“That was amazing,” he whispered. “I felt the magic. Do you think it worked?”

“We’ll see. And then I’m going to sleep for about a week, if that’s all right with you.”

“I think safe in our bed would be my first choice of places to see you while the Sorcerers and warriors battle this out.” A hint of uncertainty tainted the tenderness and slight teasing tone of his voice.

“Mine, too.”

Please,
I begged the painted white dragon who haunted my dreams, the one who’d perhaps brought more good fortune than I’d ever realized. I didn’t know who else to pray to, and he’d watched over me once.
Let the healing be miraculous, let my part in all of this be over. Let me and Kel have our forever. Let this work.

M
Y PRAYERS WENT UNANSWERED
. There was no immediate effect on Ulric’s magic. We decided to give it time, to wait and see.

A few hours after Ulric sampled the finished potion, he sat on the edge of his bed, ready to be tested again. “What shall it be?” he asked with a wry smile. “Shall I draw your strength to test myself, Kel?”

Kel looked up from where he sat in a corner and returned the expression. “Though it would be an honor to assist, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”

“And no earthquakes,” I added. “What about the light you made in the prison? Or making yourself disappear?”

Ulric nodded, and raised one hand. A white light filled the tent, then dimmed slightly, leaving a pleasant glow that he maintained seemingly without effort.

My heart skipped. “Better?”

“We’ll see,” he said. “This is a small thing. Simple, and requiring little magic.” He let the light fade. “But I feel only slightly weak.”

He shouldn’t have felt at all weak, but I didn’t want to discourage him. “It may take time for the effects to accumulate,” I said. “More doses.” It was a possibility, at least.

He glanced up at me, and then he was gone. A moment later he reappeared, gasping for air. I hurried to help him lie down and pressed a hand to his chest. His heart beat hard, as though he’d just run from danger or had the greatest fright of his life, and his breath came hard and ragged.

He waved me off. “I’ll recover in a moment,” he gasped.

I looked to Kel, who appeared as disappointed as I felt. He wiped the expression away before he stood to speak to Ulric.

“Perhaps you’ll need to build up to that,” he said. “Nox will figure this out.”

“Keep taking the potion twice a day,” I added. “We’ll keep scouting for ingredients.” I forced myself to smile, to not reveal the disappointment that turned my stomach into a hard, knotted pit. “There was some improvement?”

Ulric nodded. “Whatever you did, that was better than I’ve managed since the border. And look. I’m awake. Not coughing up blood. Keep on with what you’re doing.” He reached for the potion, and I took it from him and set it aside.

“Not too much,” I cautioned him. “I wouldn’t try it more than one dose at a time, at least not until your magic has recovered more. That swampweed will do horrible things to your digestion.”

He set the bowl on the ground next to his bed and sat up. “Perhaps you could work something into the next batch to counteract that.”

“We’ll see.”

It seemed I’d made a good start, but we weren’t going to see the full recovery that he needed. Not without ingredients I still believed existed, but that I couldn’t access even with Victoria’s help.

I thought again of the Potioner in Luid who had brought Severn back from the brink of death, about what I could do with what she had available to her. A new plan formed in my mind. One I didn’t like the thought of, one that was almost too dangerous to consider.
But if it’s the only way...

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Kel, could I have a moment alone with him?”

“Of course.” Kel ducked out of the tent.

Ulric rested his folded hands on his chest. “I’m listening.”

“Tell me truthfully,” I said. “If this doesn’t work, if your cure isn’t anywhere in these forests, what happens then?”

He looked up to meet my gaze, level and calm. “I don’t know. I can’t fight Severn if I’m incapacitated. I can’t imagine what would happen to me if I actually tried to steal someone’s strength. His, especially.”

“Maybe that would help you.”

“Maybe, if it were my power failing and not my natural protection from it.” He frowned at his hands. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”

“And you’re sure Aren can’t defeat him.”

He didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

My breath trembled, and I didn’t speak until I was sure my voice would be still.
You wanted this once,
I reminded myself.
Danger, glory, a chance to be an active part of Severn’s downfall.

I pushed thoughts of Kel from my mind.
Be strong. Be brave.

“You have great faith in your Potioners and healers in Luid, don’t you?” I asked.

“I do,” he said, speaking slowly, watching me carefully. “They have centuries of knowledge behind them, and all the world’s potion ingredients at their fingertips.”

“I think the answers are there,” I said. “This potion may help you more over time, but it won’t be enough. I could find something, though, either in the libraries or with your people, or in my instincts once I have access to those supplies. And then—”

“No.”

“I haven’t told you my plan.”

He chuckled under his breath, though there was no joy or mirth in it. “You want to sneak into the city.”

“Not sneak.” The plan I’d been considering after I left my home in the north came back to me, though the outcome I desired was far different now. “They wanted me before. The soldiers came for me. I can offer my services, get into the city, into the palace. I can find you a cure, and information that will help in other ways.”

“I think not.” He didn’t sound angry. He simply dismissed the idea, which was far worse.

“I’m not rushing into anything.” I added, determined to be heard. “We’ll try this potion until we reach Luid. If it’s not working by then, if you’re not strong, I don’t see what choice we have.”

He coughed into his hand. “They’ll see right through you. You don’t know Severn.”

I chose my words carefully, unwilling to lose the argument because I lost my temper. “Aren is helping me block interference with my mind. Once I get the hang of that—”

“No. You can’t. I know you better than you think, Nox. You may get in. You may make progress. But your need for revenge will cause you to stumble.”

My cheeks grew warm. “That’s not what this is about. Not at all. That may have been true before, but I have a greater purpose now.”

Ulric pushed himself to sit up, putting us eye to eye. “Believe that all you want, but this is personal for you, and that will make you careless. You’ll take any chance you get to do him in. Knowing Severn, he’ll survive. But you won’t. You’ll be dead and no good to anyone, and if anything you’ll have compromised our plans. No, you’ll stay here and keep working on my problem.”

“What plans? What will I compromise? As far as I can see, you don’t have a chance without me. And I’m not going in to kill him. I’ll find your cure and a way back out. That’s all.”

He waved me off. “My word is final, Nox. Go to bed. In the morning we’ll move on again, so you’ll need to be up early to pack your things.”

I stormed out of the tent and ran directly into someone’s chest.

“Good talk with Daddy?” Aren asked.

I glowered at him. “Fantastic. Thank you. How was your trip?”

“Fine. What just happened?”

I was about to tell him, but stopped myself. Something told me that this time, Aren and Ulric might be in complete agreement. He wouldn’t want me to put my life in danger to spare his.

“Just the same old things,” I said. “I thought I had a cure for him, but it’s not working as I’d hoped. I need better supplies. Better equipment.”

Aren’s brow creased. “I sincerely wish things were working out better for you.”

“Likewise. Have you seen Rowan?”

“No.” He almost whispered it. “And it’s probably best if I don’t.”

“So this is really it?” The genuine remorse I felt at the idea surprised me. I’d had my differences with both of them, but Aren and Rowan together had been a fact. He’d been willing to risk his life to save hers, and she for him.