From Across the Clouded Range (29 page)

Teth sniffed then strengthened her
resolve. The last thing she could do was show him that he had
struck a nerve. He could not know her weakness. She took a deep
breath, gathered herself, and strode after him. Her bare foot came
down on a sharp rock that had been hidden by needles. She pitched
forward, lost her balance, and landed in a puddle of mud. Unhurt,
she pulled herself up and wiped the muck from her hands. The event
was not traumatic, but it crushed her fragile façade and left her
on the verge of tears.

That was until she heard Dasen
laughing. The sound of his forced cackle made her jaw clinch tight.
She cast him an icy glare that just brought more peals of laughter.
“Professor, may I ask how wallowing in the mud will get us to
safety? I know I’m just a . . . .”

“
Shut up!” Teth yelled.
She rose to her feet, wiped the mud from her hands, and ignored the
rough ground as she closed the distance between them. Her voice
turned low and venomous. “You know, I could have laughed when you
fell. I could have left you lying there in the mud for those men,
but I went back for you and risked my life to do it.”

“
Well, don’t forget that I
saved you from the river.”

“
Which we wouldn’t have
been in if it wasn’t for you!” Teth’s voice echoed through the
forest. She did not notice the volume. She was enraged. “And now we
have no chance of saving my aunt. I may never see her again. . . .
And what about the coach? I got these by going back for you.” She
motioned to her arms. “All I have done is save you. I owe you
nothing. You owe me everything, so just
shut up!
” She was bellowing, her
face inches from his, trembling with fury.

Finally, she backed off and dropped
her voice. “Give me your socks, and we’ll get out of
here.”

Dasen stared at her as if he wanted to
continue the argument but wisely did not. He dropped his eyes to
her bare foot, took a deep breath, and sat on a nearby log to pull
off his boots. He held two damp silk tubes out to her a moment
later, but his eyes did not rise to meet hers. She stood over him
with her arms crossed and death in her eyes, but he did not
cower.

Teth smacked him in the arm when his
boots were back on. “Move.”

He looked up at her, but she just held
out the socks. He rose but did not go far. She took his place on
the log, wrung the water from the socks, and pulled them onto her
bare foot then doubled them back over again to give herself as many
layers of protection as possible.

She looked at the sky streaked with
red and orange then the forest around them. “I have a hunting
shelter near here. I think we can make it there before
dark.”

She hoped that she was right. As far
as she knew no one other than her and her aunt ever came to this
side of the river, and the forest was dense and wild as a result.
She knew it well but also knew that it could not be treated
lightly. Even she could get lost out here. If they were across from
the logging camp, they should be close to her shelter, but until
she found a landmark she could not be sure. In the meantime, she
might lead them nowhere. And once the sun was down. . . . Well,
she’d deal with that when it happened.

Socks in place, Teth gathered herself
to go. She felt some of her anger fading, but it was replaced by
crushing fatigue, a pounding headache, and disorientation.
Apparently, she had not survived the river unscathed. Waves of
light-headedness washed over her, and she put her head in her hands
to steady herself. Her senses eventually returned, and when they
did, she stood before the weakness could hit her again.
Unfortunately, she rose too fast. Spots danced before her eyes,
threatening to send her back to her seat.

Dasen saved her with a hand on her
elbow. “Are you alright? You don’t look good, maybe we shou . .
.”

“
I am fine!” She jerked
her arm away. “Have you never stood up too fast?”

Dasen did not respond. He just watched
her warily as she rubbed her head, hoping for some relief from the
pounding. "Here, take this,” he offered. He held out a piece of the
white bark she had given him earlier.

She snapped it from his hand and put
it in her mouth. Her face twisted at the taste. She waited for him
to take a larger piece for himself, and when he did not, she
watched his mouth to be certain that he was not already chewing.
“Aren’t you going to have some?”

“
That was the last piece,
but I’ll be fine. My headache has faded a lot.”

Teth knew he was lying. She could see
the pain reflected in his face, could keep time by the regular
popping of his eyes and pursing of his mouth, and it made the bark
taste even worse. She could barely chew for the rotten way it made
her feel, but she did not give in. She had to remain strong. If she
let the boy think that she had been wrong, he would never stop
lording it over her. It would undermine every attempt she made to
assert herself. She might as well volunteer to cook his meals or
polish his shoes.

Nothing more was said. They walked in
silence from the clearing into the untouched forest. The trees here
were almost entirely conifers – pines, firs, and cedar. They stood
close together, their cascades of needles blocking out all but the
barest streaks of sunlight. As a result, the ground around the
trees was largely free of vegetation, consisting primarily of a
solid bed of needles over a mass of protruding roots. Though they
did not have to deal with brush, the ground was rough, uneven, and
rocky. They were close to the mountains now, and hills were
steeper, cliffs and ravines were common, great slabs of granite
stood out, keeping watch between the trees. Teth led them
confidently through that daunting landscape, moving easily around
trees and rocks, selecting routes that wound around ravines. And it
was not long before the Order favored them. A massive thumb of rock
appeared before them, jutting out of the forest floor almost as
tall as the surrounding trees. It was the landmark Teth needed. It
meant that they were only a mile from her shelter.

Teth slowed to be certain that she had
her bearings. Seeing the landmark lightened her spirit, but the
uneasiness she had experienced back at the clearing had not left.
Her head was pounding despite the higg bark, waves of exhaustion
and disorientation nearly overpowered her, and she felt chills
despite the warm evening. Another of the spells set upon her, and
she held the rock to keep herself from falling.

Somewhere, it seemed distant, Dasen
was asking if she was alright. There was real concern in his voice,
but she rebuked him with some snide remark, and he fell silent. The
feeling passed as quickly as it had come, and she dismissed it as
exhaustion. In any case, she told herself, they would be at the
shelter soon.

They continued from there at an uneasy
pace. The forest was rough, and neither of them was in any
condition to move quickly. As they went, Teth thought back on the
events by the river, on how she had ruined everything. She had
wanted that kiss as much as him, had wanted to replace her fear and
heartbreak with something warm and inviting. So why had she pushed
him away, said those terrible things?

With the thought, she looked back at
Dasen. He was stumbling loudly behind her with his head down. He
had found a stick to help his injured knee, but he still limped
badly. His breath came in pants, and he grunted with nearly every
step, but he kept going. His once pristine shirt and jacket were
black with mud, his pants were tattered and bloody, and his hair
clung to his face or stood on end making him look very much like a
drowned rat.

She did not look much better. Her
dress was a mud-stained rag with enough rips and tears to be
scandalous. She could feel her fine hair frizzed around her like a
dandelion gone to seed. And her arms, face, and legs were covered
with scratches and bruises like a six-year-old having a bad
day.

The ridiculousness of it
all made her want to laugh despite herself.
Has there ever been such a day in the history of the
Order?
She snorted to herself, but it was
enough to draw Dasen’s attention. Precarious balance disrupted, his
foot slipped, his bum knee collapsed, and he pitched forward. He
did not fall hard, but he cried out then struggled to
rise.

And Teth laughed. She did not think it
was funny, but she was so exhausted, so overwhelmed that she could
not stop herself. It was all too much, like a bad joke that
wouldn’t end. And she couldn’t wait any longer for the punch line.
She laughed because it was easier than crying, but Dasen didn’t
hear it that way.

He pulled himself up, leaning heavily
on a nearby tree, and glowered. “So we’re even now. Ha, Ha. But let
me tell you something. I don’t have to take this from you. The
people around here may have let you get away with this charade, but
you are now my wife by law, and it will end! What in the name of
the Holy Order is wrong with you? I mean, if I’d known I was
marrying a boy, I never would have come to this Order-forsaken
place to start with!” His voice rose throughout his tirade until he
was yelling. His accusing eyes pounded her.

That was not the first time Teth had
heard those types of insults. She got them almost every day from
the boys in Randor’s Pass, but for some reason, they were different
coming from Dasen. They were crushing. Her laughter stopped, and
she turned before he could see the damage he’d inflicted, fought
the emotions that threatened to drag her down. Speaking, she knew,
would break that dam, so she just walked away. But she could not
stop the tears that ran like cinders down her charred
cheek.

Dasen sighed behind her deep and
shaking. She thought he would speak again, but he swallowed his
words and followed.

As they walked, Teth felt the dark
emotions taking hold of her, building and mutating. She released
her ire on the trees, pushing branches violently to the side or
breaking them off and tossing them into the forest. Then she
stopped breaking the branches. Instead, she held them just long
enough so that they would snap back and hit Dasen. She chose routes
that she knew would be difficult for him and quickened her pace as
much as she could through her overbearing exhaustion in an attempt
to lose him. Much to her chagrin, he kept the pace despite his limp
and simply huffed and scowled at every branch she snapped into his
face.

Another branch hit him with a thump.
He grunted, but Teth only felt sorrow. She knew that she was only
making it worse, knew that he would repay her tenfold when they
reached the city. But at that moment, she could not make herself
care. She hated him. She dreamed of him lost in the forest and
crying out for help. Other dark thought commingled with those
dreadful imaginings, thoughts about their life in the city. As a
woman, she would have no rights over a rich and powerful husband
who hated her. He would make her miserable, he had as much as said
it himself. And she was only making it worse with every branch she
sent flying into his face.

She took another step. A wave of
sickness hit her. They had been coming and going since the river,
but they were more frequent now and more severe. She stopped and
leaned against a tree to keep herself from falling. Spinning,
lightheadedness, and now nausea hit her. She shivered. They were
almost to the shelter. She just had to hold out until
then.

Dasen came up behind her and said
something she could not decipher. She refused to let him see her
falter, so she pulled herself from the tree before the spell had
passed. The resulting dizziness was worse than she had expected.
The ground spun, its speed ever-increasing. Somewhere, Dasen asked
if he could help. She tried to assure him that she would be fine,
but as soon as she opened her mouth, the ground fell from beneath
her.

Dasen caught her but nearly fell
himself as the weight shifted to his bad knee. He helped her to the
ground and knelt over her. She could hear him speaking. He sounded
like he was miles away. The world spun. Dark spots dominated her
vision, but she had to give him directions to the
shelter.

"In that direction," she mumbled and
managed to point west, "there’s a wall of rock. Against the rock is
a shelter. It’s not far. You. . . ." She could not remember what
else she was going to say. She watched the tops of the trees spin
together until they finally met and faded to black.

#

“
Could anything else go
wrong today?” Dasen yelled to the heavens as Tethina’s eyes fell
shut.

She had been walking strangely for
some time, but he had been too absorbed in his indignation to care.
Certainly, he regretted the things he had said, but she was so
Order-cursed impossible. He never knew where he stood or what she
thought, and he was so tired that he just couldn’t play the cursed
game any longer. So he had exploded and said all the wrong things.
And she had responded by hitting him with every branch she could
find until he wondered if he still had any skin on his hands or
face.

Then this.
Curse her! Now what am I supposed to
do
? He half expected she had collapsed on
purpose, that it was all a ploy to show him how dependent he was.
Following that thought, he shook her shoulders and yelled, “Come
on, Tethina. This isn’t funny. It’s almost dark, we need to get to
the shelter.”