King Of Souls (Book 2) (18 page)

A thin smile stretched across her wrinkled cheeks, and she shook her head. “You don’t seem to understand. You won’t survive the journey alone.”

Moira held secrets. He could see them hanging about her neck like an iron chain. He wouldn’t try to pry them from her. Not when he needed her help. “If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“Don’t worry about me Ronan. I’ve made this journey a few times. I’ll manage.”

Ronan bowed his head. “Thank you Moira.”

“We’ll leave at first light. Now, let’s eat before the stew burns. Would you mind helping me with a bowl?”

Ronan leaped to his feet, and scooped two bowls worth of stew from the bubbling pot happy to have a plan of action. His grim mood improved, and his hunger faded as he devoured Moira’s beef stew.

***

Danielle’s stomach churned. She leaned against the sandstone wall and stared at Brees. Without treatment, he’d die in the next few days. Why should she care? His rude treatment and steadfast refusal to help Keely enraged her. But, she couldn’t shake an attraction for the man that went beyond his physical appearance. She cared what happened to him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Brees glared. “Are you afraid I’ll make you sick too?”

Danielle jumped, shaken from her thoughts. “What? No, of course not.”

“If you still want me to heal your friend, I can. But, there’s no guarantee she won’t contract whatever disease I’ve caught.”

“Brees, what if I told you that I know exactly what’s making you sick, and I could offer a treatment,” Danielle said.

His eyes widened and flickered toward the staircase. “I’d be very skeptical.”

Danielle nodded. “That’s how I felt about Keely. I couldn’t help her, but you can.” She crossed the room and stood inches from Brees. “Do you trust me?”

“Trust isn’t a word I throw around so easily.”

“Brees, you and Catalin have contracted a disease called Dimrey’s Plague.” She opened her belt pouch and fished out a small glass vial of clear liquid secured with a piece of hard cork. “It nearly wiped out the entire population of my country three hundred years ago.”

A half-smile slid across his face. “The country full of trees?”

“Yes.” Danielle ignored his goading remark. She slipped free her heartwood staff nestled deep inside her leather pouch. She’d shrunk it to the size of a toothpick when she noticed the extreme lack of wood anywhere in the desert. “A hermit named Dimrey Lamotte contracted the illness in Ayralen’s northern swamps. He carried it south into the Heartwood infecting hundreds along the way.”

His eyes glanced toward the clear vial. “What’s a swampland?”

“A swamp is a geographical area holding large pockets of shallow stagnant water. Swamps attract a large variety of insects, snakes, and other wildlife.”

Brees shook his head, opened his mouth to speak, and stopped. He held Danielle’s gaze, and his expression turned serious. “Go on.”

“His disease caught every citizen completely unaware.” Danielle’s stomach dropped as a sickening realization dawned in her mind. Arber had carried the disease to those people just like Dimrey Lamotte three hundred years ago. She and Keely might also carry Dimrey’s Plague. Their lifelong diet rich in heartwood fruit protected them, but that didn’t help the Obsith.

“What’s wrong?” Brees said. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Where did you first notice the sickness?” Danielle said.

“In a village called Suri. It lies just north of Zen.”

“How long ago?”

“Maybe a week,” Brees’s brow furrowed. “What do you know?”

“I think another man from my country brought the disease to your people. There’s a strong possibility Keely and I might carry the same disease. We were tracking him through the desert hoping he might help us make sense of some strange lights we saw over the desert last autumn.” Danielle channeled a trace of magic into her staff and it expanded, growing eight-feet tall.

Brees’s eyes widened with shock and he staggered backward. “What is that? What are you doing to me?”

Danielle glanced at her staff before settling her gaze on Brees. “It’s okay. This is a heartwood staff. The fruit from its branches cures Dimrey’s Plague.”

“Wood! You own wood!” His face turned ashen. “Even the emperor holds few pieces of real wood. You can’t let anybody see that.”

“In Ayralen, wood grows everywhere,” Danielle said. “It’s as common as the sand spread under our feet.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I’m going to help you and your sister.”

“You barely know me,” Brees said. “Why would you offer me such a treasured gift?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” Danielle yanked free the vial’s cork stopper and handed it to Brees.

He held the cork in his trembling palm gazing on it with an expression of shock etched on his face. “I can’t accept such a gift.”

“If you plan to move from village to village or climb aboard one of those dragons, you’ll do exactly as I say,” Danielle said. “If you don’t, you’ll hasten the spread of the disease. You need to issue quarantines in the outlying villages, and you can’t do that if you’re dead.” Danielle pushed a flow of nature magic through her staff.

The heartwood staff shimmered taking on a liquid appearance. A finger of heartwood separated from the staff, moved ahead, and touched the vial’s clear contents. Bright green light flashed in the vial, and the heartwood retreated.

Danielle cut off the magic flowing through her staff and handed the vial’s glowing contents to Brees. “Drink half. Your sister can drink the rest.”

“How do I know this won’t kill me?”

Danielle glanced toward Keely. “Do you think I’d kill you while my friend still needs your help?”

Brees pursed his lips and stared hard at the glowing green fluid. He placed the vial to his lips and swallowed half the contents in a single gulp.

“It will take a few minutes to activate.”

Brees nodded and placed the cork stopper atop the vial. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. The sooner I return to the Heartwood, the sooner I can send larger doses of antidote for your people.”

Brees held her gaze a few moments and nodded. “It’s time I held up my end of our bargain.” He moved to the bedside table and dipped a crystal cup into the basin of water filling it half-full.

“Brees, why does your brother look so young?”

Brees loosened the canister’s lid sitting beside the water basin. “When a sorcerer gains his power, his hair turns blond, his eyes turn blue, and, outwardly, he stops physically aging.”

“Do they come by this power naturally?”

Brees tipped the white powder into the cup. When the rock powder contacted the water’s smooth surface, it fizzled and dissolved. “Yes and no. The emperor grants our power, but we’re born with the capacity to hold his magic. A sorcerer reaches his potential by ten solars. After that, his power begins to wane.”

“So his life freezes in time? How sad.”

Brees picked up a small crystal rod and stirred the water inside the cup. “There’s no reason to feel bad about it. A sorcerer never wants for anything in any of the seven kingdoms.”

“Why didn’t you stop aging?” Danielle said.

“I’m a shaman. The emperor’s magic works differently on me. I grow and age normally.”

“How did you and your brother gain your power?”

“Every year, the emperor sends emissaries to the capital city in each of the seven kingdoms. During that time, every boy and girl travels to their capital city for testing. Like I said, not everyone is born to hold magic.”

Danielle hadn’t given much thought to the nature of Ayralen magic. She’d yet to try inducting any new wardens or guardians into Lora’s Guard. Any man or woman could absorb the old shard’s magic. Did that hold true now? “I see. So you could hold magic granted the shaman?”

Brees nodded. “I was a rare case. I was born able to hold either magic.”

“Then why didn’t they give you both?”

Brees smiled. “Only the emperor can hold both lines of magic. It’s impossible for any other person to channel more than a single line.” An orange glow spread across his fingertips, and he dipped them into the cup.

The water glowed with a soft orange translucent light, and the smell of fresh baked bread filled the air.

The aroma left Danielle oddly hungry, but she pushed away the thought. “So you chose shaman’s magic?”

“When the emissaries found me able to hold either magic line, it caused a stir in Mara. Everyone assumed I’d take the sorcerer’s hood like Aren had five years earlier. When I didn’t, Aren became very upset. I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me.” Brees knelt beside Keely. “Can you help me with her Danielle? We have to force this mixture down her throat.”

Danielle knelt beside Brees near Keely’s head.

Brees dragged several of the Obsith version of pillows under Keely’s neck helping to prop her head.

“I’ll open her mouth and you pour in the mixture.” Danielle squeezed open Keely’s mouth and tipped back her head.

Brees leaned in and poured the mixture in a slow trickle over Keely’s parted lips pausing to let it move down her throat.

Danielle felt his body press into hers, and her stomach fluttered. “How long will it take to work?”

“She’ll be awake in the next fifteen minutes. After that we’ll see.”

Danielle’s brow furrowed. “We’ll see?”

“We’ll see if she has any brain damage. But, that shouldn’t be a problem. She’s been unconscious a short time. Some atter attacks go untreated for months, and the victim is fine. I just can’t make any promises.” He emptied the remaining contents into Keely’s mouth and stood.

Danielle peered inside Keely’s mouth searching for any trace of medicine. Finding none, she eased Keely onto the bed taking care with her head and neck. She stood and faced Brees. “Let me see your arm.”

Brees rolled up his sleeve. “Don’t get your hopes up. I know you think it’s this plague of yours, but I’ve found no cure.”

Danielle took his hand and twisted his arm.

“Ouch. Take it easy,” he said.

Danielle examined Brees’s smooth golden flesh and found it free of any blemish or mark. She nodded with satisfaction. “Give the second half to your sister.”

Brees’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at Danielle wearing an expression of awe.

“Now do you believe me?” She said.

Brees’s head bobbed up and down. “I won’t doubt you again. You saved my life.” His gaze dropped to the floor. “Thank you. I can never repay you.”

“You’ve saved Keely. We’re even,” Danielle gave Brees a short nod. “But, I still need to arrange delivery of medicine for your people, and I have to warn my father about what’s going on here.”

“Oh? I see.” Brees raised a single eyebrow. “I’m going with you to this…forest.”

“Going with me? I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. What about the sultan? He’ll have you arrested.”

“This plague could wipe out every living soul in the seven kingdoms. I need to see this through, the emperor be damned.”

“I promise I’ll send back medicine,” Danielle said. “You have my word.”

Brees shook his head. “They’re my people Danielle. I feel obligated. Besides, what if Keely needs more medicine? You can’t treat her.”

Danielle’s stomach knotted, and she flashed him a worried expression. “Could that happen?”

His eyes flickered downward before meeting Danielle’s. “It’s not unheard of however unlikely.” His piercing hazel eyes held Danielle’s for a span of three heartbeats. “You need me.”

Her stomach did a full flip-flop. Could he read her mind? She found herself nodding. “Okay, but don’t blame me if you’re caught.”

Keely’s legs twitched, and her eyelids fluttered. A low groan escaped her throat while her arms moved.

Danielle’s head snapped toward Keely, and she knelt beside her. She gazed up at Brees. “Go give your sister the medicine. We don’t have any time to waste.”

Heartwood, Sweet Heartwood

After three weeks of constant travel, Danielle, Brees, and Keely had arrived in northern Chukchi. They faced another day of hard travel before Danielle could find her father. She and the Prime Guardian could draw on the Assembly’s collective experience. Together, they could decide the best way to handle their new neighbors.

Dawn broke above the desert horizon washing the rolling dunes in brilliant shades of red and orange. The sunshine pushed away the night’s chill air and stirred the first inkling's of heat. The trio had traveled at night to preserve precious energy and to protect Brees from roaming Obsith patrols.

Danielle skimmed the sand dunes flying in a red-tailed hawk’s form with Brees sitting atop her back. “Keely are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Keely flew low beside Danielle gliding off her right wing. “Enough with the doting mother routine Danielle. I’ve told you a hundred times, I’m fine.”

Fatigue weighed like an iron chain around Danielle’s shoulders. She wanted to find her bed, collapse, and sleep for a month. “Do you two want to stop and rest for the day?”