The Alchemy of Desire (9 page)

“Sort of.”

Still looking out the doorway, Cager waved them forward. “Stay off the main thoroughfares.”

Diah nodded and grabbed her right hand. Tears stung her eyes when he pulled her out into the night, but she refused to cry out. They dashed from shadow to shadow, turning corners to avoid being seen. After several tense minutes, they reached the stables. “Can you help me on my horse, Diah?”

“Why?”

“I broke my wrist when I escaped.”

Diah’s frown shone through the low light while he examined her injury. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“We can take care of it when we get past the gate.”

More shouts filled the fort. Cager slipped into the stable. “The alarm’s been raised. How were you planning on getting us out of here, Oni?”

“I was hoping to knock out the guards at the gate and get out that way, but it seems I’ll need to change my plan.” She opened the door a crack and stared at the armed guards in front of the closed gate. Lanterns appeared in the street, chasing away the shadows. This didn’t look good. Then she felt something press against her hip from inside her pouch.

She reached in and pulled out one of the vials of black fire she’d stolen the other night. The dormant flames rippled through the liquid as she held up to the light.

“Oni, is that what I think that is?”

She turned to Diah and nodded. “How far do you think you can throw this, alchemist?”

“What do you want me to hit?”

“The gate.”

Diah peeked out the door. “That’s almost a hundred yards.” He took the vial from her. “I don’t know how accurate I’ll be at this distance.”

Cager cast a glance at the target. “Nonsense, Diah. I’ve seen you knock acorns off a tree with a pebble when we were kids. You can hit that gate.”

“Fine.” Diah wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her on the pinto. “I’ll feel better if we’re at a run when I throw it though.”

Annoyance rose in Cager’s voice. “Why are you helping her on her horse?”

“She has a broken wrist.”

Cager grabbed her hand and she gasped. “We can’t have the mistress of the plan unable to handle her own horse.” He drew his gun-shaped wand and pressed it against her skin. The orichalcum glowed as he focused his magic through it, and Oni’s head swam from the pain. He was force-healing her.

When he finished, the pain vanished and she was able to move her wrist without difficulty. “I suppose you have your uses.”

Diah waited for his brother to mount. “Everyone ready?”

She nodded. This was insane, but it was their only chance to escape. It was now or never.

Cager grinned, pointed his wand at the stable doors and blew them away.

Chapter Nine

The wood splinters flew through the air as Diah’s horse burst from the stables. He held the vial of black fire firmly in his hand and focused on the main gate. Throwing from a galloping horse would add an interesting level of difficulty, but he made up for it by getting closer. He twisted the stopper between his thumb and forefinger, activating the solution, and then hurled it at the target.

His horse almost threw him when it exploded. Flames licked at the wooden barricade and eroded a hole big enough for all three of them to ride through. Oni streaked past him and he kicked his horse after her.

Shots rang out around them from the streets and the top of the barricade. The explosion had bought them enough to time to escape into the prairie before the cavalry could mount their horses and follow. They only needed to get out of rifle range.

A strangled cry sounded behind him over the crack of rifles and the zing of bullets. Diah yanked on the reins to see what happened. Cager’s horse slowed to a trot and his brother slumped forward. “Cager!”

He lifted his head and winced. A dark stain spread across the shoulder of his shirt. He reached his hand up to the wound to staunch the flow of blood. “Keep going, you idiot.”

“Not without you, big brother.” Diah snatched the reins of Cager’s horse. “Hold on.” He spurred his horse into a gallop and the other horse increased its strides to keep up.

Ahead, Oni’s horse ran like the devil himself was chasing her. They continued at that breakneck speed for almost an hour until the horses’ mouths foamed and their sides heaved. As the sun rose, she pulled off into a grove of trees along a creek and dismounted.

Diah slowed down and looked behind him. Cager’s face was ashen and blood dripped down his sleeve. “Oni, help me with Cager.”

She caught his brother as he slid out of the saddle. “When did he get shot?”

“As we were leaving the fort.” He tossed the reins over a branch and hopped down from his horse to help her. “It looks bad.”

“It’s just a scratch,” Cager murmured.

“Then why is it still bleeding?” Diah pulled back the shirt and revealed the oozing wound. The bullet had entered near his shoulder blade and passed though his upper arm. No vital organs in that area, but he didn’t like how much blood he’d lost. “Give me something to stuff it with.”

Oni searched through her bag and pulled out a wad of faded yellow fabric. “Here.”

“That had better not be one of my shirts.” Cager tried to identify it, but Diah shoved his head to the side.

“You’re bleeding like a stuck pig and all you care about is whose shirt we’re using?” He noticed Oni had only grabbed their gear bags. The ones with their clothes were still sitting in Hinkle’s house.

“I happen to have my shirts imported from France.”

Diah rolled his eyes and pressed harder against the wound. His brother hissed through his teeth, but he stopped complaining.

Oni closed up her bag. “Do you have any healing potions, Diah?”

He shook his head. “Hinkle confiscated all of them. The black fire too.”

Oni placed her hand over his. “Let me have a look at it then.”

He removed the shirt and she bent closer to the wound. “I think you’ll live if we can get you someplace where you can have that stitched up.”

“Can you sew, Miss Matthews?” Cager’s normally charming grin appeared to be more of a grimace.

“I might have something better.” She pulled out her dagger.

“Oni, what are you doing?”

“Just trust me.” She pressed the golden blade against the wound and closed her eyes. The dagger began to glow faintly at first, but the light intensified over a few seconds.

Then Cager screamed so loud, the birds flew from the branches overhead with a screech.

Diah shoved her aside. “What the hell are you doing to my brother?”

She blinked a few times. “I…” She tried to stand but ended up back in the mud.

“She was using magic on me.” Cager winced and checked his shoulder. “And you didn’t let her finish.”

“You’re a Wielder?”

She continued to stare past Diah, never registering that he’d asked her a question.

Some of the color returned to Cager’s face and he reached down to pry her dagger from her hand. He held it up in the sunlight. “It seems like I’m not the only who likes to disguise my wand as a weapon. Very clever.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Diah knelt in front of her and waved his hand in front of her face. “Why isn’t she answering my questions?”

Cager placed her dagger back in its sheath. “Being a non-Wielder, I doubt you’d understand how healing spells suck more strength out of you than just about any spell out there. Secondly, it’s rather disorienting when someone interrupts you in the middle of the spell. It’s sort of like getting hit over the head.”

Diah rubbed the knot on the back of his and remembered how groggy he’d been when he first awoke in the jail cell. “That still doesn’t explain why she never told us she was a Wielder.”

“Besides the fact it’s illegal to practice magic without a special license?” Cager looked at him with raised brows as though he was an idiot. “She doesn’t seem to be a very strong one. Probably never had any formal training.”

“Will she be all right?”

“In about an hour or two.” He snatched the bloody shirt from his brother. “You want to help me make some sort of sling out of this thing so we can keep moving? I don’t care to run into Hinkle and his men again.”

Diah glanced at her one more time before helping Cager fashion a sling and mount his horse. When he was done, she still hadn’t moved. “I’m kind of worried about her staying on the horse in her condition.”

“Wounded here. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle her and my horse.”

“Fine. I’ll take her.” Diah bent down to help her up and felt the sting of her fingernails raking down his arm. “What the heck?”

Cager laughed from his horse. “The last thing she remembers is you knocking her down.”

Four lines rose on his arm and red liquid trickled down to his hand. “She drew blood.”

“You should be thankful I put her dagger away, then.”

He looked down at the scratches on his arm and then back at her face. Her swollen lip trembled. “I’m sorry I pushed you, Oni. I didn’t understand what you were doing.”

Her amber eyes locked with his. “Don’t ever do it again.” Her voice rose barely above a whisper, but the anger in it was crystal clear. She took his hand and staggered to her horse.

“Will you be able to ride alone?”

“Yes.” It took her a couple of tries before she mounted the pinto.

“Where to?” Cager’s horse danced as if it were ready to run over the plains once more.

Oni stared at the sky and then at the river. “Upstream until we come to the next river. Then follow it to the west.”

“And that will take us where?” Diah asked as he climbed on his horse.

She didn’t answer his question before she rode off.

Diah pulled his jacket around his chest and shivered. The sky had decided to open its floodgates on them shortly after midday, and now that the sun was setting, the cold crept into his bones. His breath formed icy clouds around his mouth every time he exhaled.

Oni pulled them away from the river and veered northwest. She still hadn’t told them where she was taking them, but he hoped some sort of shelter would be available. Her responses had been one or two words at the most whenever they asked her a question. He wasn’t sure if she was just exhausted or still angry with him. Maybe both.

Even Cager was beginning to slump forward after the long, hard ride. He only hoped it was worth it and that Hinkle wouldn’t find them.

Oni held up her hand, indicating they should stop. She slid off her horse and stared at two mounds of earth. “Jim,” she called out into the wilderness.

His brother leaned closer to him. “I think she’s hallucinating.”

A man’s voice called back, “Who’s out there?”

“Maybe I’m hearing things too.” Cager raised his good arm and stuck his finger in his ear to clean it out. “Or maybe I lost more blood than I thought.”

She ran in the direction of the noise and disappeared behind one of the mounds. “It’s Oni.”

“How’s my little Trickster?” the voice said with a laugh.

Diah breathed a sigh of relief. Whoever this Jim was, he was real and he knew her. He dismounted and helped Cager down. As he rounded the corner of the mound, he saw her hugging an older man.

The man looked up. “Who are your friends, Oni?”

Her mouth formed a tight line. “These are two of my clients, Diah and Cager Reynolds.”

Being called a client felt like a slap in the face.

“Well, let’s get them out of the rain, shall we?” He opened a door into the mound. “Welcome to my humble home, gentlemen. I’m Jim Matthews.”

Diah’s jaw went lax as he peered into the one-room home that had been carved out of the hill. “What kind of place is this?”

Jim laughed. “A dugout. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer and dry as a bone.” He shook their hands as they entered. “It’ll be kinda cramped in here, but it sure beats being out in that mess.”

In the warm lantern light, Diah was able to get a good glimpse at their host. He looked old enough to be her father, judging by the deep wrinkles in his suntanned face, but his hair still maintained a faded shade of brown.

Oni waited outside the door. “I’m going to put the horses in the barn, Jim.”

The warmth could wait a few minutes. “I’ll help you.”

“That’s not necessary, Diah.”

“Oni, get your grizzle down and let him help.” Jim eyed the bloody sling holding up Cager’s arm. “I’m going to be taking a look at this. What happened to you, son?”

Diah closed the door before Cager responded. He followed her to the second mound with his horse. “These dugouts are a clever idea.”

She nodded and took the reins so he could grab his brother’s horse. When he came back to the barn, she had lit a lantern and was scattering some fresh straw on the floor.

“Are you still angry with me?”

“What makes you say that?”

“You’ve been moody and irritable all day. I think you’re in danger of forming permanent creases in your face from scowling so much.”

She looked up at him, her expression unchanged. “Why did you strike me?”

“I didn’t know what you were doing. You were holding a knife and Cager screamed. The first thing that popped into my mind was that you were hurting him. I’m sorry.” He sank down onto a bale of hay and rubbed the water out of his hair.
Would this day ever end?

“I told you to trust me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a Wielder?”

She crossed her arms. “I didn’t think it was any of your business. You just hired me as a guide.”

“What else are you keeping from me, Oni?”

She paled. “What do you mean?”

If he had any suspicions, she’d just confirmed them. “Where do I begin?” He started at his boots for a moment before lifting his gaze and meeting hers. Time to ask the question that had been nagging him all day. “Why did you steal that vial of black fire from me?”

Her eyes widened before she looked away. An admission of guilt, if he ever saw one. “I thought it might come in handy, and it did. If I hadn’t grabbed a few vials, we’d still be—”

“You could have just asked me instead of taking them behind my back. I knew a few were missing.”

“But would you have given them to me?”

“It’s more than just that, Oni. There are so many things about you that don’t make sense, like where you disappear to each night. Or the fact that Cager and I follow you blindly to wherever you take us, such as this place. How do I know you and this Jim fellow aren’t working for Hinkle or Lamont? What if this is some kind of trap and we just fell for it?”

Her hands balled up and her breath quickened. “How dare you accuse me of that? In case you forgot, I never wanted to step foot in Fort Pierre to begin with. Then you let Hinkle lock me up in a storeroom all night without any food or heat. After he was done with you, he was so kind as to visit me, point a gun at my head and give me this when I didn’t readily agree to help him find the White Buffalo.” She pointed at her bruised and swollen lip. “And let’s not forget that I broke my wrist and nearly got killed trying to help you escape. Oh yes, I’m just the type to lead you into a trap and sell you to the highest bidder.”

He caught her as she stormed past him. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

She yanked her arm free and glared at him with her hands on her hips. “I asked you to trust me and you didn’t. How do you expect me to trust you?”

She drove a knife into his heart with her words.

“I’ll leave you here with Jim. Maybe he’ll take over the guide job, maybe he won’t. You’d probably feel better hiring a white man anyway. But as far as I’m concerned, you can find your own way home. Perhaps it’s for the best—you don’t belong out here.” She threw the barn door open and disappeared into the rainy night.