Nexus Point

by Jaleta Clegg

  Chapter 28

  I leaned on Roland, stumbling through the dark woods. We'd walked most of the night.

  "I have to stop, Roland."

  "Again?" He looked around at the trees and hills. "I think we're just about there. Just let me check a few things."

  He set me down next to a thick growth of vines draped over a steep bank. He poked at the hillside, muttering.

  I leaned against the vines, clutching my belly. Why was he helping me when he was the one who had provided the shara in the first place? If he had any morals at all, why was he selling drugs to Leran? I needed Roland's help. Rescuing Tayvis by myself was impossible. I needed firepower. I needed backup. Roland knew the area, knew who to ask.

  "Ha!" Roland crawled into the hillside, disappearing behind the vines.

  I rubbed my eyes. "Roland?"

  "In here." Roland popped out of the vines.

  He pulled me to my feet. I sagged, dumping my whole weight on him. He stumbled.

  "Just a little further," he coaxed.

  Roland crouched, pulling me into a dark tunnel that smelled of earth.

  The dirt floor was rough and moist under my hands. I crawled towards the faint glow at the end of the tunnel. It came from a candle set on a big rock in the center of a room dug in the hill.

  "Just over here." Roland dragged me to a basin of stone filled with loose sand.

  I collapsed onto it. He tucked a blanket around me that smelled of summer, dried grass and sunshine. My eyes closed before he finished despite my resolve to stay awake until I knew why he helped me.

  I dreamed strange dreams that seemed significant at the time but when I woke, stirring out of a restless sleep, I couldn't remember more than flashes. I woke only enough to register that Roland hadn't left, then slipped once more into twilight sleep full of ominous dreams.

  I snapped awake, gasping.

  Roland slept, his head pillowed on his arms on the big rock. The candle guttered.

  My mouth tasted like something small and furry had crawled inside to die. I sat, glad the cramping had finally passed.

  Roland stirred, lifting his head and yawning. His hair stuck up in odd places. "Are you feeling better?"

  "Some." I would feel a lot better after a bath and a real meal and a shuttle ride off Dadilan. I couldn't see any of it happening anytime soon. I shifted uncomfortably.

  "Try behind the screen," he suggested, as if reading my mind. He gestured towards the rear of the cave.

  I stumbled across the cave, leaning on the wall for support.

  The wooden screen hid a bathroom consisting of a large basin full of water and a bucket.

  "This might help." Roland's hand appeared around the screen holding a towel and soap. "There are spare robes in the trunk."

  "Thank you." I meant it, even if I wondered about his motives.

  I washed in the cold water. The soap smelled of herbs.

  Roland waited next to the big rock. Dried fruit, meat, and crackers were spread on a cloth covering the rock.

  "What is this place?" I sat next to him.

  He handed me a strip of meat. "A hiding place. For times when those of us who follow Myrln need to disappear for a while." He chewed a handful of fruit. "We are sometimes hunted by the others. If it weren't for shara, the order of Myrln would have been destroyed a long time ago."

  I bit off a chunk of meat. It tasted like salted leather. We ate in stiff silence.

  "You wonder why I would sell shara to someone like Leran or the Baron." Roland sighed and shifted position. "We discovered shara by accident. The monks use it to communicate, to focus their meditations, to dream of the future. We tried to use it to teach. Others weren't as selfless. They found its effects very useful. We trade in shara to keep political stability. At least we did before your people came. They've tipped the balance.

  "It's not just Dadilan. The researchers are smuggling shara offworld."

  "You and your partner are working to stop them."

  "Tayvis is trying to stop them, yes." I twisted the meat strip, ripping off a more manageable bit. "I don't know what I'm doing on this planet."

  Roland frowned. "I thought you were working with him, that you were part of the Patrol."

  "It's complicated." I didn't know what I could and couldn't say to Roland.

  "I'm listening."

  "We should be moving. I'm feeling much better."

  "It's evening and pouring rain. I'd prefer to travel in daylight. Much easier to see where you're headed."

  "Much easier for the people chasing you, too."

  He grinned. "You do have a point. Traveling in the rain is wet and most uncomfortable."

  "You win." I shifted restlessly. Would Leran kill Tayvis quickly or torture him first?

  "So tell me." Roland picked apart dried meat.

  "Tell you what?"

  "How you came to be on my world, how you are partners and yet not, about the Patrol, about your world, about flying between stars."

  "So pretty much everything."

  "If you would."

  "What about you, Roland? Why should I trust you?"

  "You are the Soulless One, the Voice of Myrln. The monks of the order of Myrln will help without question once they know."

  "But?" I sensed that he held something back.

  "But we are few. And we are usually peaceful."

  "So no weapons?"

  He shook his head.

  "I don't understand why Leran would go to your monastery. Or why he's teamed up with Vunia."

  "Who is Vunia?"

  "She works for Shomies Pardui."

  "The sorceress? She hates the Enchanter. The Baron and the Duchess are blood enemies. We've kept it that way on purpose. If they are working together it is not of their own doing." He chewed thoughtfully, a frown wrinkling his forehead. "Why would they want the monastery? We have no treasure, no weapons."

  "You have shara."

  "Your people have been here for years, trading for shara. We sell to all who come. It keeps the balance. Why has it changed?"

  I shook my head. "Why are you really helping me, Roland?"

  He rearranged a stack of thin crackers.

  I waited. I wanted an honest answer, a full answer, before I trusted my life to him any farther than I already had.

  "When you leave, take me with you. I have always dreamed of seeing the worlds spoken of in Myrln's records. You come from those worlds. You can take me with you."

  "I can't, Roland. There are rules, regulations I have to follow."

  He looked like a kicked puppy.

  "Roland, I'm sorry. You'd have to appeal to the Patrol."

  "But you're Patrol. You could ask them."

  "I'm not Patrol. I fly a merchant ship. I'm here by accident." I nibbled dried fruit. "Besides, I don't have a ship anymore. For all I know, I'm going to prison myself. I told you it was complicated."

  "So explain it to me as we travel," he said, gathering the food on the rock. "If what you have said is true, then we have little time. Brother Anselm must be warned. These people must be stopped. And we must rescue your partner."

  I stood, pulling the brown monk's robe straight. I didn't examine my motives for wanting to rescue Tayvis. I was afraid of what I'd find if I honestly looked. I just knew I needed to save him. Soon. "I thought you said it was raining."

  "I thought you were in a hurry to rescue your partner. Leran will not kill him. He is too valuable as a hostage. But the sorcerer won't hesitate to torture him. There may not be much left to rescue."

  "Then why are we still waiting?"

  Roland tucked the sack of food through his belt. "If we meet anyone, just pull your hood low and don't say anything. You might be able to fool a half blind beggar at night in a dark alley if he doesn't look too closely." He blew out the candle.

  I groped my way out of the cave into a very wet evening. Roland pulled the vines over the entrance.

  We slogged through wet forest. The light slowly faded. We huddled un
der a tree when it got too dark to see. Rain dripped from broad leaves.

  "How are we going to sneak into the monastery?" I asked.

  "We aren't, not yet." Roland pulled the hood of his robe over his head.

  "You said you have to warn Brother Anselm."

  "Dace, it's been two full days since you were caught. Warning Brother Anselm isn't going to help, now that I think about it. It's too late for any of the monks still there. We need to find more help. We go to the Patrol."

  "They can't interfere, Roland. Your planet is protected. No one can interfere."

  "Then why are Shomies Pardui and Leran interfering?"

  My stomach dropped as I realized the full extent of their treachery. I remembered lessons from a civics class at the Academy, ones I never thought would apply to me. "They are taking over your world. If they can set up Baron Molier as the world's ruler, the Patrol can't touch them. The rules will protect them."

  "Baron Molier? He is ruthless. Evil. None of the monks will cooperate with him. He'll kill them."

  "He won't kill them until after he knows how to make shara. It's too valuable."

  Roland didn't answer. I shifted closer to him in the dark shadows.

  "The Baron will never believe them," Roland whispered.

  "Then we have to stop him. And the others." I tucked my hands into my sleeves. "I think I can convince the Patrol to help. There are some obscure provisions in the rules that might justify an exception."

  "What of Robin Goodfellow? Isn't he one of your people?"

  "He's a researcher, yes. He hates Shomies and Leran. There's a man in his camp, Will Scarlet. He'll help us." I tried to sound more confident than I was. I didn't know what agenda Will followed.

  "What is it like? To be up there, between the stars?"

  "Quiet, usually. You can hear your ship's engines, like a heartbeat. There's no one but your crew." I sat up straight. Pieces clicked together.

  "What?"

  "My crew. I'm going to kill both of them, very slowly and painfully, when I find them." Flago set the course. He knew where we were headed, he'd set the course. Jerith hadn't counted on the core redlining, but he had planned on the ship shutting down. They'd both betrayed me. I was an idiot.

  "Dace." Roland put his hand over mine.

  "They both sold me out. It's their fault I'm here. They tampered with the engine. Both of them."

  Roland patted my hand in sympathy.

  "Everything I had was in that ship. When I do get off Dadilan, I'll be flat broke and very lucky not to be sentenced to a prison planet."

  "You could stay. As the Soulless One, you would be an honored member of the Order of Myrln."

  "I want to be free, Roland."

  "So do I." He squeezed my hand.