Nexus Point

by Jaleta Clegg

  Chapter 29

  The rainy night had given way to a steamy, muggy day. Roland and I spent most of it crossing the wide valley to the hills near Sherwood. The trail we followed forked.

  I collapsed in the shade of a tree. "Which way now?"

  "Robin's camp is this way." Roland nodded down the left fork.

  I groaned as I followed him along the path.

  "You are certain Robin will help?" Roland glanced over his shoulder.

  "I don't know, but I do have some good arguments to convince him."

  Our simple strategy hinged on Robin's assistance. While he organized his men, I'd travel to the Patrol base. Roland would go ahead to the monastery. We'd meet there in two days.

  "Halt!"

  We halted under a big tree. Men in green dropped like rotten fruit. They waved knives our direction.

  One swaggered forward. "What business do you have in Sherwood Forest? We do not recognize the monks of Myrln here." His dark hair hung in greasy ringlets. He needed to shave.

  "We are merely travelers," Roland said meekly.

  "Then you won't mind if we relieve you of your possessions?" The man smirked.

  The other men in green shifted nervously.

  "They don't have anything worth stealing, Robert," one of them objected.

  "They've got shara," Robert said. "And if they don't hand it over right now, I'll cut it out of their skin." He twisted his knife suggestively.

  Roland spread his hands. "We have no quarrel with you. And we have no shara."

  Robert grabbed for Roland. My foot caught him in the groin. My fist connected with the side of his head. He crashed into a bush.

  I pushed the hood of my robe back. "We want to talk to Robin. Now."

  The men in green shifted nervously.

  Will sauntered into the shade of the big tree. "If I were you, I wouldn't make her angry." He kicked Robert's limp foot. "I'd leave if I were you. Take this with you. We can't be littering the forest, now, can we?"

  They collected Robert, dragging him away.

  Will waited until we were alone. "You're supposed to be on a shuttle by now. Why are you impersonating a monk, Dace?"

  "It seemed like a good idea at the time. We need your help, Will."

  "We?" He shot a warning glance at Roland.

  "This is Roland. We don't have much time. Leran has Tayvis at the monastery. Shomies and Baron Molier and their people are with him. We need Robin's help."

  "That's going to be tricky. Robin disappeared three days ago. I suspect Shomies' men captured him."

  "So much for our plan," Roland said.

  "What plan?"

  "We were going to ask Robin to help us take back the monastery."

  "And stop your people from taking over," Roland added.

  "They are going to set up Baron Molier as the ruler."

  "And use shara to make the people accept him."

  Will raised his hands. "I get the picture. I've suspected something like this for some time. So they've finally made their move."

  "They have Tayvis," I said. "We were ambushed. Leran took him."

  "And left us to burn," Roland added.

  Will frowned. "Why didn't he take you, Dace?"

  "Because she is the Soulless One," Roland said before I could stop him.

  Will stared, goggle-eyed.

  "Four bottles, and not even a trace of her mind," Roland said in an awed voice.

  I cringed. "I'm a natural zero. Shara doesn't work on me."

  "How can I help?" Will asked Roland.

  "We need Robin's men to take the monastery."

  "Two problems." Will raised a finger. "With Robin missing, John Littlebottomford has taken over. John won't help. He's too set on building his power base in Sherwood." He raised another finger. "And second, I've heard the monastery has never been taken by force."

  "There are secret ways in," Roland said. "Getting into the monastery won't be a problem."

  Will nodded. "Then we just need to convince Robin's men."

  "You could have Dace strike Robert again," Roland suggested.

  "Not a bad idea, but we don't have time. I'll see what I can do." Will glanced my way. "You were at the base. Commander Nuto knows you."

  "We've got a plan, Will. You get Robin's men, I get the Patrol, and Roland gets the monks. We meet at the monastery in two days."

  Will nodded. "Good plan. If we can get enough help. And if you don't get lost again, Dace."

  I stuck my tongue out.

  Roland looked past Will to me. "Do you trust this man?"

  "This is Will Scarlet. I trust him, yes." I trusted him to help me rescue Tayvis. I wasn't sure about anything more.

  "I shall expect you in two days."

  "Then good luck," Will said. He sauntered into the woods, whistling.

  We headed down the path we'd just climbed.

  We made it to the stream where I'd been attacked twice. Roland stopped to drink. I splashed through the stream and kept going. Roland hurried to catch up.

  "You're tired," Roland said. "It was a good spot to rest."

  "Ky's attacked me twice there. I'm not waiting for a third time." I pushed my pace.

  It didn't matter how tired I was. Tayvis could be in pain. Leran might cut his fingers off. Or worse. I had to save him.

  Roland didn't try to talk. He used his breath to keep up. He finally tugged at my sleeve.

  "The trail." He pulled me to a stop.

  The wide trail I followed wound along the hillside. "What about it?"

  "That goes to Franshire." He pointed at a narrow trail leading off to the side. "That goes to your base. It's another hour's walk. You should be there by sunset. I will watch for you at the monastery." He waved as he trotted along the broad path.

  I swallowed sudden nervousness at being alone. I could do this. I had to do this or Tayvis didn't stand a chance.

  Plants crowded the sides, hedging me in. I kept a careful eye on the trail, glad it didn't branch.

  The path dropped down a ridge, petering out in a meadow of knee high grass. The Patrol castle lay halfway down the hill past several stands of trees.

  My unease grew the closer I got to the base. Something was off. Armed guards patrolled the walls; I could just make out the spikes of spears in their hands. Torchlight gleamed on the battlements.

  I couldn't quite place my finger on what bothered me. I crept across the meadow, all my attention fixed on the guards pacing the walls.

  Someone hit me from behind. We both rolled downhill. I slammed into a rock. My attacker grabbed my hair, jerking my head up. He pressed a knife into the soft skin of my throat. I swallowed very carefully.

  "Cooperate and I might let you live," he said. "If you can even understand me."

  He rolled me onto my back, then shoved me into the dirt. The knife wavered over my throat. Leaves matted his hair. I barely recognized him.

  "Dysun?"

  His eyes narrowed. "Dace? What are you doing here? I should kill you now. You were Patrol all along, weren't you?"

  He looked ill, his face too pale. He dripped sweat.

  "You dirty little sneak of a spy." He pricked my neck with the knife. "It's your fault. They've got my ship. Now I'm stuck here."

  "So am I." I pushed gently on the knife hand. "Tell me what happened, Dysun."

  "Why? So you can laugh at me with your Patrol friends?" He spat the words. The knife twitched.

  "Who has your ship? It isn't the Patrol and it definitely isn't me." I talked slowly, the way people talk to lunatics and angry dogs. "If I had your ship, I wouldn't be on Dadilan. I'd be long gone."

  "Without me!"

  Wrong thing to say, I chided myself silently. "Dysun."

  "We had a deal! You were going to help me, until your Patrol lover showed up." The knife trembled in his hand. He showed every sign of being halfway delusional with fever.

  "Let me help you, you don't look very good."

  "That's a laugh. Give me one reason I shoul
dn't slit your throat and leave you here."

  "Because I'm the only one who might possibly help you."

  "I don't need your help."

  "You're right. You don't need me. You need a medic."

  He swayed. I pulled the knife from his hand.

  He growled. "Patrol spy." He pawed feebly after the knife.

  "Not really, but nobody seems to believe it." I put the knife out of his reach. A dark stain seeped through his sleeve. "What happened, Dysun?"

  He sighed and let me rip open his sleeve. He had a nasty gash on his upper arm. It looked red and infected. I prodded his arm. He hissed in pain.

  "It needs cleaned. There's a stream not far up the hill."

  He nodded, his teeth clenched against the pain. He shivered with fever.

  I helped him to his feet. He swayed unsteadily. I pulled his arm over my shoulder. We stumbled up the hill to the tiny trickle of water. I set him down near a large boulder. He slid against the rock, his breathing shallow.

  I ripped a strip from the bottom of my monk's robe, dipping it in the stream. Dysun looked like he'd been living in the trees for several days. I wondered if he'd had anything to eat. Roland had left me a bit of the dried fruit and meat, tied in a small bundle. It lay in the grass not far away. I went to fetch it.

  "Dace? Don't leave me."

  "You were going to kill me, slit my throat," I said as I gathered the bundle.

  "But at least you understand. You can talk to me."

  "You aren't going to be slitting throats for a while." I knelt beside him.

  His eyes drifted shut. I dabbed the cut with my wet strip of robe. He winced and grabbed my hand.

  "Don't leave me," he begged.

  I pulled my hand free. He wasn't that bad of a person, not compared to most of the people I'd met recently. "I'm not leaving you, not yet."

  He nodded. I washed what I could out of the cut. It started bleeding again. I took that as a good sign. The shallow cut was ragged and infected. If I'd had a full medkit, I might have been able to do more.

  If I'd had a full medkit, I'd probably still have my ship and wouldn't be on Dadilan at all.

  I sat against the boulder.

  A door opened in the wall of the castle. A group of young women walked out, headed to the village. They looked tired, heads down as they trudged home.

  I studied the soldiers on the wall. They leaned on their spears, watching the girls. Torchlight painted them with lurid yellow light.

  I was so blind. The Patrol wouldn't guard the wall because they didn't need to. They had sensors, force screens, all sorts of tech. They wouldn't be on the walls with spears and torches.

  "Thirsty," Dysun croaked. His eyes glittered through slitted eyelids. He moved feebly. "Pack, down there." He waved vaguely at the trees where he'd jumped me. "Going to go myself." His voice trailed off into muttering.

  "I'll look for it." If he had supplies, it would help us both.

  Dysun grabbed my arm. His eyes burned with fever. "Don't leave me!"

  "I'll be back, Dysun. I promise." I pried his fingers off my arm.

  "Dace?"

  I patted his good arm. "I'll be back, Dysun."

  I headed towards the trees. I hoped he hadn't had the sense to actually hide his pack. I searched through half the grove before I finally found a bundle stuffed under a bush.

  Dysun shivered next to the rock when I returned. I undid his bundle. He had some food, another knife which I tucked in my boot, and a few odds and ends, nothing really useful. I wrapped the blanket around him, then used a battered cup to get him a drink from the stream. He closed his eyes. I leaned on the rock and tried to figure out a plan.

  I needed to get into the Patrol base, find out what happened. I needed to get Dysun talking first. I sighed and watched him twitch in his sleep.

  He woke when the moon rose a short time later. I filled the cup and helped him drink again. He seemed to hate being helpless as much as I did judging by his irritable grumbling.

  I put the cup aside. "Your fever is down a bit. I hope that's a good sign. Tell me what happened."

  "Promise you'll help me."

  "I already did."

  "Then I wasn't dreaming that part." He grimaced as he shifted. "They attacked several days ago. I don't know who they are. I was still locked in that cage, all by myself."

  I let his accusation slide.

  "The guard outside my cell was shot with an arrow. He conveniently fell near the door. I got the keys and let myself out." He shrugged. "They must have thought I was native. They didn't chase me. Everyone was running, except the Patrol. Honor and duty. Stupid idiots. As far as I know, they're all dead."

  "So who's in charge now?"

  "No idea."

  I had to get inside the base. My whole plan to rescue Tayvis, such as it was, depended on the Patrol.

  A dog barked in the village. Lights glowed in most of the cottages. I studied the village and the castle, a nebulous plan forming. I stood.

  "So much for promises," Dysun muttered.

  "I have to get inside. You aren't in any shape to help. If I'm not back by tomorrow night, I'm dead and you're no worse off."

  "They're probably all dead. What's so important, Dace?"

  "I have to stop Leran and Shomies. They're trying to take over the planet."

  "So? Let them have it, I say." He plucked at his bandaged arm. "Could it be they've got your lover?"

  "Shut up, Dysun."

  He chuckled. "If that's what you're looking for, I'm available."

  "Not interested."

  I crept down the hill, away from him, skirting the castle. With some help from the villagers, I could get inside. After that, I'd have to trust to luck.