by K Hanson
“It’s the best we have right now. And you’ve done your share of disobeying me today, I think,” Devrim snapped. “I’m going to ignore your earlier transgression because you did get Nereyda back to us. But if you want to protect the friend you saved, go do what I told you to do.”
“Yes, sir.” Limbani resigned herself to obeying Devrim as she slipped out of the tent to start her search for a Nereyda look-alike.
###
Nereyda woke to the sound of voices above her. A million sharp pains crisscrossed her back. Her shoulders throbbed with a deep ache. And her wrist hurt inside and out with the most intense pain she had ever experienced. Her eyes still half-closed against the bright morning light, she tried to push herself up and off of the cot she was lying on.
Except something wasn’t right.
She couldn’t feel her left hand.
Her eyes popped fully open. The sun shone through the tent walls. She took in the blood-soaked bandages that covered the stump of her wrist, where her hand should be. Nereyda cried out as she remembered everything that had happened to her.
On the other side of the tent, Devrim, Limbani, and a medic jumped at the sound of her voice.
Nereyda tried to roll out of her cot, the muscles in her back protesting in pain. Her right wrist caught on something, and she glanced at it. A chain locked her to a post next to the cot. Her eyes shot to Devrim.
Nereyda erupted. “What the hell is this? After everything I did, you chain me up?”
Devrim looked her straight in the eyes and spoke in a calm voice, “I’m glad you’re finally awake. If you promise not to try to kill me, I’ll have Limbani let you go, and I can explain.”
“I won’t kill you right away, at least. We’ll see how I feel after we talk.”
“Good enough. I’ll take it. Limbani, please undo her restraints and leave us.”
“Of course,” Limbani said as she stepped forward.
“Thank you. Then return to the task I gave you.”
The general gave Devrim a silent glare, but unclasped Nereyda’s handcuff and left the tent.
Nereyda’s building anger gave her the strength to shove herself to her feet.
The medic rushed forward, his hands out. “No, no, no. You can’t get up yet.”
She ignored him and the pain that screamed throughout her back. She could barely stand up straight. “Okay, she’s gone, so now tell me why you had your general arrested in front of a town full of people?” she asked, staggering up to Devrim’s face. “You wanted me to use my abilities. We wouldn’t have Antalia or Trabizan without them, yet the more I keep using them, the more people seem to hate me. Then you go and humiliate me by hauling me away like the criminal they claim I am. I took that city for you, and this is how you treat me?”
“I had to get you out of there.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, but pulled it back after she winced. “That crowd would have torn you apart for destroying their temple—which was rather a small overreaction, don’t you think?”
Her eyes flared. “An overreaction? You see what happened to me, right? Priests are calling for me to be killed for something I didn’t choose. They tortured me! Didn’t you tell me that the Inquisition would be no problem? Clearly, you were wrong. Why am I paying the price for it?”
“Yes, Reyda, I was wrong about the Inquisition.” He held his hands up in apology. “But I have a plan to give us some extra time.”
Nereyda narrowed her eyes with skepticism. “How?”
“We start by having you go away for some time. While you’re gone, this whole Inquisition business should blow over.”
“You want me to leave? Don’t you need me here? And what about the other night? I thought you cared about me, as more than just your general.”
“I do care about you.” His voice emanated warmth. “That’s why I don’t want you to get any more hurt by this religious nonsense. And I don’t want you to go away, but unless you step back for a bit, this won’t clear up.”
Nereyda wanted to keep fighting back, but her head spun, and she staggered back.
A gentle hand took her arm and supported her. “Nereyda, please, rest,” said Devrim’s voice.
She let Devrim help her back onto her cot. “Everything hurts,” she cried.
“I know, and we’re going to do everything we can for you.” He kept his voice low and reassuring. “You’ve done more than enough, so now it’s your turn to rest and recover.”
“How can I recover from this?” she asked as she waved her wrist in Devrim’s face, wincing at the pain in her shoulder.
He wiped a tear from his cheek. “I don’t know, but we’ll help you.”
“I don’t want to need your help. I don’t want to feel useless.”
“You’re far from useless, Nereyda. What you did let us take the city, and saved many lives since we didn’t have to try to climb the wall.”
“I don’t care about what I did. I care about what I can do next. Where did Limbani go? What was the task you gave her?”
“She’s taking care of something for me. You don’t need to worry about her right now.”
“When she’s back, I want to talk to her. I need to thank her for doing what she could to get me out of there. How bad is the damage? To me, I mean.”
“Don’t focus on the negative. It won’t help.”
“Screw that. I want to know how bad it is.”
Devrim nodded to the medic, and he came over to Nereyda’s side.
“I’ve been tending your wounds, General. The bleeding from your wrist has slowed, and your shoulders have been set. What I’m most worried about is what happened to your back. Some of the cuts are quite deep, and I believe they have damaged the muscle underneath. Recovering full mobility will be a difficult road, I’m afraid, if it’s possible at all. I’ve done all I can, but there is little I can do to repair the damage. The best we can hope for now is that it doesn’t become infected. That’s the biggest danger for both your wrist and back. If they are infected, I fear there is little I can do to save you. You have to rest and keep them clean.”
Nereyda refused to accept that her body may be permanently broken. “I know a place where I might be able to heal,” she said.
“What do you mean?” asked the medic. “Someplace with healers with more skill? I don’t know of anyone who can do a better job than I have.”
“No, not healers. It’s hard to explain, but I’ll need a ship.”
Devrim knelt next to her. “When I said you should go away, I meant somewhere close and comfortable on land. You’re in no condition to sail far, Nereyda.”
“You’re right, I’m not. But I might not ever be ready to sail again if I don’t go.”
Devrim looked at the medic. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s dangerous to consider moving her much, let alone putting her on a ship to who knows where. In my professional opinion, she should not go anywhere, except to a more permanent hospital.”
“Too bad I’m too hurt to run away and do what I want,” said Nereyda with a dark laugh.
“Exactly where do you plan to go?” Devrim asked.
“I want to go to an island I found south of the Shattered Sea.”
“The one where you were shipwrecked?”
“That’s the one. When I was there, after I touched the fountain that gave me these abilities, it also seemed to heal some scratches I’d gotten from a panther.”
“And you think if you go back there, it will help heal all of this?”
Nereyda shrugged, then winced as she regretted it. “Hard to say, but it’s worth a shot.”
Devrim paced around the room, his hand stroking his chin. “Who will you take with you?”
“Jax and my crew, of course. I also want to bring my friends Manu and Fariha. We’ll need to set out from Antalia anyway, so we can pick Fariha up there and grab Manu on the way north.”
Devrim nodded. “Fine, you can go. In fact, you’ve done more than enough for this cause.” He
stared in her eyes with a kind look. “I will give you a ship and you can keep it. You do not need to come back. Go heal and rest. Your part of the bargain is fulfilled.”
“Are you serious?” Nereyda asked. “What about the rest of the war? What about us?”
“After what happened here, I worry if you’ll survive if you come back. They nearly killed you and may succeed next time. I’d rather know that you are safe and healthy far away than risk watching something horrible happen to you.”
“Thank you, Devrim, for giving the sea back to me.” She gave him a deep kiss.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
As their ship, the Morgiana, pulled closer to the island’s shore, Nereyda recalled her last arrival there. Most of the wreckage of the ship she had been pressed into service on remained in the clear water, near a rock that jutted sharply out of the water. She recalled how she had pulled Commander Erhan to shore, in an act of stupidity that Nereyda had increasingly come to regret. She should have let him drown after he had hit his head and fallen off of the ship in the storm that had wrecked them. It wass unfortunate that her instincts to protect members of her crew overcame her hatred of the man who had become her nemesis.
Today, at least, the weather was clear. A few clouds drifted above as the sun shone down on them. It might have been hot except for the breeze blowing off of the ocean. Palm trees swayed at the top of the sand that lined the coast.
Nereyda forced herself to stand up straight as she stood near the helm, though the muscles in her back strained to keep her upright. Her crew needed to see her as strong, even though her back ached with the effort. For now, at least, her fever seemed to be held at bay. It had started a few days ago and had grown steadily worse since. Yesterday, she had spent the whole day in bed.
Fariha had given her an herbal tea that supposedly helped with fever. Nereyda didn’t know if it was the tea, the wind, or the hope of finding healing that helped, but she was glad that she wasn’t debilitated for this part of their journey.
Manu had an eager, maybe even hungry, gleam in his eye as he gazed out over the coast. He had jumped on the ship as soon as they had swung by and offered him the chance, and he’d spent the trip helping the crew with surprisingly youthful vigor.
“I think we’re as close as we can get,” said Jax from the helm.
“I agree,” said Nereyda. “Let’s not beach ourselves. As nice as this place is, I’d rather not get stuck here again. Once was enough.”
After they dropped anchor, Nereyda, Jax, Manu, and Fariha all boarded a rowboat and set out for shore. Nereyda kept trying to help row, despite the remaining ache in her shoulders and the torn muscles in her back, but the others wouldn’t let her. Sweat dripped down her forehead as the sun stirred up her fever once again. She grumbled as they helped her out of the boat and through the forest toward the pond. She hated being fussed over.
“Manu,” said Nereyda, “do you want to see the remains of your friend? The one whose journal I found? It’s on the other side of this pond.”
“Yes, I would very much like to pay my respects, though I think it can wait until we see if this fountain can heal you.”
“We’re here now, and it’s light out. Once we get inside, I figure you might want to explore for a while.”
“Very well. How do we get there?”
“There’s a cave entrance on the other side of the waterfall.”
Manu led the way around the pond as Nereyda’s friends helped steady her. “It’s flat sand. I think I can manage.”
“I’m sure you can,” said Fariha with amused incredulity, “but let’s be safe.”
Nereyda groaned but resisted the urge to shake their hands off. She hoped that the fountain would heal her, if only so that they would let her walk on her own without fussing over her through every step.
They passed into the cave where Nereyda had spent a night during her time shipwrecked on the island. In a corner, the burnt skeleton lay on the stone ground with a journal with charred edges next to it. Manu knelt to pick up the book and flipped through the pages. “This is Adil’s handwriting,” he said. He flipped back to the beginning and skimmed the content, nodding to himself. “Here are his notes on our preliminary research.” As he kept going, he slowed down his reading. “It just stops,” he said as he closed it. “You didn’t take anything out of this after you found it?”
“No, that was it.”
“How much did you read?”
“Not all of it. I only saw the part at the end.”
“My friend wrote about what happened when Lochan touched the fountain and was drawn to touch fire. It consumed him. Burned through his whole body as he ran through the ruins, trying to stop it. Where did you defeat the fire demon you spoke of?”
“Right outside. I threw him into the pond with wind as he tried to grab me.”
“Show me,” Manu asked as he put the journal in his travel pouch.
Nereyda climbed out of the cave and shuffled around the pond, occasionally leaning on Fariha or Jax as her damaged back muscles started to give up on standing up straight. The pond tempted her to jump in as her fever continued to rise. Pressing on, she arrived at the spot where she had first discovered the powers the fountain had granted to her. The place was marked by blackened sand where the demon had stepped. “This is it. I stood on the edge here, and blew him out into the middle, about there,” Nereyda said as she pointed.
Manu stood next to her, his hand on his chin and his eyes narrow as he gazed into the pond. Suddenly, his eyebrows shot up. “I see something,” he said. He leaned close to her and pointed to a spot closer to the shore. “There’s something catching the sun under there. Looks like it’s made of metal.”
“What is it?”
“I have a guess, but I’d need to see it to know for sure.”
“I can go get it,” said Jax. Without waiting for a response, he waded into the water up to his waist, then bent down to retrieve the object. As he pulled it out, it appeared to be a pendant of some kind, with a gem in the center. Jax slipped out of the water and handed the pendant to Manu.
He turned it over in his hands. “It’s what I thought. This belonged to Lochan. He must have become the fire beast.”
“I’m sorry, Manu. I didn’t know. Maybe there is some way I could have spared him . . .” said Nereyda.
“No, don’t feel guilty. He was not a violent man. If that thing you described attacked you, then none of my friend remained within his body. And even if a trace was there, you did him a favor by freeing him from that existence. It seems that you got quite lucky in your own experience with this fountain.”
“I don’t think I’m a fire demon yet, at least. I might have a fever right now, but I don’t think I’m actually on fire.”
He gave her a small smile. “No, I think you’re safe. Adil’s journal said that the negative effects came on quickly.”
“How did the pendant survive the heat, though? He was hot enough to melt my dagger when I threw it at him.”
“That is the wonder of engineering from Hariana. We can treat metal and other materials to be heat resistant. We don’t usually use such technology on trinkets like pendants, but my friend did enjoy splurging on this kind of thing.” He gazed at it for a moment longer before tucking it into a pocket. “I suppose we should be on our way. I think we’ve learned as much as we can from this place.”
“Sounds good. You can see the spire up there, at the top of the waterfall. That’s where we’re going.” She started to lead them into the forest but winced as her back tightened up in protest.
“Enough stubbornness,” Fariha said. “Let us help you the rest of the way.”
“Fine.” She reluctantly put her weight on Jax and Fariha. They helped her through the forest and up the hill to the rocky spire that jutted upward like a dagger from the center of the island, a natural guide to their destination. Under the afternoon sun, a light breeze carried the smell of the sea inland. Manu followed a few steps behind them.
“This is much better weather than when I climbed up here before,” Nereyda said as she reminisced. “Just as well; I don’t think I could make it in a storm. Last time, I had to crawl on my hands and knees to avoid getting blown off of this ridge. Wouldn’t work so well with one hand.” She let out a mirthless laugh. She didn’t want to let on that she felt like she was burning up. The infection in the wounds on her back felt like it was on fire and her fever had reached the boiling point. She ignored it, knowing that her best chance to recover was in front of her.
“We’ll get you there. It’s not much farther,” said Jax.
“You can finally see where all of this trouble started.”
“I’ve known you for a few years,” said Fariha. “And I think the trouble started long before that.”
“Ha, ha. And you still decided to come along with us.”
“Only because I don’t think any other healer could put up with you for an entire voyage. You need me to keep you in your place.”
“If I had both of my hands, I’d like to see you try.”
They reached the opening in the spire and all of them squeezed into the gap, forced to walk sideways so they could keep hold of Nereyda. She winced as they helped her maneuver through the passage, but didn’t complain. The chamber within contained the familiar low wall, surrounding a ladder that led into the main section of the ruins. A low blue light glowed from below, causing Nereyda to let out a breath of relief.
The fountain must still work.
“Okay,” said Nereyda, “Fari and I can climb down and see if this works. The two of you can wait up here.”
“Can’t we see this fountain in action?” asked Manu.
“You can, right after I do this. I’m going to undress to get into the fountain, and I’d rather not have a crowd.”
“Feeling shy?” asked Jax.
“No, I just don’t feel like putting on a show.” Nereyda didn’t tell them that she still hated them seeing her wounds fully uncovered, even though they had plenty of times. “Now, head on down,” she said to Fariha, “and I’ll be right behind you.”