Rae wrapped her arms under Ash and hauled him up so that his back rested against the cold wall of the alley. She held him up by the shoulders and stared at him. He tried to match her gaze but his vision kept spinning.
“This is going to hurt,” she said.
Ash barely registered what she’d said when a sudden new and sharp pain burst through his nose. The dizziness fled and the world hurtled into stark relief, focused around the agony that was his face.
“Ow, bloody Talon!” Ash roared.
He curled forward and a new splash of blood surged out of his nose and coated the cobblestones between his legs. He reached for his face, but even the lightest touch on his nose brought throbbing pain. He gritted his teeth and glared at the ground as crimson droplets splattered the gray stones.
“I’m sorry,” Rae said. “Here.”
She handed him a wad of material which he held to his face.
“Are you okay?” Rae said.
Ash nodded but didn’t trust himself to speak.
Rae fell against the wall beside him. Her arm trembled where it touched his. “They took everything. Those bastards took everything.”
Ash’s hand fell limp into his lap. They didn’t have a single thing to their name, not a single copper Stimp. He swallowed, bile rising in his gullet and mixing with raw panic.
“The City Watch,” he said, his voice husky.
“They won’t help us. You saw how that man treated us last night, and we look much worse now. Sim warned us not to go near the wall—we should have been paying more attention!”
Ash looked down at his blood-soaked shirt and then at Rae’s torn clothing. They looked like urchins who had been on the streets their whole lives, not people who just two days ago had had a handful of gold Marks each and were reading books in the Upper Trading District. A tang of metal on his lips reminded him to put the cloth back to his face.
“We can still go to the Institute,” Ash said.
“You can’t travel anywhere with your nose like that, and now we have no way to buy transport. We’d never be able to walk all that way by ourselves with no food.”
“We should have been more careful! If we’d just stayed away from the alley…”
“But we didn’t.”
“We should have known better! We’re supposed to be on our way to the Institute by now.”
“We’re supposed to be having breakfast with Sim,” Rae said, voice cracking. “Things never seem to go like they’re supposed to.”
The sound of Sim’s name made Ash’s heart clench. She was right; Sim should still be alive and they should still be with him, eating a hot breakfast and getting ready for a day of selling. He tried to push away the feeling of hopelessness but it stayed like an unmovable rock.
His shoulders slumped and Rae’s followed not long after so that they made two blood-splattered lumps in the filthy alley.
19
Ash’s shivering became violent seizures as the sun disappeared below the horizon. The day had passed in what seemed like brief flashes of clarity amongst a world of darkness and pain. He and Rae had been sitting in the alley with the morning sun coloring the street orange. The next thing he remembered, it was noon and the bright sun baked his face. Now, it was night again and he and Rae convulsed against each other as their exhausted muscles clenched in the deathly cold.
Ash swallowed but his parched tongue scraped against the top of his mouth and his dried lips stung, joining the heavier pain throbbing from his nose. He couldn’t feel his fingers or toes, and the cold had sunk deeper, into his very bones and muscles. His head spun and exhaustion added a tremor to his already shaking muscles. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate, it felt like years.
“Rae,” he said, his voice like dry sandpaper.
She looked up at him from dark-ringed eyes, her teeth chattered like cracked knuckles.
“We’ve got to move,” Ash said. He took a deep breath as dizziness surrounded his head. It felt like he’d just run several blocks, not spoken two sentences. “We’ll die if we stay here.” An especially large quiver shook his whole body, as if to underline his point.
“Where would we go?”
“Food. Water.”
“Where?”
Ash moved his gaze to his hands where they lay curled in his lap but his eyes moved slow, reluctant to shift in their sockets. Twisted blue stumps sprouted from his hands where his fingers should have been and when he tried to move them nothing happened. He watched them as if they belonged to someone else; they didn’t look like his hands and they weren’t responding to his thoughts, so it stood to reason…
In slow motion he turned his head back to Rae. Her closed eyelids stood out blue against her pale skin and thin puffs of mist hovered about her mouth.
Ash would have given anything to Rae to make her better in that instant. If he could have warmed her and fed her, and made her smile, he would have laid down his life. Instead, all he could do was watch, his heart clenching with every little puff of mist from Rae’s mouth, fearing it would be her last.
The end of the alley stretched away from him, an impossible distance to cover when he didn’t think he’d even make it to his feet. But he had to—for Rae… for himself. They had to get food, get warmth. People lived on the street all the time.
He took a deep breath and the cold air burned his lungs but he relished the pain, at least it meant he was alive. He braced his back against the alley wall and with an almighty heave, he pushed himself up. Agony raced through his numb legs and he would have fallen if it wasn’t for the wall. Blood flowed through starved veins and brought with it agonizing pins and needles that pierced through Ash’s muscles. He braced his raw palms against the stone wall and waited for the worst of the pain to fade; it left him light-headed.
He took his right hand away from the wall and laid it on Rae’s shoulder. “Rae.”
She didn’t reply.
“Rae.”
She looked up at him through bloodshot eyes.
“We have to move. We have to find something to eat. Somewhere warm.”
Rae trembled. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be warm again.”
“Sure you will. You’ll see. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be toasty.”
Rae’s lips trembled and she looked away.
“Please stand up. I can’t do it without you.”
Rae let out a long breath and braced her blue hands on the crate beside her. She grunted and managed to get up onto her knees. She stayed like that with her eyes squeezed shut for a good minute. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You’re not going to let me beat you, are you?”
Rae’s jaw clenched and a flash of steel passed behind her eyes. She let out a sudden puff of air and hurtled to her feet. She fell against the wall and gripped the rough stones with blue fingers.
“Talon! It feels like there are swamp worms crawling under my skin.”
Ash nodded. “It’ll pass.”
Minutes later, Rae hobbled toward the alley entrance. She looked back over her shoulder. “Well? Are you coming?”
The corners of Ash’s mouth tugged up and he staggered after her. Each step sent new pain up his leg and the throbbing from his nose had spread up to encase his head, but at least he had Rae.
“Where are we going?” he said.
“We only know one person in this district,” Rae said. “The magician.”
Ash faltered. The magician! Why hadn’t he thought of it before? Surely he’d be able to help them, get their money back, get Sim’s stuff back, and maybe even get them to the Institute.
They used the line of buildings at the side of the street to keep them upright. Passing citizens looked at them out of the corners of their eyes and hurried by on the other side of the street. Ash wanted to call out to them to explain, but even if he had the strength they wouldn’t believe him, so he followed Rae in silence.
She moved through the streets without pausing to look around. Ash didn’t bother
questioning her; he had a phenomenal memory, which included retracing his footsteps, but Rae was better. Not that he’d ever admit that to her.
With their slow and faltering pace, it took them until well into the middle of the night to get to the side street with its quaint buildings. By then most of the city was empty of any savory individuals and Ash’s stomach clenched at every sound, sure that they would be attacked again.
A pang went through him when he remembered Sim’s grinning face the last time they’d been on the street. He’d been so happy, so alive. Ash willed the tears away from his eyes.
Rae stopped outside the apothecary door. “Do you think he’s home?”
Ash looked up. No lights glowed from the upstairs windows, but it was late. “All we can do is check.” He knocked on the wooden door and stepped back, hiding his face in shadows. “You should probably do the talking.”
Inside, something clattered and a dim orange glow bloomed from the top right window. The shutter whipped open and a wrinkled face thrust out. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying.”
“Please, Ferguson, do you remember us?” Rae said.
“No, I don’t remember you and I’ve got nothing for you. So piss off.”
Rae stepped into a patch of moonlight that caught on her pale face. “Please sir. We met you with Sim, we were—”
The man’s eyes bulged and he nearly fell out of the window. “Shh! Shh! I’ll be down in a second. Be quiet!”
The shutter snapped closed and more clattering came from inside the house. Ash and Rae shared a look and shrugged. The door burst open and Ferguson held his candle high, casting a harsh orange light that stung Ash’s eyes.
“Fel’s balls! Get inside!” He waved them inside and peered into the darkness at both ends of the street.
Ash and Rae stood together between two high shelves piled with jars of unnamable specimens. Warmth surrounded them and Ash rubbed his aching fingers up his arms.
Ferguson slammed the door shut and shoved the bolt home before turning on them, his eyes wild. “What are you doing here? What happened to you? No. I don’t want to know. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Please, sir,” Rae said. “Sim—”
“Shh!” Ferguson’s eyes flew back to the door. “I know what happened to Sim. What in Fel’s name was he thinking? Bringing you here. And now you’re in my home!”
A flicker of rage and an urge to defend Sim sputtered in Ash’s chest, but died as soon as it appeared. He was too cold, too hungry, and too in pain to bother.
“We had nowhere to go,” Rae said, she waved at Ash’s face. “We were attacked and they took all our money.”
“You’re lucky that’s all they took. You could have been taken by… them.”
“Who? The Fa—?”
“Shh!” Ferguson waved his hands about. “Yes. Now you must leave. I don’t want my house being burned down.”
Rae folded her arms over her chest and Ash almost felt sorry for Ferguson; he was about to be on the wrong end of Rae’s anger. “I thought you and Sim were friends!”
Ferguson cleared his throat. “It’s complicated. We were friends… but…”
“But as soon as things go badly for him you turn your back?”
“It’s not like that! You can’t argue with… them. And if anyone finds out you were here…”
“I’m not going to tell them.” Rae turned to Ash. “Are you going to tell them?”
Ash shook his head.
“Are you going to tell them?” Rae locked eyes with Ferguson.
“Well… no…”
“Then I guess we’re safe.”
“They have ways of knowing things.” Ferguson’s Adam’s apple bobbed like an animal trying to escape his throat.
“We need help,” Rae said. “We’re starving and freezing to death. Please, don’t you have a scrap of bread or anything? If you don’t help us now, you’re as good as killing us.”
“You don’t understand. If someone finds you here, I’m dead. I can’t help you.”
“Not even a scrap of bread?”
Ash flexed his fingers and toes and was relieved to see the blue color fading away.
Ferguson shifted from foot to foot. “I— I— suppose I could give you a scrap of something. But then you have to leave. You don’t understand what you’re asking.”
He ran for the door to the back of the shop.
Rae let her arms drop to her sides. “I wish he had a fire here.”
“Better than out there,” Ash said.
“He won’t let us stay.”
“I know.”
Ferguson returned a moment later with a rough sack which he thrust toward Rae. “There. Bread, cheese, and some dried fish. Now please, leave me alone.”
“We also need some water,” Rae said.
Ferguson snatched a water-skin from beside the door. “Have mine. Just go.”
“And some crushed yellowcap for Ash’s nose.”
“Yellowcap?”
Rae looked around the apothecary. “I assume you stock it?”
“Yes… How do you know of it?”
“We know a lot about herbs and healing,” Rae said. “Do you have it?”
Ferguson went to a high shelf, pulled down a small jar filled with dried, yellow petals, and slid it into the bag with the food. “There. Now go.”
Ash dreaded the thought of stepping back into the chill night air. “Please, sir, can’t we—?”
“No,” Ferguson said. “I’ve already done more than enough. That yellowcap would usually sell for three silvers. Sim was a friend, it’s true, but there’s nothing more I can do for him, or you. Now, please, leave.”
He opened the front door.
Ash limped out with as much dignity as he could muster, even though he wanted nothing more than to run back inside and hide under Ferguson’s warm bed. Rae strode at his side, her head held high.
“Thank you for the supplies.”
“Be careful, and don’t mention Sim’s name again; it could get you killed. Also, if I see you here again, I’ll call the city guards myself.”
He flung the door shut and they heard the lock slam home.
Ash shivered in the biting cold.
20
The night air wrapped icy tendrils around Ash and Rae and goose bumps rose along their flesh. Rae clutched their meager bag of belongings to her chest.
“What now?” she said, looking up and down the street.
“We find somewhere warm, and we eat.”
Rae nibbled on her bottom lip. “We passed a bakery at the end of this street. They must have an oven…”
“Perfect!”
They scurried down the street to a two-story building with a picture of a loaf of bread hanging above the door. A thin alley ran up its side, dotted with trash.
Rae pressed her hands against the wall. “Here!”
Ash laid his palm on the stone. A gentle warmth seeped through and brought feeling back to his fingertips. He pressed his face and as much of his body against the wall as he could. Heat took away the numbness that had crept into his limbs and he let out a long sigh.
“Come on, I’m starving,” Rae said.
She slid down the wall so that her back pressed against it and she faced out into the alley. Ash sat beside her and it was like a warm hand cupped his back. Rae opened the bag and pulled out the loaf and a hunk of cheese. She broke both in half and put one half back into the bag before breaking the other into pieces and handing some to Ash.
He took the crumbly cheese and his mouth watered. His hands trembled as he placed a small chunk of cheese on top of the bread and put it into his mouth. He closed his eyes. The flavor of the cheese filled his mouth and his stomach roared. He savored the taste and resisted swallowing for as long as he could.
“This is amazing,” he said.
Rae made an inarticulate noise, eyes closed.
Ash looked down at the food left in his hand, not even a mouthful, and his heart sank. It wasn�
��t enough. He nibbled at the edges but couldn’t enjoy the taste. He finished the morsel and his stomach growled.
“Have some water,” Rae said.
“Thanks.” The water soothed Ash’s dried lips and eased the burn in his throat but it did little to fill his aching stomach.
Rae took a pinch of dried yellowcap and crushed it in her palm. She added a few drops of water until it formed a paste. “You know what to do.”
Ash closed his eyes and Rae spread the paste over his swollen nose. Her touch hurt, but a few seconds later the yellowcap went to work and some of the throbbing pain faded from his face.
“Thank you,” he said.
Rae put the jar of yellowcap back into the bag and tied it shut with a complicated knot. “Now,” she said. “We need a plan.”
“We don’t have enough supplies to get to the Institute.”
“No.”
Ash leaned his head back against the warm wall. With some of the pain gone, food in his stomach, and warmth at his back, he could think clearly. “We need money.”
“Yes. We need to save enough to get to the Institute. After that we’ll be okay.”
“We’re good at selling things.”
“But we have nothing to sell.”
“We could offer to sell things for other people, for a fee.”
“That would work in Upper Trading, but I don’t know if the people here would make enough to pay us as well.”
“You’re probably right.” Ash looked around them, hoping for anything that might spark an idea, but the bare fish bones and broken crates did little for his imagination.
“We’ll also need somewhere to stay in the meantime.”
“An inn?”
“I don’t think we’ll have enough money for that. Here is nice…”
“We can’t risk it. Ferguson said that if he saw us around here he’d call the City Watch.”
Rae’s eyes narrowed. “He’s a coward.”
“Maybe, but he’s also a magician.”
“Okay, so we’ll find somewhere like this but away from here. Warm and dry.”
“Agreed. But that doesn’t help us get money or food.”
“There has to be something we can do,” Rae said.
Shadow of a Slave (The Blood Mage Chronicles Book 1) Page 10