First Comes The One Who Wanders

by Lynette S. Jones

  CHAPTER 4

  A hand shook her less than gently and Leilas woke from a dreamless sleep that had been less than satisfying. “It’s your turn to keep watch,” said Brenth as he dropped to the floor, wearily.

  Although he’d been an almost silent partner on their journey so far, it hadn’t escaped Leilas’ notice that he’d done his fair share and more. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to climb to her feet. Swaying slightly as she stood, she wrapped her blanket tightly around her, picked up her sword and headed for the entrance to the cave.

  It would have been relatively easy to bind the entrance and allow all of them to get the sleep they needed, but Leilas was beginning to understand Joshuas’ penchant for avoiding magic as much as possible. She didn’t want another encounter with dark magiks, not until they were in a more secure position and she’d regained some of her strength. This day’s battles had drained her and she didn’t think she’d survive another meeting, even with the lesser forces of the dark that wandered Preterlandis.

  Sitting near the entrance, Leilas gingerly tried to rub the soreness out of her leg as she set her sword within easy reach. Her leg was swollen and her breeches were stuck to some of the wounds. It was uncomfortable, but trying to loosen the material from her leg without water would only open the sores again. She was better off leaving her breeches as a binding until she could take the time to find some herbs and treat the wounds properly. She’d have to take the time soon, no matter what Joshuas would say about the fact that she’d let Jayram’s magiks past her defenses. It wouldn’t do to let them fester.

  Fuzziness had settled in her mind and she shook her head trying to clear it, but it didn’t help. She could only hope it would be a quiet evening. Her dream had given her hope it would be. All she needed was for something to happen on her shift so Joshuas could chastise her and inform her how poor a guard she made, as well as a magik.

  Leilas turned to study the magik asleep on the ground. Even after his criticisms, she found him fascinating. He was different from all the other magiks she’d met at the school. Something inside him reached out to her. But was it his power or something more elemental she hadn’t had the opportunity to explore yet in her young life? Most young women had already married by this time in their life. She’d never even thought about love. Her life revolved around becoming a master and taking her oath. Was what she felt for Joshuas the power that drew young women to men and caused them to bind themselves to them? It certainly was a compelling feeling, one that she would most likely never explored since Joshuas had taken an instant dislike to her, rather than the opposite. It was a feeling she’d have to learn to ignore.

  Leilas stood, slung her sword over her back and limped toward the door, trying to ignore the unfamiliar and unwanted emotions she was experiencing. Hiding herself in the ivy, she looked out into the night and breathed in the cool air. This night seemed to be calling to her, more than the darkness had ever called out to her. She could clearly hear the scurry of the small animals that lived and hunted in the darkness and identify them. The crescent moon shone bright against the trees and its pale light spoke to her. Tonight, she could almost appreciate what the dark crafter’s saw in the darkness. Almost. But even as she appreciated the living darkness, even as it called to her, something deep inside her rebelled against it.

  Standing still, Leilas breathed in the night until she could stand the cold no longer, then taking a last look around for any danger that might be lurking and finding none, she stepped back into the cave. She was shaking as she wrapped herself in her blanket and settled in to watch the hours slip away until dawn.

  ~~~

  Joshuas awakened to Leilas’ touch on his shoulder. “It’s time for us to be up.” Joshuas opened his eyes to find Leilas’ bright eyes close to his face. It would only take a simple motion to reach out and touch her, pull her to him and feel her close to him. Instead, he rose up on his elbow. “What time is it?”

  “The sun is already up.” Leilas picked up her horse’s blanket and moved to her mount. “I’ve already eaten. I thought I might go out and forage for some herbs while the rest of you get ready.”

  “I don’t want you to go out on your own. I don’t really expect to run into new trouble yet, but Jayram might surprise us.”

  “He won’t send anyone or anything until he returns to the Forest of Furlin. We shouldn’t have to worry about him for a little while.”

  “You didn’t even know who he was yesterday. How is it now, you know what he will or won’t do?”

  Leilas hesitated then continued to spread the blanket on her mount’s back. “I saw it in a dream last night.”

  “A dream, –I see. Do you have these dreams often?”

  Joshuas rose to his feet and stepped closer to Leilas. She still wouldn’t face him. He wanted to grab her and make her face him, but he controlled the impulse. He would have to remember that besides being a crafter she was a princess and was used to being treated gently.

  “This is the first time.” Finally, she turned to face him. “It was like being in the mists. I saw bits and pieces of my life and people who would affect it. Jayram was one of the people I saw.”

  Joshuas’ eyes narrowed with concern when Leilas turned to face him. She didn’t look well at all. There was a slight sheen of perspiration on her forehead, even though it was quite cool in the cave. Her eyes were overly bright, and somewhat unfocused. Ignoring his warning voice, he reached out and rested his hand on her forehead. She pulled away and swayed on her feet.

  “You’re sick,” stated Joshuas, not bothering to ask.

  “I’m fine. Or I will be once I find some medicine, which I’m going to do now, while you, Mother and Brenth eat and get ready to leave.”

  “I’ll go find the medicine. You lie down and rest.”

  “I’m not a child, I can take care of myself,” argued Leilas, reaching for her saddle and swaying slightly.

  “I’m aware you’re not a child. But I’m more familiar with the terrain and have a better idea where to find herbs. Tell me what you want and I’ll go find it.”

  Straightening, Leilas closed her eyes and weighed Joshuas’ words. “I’m not sure what I need, Willowwick? I need something that will cleanse a wound and help with swelling. Master Frey taught me a little about herbs, but not much. He didn’t have healing in mind for me as a profession.”

  “What wound?” Joshuas moved closer and let his eyes wander over her, looking for evidence of the injuries she’d endured and not bothered to tell anyone about. His eyes stopped when he reached her legs. “Let me look. I’ll have a better idea what herbs to gather if I know what kinds of wounds you sustained.”

  Leilas looked as though she wanted to argue with him, then took a deep breath and sat on her saddle. “You’ll have to cut the legging away or waste water loosening it.”

  Joshuas nodded and reached for his knife. Being as careful as he could, he cut the blood-stiffened fabric away from Leilas’ leg. His stomach clenched when he saw the angry wounds that had been hidden from view, wounds that hadn’t been inflicted cleanly by a sword. The angry punctures on Leilas’ leg had clearly been inflicted by teeth, teeth that belonged to a dark magik. Probing the wounds gently, he tried not to let his dismay show. He could find herbs that could help heal the wounds, but he didn’t have the knowledge or the power to stop the poison that had been injected by the teeth that had left these marks, poison that was already beginning to work on Leilas, if her glassy stare and waxy complexion were any indication.

  “Willowwick will help the swelling. I’ll go find some. You wake your mother and Brenth.”

  Joshuas strode quickly to the door of the cave and stepped through into the morning. Its beauty eluded him today, overshadowed by his concern for his new ward. If he wasn’t careful, he would lose her before he’d even had her as his apprentice. It would be a battle of time. Menas was a day and a half away, if they pressed on as quickly as they could. Leilas had wasted precious time by hiding her wounds
from him.

  Joshuas cursed his clumsy handling of her as he headed for a known patch of willowwick. If he hadn’t yelled at her, she might have told him she was injured. Easily finding the herb, Joshuas carefully dug around several roots and pulled the plants from the ground. Wrapping them in cloth he carried especially for this delicate plant, he hurried back to the cave.

  By the time he arrived, Queen Daina and Brenth were awake and finishing up their breakfast. Leilas had already saddled her horse and was standing guard by the door.

  “Daina,” Joshuas spoke to the queen as the friend she’d once been, rather than the queen she was today. “I need your help.”

  The queen looked up in surprise, but quickly came to the spot where Joshuas had led Leilas and forced her to sit down. “We have a slight problem here with Leilas’ leg.”

  Queen Daina took one look at her daughter’s leg, cast a knowing look at Joshuas and quickly went to work. “Brenth, I need water and a knife. Joshuas, I need some willowwick. Can you find some?”

  “Already did,” replied Joshuas, handing her the precious root wrapped in the silver-threaded cloth.

  Sinking to her knees, the queen pushed aside the ruined material of Leilas’ leggings. “This happened yesterday?” she asked her daughter as her fingers gently probed the sores.

  Leilas nodded. “It happened when I was fighting with the wolves.”

  “You mean the dark crafters,” her mother corrected her gently.

  “Wolves, crafters, what’s the difference?” Leilas leaned back against the rock Joshuas had told her to sit near and closed her eyes. “This is the first wound I’ve ever had that didn’t heal quickly. It’s rather a unique experience.”

  “One you’ll have to avoid in the future,” said Joshuas.

  “I’ll keep that in mind the next time an evil magik attacks me,” retorted Leilas. “I’ll just tell him I can’t fight him because I’m supposed to avoid injury.”

  “This will hurt,” the queen warned her daughter as she took the knife from her son.

  “It couldn’t hurt much worse than it already does,” replied Leilas. Still, she closed her eyes and clenched her fists in anticipation. At the queen’s silent bidding Joshuas moved behind Leilas ready to catch her if the need arose.

  “Brenth,” the queen turned to her son, “do you remember that chant I taught you? The one we use if dark magic is involved?”

  Brenth’s eyes widened as he realized what his mother was implying. His eyes darted to his sister and then back again. “I remember.”

  “Good. We’re going to use it now. I’ll need your help because these were very powerful magiks. Between us, maybe we can help relieve the discomfort until we reach Menas where there are stronger healers.”

  Leilas opened her eyes at her mother’s words. “Why would I need a stronger healer? It’s just a bite, nothing too serious.”

  “Didn’t Gidron Frey teach you anything at that school?” The queen shook her head in disgust. “I should’ve paid more attention. Didn’t he teach you that you could be killed by another crafter?”

  “Of course he did. Only another crafter can kill a crafter. When you’re in a fight with a crafter, you’re vulnerable. That was one of the first things he taught me.” Leilas shrugged. “This crafter didn’t kill me, he only wounded me and not too seriously.”

  “Did he bother to mention that if a dark crafter took a different form and broke the skin, he would leave a poison behind, some manifestation of his darkness?” asked Joshuas.

  Leilas hesitated, just a moment too long, and Joshuas had his answer before she gave him hers. “I’m sure he must have, I’ve just forgotten.”

  “Pretty important thing to just forget,” retorted Joshuas. Joshuas was beginning to dislike Gidron Frey, more and more. He’d never really liked him in the first place. There was always something underneath the surface that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Now he’d put Leilas in a vulnerable, dangerous position by not teaching her the fundamentals of facing dark crafters. Why would he leave out such important teachings?

  “How serious is this?” Leilas chose to ignore Joshuas and turned to her mother.

  Brenth answered for his mother as gently as he could. “It depends on how you respond to it. It could just kill you, or it could make you go mad, or it could cloud your thoughts until you are lost from this world. Mother and I aren’t strong enough healers to determine which path you will likely take. We can only slow the effects until we can reach someone who can. It would have been easier if you’d told us you’d been hurt immediately.”

  “I didn’t want to be a bother.” Leilas rubbed her eyes. “It seems like I haven’t done anything right since we decided to leave Dirth. Because of my weakness we couldn’t escape through the Echoes. Because we had to go through town, Jayram was alerted to the fact that we left and followed us using my weakness to trail us. I used enough magic in fighting to alert every dark crafter in the region and now I’ve put you in danger by becoming a liability.” Turning her face from the others in the cave, she continued. “I think you should just leave me here and get yourselves to safety. I should be safe enough here, and if I get better, I’ll follow you to Menas.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” her mother scolded her. “I wouldn’t leave you here anymore than you were willing to leave me in Dirth. We’ll do our best to slow the poison and then we’ll get to Menas as quickly as we can.”

  “I gave my word that I’d watch over you. I have a duty to stay with you. If you stay, I stay as well,” Joshuas sided with her mother.

  “Because you gave your word to Master Manchu that you would protect me?”

  “I’ve always kept my word.”

  Leilas smiled wearily. Joshuas wondered what was going on inside her head and was tempted to probe, but he refrained. He’d learned over the centuries to appreciate the privacy of the mind. It wasn’t always pleasant to walk inside another’s thoughts. He’d noticed that Leilas didn’t often venture into other’s minds, either. Perhaps it was because of the time she’d spent in the Echoes.

  “Do what you have to do. I’ll try not to be any more trouble on the way to Menas. Once we get there, you won’t have to worry about me anymore.” She turned to face Joshuas. “And since I won’t become a master, I couldn’t possibly be the Chidra and so you’re free of your responsibility to look after me.”

  Joshuas frowned at her dismissal. “We can discuss that in Menas.”

  “Or not,” retorted Leilas quietly as her mother began to wash her wounds.

  Joshuas moved behind his young charge and watched helplessly as she bit her lip to keep back the protests of pain. He knew once Daina started probing with the knife he’d be needed to hold Leilas. He’d been in a few other situations where a crafter had suffered such a wound. It hadn’t been pleasant. Brenth was busy etching a circle with talc that had mysteriously appeared from somewhere on his person. At each midpoint he drew a small circle and then he placed a smaller circle within the larger circle. That was where they’d place Leilas as the ritual began.

  In essence, it was a warding, to keep the evil from consuming its victim, the stronger the healer, the better the warding. With two healers performing the ritual it could be very effective. But Leilas needed more than a warding. He knew that and so did Daina and Brenth. She needed a real healer who could go in and cleanse the evil from her mind and soul. With luck, Deidra still made her home in Menas. She was the most powerful healer in Preterlandis. If luck was against them, she would have gone to her home in the hills. But he’d find her and take Leilas to her, no matter what her condition, provided the poison didn’t kill her.

  “Are you ready?” asked Daina of them all as she placed the knife against the first of the punctures.

  Leilas nodded and closed her eyes. “Whenever you are,” she answered her mother’s question. Joshuas placed his hands lightly on Leilas’ shoulders as his answer. He and Daina had done this before, a very long time ago. That time, they ha
dn’t been able to save their patient.

  Looking back on it now, he supposed it was fate. If Peran had lived, Daina would have married him, no matter what her father had dictated. Then Leilas would never have been born and they’d still be waiting for the Chidra. Still, Daina had never forgiven him for letting her lover be hurt after he’d given his word that he’d watch over him. It didn’t matter that he’d come to the edge of death himself by giving so much of his energy to Peran. It also didn’t matter to her how much Peran’s death had affected him as well. She didn’t want to know. She needed to blame someone for her lover’s death and he’d been elected.

  Slowly beginning to chant, Daina drew the edge of the knife against the first puncture, applying enough pressure to open the wound. Leilas moaned and tensed under Joshuas’ hands, but otherwise showed no outward sign of pain. Joshuas had to admire her strength. He’d seen stronger men give in to the pain during this procedure.

  Crushing a bit of the willowwick in her hand, Queen Daina rubbed the sticky substance in the wound while she continued to chant. Now, she was only cleansing the body. Cleansing the soul would be much harder.

  Leilas flinched with the second cut. The queen continued her chanting and cleansing. With the third cut, Leilas went limp. Joshuas caught her as her body slumped back against him. It would be better this way. From within the circle Brenth had traced with his talc, Brenth began to chant as well. Joshuas recognized the words. It was a prayer. As he held his new ward close, he began to chant the words as well, “Creator give me strength to do what I must do, to fight against the pull of my own desires and give me the wisdom to use the power you gave me to do your will.” It was a very old prayer, one he’d learned in his childhood, one that seemed especially appropriate. He’d been having trouble with his desires since he’d met Leilas.

  It seemed to take forever for the queen to cleanse all the wounds. Joshuas had no idea how long it had really taken. There was no time in this darkened cave. When the queen finished placing the willowwick on the last puncture, she closed her eyes and sank to the ground. Brenth was instantly at her side with water, jerky, and hard tack. “It’s the best we have,” he apologized as he handed it to her.