Kingmaker

by Eric Zawadzki

CHAPTER 30

  Two tents and a fire awaited them two valleys away, along with an exhausted Blay, Tirud, Lujo, Phedam and Jani.

  Phedam saw them first, shouting joyfully and racing toward them with Lujo close to his heels. Jani stood up, arms across her chest, wiping her face. Butu guessed she’d been crying. Blay rose with a fierce grin. Only Tirud seemed unsurprised. He disappeared into a tent.

  “What happened?” Phedam asked after initial greetings. “Are you well?”

  “Do we look well?” Nolen grumbled. His feet had dragged more and more as they traveled, the weight of the extra sword heavy on his back.

  “Who’s this?” Lujo asked, meeting the tired but defiant eyes of Amber. Her mouth was blissfully sealed shut.

  Amber, true to her word, had rambled nonstop for the entire trip. She only paused when she drank, and Butu had grinned when Nolen suggested they drown her. She spoke of the Riphil, where she was raised. She spoke of farming — dirty, boring work — and her brothers. She had four, all older, and all fat, boorish mules the way she said it. She talked about alligators and how the river was worse than the shanjin, which earned her an earful from Nolen. Butu noticed she listened to them as diligently as she spoke, and he wondered how calculated her ramblings were. Nolen didn’t seem to give anything away, but who knew what she listened for?

  And should I find something in hers? He tried to listen more closely, but feeling his friends nearby was distraction enough.

  Now they were here, and he could pass her off on Blay, and get some sleep.

  “Where’s Retus?” Butu asked.

  “What did you two unearth out there?” Blay asked before Lujo could answer.

  “Sir, this is Amber, an Akdren from near the Riphil.” He gave a short account of her capture while Tirud looked over Nolen’s arm. “I didn’t want to leave her to die after we saved her life, so we brought her with us,” he finished, wincing as Tirud removed his sticky bandage.

  “I was fine,” Amber said tartly, garnering everyone’s attention. “If you two had just left Beker and me alone, you’d be fine and so would we.”

  “He was exhausted and water-starved,” Butu countered. “Anyone could see that you weren’t fine. If he hadn’t threatened us, we would have helped you and everyone would’ve gone their own way.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s dead now, right?” Her lip trembled, and suddenly she was crying. Jani jumped to her side to comfort her, despite Blay’s order to stand aside. After a few seconds, he commanded Tirud and Butu to follow him behind the tents.

  “What are we going to do with her?” Tirud asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

  “I haven’t decided yet,” Blay said.

  “I hope she’s not out here for the same reason as we are, but it certainly looks that way,” Tirud said.

  “What are you talking about?” Butu asked. I know we’re young, and we’re out here because we can still use magic, but does this mean Blay’s going to tell us why we’re out here, then?

  Blay shook his head. “Tell me everything she talked about, Butu. And everything you said to her. We need to find out what she knows.”

  Butu nodded, back on firmer ground here. I guessed he’d ask this. So he recounted the events more thoroughly, to nods from Blay and a frown from Tirud. They met each other’s eyes when he spoke of Nolen’s outburst, and Butu wondered what they thought of that, but Blay motioned him to continue. When he finished, Blay clapped a hand on his good shoulder.

  “How’s that arm?”

  “Fine,” Butu lied. It twinged when Blay touched him. “I’ll be holding a sword tomorrow, no problem.”

  “Good. Get some rest, Butu. Use my tent. We’ll stay here the rest of the day.” He turned to go. Tirud had already disappeared.

  “Sir, what happened to Retus?”

  Blay stopped and placed his hand on his sword. “Clanless caught up to us, after the storm. A handful, really. Tirud and I took care of most of them, but one slashed open Retus’ side. He blocked a sword with his arm, and that’s not even scratched. He’ll be fine — the magic of youth saved him.” He looked over his shoulder at Butu. “Be careful, Butu. That slash across your belly would have killed anyone else.” He returned to camp.

  Butu touched the bandage around his stomach. The pain was gone. Slowly he unwound the blood-crusted cloth, exposing unmarred, unscarred flesh. The wound was gone. The one in his shoulder still hurt, and he tried not to think why one would heal and the other still hurt.

  He went around to the front, where Jani had used water and a towel to tidy Amber’s face. Lujo watched the prisoner warily and obeyed only reluctantly when Tirud ordered him to sheath his sword. Phedam kept watch in front of the tent where Retus rested. Phedam seemed stunned by everything, and Butu couldn’t help but feel the same. He crawled into the other tent, where Nolen already lay comatose. A few seconds later, Butu joined him in dreamless sleep.

  He woke to the flickering light of fire through the tent flap. Voices filtered through the canvas.

  “How did you survive the sandstorm?” Nolen.

  “Lujo saved us,” Phedam explained. “He made a dome of sand to protect us from the storm.”

  “That was nothing.” Lujo almost sounded embarrassed. As if to illustrate this, he launched into a story about an arena that appeared and disappeared in the desert, with more characteristic tones.

  Butu sat up and crawled out of the tent.

  “Oh, you’re awake,” Jani said softly from near the tent mouth. She smiled slightly, childlike, into her hands. “Look what I found.”

  He moved closer, the better to see what she held. When his head was near hers, she leaned in to kiss his cheek. The hands were empty.

  “What’s this?” he asked, a little embarrassed at this sudden affection in front of their squad.

  “I’m just glad you’re alive,” she said. “We thought you and Nolen were lost. We were nearly killed ourselves.” She wiped her face, and Butu could see she’d been crying. “That’s all.”

  “Jani,” he whispered, but she stood and left. Blay replaced her.

  “Good, you’re awake. Let’s look at that arm again.”

  Everyone except Amber was at the fire, fending off Lujo’s ridiculous tale. Tirud lounged, but his eyes dug into a third tent with such ferocity Butu was surprised it wasn’t set aflame.

  “Where’s Amber?” Butu said, staring at the tent.

  Blay slowly unwound the stained bandage. “She fell asleep in that tent over there right after we fed her. She hasn’t used magic since I explained the consequences, so don’t worry.” He whistled at the wound. “Tirud, bring the medicine over here. You and Nolen did good, Butu. We’ll learn a lot from her.”

  “And then what?”

  Blay gazed intently at Butu.

  What aren’t you telling me now? Butu thought.

  Tirud arrived, and with barely a pause, sloshed acrid-smelling liquid onto Butu’s shoulder. He winced as it stung him.

  “Infection,” Blay explained. “That’s why it’s not healing as fast. Nolen had the same thing. You can’t just use anybody’s torn clothing as a bandage.” They wrapped clean cloth around the wound again, and Butu joined the rest at the fire.