by Callie Kanno
“It means that it can take on the properties of other herbs. So, if you only have a small amount of a certain herb and you are in need of more, you can throw in some hummingblossom leaves and they will imitate the other herb.”
“You want them to replicate the pongia root?”
Faryl shook her head. “No, but I thought they would be a good starting point for the transformation.”
Than’os approved of her plan. “Yes, that is wise. The pongia will serve as a good reference for the traits you wish to instill.”
He connected to his vyala, and once again, Adesina could see what was happening between him and the apothecary.
Faryl laid out the supplies she hoped to change, and then she took hold of the stream of magical power that was offered to her. First she split the stream into dozens of threads and connected one to each of the hummingblossom leaves.
She expanded the threads, in a way opening up the leaves to receive a new purpose.
“I need a second stream,” she instructed Than’os.
He nodded, and his brow furrowed in concentration.
The second strand appeared in her hand, and Faryl used it to probe the fat, green root. She expanded her vision of it, so she could study the details of how it worked the way it did. Adesina had a rudimentary understanding of botany, but nothing like Faryl’s expansive knowledge. She tried to follow what the older woman was discovering, but she was soon left behind.
“There it is,” she whispered, focusing on a specific chain of chemicals.
Faryl extracted the plant chemicals into the string of vyala and began to alter them slightly. When she seemed satisfied with the result, she replicated it and placed it in each of the hummingblossom leaves.
“One more component,” she murmured.
The second stream of power was inserted into her own hand, where she extracted the scent of blood. This was also placed into the leaves, turning them a vibrant red color. Faryl disconnected each thread of vyala from the newly transformed herbs, closing them up once more.
She let go of Than’os’s vyala and took a deep breath. “I think I did it.”
“How will we know if you were successful?”
The alchemist considered the situation for a moment before answering. “We will test on the horses first, and measure their results.”
She didn’t waste any time doing it. She immediately began mixing the compresses for each of the horses’ legs. Mar’sal and Adesina kept the animals calm while Than’os used a knife to pierce the inflamed lumps. Then, Faryl wrapped the compress over the wound and tied it with twine.
“We should see results in a few hours. In the meantime, they should not be allowed to move too much.”
Adesina whirled to face her. “But we need to break camp soon. We will lose time by waiting here for results, and we cannot afford to do that. We have been warned that severe storms are coming, and we need to catch up to Basha before then.”
Faryl gave a helpless shrug. “I am sorry, but it is necessary. We need to rid ourselves of these parasites as soon as possible. If they begin to multiply, then it will put our lives at risk.”
The young queen did her best to control her anger, but it required her to walk away from the camp.
They were so close. Why did they have to be stopped by something so small as insects?
It is the consequence of venturing into the desert without guidance.
She turned and saw Ravi approaching her.
“Are you saying that this is my fault?”
His expression was kind. “No, dear one. We all thought that Maizah’s visions would be enough.”
“We were all wrong.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “We were wrong.”
Adesina watched the changing sky as dawn approached. They still had an hour before the sun would break over the horizon, but the stars were already retreating.
“There are many other dangers here in Zonne. Next time it might be something that threatens a life or stops us completely. How will we avoid dangers we do not understand?”
The Rashad’s eyes were grave. “I do not know, Ma’eve. It may be that we cannot.”
Kendan and Maizah were soon awake, and Faryl informed them of the current situation. Breakfast was given to those who had appetites, and those who didn’t feel like eating were encouraged to drink their ration of water. The supplies that had been given to them by Captain Zulimar were gone now, and the travelers survived off of the desert cakes. Kendan was right to fear the monotony, for there was no pleasure in consuming the hard lumps of grain and dried meat.
Faryl kept a close eye on the horses, and the majority of them seemed to improve with time. The packhorse, however, remained lethargic and sickly.
“It must have had the most advanced case,” observed Than’os with pity. “I fear it must be relieved of its suffering.”
“We cannot afford to lose any of our horses,” argued Adesina. “We are pressed for time as it is, and we will be slowed down if we have to redistribute our supplies to the other animals.”
“I am sorry, Adesina, but it must be done. It is dying slowly and painfully, and we will lose it eventually anyway. This is the merciful thing to do.”
It did not seem like there was any other reasonable choice. She gave a frustrated nod and turned away to pack up her things.
“We need to redistribute supplies and begin traveling as soon as possible.”
“I agree,” said Faryl, “but first, we need to begin treatments for this parasite. It is unfortunate to lose one of our horses, but it would be devastating to our mission if we lost our leader.”
Chapter Thirty-one: More Misfortune
Adesina was relieved to find that her headache was subsiding considerably by midday. She watched with a mixture of fascination and disgust as Faryl changed the dressings for each member of the party. Her own compress had changed from a dark red to a speckled grey and white—the multitude of dead parasites stuck firmly to the pulp of the crushed leaves.
“It is drawing them out. Good,” remarked Faryl.
Adesina was revolted by the idea that the tiny creatures had been under her skin. Kendan looked equally squeamish, and the apothecary gave a laugh.
“You Shimat certainly have weaker stomachs than I assumed.”
Neither Adesina nor Kendan replied, but they exchanged significant looks. It was one thing to be faced with an enemy in battle, and it was something else entirely to face nature’s most repugnant creatures.
The young queen left Faryl to her work, retaining as much dignity as possible as she made her escape.
For the first time in more than 24 hours, Adesina was able to fall asleep. She was so exhausted in both mind and body that she did not Dream. She awoke rather groggy, but she was able to continue on their journey.
They were now on the seventh day in the desert, and they were finally beginning to adjust to the heat. It was still incredibly uncomfortable, but it no longer seemed unbearable. Their path was now more east than south, and Maizah indicated that Basha had slowed her pace for some reason. They had lost all of the time they had previously gained when they had to treat the horses, but Adesina was confident that the situation would soon be remedied.
She was just starting to feel rather optimistic when she heard a clamor from the rear of the party.
Adesina whirled around just in time to see a flurry of limbs and supplies plunge down the ridge into a valley of sand. Both horse and rider cried out in pain and fear as they fell.
“Kendan!”
The young queen jumped off Torith’s back and slid down the steep slope, barely able to keep her footing as she did so. She automatically used her vyala to steady herself, and the magic took an independent step forward by lifting her off her feet and floating her down to safety.
Adesina went cold and she felt as though a vise were crushing her heart. Let go! she thought frantically, and her vyala disappeared abruptly.
Ravi appeared at her side. “Ma’eve! What is wr
ong?”
She shook her head and pointed to their companion as a distraction. “Kendan is hurt.”
The Rashad remained firmly where he was. “You are my first priority, and I know something is terribly wrong. I have never felt you panic like that.”
“Mar’sal,” she called, ignoring her guardian, “come quickly.”
Adesina rushed over to where her former teacher lay sprawled in the sand. He had lost consciousness, but his low moans let Adesina know that he was still alive.
Kendan’s right arm was clearly broken—sitting in an abnormal angle that caused Adesina to shudder. His right leg had a compound fracture, and his blood seeped into the golden sand.
Mar’sal slid down the slope and sprinted over to the injured man. He used his vyala to inspect Kendan’s wounds closely.
“It is a miracle he is not dead,” the L’avan soldier muttered to himself. “He would be dead if this ground were any harder.”
“Can you heal him?” Adesina asked anxiously.
Mar’sal nodded and began immediately. He knit the bones together and melded the skin. He stopped up the internal bleeding that was taking place within Kendan’s skull.
The former Shimat grew quiet as he slipped into a peaceful sleep.
“I dare not do more,” admitted Mar’sal. “The brain is a delicate organ, and I fear I do not have the necessary skill to heal him completely. He will live, but we should ask Mistress Faryl to administer something to help him manage the rest of the healing process.”
Adesina nodded and turned to call to the apothecary.
Faryl was already standing next to them, but her attention was on the horse.
“He has a broken neck and two broken legs. Can you heal him as well, Mar’sal?”
Adesina could see that Mar’sal was weary, but he agreed without hesitation. “Of course, Mistress.”
The horse was soon on its feet again, but it appeared to labor as it walked.
“There is still some pain,” explained Mar’sal, “but it will recover by tomorrow.”
“Now we must decide what to do,” Faryl said. “How do we get back up that ridge?”
“Ma’eve can use her vyala to transport all of us,” asserted Ravi, staring at Adesina with challenging eyes. It was clear on his feline face that he did not appreciate that she had figuratively pushed him to the side.
Mar’sal was too tired to take note of the nuances of the conversation. “Oh, yes,” he said in a grateful tone. “That would be helpful, Adesina. I do not think I can climb back to my horse.”
Faryl looked back and forth between the L’avan woman and her Rashad companion with an uncomfortable expression on her face.
Please, Ravi, do not do this.
Why not, Ma’eve? You insist that nothing is wrong.
I…cannot…
His expression softened considerably.
You cannot, what?
“Mar’sal, are you able to walk?”
The young soldier looked startled by Adesina’s question. “Yes, of course.”
“Then we shall put Kendan across the back of his horse and walk alongside this ridge. It cannot last forever, and we will meet up with the rest of the group at the soonest opportunity.”
Mar’sal’s brow creased in confusion, but he readily agreed. Orders were shouted up to Than’os, and they continued on their previous course.
Adesina and Ravi walked at the head of their group, keeping an eye on their counterparts. Faryl lended support to Mar’sal when he needed it, and led Kendan’s horse by the reins.
Why are you shutting me out?
Adesina could sense the ache in Ravi’s heart, and she felt the urge to throw her arms around his neck.
“I am sorry, old friend. I do not mean to push you away.”
“Then, do not,” he replied simply. “Tell me what has been happening.”
“I am afraid,” she whispered.
Ravi’s muzzle wrinkled in a feline expression of concern. “What is making you afraid?”
Once again, Adesina shied from the truth. It was as if she was making it more real by expressing it out loud.
When her words failed her, she tried something else. Something new.
She opened her mind completely to Ravi, and she recalled every detail regarding her vyala since the battle with the aekuor. She showed him how her magic was taking control, and her struggle to overcome its power. She showed him her fear of being lost in her vyala, and she knew that Ravi could see that the possibility was all too real.
It took mere moments for Adesina to share days of relentless terror and worry, but it seemed much longer. Ravi’s eyes grew wide, and Adesina could see them shimmer with tears.
She had never seen him cry before.
“Oh, Ma’eve…you should have told me sooner.”
Adesina felt as though she had laid herself bare, and she tried to cover it with bravado. “What difference does it make? Nothing can be done.”
The Rashad shook his head. “You do not know that. Even if that were true, you should not carry such a burden alone.”
A trickling sensation fell down her cheeks, and Adesina hurried to brush her tears away. “I could not…”
He understood what she was trying to say, and he shook his head solemnly. “Why do you think I am here? Almost any sort of creature could have been sent to protect you from physical danger. Yet you have a guardian that can think and speak as you do. I was sent to you because you need a friend to protect you from a much more pressing danger.”
“Idiocy?” she suggested with a half laugh.
“Isolation,” Ravi responded.
That gave Adesina pause.
“You would try to take on the problems of the world by yourself, and you would think nothing of destroying yourself in the process. You would even convince yourself that it is for the best.” His voice was both affectionate and annoyed, but then he went on in a more serious tone. “One of my greatest purposes is to remind you that you are not alone.”
The young queen stopped walking and looked at Ravi. They had spent the last six years in almost constant companionship. He had saved her life on numerous occasions, he had given her comfort and council, he had stood by her when she had felt most alone. She had grown to love him very dearly, and that love seemed to grow exponentially as she gazed at her guardian now.
Adesina went down on one knee and wrapped her arms around the large feline’s neck. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He nuzzled her fondly. “I am not sure how, but we will find a way to overcome this together. We have faced impossible and frightening things before, and we can do it again.”
***
It was after dark now. The moon was a pale sliver in the sky, but it lent just enough light to aid the weary travelers.
Adesina and the others still rode at the bottom of the rocky slope, searching for a path that would reunite the two groups. Maizah rode along the sandy ridge, leading Faryl’s horse while Than’os guided the mounts belonging to Mar’sal and Adesina.
Maizah’s dark eyes drank in the desert before them, but the depthless orbs appeared to remain empty.
She looked empty.
Maizah was quite aware of how she seemed to others. Her parents had trained her well, and she was able to maintain the void without any effort. She existed only to serve—that was the first rule of survival as a slave.
The young woman noticed several strange fluctuations in Adesina’s magic. She did not mean to pry, but she could not help noticing. Adesina was a surging beacon of light to someone with Maizah’s skills. The Tracker could no more ignore the L’avan queen than she could ignore the sun.
Maizah noticed the fluctuations, but she did nothing to indicate her knowledge. It was not her place to volunteer information.
She glanced at the L’avan soldier riding to her left. Early on in the journey he had attempted to converse with her. The Master had warned him that she could not speak, but he tried all the same. The Master did not seem to min
d the fruitless effort, and so she had not either.
These L’avan were strange people. They did not seem to view her as a slave. It did not make any sense to her. It was as if they refused to acknowledge that a horse was a horse.
Maizah’s parents had once told her of a land across the sea, where people like her were free to live their lives as they chose. Her parents had been taken from that land as children, and they never lived to return. Their deaths had been a lesson to teach Maizah that such dreams were futile and dangerous.
She was a slave—nothing more.
Of course, the Master treated her differently as well. He was not like the other Masters. There was a softness in his eyes that no other Master possessed. He almost treated her like she was more than simply a slave.
Maizah shook away such thoughts.
Futile and dangerous.
Through her unusual tracking abilities, she could sense that Adesina’s husband slowed to a stop, presumably for the night. Maizah could track his aura quite easily now. It was a strange other-self sense that tickled the back of her mind at all times. Each aura was unique, and Adesina’s husband’s gave the sensation of sunlight in a forest. It was pleasant and strangely comforting.
Maizah turned her gaze to the sky to estimate the time of evening. They would probably travel for three or four more hours before stopping to sleep. It was a pressing pace, but they all understood the need to catch up to Adesina’s husband.
Than’os reined his horse to a stop and climbed out of the saddle. “A moment, please, Maizah.”
He walked away a respectful distance to relieve himself, and the Tracker turned her eyes on the party members walking below. Their pace was slower, due to the injured and the lack of horses, but Maizah estimated that the two levels would meet in about half a league.
A sudden cry sounded behind her and was muffled just as abruptly.
Maizah whipped around to look for Than’os, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The moonlight was dim, but the sparse landscape of the desert held nothing that would obscure his shape. He had simply disappeared.
The Tracker had not tuned her senses to Than’os’s aura, but she could still do a broad sweep in search of him. She ranged outward, seeking any sign of the missing L’avan, but she found nothing.