The Poison Within

by Rachel Marie Pearcy

  “We’ve reached it,” Thane cheered. “It’s the northern border.”

  The Ashen Forest had reached its end, and as if the trees themselves knew their boundaries, they stopped at the invisible line, unwilling to cross over. The world outside the forest looked barren and vacant without the woods towering overhead. The idea of stepping into the void was terrifying, like being stripped naked and left on display.

  “I can’t believe it,” Cam breathed. She stopped next to Rya and dismounted. Taking tentative steps from the shelter of the trees she walked from her kingdom and into the unknown. “We’ve made it,” she smiled back at them. “I can’t believe we made it.”

  “This is your chance to turn back,” Rya announced. “It would be easy to go home. You could return to the castle and stay safe and warm. No one would think less of you for leaving me here.”

  “You’re joking right?” Thane replied with a grin. “If we proved anything on this journey, it’s that you need us. We aren’t giving up on you; we’re in this together.”

  Cam smiled back at her. “You can’t get rid of us that easy.”

  “Let’s get this over with,” Norell added.

  Rya couldn’t reply. When she voiced the offer, she never expected them to stay. With the frozen nights and empty stomachs, she would have sworn they’d bid her goodbye and return to the comforts of their home. She didn’t have that luxury. She had no home to return to. She knew she could only move forward, and the fact that they were going with her was almost too much to bare. She jumped down from Eclipse and joined Cam in the empty space ahead of them. The jagged cliffs stood before them like stone giants exploding from the earth. They looked alien against the landscape, while simultaneously appearing to have belonged there from the start of time.

  “We can’t take the horses,” Cam sighed, staring at the snow-covered peaks. “The pass is rocky and slick with ice at this time of year. It’d be easier to navigate without them.”

  “What does that mean?” Thane asked. “We just leave them here?”

  He wasn’t the type to be easily shaken, but as he laid his hand on Rainy’s neck his words wavered. “I won’t do it.”

  “I’m not a fan of the idea either,” Cam replied, glancing at Zara. “But if you ride her there’s a chance she could slip off the side and you would both be lost forever. Is that better?”

  “We can send them back,” Rya added. “We can have Norell and Sora take the horses back to the castle. Then they’ll all be safe.”

  “No way,” Sora argued. “I’m staying with you. I’m healed and ready to fight.”

  “You shouldn’t have to,” she sighed, rubbing the spot between her brows. “You’re just a child and this isn’t your battle.”

  “I’m thirteen,” he shouted. “Think about what you were doing at thirteen, and stop treating me like I’m a kid.”

  “Everyone stop talking,” Norell interrupted. They all stopped bickering as she slowly took in the whole of the horizon. Rya knew the wheels were spinning in the girl’s mind. She was always doing that, weighing options against each other, calculating the outcomes. Rya guessed that Norell spent most of her life trying to find a balance between her emotions and doing what was necessary. She was always trying to be practical and calculated, two qualities Rya had little experience with.

  “We’ll go around,” Norell nodded, satisfied with her decision.

  “It’ll add days to our trip,” Cam retorted. “If we head straight over the pass it’ll be faster.”

  “Not if we’re on foot,” Norell replied. “Leaving the horses here and taking the direct path will put us just as far behind as skirting the bottom, and when we finally get to the other side, we’ll be without them. How long do you think it will take us to walk all the way to the Ivory Cape? We don’t want to keep King Mikkel waiting for us any longer than he has to.”

  Cam opened her mouth, but her words never came. From what Rya had seen, Cam and Thane rarely had a good argument against Norell.

  They walked back to the trees, climbing up into the saddles once again. Rya watched Norell scoot closer to Thane, and his lips whispered his gratitude to her. With Norell’s arms wrapped around Thane’s waist and her head resting on his back, Rya was hot in the cheeks. She felt foolish that she ever believed Norell had feelings for Cam. If she had looked a little harder, she would have seen the sly glances and soft touches Thane and her passed back and forth.

  Walking the horses through the open space between the towering mountain and the dense forest was unsettling. Cam caught Rya checking over her shoulder every few minutes, half expecting Nix to be strolling behind them with a smug smile on his face, but she knew he wasn’t that stupid. If they were exposed, he would be too.

  “He’s not there,” she said, trying to ease Rya’s mind.

  The queen looked once more behind her. “I know,” she sighed. “It’s silly. I just keep thinking about the tracks in the snow, they’ll lead him right to us.”

  “I’d bet half my fortune he’s taking the pass instead of following us. He wouldn’t risk being seen.”

  Rya frowned. “Betting is a dangerous hobby.”

  “Come on,” Thane laughed. “It can be loads of fun when you’re winning.”

  “No.” Rya shook her head. “I’ve seen first-hand the damage it can do. My father spent his life drinking and gambling away his inheritance. It’s what caused his death.”

  “What do you mean?” Cam asked.

  “It’s the reason he had me train my powers. I was twelve when he woke me in the middle of the night and dragged me by the arm down the street to the tavern he spent all his time at. He was drunk again, stumbling his way through the horde of people inside. A door in the back opened and he shoved me through. I remember the men staring at me as I stood in my night shirt, shivering from the cold air and fear. They were laughing. My father shouted something about them cheating, saying they stole his money. They ignored him and went back to their game, but he couldn’t let it go. He ordered me to use my magic against them. It was the moment he told me would come. He wanted me to hurt them, but I couldn’t. I was terrified.

  “When I finally managed to make my body move, I ran out of the room, through the tavern, and into the street outside. My father caught me. He screamed at me for letting him down. He grabbed my arm again, trying to drag me back inside. He kept saying I was a failure, that this is what I was made for. I was so angry and afraid; the magic just came out. I knocked him backwards about five feet where he landed on his back. The last memory I have of my father was him cursing me as he left me and returned to the tavern. I went home alone, and never saw him again. A week later a man came to our door and told my mother they’d found his body. He had been beaten to death and left in an alley. I never said anything, but I knew who did it. I knew it was the men from that night. I just didn’t care.”

  No one spoke. The pity and sympathy the others were feeling was kept silent, and she was thankful for that. She had endured a great deal in her childhood, but she’d made it through. She was a queen now. She was strong and feared and most importantly, she was alive. The people who’d fooled her into believing they loved her—they hadn’t been as lucky.

  The Dungeons

  The pebbles and hard clay cut through his flesh as his face slid against the dirt. His cell was nothing more than a hole carved into the ground, with the rough floor and walls made of packed earth. The corner he did his business in was only feet away, and from his position he could smell the stench of the fluids that lingered, waiting to seep into the soil.

  Meager bits of stale bread and leftover meat sat in front of him, shoved through the opening in the bar’s hours before, and dumped onto the floor like trash for him to eat. He’d gulped down the single cup of clean water as soon as it entered the cell, leaving the tin sitting empty in the dirt, mimicking his own body. It was the same every day, he was given just enough to keep him alive, just enough to keep him hopeful.

  “You’re not dead are
ya?” A voice chuckled. “We’ve been placing bets on how long you’ll last, and I’m not up for another two weeks.”

  “You wish,” he coughed, inhaling the dust around him.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” the guard answered, still laughing. “You’re a fighter.”

  “That he is,” another voice added. He knew that tone; that sick, sinister song that came from her lips. He cringed as it rang in his ears.

  He put his hands to his sides, pushing against the ground. His arms trembled, and the muscles in his shoulders ached, but he’d managed to get to his knees. His vision was blurred and faded, but he could see her standing just outside the cell, her face framed by the bars that held him captive.

  “Happy to see me?” She asked, her smile the only sharp image in his vision. “I was walking around the castle, allowing the fresh air to wash over me, and I thought ‘I wonder what my friend is up to’, and so here I am to check on you.”

  “Leave me alone,” he cried. “Just—leave me.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” she answered. “You see, I’ve come here with good news. You’ve been locked down in this dungeon for a year now. It’s an anniversary and those are worth celebrating.”

  He couldn’t reply, only weeping as his body swayed weak and unsteady.

  “I have a special gift for you,” she continued, ignoring his pain. “Tonight, at sundown, you’ll be taken from this cell, and you’ll be released into the world once again.”

  Still no words escaped him. It was too much to hope for, and he wouldn’t allow himself to believe it.

  “I thought you’d be happier about the news.” She shrugged. “Of course, if you’d rather stay down here until you die, I’ll allow it.”

  “No,” he begged. “I want to go. Please.”

  “Please what?” Her twisted smile returned, making him ill. If he had anything left in his stomach he would have vomited that second.

  “Please, Your Majesty, my queen, allow me to leave this place.”

  “That’s more like it. I expect respect from you going forward. Otherwise we’ll have to arrange another stay here.”

  He whimpered and she leaned in closer. Her hands wrapped around the bars of his cage, and she pushed her face against the cold metal.

  “There’s one more thing you should know,” she whispered. “Someone in Kelda, for some reason or another, has been spreading horrible stories about you. From what I hear, you travel to different lands, luring people into a false sense of ease, and then when they finally drop their guard, you attack. Rumor is that you prey on the elderly and the weak. You like knowing they can’t fight you off as you torture them to death, and after you’re done you steal all their processions.

  “Once you’ve stocked up your cart with whatever you think is worth anything, you take the objects back home and display them in your shop. They say you sell the dead people’s belongings to innocent customers who are completely unaware of the horrific ways you acquired them. I’m sorry to tell you, but these rumors have driven your father out of business, and they’ve had to take your family’s home to pay his debts.”

  “My parents,” he sobbed. “What happened to my parents? Where are they?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged, standing upright. “I don’t really care either. Finding them is something you’ll have to figure out when you leave here. I do hope you can find a way to pull yourself together now that your name’s been dragged through the mud. I would hate for this reputation you’ve been given to ruin your life. That would be disastrous.”

  The queen turned her back, fading into the darkness beyond his cell door, followed close behind by the faceless guard. The young man fell back to the ground. His face slid once more against the rough flooring, but he felt nothing. He was numb, never knowing if he’d ever feel again.

  Twenty-Three

  Camp was made in the shadow of the looming mountain, but the size of the stone did little to shield them from the weather. As night began to fall so did the snow, weighing down their blankets with a cold, wet touch. Rya and Cam sat shoulder to shoulder, pressed together with one blanket wrapped around their torsos, and the other over their laps. Even with their efforts, Cam shivered in the cold night air.

  “Here,” Rya smirked, taking Cam’s hands between hers. The heat came easily enough, but Rya had to keep her focus to make sure she didn’t burn her.

  “Thanks,” Cam whispered. “I forgot you’re a human flame.”

  “I can’t do it too long, unless I want to wear myself out. But it’s worth it to keep you from freezing.”

  “Does it feel the same to you as it does me? Is the magic warm like fire in your veins?”

  “It’s a heat,” Rya replied, “but different. I’ve always thought of it like a thunderstorm growing inside me.” She envisioned the energy humming within as charged tendrils that stretch throughout her body. Once it reached her hands the magic would build as it waited to strike forward in whatever way she willed it to. “A single bolt of lightning can start a fire to burn down an entire forest, and with a quick snap of my fingers I could do the same.”

  “That’s a dangerous gift to have in the wrong hands. Literally.”

  “You’re right.” Rya smirked. “I’ve spent so many years training and honing my powers to reach the level I’m at. Most people don’t get that far. There’s a lot of physical pain that comes from exercising magic, and many have a low threshold for injury. They stop when it gets to be too much, but I kept pushing through. I had nothing to lose, and so I suffered the agony and aches to gain the reward.”

  “Nothing to lose,” Cam repeated. “That’s such a sad concept. I can’t imagine growing up without anyone to care about you.”

  Rya huffed. “Neither of my parents did anything for me that wasn’t motivated by their own selfish reasons. My mother was more cunning than my father, and she groomed me for years without me knowing. Each day since I was born, she would tell me that I would be her star. I was to be her way up society’s ladder.”

  “Your father was a lord, wasn’t that enough?”

  “That was just the start for her. My mother was born a farmer’s daughter, with little money to her name. The one quality she did have was natural beauty. She knew the value of that beauty, and as she came of age, she used it to her advantage. My father wasn’t shy about his wealth, and as he was usually drunk and stupid it was easy for my mother to lure him in. It wasn’t long before he believed he was madly in love with her. Only after they were married did she realize how serious his habits were, and how quickly he was able to drain the gold from their accounts. Her plan to raise her status was failing, and she needed another way out of her inferior life.

  “I was five when they cut the servants by half, and by ten they’d reduced that number again. I would notice furniture from the upper rooms disappear, learning later they were sold to keep the lower levels looking lavish. It was important to her to keep up appearances. If anyone had discovered the poverty we were sinking into, I would never have made a wealthy match for marriage. That was my only reason for living. She planned on selling me to the highest bidder like a pig for slaughter, collecting the gold for herself as some reward for birthing me.”

  “That’s horrible.” Cam squeezed her hand, giving the smallest gesture of concern.

  “She always told me that a boy could only rise to the level of his father, but that a girl had assets that would raise her to the top. She said no one would love me if I weren’t beautiful. No one would ever want me if I weren’t perfect. I tried so hard to be everything she wanted from me, but inside I was dying to be free. I never wanted to use my looks to trick a lord into marrying me or sleep my way into a castle. That was her life, her way of getting by, not mine. I fought back in small ways where I could, but in the end, she won. I could do nothing to stop her. She had convinced Gerrod to take me to the Isles where I was to be married to Gavin. I turned fifteen on my way to his kingdom.”

  “Ouch,” Cam gasp
ed. She had yanked her hands free and was waving them outside the blankets, the bright red of her skin glowing in the darkness.

  “I’m so sorry,” Rya apologized, shrinking into herself. “I guess I forgot to concentrate, and let the heat get away from me.”

  “It’s alright,” Cam smiled, still cooling her palms in the night air. “It’s my fault for drudging up your past. If you don’t mind me asking, where’s your mother now?”

  “Dead,” she answered. “She caught an illness shortly after I left with Gerrod. It was a cruel fate for her to die before I ever made it to the Isles, before she could collect on the money she’d been promised. I was told she’d passed from contaminated food, the result of her buying cheap cuts and rotten produce. I could never prove her death was due to magic, but a part of me that feels I played an unknown roll in it all. Even if I hadn’t, there’s comfort in believing the lie.”

  “Did she really do what you said before—the thing about burying the babies?”

  “Yes.”

  Rya hung her head. It was the one part of her family she had any sadness towards, and she hesitated about telling the story. She had blurted it out before in a moment of rage and worry, but somehow the idea of whispering it now was terrifying. The intimacy of the moment was one she wanted to avoid and grab onto all at once.

  “I had always suspected something was wrong,” Rya continued. “I only knew my brothers existed because of my father. When he was drunk he would stumble out back to lay next to one of the mounds. He’d cry this awful wailing sound, and mumble about his lost boys. My mother never spoke of them at all until I was older. We’d had a fight about one thing or another and she threatened me. She told me if I didn’t learn my place she’d bury me out back like she did the others. She said she could take my life as easy as she gave it, and no one would be the wiser. Combined with her feelings on the financial prospects of men, I knew that she had killed them.”

  They sat in the darkness, not speaking, not moving. The air around them was heavy with the revelation, but Rya felt lighter. The secrets she’d held onto for so many years had rested on her chest like a boulder, and by speaking the words the stone had rolled away, leaving her able to breathe again.