by B. T. Narro
Cedri held out her hand. “I need some money for food.”
Neeko gave her a ruff, more than enough.
But she looked at the coin with disappointment. “It’s about a ruff per meal at this inn.”
“That’s absurd. Could you go somewhere else nearby? There was a bakery we passed on the way here. I think it was—”
“I know where it is, along with most of the shops in the city.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“I was born here.”
Neeko felt his jaw drop. “Two days we ride in near silence and you just now mention this?”
“Because I don’t want to talk about it.” She left their room.
I miss Shara.
Grodger’s Inn was just as extravagant as it was large. They paid for the smallest and cheapest room, but at two ruffs a night, it was still extremely expensive. He was thankful he and Shara had so much money, especially given that a substantial portion of it had been taken from Swenn’s corpse. He liked the thought of spending Swenn’s money.
Neeko had heard from Steffen that the same currency wasn’t used in Ovira. So anything left over after King Marteph fell would be donated to help those most in need, or it would go to waste after he and Shara left Sumar.
The room in Grodger’s had an antechamber bigger than any room in Neeko’s old house, and his bedroom here rivaled his quarters within the castle. But the size of it just made Neeko feel more alone as he waited in hunger for Cedri to return with his food.
More than an hour passed. He read to distract himself, but he couldn’t get a saying out of his head: A hungry man waiting to eat is the most miserable kind of man.
Another hour passed. He searched through his bag for anything he might’ve missed. It turned out he was right the first time and he’d eaten everything they’d bought in Antilith. What was taking Cedri this long? The bakery he’d mentioned was near the inn.
Worry mixed with the sharp pain of hunger. Another hour and I’ll go look for her.
He could hear someone coming down the hall. A key entered the lock. Without even realizing he was doing it, he gathered pyforial energy.
Cedri came in and closed the door behind her. Neeko let out his breath.
“Where—?”
“Here’s your food,” she interrupted. She brought a plate to the table in the antechamber between their bedrooms. The plate was covered with a cloth that she left for him to remove. He did so as she set down a fork and plopped into an empty seat with a sigh.
It was braised fish, glistening and still warm. Golden potatoes shined, their steam reaching his nostrils and making his mouth water.
“This was recently made,” he realized, stuffing his mouth. The fish was so good he nearly swallowed a bone in his haste.
Cedri sat there watching him eat, arms folded.
“What took you hours?” he asked, stabbing the air with his fork in punctuation.
“I went to many different taverns and inns, but none of them trusted me to return their plates and silverware, even with psyche. ‘Skeptical’ doesn’t begin to describe the people I met.”
“Once they serve enough beer and wine they learn not to believe the promises of their patrons. So you had to go far to find the right place. Why didn’t you just go to the bakery I mentioned?”
“Firstly, I didn’t have to go far to get that fish for you. It came from the tavern next door.”
“But then—”
“Secondly, I didn’t go to the bakery because we could be here for days, waiting. Do you want to eat only bread?”
“That was surprisingly thoughtful. Didn’t think you cared.”
The fold of her arms tightened to show her offense.
Neeko took a moment to stuff his mouth once again, then picked out the bones sloppily. Cedri didn’t seem to be the kind of woman who would mind.
She leaned forward. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I didn’t try the tavern next door first instead of walking around town?”
But Neeko had figured that out. “As you said, we could be here for days. You thought it was better to find a place you can visit regularly that wasn’t so close. Then it would be less likely for a mage of the PCQ to figure out where I’m staying if one becomes wise to us.”
She looked impressed.
“Which reminds me,” Neeko added, “what did you say to the tavern keeper?”
“I had to use your false name of Jon. The innkeeper and the tavern keeper talk…another reason I wanted to go somewhere else.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. Even if there are members of the PCQ here, they won’t find me before Shara and Steffen arrive.”
She bit down on the inside of her cheek. “Are you always this expectant of luck?”
Her stern attitude reminded him of her sister, Callyn. He chuckled at the thought of them interacting with each other, two severe women who never smiled.
“What am I sensing from you?” She squinted. “What has made you laugh?”
Reminding her of her deceased sister was the last thing both of them would want. “A private thought.”
“Of…?”
Does this woman not know the meaning of the word ‘private’? Then it occurred to him that he was stuck in this room with her. Until Shara and Steffen came, he would only be leaving to use the bathhouse.
“Now you’re feeling dread,” Cedri said, raising an eyebrow. “What is going on in your mind?”
Oh my gods, I’m in one of the two hells.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CEDRI
Cedri had told Neeko it could be days before Shara and Steffen met them in Aylinhall, but she never anticipated what the wait would feel like. It had been four days since she and Neeko had to leave after seeing soldiers approaching the hills in the night. That meant two days in her hometown of Aylinhall, two days of getting Neeko food, two days of listening to his complaints as she trained with psyche on him, two days of wondering whether Darri was dead. If he wasn’t, then Shara and Steffen probably were.
Cedri would say none of this to Neeko, though it was on her mind every passing moment. Neeko had stopped trying to speak with her after the first day. She knew he found her reticence annoying, but it was better than him knowing her thoughts.
Cedri had never felt this lost before. Even when her elder sister of five years, Callyn, had joined the army and left Cedri alone with their furious mother, Cedri at least had felt some purpose to her life. When she reached fourteen, she would join the army like her sister.
When the time had come to leave, her mother had disowned her, just as she’d done to Callyn, but at least Cedri wasn’t stuck in Aylinhall any longer.
Yet here I am again.
Neeko came to stand in the doorway to her room. “Are you hungry?” he asked, meaning he was hungry.
“I’ll get our supper.” She walked past him.
“You can wait if you wish.”
“It’s fine.”
“Cedri.” She turned to find his brow crinkled with concern. “You would tell me if you noticed anything suspicious while you were out there, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” she lied.
Neeko couldn’t do anything about the lingering looks she’d begun to notice while she waited for their food, so there was no point in telling him. They were probably nothing, anyway. She felt some curiosity from those watching her, but nothing more than that. It was still enough for her to leave the key to their room with Neeko, though.
He stopped her again as she reached for the doorknob. “If Shara and Steffen don’t come tomorrow, we should go to Cessri.”
She spun around and folded her arms. “Why Cessri?”
“I think it’s where Shara would go if she can’t come here.”
Cedri could feel his longing for Shara. The emotion was raw and vulnerable, and it made her uncomfortable.
“It’s the next closest town to this one,” Neeko continued. “We’ve been there before together.”
“And how long will
we wait in that town?”
Neeko bristled. “You wanted to come with us. Have you changed your mind? Because you can leave if that’s what you want.”
It was moments like these that she didn’t relish her ability with psyche, when she could see the anger in his stiff shoulders and slits for eyes, and she didn’t want to feel it invading her body.
“Calm yourself,” she admonished. “I want the same things you do. I’m staying until we’ve won the war, but you need to think about what we’re going to do if we never see Shara and Steffen again.”
“They’re not dead.” She could feel rage within him, though he kept it from showing. “We will see them again. If they don’t meet us in Cessri, then we’ll decide what to do after a few days.”
“If you say so.” She left to get their food.
When the four of them had been together, she’d noticed that the others looked to Neeko as their leader. She figured it was easier to treat him that way even when it was just the two of them. He listened to suggestions, so she didn’t mind taking a subservient role.
The door to the tavern was closed. Quite unusual, with it being evening, but it wasn’t locked. She went inside to find another surprise. The place was empty save the tavern keeper.
“Cedri,” he called. “Two suppers, as usual?”
“Why is no one here?” Cautious, she remained by the door.
“Must we shout?” he called from behind the bar. “Come here and I’ll tell you.”
She didn’t move, taking a few moments to see what she could feel from psyche. It was the same as closing her eyes to listen, though instead of using her ears, she opened her mind. She felt some apprehension from the tavern keeper. Focusing harder, she picked up something else, something closer.
What is that? It felt as faint as a single raindrop, no emotion attached to it. She picked up another feeling just like it somewhere near.
She risked a few steps into the tavern, seeing what else she could learn from the tavern keeper. She felt he was holding something in that he desperately wanted out.
That was enough for her. She turned and started for the exit, thankful she’d left the door open behind her. The tavern keeper couldn’t be trusted, and he knew which room was hers because of his friendship with the innkeeper. She would hurry back and tell Neeko they needed to leave.
“Wait,” the man called.
There were two others in the room. She could feel them as clearly as the sound of a hammer striking, aggression attached to the sensation. She’d sensed their presence earlier but didn’t know what it was until now.
She ran toward the exit as she noticed men stepping out from behind girders on either side of her. Fortunately, they were too far to grab her.
But the door slammed shut on its own just as she got there. The wind? She couldn’t stop her momentum in time, running into it. Cedri got her hand around the handle as something wrapped around her right leg and tugged her away from the door.
She fought back, but the hold on her leg was too strong, pulling her off her feet. She started to scream, but something invisible came over her mouth to muffle her. She felt it extending to her cheeks, squeezing tightly.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt her!” she heard the tavern keeper yell.
Two men loomed over her, both looking old enough to be her father. Clean shaven, they had short brown hair and were of average weight and height. Nothing about them would stand out in a crowd.
They glanced at her indifferently. She was too afraid to be able to read their emotions, her own fear overwhelming everything else.
“We’re just going to ask you some questions,” one said, and the cover around her mouth was lifted.
Pyforial energy, she realized. PCQ asses.
She hadn’t been careful enough. The tavern keeper had betrayed her. Her leg was still in a bind. The energy felt softer than a hand yet twice as strong. She sat up and noticed the one who’d spoken was taller than the other.
“Scream and you’ll regret it,” he said. She could tell he meant his words. The shorter one went to lock the door.
She took the role of an innocent woman, letting her natural fear widen her eyes. “What is this around my leg?”
“Pyforial energy,” the tall one said. There was little skepticism that she sensed. Perhaps she could get away with claiming she knew nothing about Neeko or the Pyforial Council of Quosae.
“Just do as they say, Cedri.” The tavern keeper had come out from behind the bar, standing some distance behind them now.
The shorter of the two pyforial mages lifted his arm and the tavern keeper made a choking sound. His grabbed the energy around his throat as he tried to run. But his neck was held firmly in place. He fell to his knees.
Cedri finally swallowed her fear and put all of her focus into causing the short mage’s body to sting with pain. He collapsed, grunting. A scream tore out of his throat as she didn’t let up.
“Run!” she yelled at the gasping tavern keeper as she felt the pyforial energy slip off her leg. But the tavern keeper fell again.
“What’s wrong!” the tall mage shouted at the shorter one, his arm now extended toward the tavern keeper.
“Don’t…know!” he grunted between restrained screams.
The tavern keeper yelled for help, until suddenly he stopped, grabbing at his throat once again.
Cedri barreled her petite body into the taller man’s back, the impact sending him stumbling and overturning two chairs before crashing onto the ground.
She’d lost her focus paining the other. He gingerly got to a knee and pushed out his hand at the tavern keeper. Cedri floored him with more pain before he could move pyforial energy, and the tavern keeper made it out the front door.
It remained open, beckoning for her escape next.
The tall mage was back on his feet, malice in his eyes. “What in two hells are you?” Pyforial energy wrapped around her throat as he spoke, his hand reaching out and clutching the air. She tried to fight back with psyche, but all he did was cringe from her spell of pain.
She let out a scream, only to realize she couldn’t make a sound. Fear invaded her. She lost her focus completely as both mages cast murderous looks.
A fire set in her chest as she tried to pry the vice off her neck. Her vision started to blur. Weakness set in. Her knees gave out. The py kept her upright, the sting of pain sharp in her throat.
*****
She was in a chair. Her hands were bound behind the back of it.
I passed out, she realized. It felt like she’d swallowed a fireball, her throat searing.
She caught sight of the two mages conversing. She lowered her head and closed her eyes, pretending to remain unconscious as she listened.
“Did you find the tavern keeper?”
“No.”
“He’ll fetch the guards. We don’t have long.”
“Then we need to get the information out of her quickly.”
Cedri would send both men to their knees through psyche. But how would she get out? She tested the hold on her hands. It was firm. She tried to move her legs. They were bound as well.
She could hear them coming. One slapped her cheek. “Wake up.”
Cedri feigned confusion as she looked around.
“We don’t know what you are, but we’ll let you live so long as you tell us what room Neeko is in.”
It was a lie.
With a jerk of her head, all of her energy went into storming their minds with pain. Both of their bodies tightened as they fell to their knees. She struggled to break free from the chair as she held them in a state of agony.
All she managed to do was fall over sideways—the rope was too strong. The taller of the two mages came back to his feet. He took a step toward her, but she put all of her focus into stopping him with another spell, twisting the natural bastial energy of his body into a shape that would induce terrible pain. He puddled to the floor with a grunt.
But the other was loose. He ran at Cedri a
nd kicked her in the forehead. The agony of the blow overwhelmed her entire body. An instinct came over her to do anything they wanted so long as that didn’t happen again, but she squelched it, clinging to her need to fight.
“Do that once more and you’ll get kicked even harder!” Anger tinged the smaller man’s voice.
She was ready to inflict more pain, but it would be pointless, she began to realize, for she couldn’t get out of the chair.
The taller one set her chair upright with ease. “Tell us which room!” he demanded.
The sound of the door handle turning caused them to whirl around. She was about to scream when pyforial energy came over her mouth. She tried to yell through it to no avail.
“Guards?” the smaller man whispered.
The other didn’t reply. No other sounds came from the door.
Whoever it was had left.
The taller man stepped forward and swatted her in the cheek with the back of his hand. Pain set her face aflame.
“Which room?”
He hit her again on the same cheek when she didn’t answer. This blow forced tears from her eyes.
“Which room!” He cocked his arm back. She flinched.
“Wait! I’ll tell you.” He stopped for the moment. She knew causing them pain was more likely to get her killed than anything else. But they didn’t know she was a psychic; perhaps she could get away with calming them.
She tried to ignore the agonizing throbs in her forehead and cheek as she reached out with her mind to feel for their bastial energy. There was so much panic. It would take a lot of manipulation, but she’d practiced this many times.
The silence wouldn’t do. They would notice the sudden change. So she spoke to them while she worked to manipulate the energy. “I’ll tell you my room as soon as you tell me how you found out about Neeko.”
She wrung out their tension like wet rags, shifting their energy to mimic that of a person who feels relief. She couldn’t get the shape of their energy all the way to where she wanted it, but she knew that the closer she got, the more they would feel at ease.
The tall one spoke with haste. “We heard of you bringing meals to someone at Grodger’s Inn. The tavern keeper gave us his false name of Jon. We checked with the innkeeper to see whether Jon matched the description of our ‘friend,’ giving Neeko’s description. He did, though the innkeeper wouldn’t tell us the room number. We know he’s there, so there’s no point in lying.”