“Mama, we didn’t mean to...” came a tiny whisper.
“Joeseef, hush!” she whispered back punishingly.
Blaze smiled and hid the sword under her bed. Maybe she should make peace with the little mischiefs. Hobbling to the door, she opened it wide to the mother and boys. The eldest was in front, carrying a bowl of stew with his tongue stuck slightly to the side in concentration. His brown eyes never left the swaying liquid, taking one cautious step at a time. Next was the youngest, Joeseef, proudly laden with a small loaf of bread wrapped in cloth. The mother was the last of the procession, carrying a mug of ale. “Cody, carefully put that bowl on the nightstand, and if you spill one drop...”
“Yes, Mama,” the boy exhaled in a knowing manner. Blaze could hear his eyes rolling as he cleanly placed the bowl on the wooden table.
“Where should I put the bread, Mama?” Joeseef asked excitedly. He also had brown eyes and was easily a five cycled version of Cody. Both boys had long, narrow builds with wooly brown hair and large eyes.
“I’ll take the bread,” Blaze offered and bent down as he bestowed his burden into her hands.
“Now, boys, what do you have to say to our guest?” The mother conducted.
Both looked down to the floor and mumbled near-inaudibly, “I’m sorry.”
Blaze winked at the mother. “I don’t know,” her voice elevated in a taunt. “The last time someone snuck up on me in my sleep, I made them find one hundred rocks and then sleep on those rocks all night. But, they weren’t really sorry...”
The mother brightened, “That isn’t a bad idea. May I use it?”
Blaze laughed, “If you must.”
“No! Mama, we’re sorry. We really are!” Cody begged.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Joeseef shouted and rushed over to hug Blaze’s knees, nearly knocking her over.
“Whoa! Okay, I think they’re sorry enough,” she laughed while catching herself on the wall. The boy mercifully released her, and she hobbled to sit on the bed and try the stew.
“Cody, she walks funny,” the youngest loudly whispered.
“Joeseef!” the mother clucked, but Blaze saved the boy.
“That’s right,” and she bent low, as if telling them a secret. She pointed to her bandaged foot. “Do you want to know how I hurt my foot?” The boys drew closer with unbridled curiosity.
“How’d ya hurt it?” Cody asked in a low voice.
“I’ll tell you, but you mustn’t tell anyone, promise?”
“Promise!”
“Promise!”
“Well...I went swimming in Lake Thundrum...” Both boys’ eyes grew double their size. “And I suddenly felt something tug on my foot. I looked back, but there was nothing. I continued swimming, thinking the waters felt very nice, when I felt something tug my other foot. I looked back again, but still saw nothing.” She held a dramatic silence, luring the boys in.
“I started swimming again, and suddenly this huge beast leaps out of the water!” She leapt onto her good foot. The boys jumped back in alarm, Joeseef clutching Cody. “As it dived back down, it grabbed my foot and pulled me down with it.” She sank back down onto the bed with her hands held in the air. “It was a black slimy, scaly monster with two tails that was bigger than this room. I looked down and could see his burning red eye looking over me. I knew that I had to get away, and do you know how I did that?” The boys leaned in to hear the grand escape. “I stomped my heel as hard as I could into that red eye, and he let me go. Swimming away with his good eye crying.”
“Yay!” Joeseef leapt into the air with applause, congratulating her in her victory. Cody had joined him at first, but then stopped with a puzzled look on his thin face.
“But, how’d ya know he was crying? Ya were underwater. Tears are water, too.”
Blaze burst out laughing as the mother gathered her children. “You have a clever one here. Tell you what, Cody. You tell me how I knew he was crying, and I’ll tell you a very useful secret.” His eyes lit up at the challenge. She threw her hand out to him. “Shall we shake on it.” With a big grin, he made the deal with her.
“I’ll figure it out,” he promised.
“Now, boys. Why don’t you go play while me and the guest talk.”
“Yes, Mama.”
“Yes, Mama.”
They hurried out. Blaze smiled as they left, feeling as if an entire lifetime had passed since she was their age. The mother closed the door behind her, and Blaze tensed with her exit blocked by the woman.
Her hostess was tall with long wet-wood colored hair half pulled back for convenience. High cheekbones, sharp eyes that matched her sons’, and the build of a strong worker made her intimidating when the children weren’t around. The soft mother smile and shine faded into the person she only let adults see, the one who would do what was needed.
“Those are some nice boys you’ve got there,” Blaze complemented. “Who can I thank for this generous supper?”
“My name is Darla, and my husband is Everett, whom you met last night and the owner of this inn,” Darla answered while giving Blaze the mug. She spoke with a brisk accent that Blaze couldn’t place.
“Darla, thank you for your family’s hospitality.”
“Well, it is our pleasure to have you. What was your name again?”
“Bl...Blaina.” Blaze tried to hide her lapse with a mouth full of stew.
Darla smiled, “Blaina. My boys should be the only ones who bother you, and your horse is happy in the stables; although, she rested quite a bit today. You must have been traveling for a while.”
Blaze hoped Darla couldn’t hear her nervous heart. “Yes, I have always wanted to see the top of the grand Thundrums and so found myself heading this way.”
Darla looked at Blaze like a mother who knew something was being hidden from her. Blaze continued to enjoy the warm meal by dipping the fresh bread into the herbal stew. After a long pause, her hostess spoke, “There is word out of a Traitor from Srift who killed an entire Urlifican troop and is on the run. You didn’t happen to see anyone suspicious on your way did you?”
“No, I didn’t,” Blaze quickly answered. “My travels were very quiet.”
“Except for the Lake Thundrum beast that grabbed your foot?” Darla asked with an all-knowing smile.
Blaze smiled back. “Yes, except for that; although, I’d say the beast was worse off.” She decided to stop the woman’s thoughts before they were voiced. “And I don’t belive in the True King, if that’s what you were thinking. So, don’t worry about that trouble in your inn.”
The prying edge of her hostess slowly melted away. Blaze wondered if she had passed the test. “Is there anything else you would like?”
“Actually, I would like to know a little more about what is in this town. As you so rightly observed, I have been traveling hard and could really use a bath. Is there a bathhouse I might be able to visit along with a healer. I would also like to know how much my accommodations are. Ha, wouldn’t want to spent money on new clothes if it is needed elsewhere, right?”
Darla chuckled with her. “That would be appreciated. Well, the bathhouse is only open to men at this point, unless you wish to be their entertainment. But you could probably catch Harris at his cottage. You will go deeper into town, turn left into the next alley, and that will take you out to the lake where he lives. It might be a bit of a walk for you, though. Everett can send for him if you wish.”
“Thank you. But I don’t need his services, just some more supplies. I can ride my horse out to him.” Blaze finished the bowl of stew, and Darla offered to take it. “Thank you, and my accommodations?”
“The stables and your room are two kin per night. If you need anything else, please let us know.” She headed out the door.
“I will.” Blaze smiled at her as she left. The moment the door latched, the smile dropped from her face. Was the woman on to her? Blaze bent down to retrieve Obrae’s sword. Fastening it underneath her skirt, she made sure t
hat the straight metal was hidden under the cloth’s folds. To make the handle less noticeable, she loosened the connecting strap between the sheath and the belt. Someone would know she was armed only if they felt her leg or specifically looked for it.
Next, she dug to the bottom of the saddle bag and unfastened the secret compartment that held her money pouch. Dumping the contents out, she counted Jonathan’s emergency money. One urlic, twenty kins, and ten torrs, Blaze was impressed by how much he saved. The one urlic would get her five nights at the inn, the kins ten nights, and the torrs, half. She would have to work to make the money last, but Blaze blinked back tears for the late healer’s gift. Pulling on her worn shoes, Blaze grabbed the saddle bag on her way out.
Lily nickered as she entered the stables. “Well, you look rested,” Blaze remarked, rubbing the mare between the eyes. Lily kicked the stable door and tossed her head. “Okay. The stable life not for you?”
She saddled the mare and rode her out of the stables onto the street. The mothers and children had finished their errands by this point, and men started to close shops. The wall of shops and existence of more than one road made Krute seem giant compared to Srift, a one path town. Men riding horses placed lit torches in the loops of tall posts that were spread along the road, providing the night folk subtle illumination for their late activities.
The alley that Darla mentioned was easy to find; it was the first break in the buildings that she came across. After passing the back of the tannery and blacksmith shops, the town ceased to exist on her way to the lake. A wide gravel beach ran between Krute and the lake. Following the wooden river walk, she traveled along the town’s back and watched as small fishing boats cast in an auburn light took advantage of Thundrum’s evening fishing.
Blaze enjoyed the peaceful, solitary trip to the healer’s cabin. Her encounter with Darla enforced the danger of company. At the moment, she was alone, rested, and she’d eaten a warm meal that wasn’t jerky. Darla’s conversation was her first test, and while she admitted its roughness, perhaps being Blaina the traveler wouldn’t be so difficult.
Smoke rose from the chimney of the healer’s cabin. “Well, Lil, I wonder if all healers have the same cabin.” While the gardens were replaced by woods, the healer’s house was much the same as Jonathan’s on the outside. The path ran around the cabin to reveal a second, single-roomed hut behind the main one. It was out of this hut’s door that a squat man bent under time’s burden shuffled out.
“Ah, yet another. And what seems ta be ailing you?” he asked in a gruff voice.
“Good evening, Healer. I was interested in purchasing some supplies. That’s all.”
“Humph. Just as well.” He motioned her to follow him to the larger cabin. Blaze dismounted Lily and tied her to the post between the two buildings. A terrible, distinct coughing rattled the smaller cabin, and she recognized the dreadful Bugle Cough. The debilitating illness had struck all of Srift after the traders’ fall visit a few cycles back.
“Preferably while I’m still living...” he urged, and she turned to see him waiting at the first cabin’s open door. Stepping into the fire-lit cabin, Blaze gaped at the resemblance between his and Jonathan’s cabin. Two rooms branched off from the common room while fixed stairs led up to a loft. Jars, skins, and full baskets crowded every wall.
Blaze observed one key difference; Harris was more organized. The top shelves held baskets of wrappings, sticks, stalks, and various dried roots and knobs. The middle shelves contained jars of varying sizes full of dried herbs, oils, fats, and tinctures. Empty skins, jars, and pots lined the bottom shelf, which was on top of cabinets that rested on the floor. Everything was marked and in its place.
The healer latched the door behind him and shuffled to the table in the middle of the room. Pulling a chair out, he spun it around to face Blaze. “Now, let’s take a look at that foot.” Blaze shifted out of her gawking to look at the man. His wiry, grizzled hair and beard gave him a near-mad appearance. He scratched his long nose which was curving in an effort to touch his bearded chin.
“Oh, I only wish to purchase some honey and wrappings. Then I’ll be on my way.”
“Now, I’m not some grocery shop. If you want honey fer your tea, you should have caught Quentin while he was still open.”
“No, please. I’m needing healing honey, preferably made from the tea tree.” She turned to search his shelves for the golden goo.
“Tea tree honey, eh?” he echoed and combed the faint hair of his beard with knobby fingers. “Not too many folk who know ta ask for that stuff.” Blaze walked closer to the shelves to better read the labels. “Missy, come with me, and grab that kettle on your way,” he commanded while shuffling faster than Blaze thought possible to the stairs.
They emerged at the top of the stairs in his small bedroom that contained a bed and cabinet. “Sit.” He motioned to the bed as he continued to the cabinet. After lighting a lantern, he opened the doors to reveal ten different sized jars; some contained a sip of liquid while others would need two hands to be carried. “Take your shoe off and unwrap that foot. How long ago was it hurt?”
“Two days ago, but, really, all I need is the honey,” she insisted. “I...”
“If you want the honey, then do as I say,” he spat.
Blaze gingerly slid her shoe off and started unwrapping the soiled bandage. Gritting her teeth, she regretted waiting so long to change the dressings as the first layer stuck to her wound.
“That does look quite nasty. What’d you do, hack your foot with that sword of yours?” He kneeled down with a bowl containing fresh wrappings and a small, black vial. Blaze yanked her foot from his grasp at the comment.
“With what?!”
The healer laughed. “Don’t play me as a fool, silly girl. I know who you are.”
“And who am I?” she challenged and reviewed how she would escape.
“I may be out in the woods, but don’t think that I know nothing. The Urlificans came by yesterday warning of a young woman who might stop by with a hurt foot. Heh, they said she was armed and dangerous, had murdered a whole troop of Urlificans back in Srift. But, they neglected ta tell me that she was a fellow healer” He smiled a half-toothed grin. “Don’t be thinking of your grand escape from me. I’ll help you. Anyone who shakes up them troops like that is alright in me mind.”
Blaze relaxed a bit, and let him inspect her foot. “Thank you.”
“Now,” he continued as his knobby fingers gently turned her foot. “Being from Srift, you must have trained under that Traitor fool Jonathan.”
“Yes,” she confirmed in surprised. “Did you know him?”
“Ha! Do I? Trained him meself down in Brez.”
Blaze tensed as he poured the warm water to wash the old honey off into the bowl. “Really,” She tried to ignore the pain as he rubbed the wound dry. “I never...AH!” A stabbing pain jerked her whole foot as he rubbed the cut the wrong way.
“Well, now, I thought this wasn’t healing right,” he commented to himself. Groaning as he got up, he headed back to the cabinets. Blaze looked down to see an inflamed red ring causing her cut to look like a long crater; however, she noticed for the first time a thin black line running along the center of the cut. Harris came back with a thin piece of metal that was folded nearly in half. Without giving her time to react, he bent back down, grabbed her foot, and used the metal to grab hold of the black and rip it out.
Every muscle tensed in Blaze’s body as a sharp cry expelled out of her. “Oh kaff! What the kaff was that?” she demanded as she grasped the pulsing leg. Harris held up the sharp thin piece that looked like charcoaled metal, and she held out her hand for it. He bent back down over her foot, washing more water over it.
“That rock is found in only one place: Lake Thundrum. I’d conclude that the rock you kicked or dropped left a piece of itself in revenge. Known as wick rock, if left in contact with the body for a long period of time, it’ll be poisonous. If you hadn’t been using Jonathan’s hon
ey, just as I taught him, you probably wouldn’t have a foot at the moment.” Blaze was speechless at his revelation. However, the seasoned healer easily filled the silence as he picked up the small black vial. “Now, have you ever heard of the giant monster that lives in Lake Thundrum?”
She smiled at the story she had just told earlier that evening to the boys. “I was told that it was just a tale to keep kids out of the lake.”
“Hehe, tell that ta any fisherman, and they’ll smack you. No, the creature does exist, in fact, several of them are in that lake.”
“Several?”
“Yes, and that’s where this came from.” He held up the vial. “Cycles ago, Thundrum decided ta flood like never before. Me cabin is a good distance away from the shore, but the waters nearly touched it. The town was washed out. Well, after the waters receded, I was walking down ta shore when I came across this hill-sized monster caught at the tree line. All over its smooth, black body, a thick color-changing slime made it shine in the sun. As I looked over it, one end of the beast had a snout as long as this bedroom and teeth the size of a baby. Two giant fins, twice as big as any cohe’s wing, jutted out from behind its gills. The most peculiar thing about its front fins was that the top and bottom of the fin were thick tentacles the length of the rest of its body. It finally ended fifty paces from its first tooth with a tail that could smash me cabin with a single downward stroke.
“As I inspected the Thundrum beast, I slipped and caught meself upon its mass, me hands sinking wrist deep into its slime. They automatically stung like a thousand bees. I rushed ta the water ta rinse the poisonous slime off, but the water did nothing; the slime remained on me hand as if the water didn’t exist. All the time me hands felt as if they were burning in an inferno, and exhaustion was starting to break me down. Finally, I wiped me hands upon me cloak and found that the slime came off easily. But what was underneath was astonishing. Me hands had been cut severely the day before; however, there was no trace of any harm done ta them after the slime was removed. Even me scars were gone. The healing came at a price, though. The full two days after they were healed, I had absolutely no energy.
Traitors (The Traitor King Saga Book 1) Page 16