by G. Deyke
~*~
Mel wants to move faster, always faster. She wants to reach Qualin as soon as possible and have the mission done with. She was thwarted in Saluyah, and that rankled her, and now she wants to finish before she can be thwarted again. Whenever I am too slow on my injured leg, she reminds me to quicken my pace.
“I would not strain that leg,” Ty warns. “It will only worsen.” But Mel assures him that I am stronger than he thinks, and I try to be worthy of her faith. “I will not slow us,” I say. I will not.
Ty gives a short, barking laugh and strides off ahead of us. I try to follow him, to catch him up – I try! But every step sends little sparkles of pain up my right leg, and I am already going as fast as I can.
At last he slows, only to mock me again. “Fool,” he says; “you gain nothing by pushing yourself, and tomorrow will be worse. If anything, you have slowed us further.”
“Quiet, you,” says Mel. “We know what slows us. Now come, Arri – you can go a little faster than that.”
And I go faster.
Ty strides off into the Desert again, but once he is well ahead of us he matches our speed. Mel stays with me, to be sure that I keep an eye to speed, and to complain.
“This is my mission. He is here only because I pay him to be, and I could release him at any time if I chose to. He forgets that, or doesn't respect it.”
“But you can't,” I remind her. “He can summon the demon. He is a powerful conjurer, and we need him.”
“That is all that keeps him living,” she says. “If I met a man half as irksome and had no need of him, I should slit his sorry throat.”
I shiver, knowing now that we walk with a dead man. His skill with conjury and with the sword far exceeds mine and Mel's, but she will find a way to kill him all the same, as soon as the child is slain. Mel always finds a way.
I shan't miss the man when he is gone, for he has been nothing but discourteous to us. I shall be glad to be rid of him at last. I will.