Touch of Power

by Maria V. Snyder

  The soldiers who had run into the woods returned. Slowly, the compound emptied of searchers and settled. A few men left the square building, but too many for me to handle remained inside. Torchlight glowed from the ground-floor windows.

  When I felt as confident as possible considering the circumstances, I climbed the fence and dashed into the shadow of the building. No cries of alarm pierced the air. I drew in a deep breath. Hugging the wall, I crept to one of the windows and peered inside.

  The bright light blinded me for a moment. Despite the glass, I heard a man ask, “Where is she going?” No answer. Then a loud slap.

  My vision adjusted, and I had an unobstructed view of Kerrick’s bloody back. I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t block the image of him with his wrists chained to two posts. He stood between them without a shirt. The man asking him questions held a whip. And each time Kerrick refused to answer, another ugly bleeding slash joined the others.

  Five more soldiers witnessed the whipping. Too many for me to fight. Unable to watch, I sank to the ground. I bit down on my knuckle as the torture continued. Tell him something, I silently urged Kerrick. But the stubborn man wouldn’t say a word. He didn’t make a sound the entire time. It went on for an hour or more, but felt like days. The only thing keeping me from surrendering was the fact he would have suffered for nothing if I just waltzed in there.

  The soldier finally stopped. He promised to return with a magician, and he left along with three others. Two remained. Could I handle two? I would have to.

  I removed my cloak and hid it. My black shirt and pants resembled the training uniform. I twisted my hair up into a knot. Now the hard part. Walking as if I belonged there, I headed to the drinking well. My luck held. No one called out and I found an extra bucket and ladle. Filling the bucket, I returned to the square building.

  The door was locked so I knocked on it. A soldier peeked out. “What?”

  I held up the bucket. “Captain ordered me to bring the prisoner water, sir.”

  He stepped aside, letting me in. The other leaned against the far wall. He peered at me with a contemplative purse on his pudgy lips. Kerrick no longer stood, but hung limply between the posts.

  “Would you like a drink first, sir?” I asked the guard.

  “Sure.”

  I held up a ladle full of water. He took it from me and bent his head to drink. One chance only. I touched the back of his neck with three fingers, and sent a blast of power. The soldier tipped forward as the other one yelled his name. I let him fall, pulled my knife and turned in time to meet Pudgy Lips.

  He hadn’t drawn his weapon. Skidding to a stop, he reached for his sword. I didn’t wait; I threw my knife, aiming for his right shoulder. Hard to swing a heavy blade with a knife embedded in flesh and muscle. Then I rushed him. Grabbing his arm, I poured magic into him, overloading his senses. He screamed, then collapsed to the ground.

  Not wasting any time, I went to Kerrick. He had passed out. I laid my hands on his chest and shared my energy with him. Kerrick groaned and opened his eyes.

  He squinted at me. “Avry, what—?”

  “Can you stand?” I put my shoulder under his arm to help him get to his feet. On tiptoe, I inspected the cuffs around his wrists. “Do you know where the key is?”

  “No.”

  I searched the two guards and found a ring of little silver keys. Dragging a chair over to the post, I stood on it. Of course the right key had to be the third to last one I tried. At least unlocking the second cuff took mere seconds.

  Kerrick’s short cape and ripped shirt had been tossed in the corner. By the time he dressed and we slipped from the building, the predawn light had crept over three-quarters of the night sky.

  Halfway to freedom, we were spotted. “Hurry,” Kerrick urged as the soldiers chased us.

  We scrambled over the fence and dove into the woods. As soon as we entered, Kerrick grabbed my arms. Magic zipped along my skin as we rolled together through the underbrush. Our pursuers crashed through the brush. I marveled over how close they came to stepping on us.

  This was the third time Kerrick had used this trick. It was effective, but he wouldn’t last long. My magic stirred in response to his weakened physical condition and burning pain. Instead of sending my healing power, I shared more of my energy.

  Hours passed before we felt safe enough to move. By this time, Kerrick could barely stand.

  I searched my memory for a mundane way to ease his pain. “Is there a stream or creek nearby?”

  He nodded. I supported him as we shuffled east. When we reached a small tributary, I sat him down and helped him remove his cape. The back of his shirt was soaked with blood. It clung to the gashes and in a few places it had dried.

  “This is going to hurt,” I warned him.

  He barked a laugh. “Hard to imagine anything worse.”

  I scooped icy water from the stream and poured it down his back.

  Kerrick hissed. “I stand corrected.”

  Once his shirt was dripping wet, I pulled the fabric from the lacerations and over his head. Then I grabbed fistfuls of muddy sediment from the stream’s bottom. I smoothed the mud over the raw cuts. Kerrick paled.

  When I finished, we were both shivering in the cold late-morning air. The temperature was the only thing keeping him from passing out. He had his short cape, but the mud needed to dry first. My cloak was back at the training camp and his shirt was sopping wet. I hung it over a tree branch.

  “Should I build a fire?” I asked.

  “No. The wind is wrong. Lean-to,” he said.

  I collected branches, vines and leaves with numb hands. He called instructions and I built a small shelter. Using mud to plug the gaps between the branches, I completed the structure.

  Kerrick collapsed inside it. I crawled in to cover him with his cape, but he drew me down next to him.

  “You’re frozen.” He draped the cloth over us both, pulling me close.

  Our combined body heat eased the shivers. He fell asleep, but I could still sense the forest around us even though he slept. Nice to know no one came close to our hiding spot.

  Should I heal him? I debated. He wouldn’t want me to. Low on energy and with no food the past twelve hours, I wouldn’t have the strength to defend myself if I assumed his injuries. However, his forest magic was more useful right now than my healing power. Plus he shouldn’t suffer anymore. It was my fault he’d been captured in the first place. If we were discovered, he could camouflage us. I really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  His arm was wrapped around my waist. I laid my hand on his forearm, releasing the magic. It flowed into him. The cuts on his back throbbed, but didn’t sting as sharp as before. I collected the power, pulling it into me. My back blazed. My tunic irritated the lacerations. And my temple throbbed.

  Then it seemed as if the roots in the earth swelled, enveloping me in a cocoon of living green and spring sunshine. The pain eased, and I drifted to sleep.

  “Avry.” Kerrick managed to pack my name with both annoyance and exasperation.

  I opened my eyes, but the darkness remained.

  Kerrick’s hand pressed on my back. “Can you move?”

  Stretching, I tested my range of motion. My muscles were tight. The fabric of my shirt stuck to my skin.

  “Do I need to cover your back with mud?” he asked.

  I sat up and reached under my shirt. Touching the welts along my lower back, I felt a line of scabs. “No.”

  Kerrick slid from the lean-to. “Come out in the moonlight and let me see.”

  An achy stiffness slowed me. I felt like an old grandmother as I joined him outside. A brisk wind sent goose bumps along my skin. He pulled up the back of my shirt. The icy air bit deeper. I shivered.

  “The w
ounds are already half-healed.” His tone carried a note of awe. “Why? I thought you hated—”

  “I do.” I yanked my shirt down and stepped away from him. Even for me, the cuts shouldn’t be so far along. Unless… “How long did we sleep?”

  “About ten hours.”

  Not enough time. But I wasn’t about to credit the faster recovery to Kerrick’s forest magic. That wouldn’t change anything. However, a little voice in my head wouldn’t be quiet. It reasoned he must have saved my life back when I had taken Belen’s injury. I threw the annoying voice down a deep well in my mind and locked the lid.

  “What’s wrong?” Kerrick asked.

  “Nothing. Shouldn’t we go? We need to intercept Belen and the guys before they storm the training camp.”

  He offered me his cape, but his shirt hadn’t dried. It was frozen.

  “I’ll be fine as long as we keep moving.” I ignored his hand, too.

  But after stumbling through the woods for an hour, I didn’t protest when he laced his fingers through mine. Nor did I complain later when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close, sharing his warmth.

  We stopped at dawn. Without a word, we built a shelter and ate the nuts Kerrick had found. Lying next to him, I stared out at the gray landscape. Once again his arm hugged my waist, but I felt the tension in his muscles and knew he wasn’t asleep.

  “I’m sorry about my sister,” I said.

  “You couldn’t have known she’d ambush us.”

  “She’d survived years on her own and had changed so much, but still, she’d given me plenty of clues when I talked to her the first time. I missed them. And look what happened…”

  “It worked out.”

  “Not without considerable…consequences. And it makes me wonder, what else am I missing?”

  “Not much gets by you, Avry.”

  “But my sister—”

  “That’s different. She’s your sister. We all have blind spots when it comes to family.”

  I felt a little better.

  “And there was one positive thing from all this,” he said.

  “Hard to believe.”

  “I know, I’m a bit shocked myself. But I figured if you came back for me, who you hate for all the right reasons, then there’s hope you’ll heal Ryne, who you hate for all the wrong reasons. In fact, I’m quite certain your own quick intelligence will change your mind.”

  I huffed. “Quite certain? You sound like Belen.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  We caught up to Belen, Loren, Quain and Flea the next night. They had been en route to the training camp. Belen demanded an explanation for our delay.

  “We ran into a bit of trouble,” Kerrick said.

  Flea looked around. “Where’s Noelle?”

  “She changed her mind,” Kerrick answered for me. “Let’s get moving.”

  Glad to have my knapsack, I used my blanket as a cloak. Kerrick took the lead, heading northwest through the dark woods.

  As we traveled, Loren walked next to me. “I’m assuming there’s more to the story than a bit of trouble,” he said.

  “Not much,” I said. Even following Quain, I felt as if I would trip over an unseen root and fall at any moment. I missed the connection to the forest.

  “Uh-huh. So where’s your cloak, what’s with that cut on your forehead and why aren’t you glaring at Kerrick anymore?”

  “My sister has it, I fell and I’m saving my glares for the next time he pisses me off.”

  Loren grinned. “That won’t be long.”

  I agreed. Although I did wonder why he didn’t tell them about the ambush or the whipping. And why was I reluctant to mention it? I kept many of Kerrick’s secrets. Why? No immediate reason sprang to mind. Perhaps I could use them as leverage. Something along the lines of if Kerrick didn’t do X, I would tell the others about his magic. Except, it wouldn’t work. As I’d just seen, he wasn’t the type to cave in to threats or demands.

  We stopped near dawn. Lying low during the day and traveling at night would be our new routine. Loren built a small fire. I sat as close to the flames as possible, trying to drive out the cold that had settled deep in my bones. My muscles ached, and the healing cuts on my back itched like crazy.

  “What’s the plan?” Belen asked Kerrick.

  Everyone had gathered close to eat Loren’s squirrel soup.

  “We’ll stop at Zabin and purchase a few provisions.” Kerrick tapped his spoon against his lower lip.

  “But you said the bulk of Estrid’s army was camped outside Zabin,” I said.

  “They’re camped east of the city. As long as we avoid them and not linger in town, we should be fine.”

  “Then what?” Belen prompted.

  “Then it gets a bit…tricky.”

  Belen glanced at me as if I knew what Kerrick meant, but I was also in the dark.

  “Tricky how?” Loren finally asked.

  “Estrid will soon know Avry’s not dead. And what Estrid knows, the mercs and Tohon will also learn,” Kerrick said.

  “So that bit of trouble was Estrid’s people discovering Avry’s miraculous survival?” Belen asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then we need to get to the mountain pass before they do,” Belen said.

  “That would be the logical next step.”

  “I sense a but coming,” Quain said.

  “But,” I said, “everyone knows that’s the next logical step.”

  “Right. Estrid’s and Tohon’s mercs will head to the pass,” Kerrick said. “And there are two possible outcomes. We reach it first and we’re chased over the Nine Mountains. The pass is treacherous in good weather. If we rush, we could fall, and these past two years are for nothing.”

  “What’s the second outcome?” Belen asked.

  “Estrid or the mercs reach the pass first and we’re blocked.”

  “We might as well wait for spring,” I said. “Then we have a few different routes to choose from.” Ugh, more time spent with Kerrick and his men all trying to change my mind about Ryne.

  “Wouldn’t that be obvious, as well?” Loren asked. “Estrid has plenty of soldiers. It’ll be three months until the snow thaws, she could block all the passes.”

  “Not if we’re already hiding in the foothills,” Kerrick said.

  “I think I’d rather take my chances crossing the mountains in winter.” Quain voiced what I’d been thinking.

  “I remember a certain gentleman who hugged the cliff climbing down into a hundred-foot-deep ravine. I wonder how he would fare climbing a steep icy path that’s only a foot wide with a two-thousand-foot drop on the right and a sheer rock wall on the left?”

  Quain looked queasy. He swallowed his next comment.

  “I don’t like hiding in the foothills, either,” Kerrick said.

  Quain and I said, “But…”

  Kerrick gave us a wry smile. “But it’s our best option at the moment.”

  We arrived in Zabin early the next morning. Located northwest of Grzebien next to the border between Pomyt and Vyg, the town was bigger than Grzebien. I tucked my blanket back into my knapsack before we entered the town’s limits. As we headed toward the center, the sight of so many people in the streets was overwhelming after spending so much time with just the guys. Unfortunately, uniformed soldiers and robed acolytes also walked among the citizens.

  “Should we leave?” Belen asked when we spotted a trio of soldiers watching the market stands.

  “We need supplies. There’s not another market until Peti, and that’s too far,” Kerrick said. “We’ll split up so we don’t attract undue attention. Flea, you’re with Belen. Loren and Quain. Avry’s with me.�
� He distributed coins and a list of items for each team to purchase. “We’ll meet up along the northern road.”

  Kerrick and I headed to a woman selling cloaks, capes and gloves. He didn’t waste time looking through the goods. “Do you have any gray traveling cloaks in her size?” He pointed to me.

  The woman peered at me over her glasses. “Goodness, dearie. Aren’t you frozen?” She shot Kerrick a nasty look.

  I liked her right away. She reminded me of Mom.

  She sorted through a rack. “I’ve a dark gray that might fit.” Pulling out a cloak, she wrapped it around my shoulders. “Fur-lined and lots of pockets inside, dearie. Two big pockets on the outside. Do you have gloves?”

  “Yes.” I had shoved Belen’s gift in my pants pocket when I’d rescued Kerrick.

  She fussed around me, checking the length. “Those boots are too thin for this weather, dearie. The hair on the Lilys is thicker than last year. We’re in for a bad one.”

  “They’re fine,” I said.

  But she was determined. “I’ve a pair so soft…” She uncovered calf-high boots the same color as the cloak. “Try them on.”

  I glanced at Kerrick.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  The woman had been right. Not only soft, but the fur inside cushioned my feet in warmth. The soles gripped the ground nicely.

  “You can walk all day in those and nary a blister.” She brandished her own boots. “I won’t wear anything else. I thank the maker every day that the cobbler survived the plague.”

  Which meant the boots probably cost a fortune. I shouldn’t have tried them on. “They’re wonderful.” I agreed. “But I don’t have any…enough money.”

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll give you a good price for both.”

  “But—”

  “We’ll take them,” Kerrick said. He didn’t bother to haggle over the price because the woman was true to her word.

  He paid her and we continued along the row of merchants. I needed the cloak, but not the boots. What was Kerrick up to now? Trying to bribe me? Not his style, but I wondered about the gold. When the mercs attacked Belen, Kerrick had forty gold. Considering they’ve been on the road for over two years, he probably started with a fortune.