We kept moving, but Kerrick’s grip on my hand tightened. Cold fear knotted in my throat and clutched my heart in its icy grip. I knew what I had to do. When we reached the corner, Kerrick ordered Loren over the wall first so he could help Ryne.
When Kerrick’s attention was focused on Loren, I touched Ryne’s hand. My magic exploded from my chest and he rocked back in surprise. Then I collected the oily blackness that sickened him and transferred it into me.
Ryne squeezed my hand. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“Stop Tohon and take care of my boys,” I said in his ear.
“I promise.”
Kerrick peered at us in suspicion.
“Ryne’s turn,” I said.
With Kerrick’s help, Ryne climbed the Lilys to the top of the wall. When he was out of sight, Kerrick said, “Your turn.”
“I can’t. I gave my word. Don’t worry, I’ve healed Ryne. Go and make sure he stops Tohon.”
“You gave your word to a madman under duress. You don’t have to honor it.” He pulled me close. “Come with me. Please.”
This was harder than deciding to heal Ryne. After all our bickering, he still wished to spend my last days with me. Leaning on him, I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent. Living green and spring sunshine. I opened my eyes. Tipping my head back, I met his gaze. Raw emotion shone on his face. He held nothing back.
Kerrick dipped his head. His lips met mine. A wonderful explosion of sensations started in the pit of my stomach and radiated out. His kiss was nothing like Tohon’s. It wasn’t manipulative or a show of dominance. It was his heart and soul. A gift.
And I wasn’t about to let him watch me die a slow and painful death. I pulled back. “I’ve a bit of…unfinished business with Tohon.” I couldn’t leave without making sure Danny was taken care of.
Kerrick stared at me with a confused pain. “But he’ll kill you.”
Now it was my turn to be confused. “I’m going to die, anyway. You know that.”
Kerrick shook his head, scowling.
Damn. A few little clues clicked into place. No wonder he didn’t seem that upset when I’d agreed to save Ryne. “Go. Get Ryne far away from here. He’ll explain it.”
“Avry, if this is because I’ve hurt—”
I covered his mouth with my own, kissing him one last time. “This isn’t because of anything you did. If the circumstances were different, I would go with you in a heartbeat. Talk to Ryne.”
Tohon’s voice grew louder as he shouted for me to surrender.
He dropped his arms. “Why can’t you tell me?”
“Go. Or all this is for nothing.” I pushed him.
He wouldn’t budge and his jaw settled into that stubborn line. Time for drastic action. Before he could grab me, I dashed between the Lilys and out to where Tohon could see me.
Kerrick’s hoarse cry would haunt me for the rest of my days.
“Where are your friends?” Tohon asked with a deadly tone.
“Gone.”
“Kerrick, too?”
“Yes.”
“Come here.” He held out a hand.
Bracing for the worst, I strode to him, but I balked at touching him. He snatched my hand, holding it with both of his. His magic vibrated through my bones.
He closed his eyes for a moment before meeting my gaze. “You’re a fool.” Dropping my hand, he shook his head in disgust. “You’re not worth my time.” Tohon pulled his sword. He pressed the tip to my chest.
Pain burned, but I stood my ground as I waited for the cold steel to plunge into my equally cold heart.
Tohon sheathed his weapon. “Killing you would be a kindness. And I’m not inclined to show you any. But what to do with you?” He tapped a finger on his lips. “How long do you have?”
“Ten to fifteen days. Twenty at most.”
“Will you be able to function?”
Function? What an odd word. “After the initial bout of stomach problems, I’ll be lucid and able to work for about ten days.”
“Our contract stands until you’re incapacitated. Make sure you teach your helpers everything they need to know to care for my soldiers before that point.”
Not what I had been expecting. At all.
“Surprised?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Expected me to throw your sick ass in a cell?”
“Yes.”
“It’s tempting, but unnecessary. Nothing I can do will be worse than what you did to yourself. When you’re in your final days, I’ll be close by so you can beg me to kill you.”
Nausea swirled. Plague symptom or fear? Hard to tell. “Will you?”
“No. You’re going to suffer until the very end.”
Except for the bouts of vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, my days resumed the pattern I’d established before Ryne’s rescue. I worked in the infirmary all day and returned to my rooms at night. Other things had changed, though. Winter no longer helped me. Tohon no longer tapped on the secret panel. And he didn’t ask me to help him with his Death Lily experiments. His absence was an unexpected bonus.
It took seven days for the stomach symptoms to cease. Then the bone-deep aches and shooting pains started. Knowing my time was limited, I sorted my meager belongings. I had placed the juggling rocks in my pockets. When a round of sickness overcame me, I clutched them in my hands. It helped.
I put my necklace in an envelope with a letter to my sister, Noelle. I apologized and explained everything to her, but couldn’t even guess if she’d receive it, let alone read my words. Besides hurting Kerrick, she was my biggest regret. Maybe one of my patients would find a way to get the envelope to her.
As for Kerrick, I hoped Ryne explained. I had told Ryne everything about Tohon and what he’d been doing with the toxin.
I considered Danny’s situation. The boy would be well cared for if he stayed here, but the thought of Tohon raising him horrified me. I would need to help him escape. Too bad, Tohon wouldn’t stop injecting the toxin unless the Death Lilys stopped producing them.
Healing Ryne had been my main goal, and I’d achieved it. Yet, I would love to strike one blow to Tohon before I died. That night, I snuck up to the room behind Tohon’s lab. More children had been brought in, and others were gone. I crossed to the outer door. A hallway stretched to either side, I turned left and found the other sickrooms Danny had mentioned. Then I went right, searching for him. He slept in a small room on the bottom of a bunk bed.
Relieved, I sat next to him, calling his name.
“Hello, Avry,” he said when he woke. “What are you doing here?”
“Remember when I said I don’t like to see kids getting sick?”
“Yeah.”
“And you said we couldn’t stop it?”
“Yeah.”
“What if I told you I thought of a way to stop it. At least for a while. Would you be interested in helping me?”
He considered. “But what about the soldiers? That’s important.”
“Do you think it’s right to kill children to test medicines?”
“No, but—”
“There are many other ways to test medicine and none of it involves harming kids.”
His eyebrows drew together.
“I know because I’m a healer. I would never risk anyone for experiments.”
Danny shrank back. “But healers are bad. They started the plague.”
“Those healers are gone. I’m the last one and soon I’ll be gone.” I considered how much to tell him. “Danny, did King Tohon explain how you might develop healing powers in the future?”
He clutched the blanket to his chest. “No.”
“It’s not a bad thing if you do. This wo
rld needs healers and I think people are becoming more accepting.” I told him about the toxin. “King Tohon’s methods are too horrific, Danny. I want to take you someplace safe.”
“Me, too?” a girl’s voice said from above.
I glanced up in surprise. An angelic face surrounded by a mane of messy brown hair peered down at me from the upper bunk.
“That’s Zila. She’s eight,” Danny said.
“I survived, too,” she said. “I want to go. King Tohon’s mean.”
“Anyone else?” I asked.
“No. Just us,” Danny said.
“We’re special. King Tohon said so,” she said. “Two from dozens.”
“Dozens?” Danny frowned at her. “Are you sure he said dozens?”
“Yep.”
He was old enough to realize what that meant. Danny’s face paled, but he swallowed and met my gaze with determination. “We’ll help you.”
I filled them in on my plan. “Can you be ready to go tomorrow night around this time?”
“Yes,” they both said.
“Don’t tell anyone,” I added.
“Do I look like I’m eight?” Danny asked.
“Hey.” Zila threw her pillow at him.
He ducked it easily and tossed it back.
Curious, I asked, “How old are you?”
He straightened. “I’m twelve and three-quarters.”
I kept to my normal routine the next day. When I returned to my rooms from the infirmary, I brought my journal, food and a few first-aid supplies, packing them in my knapsack along with the envelope for Noelle. We’d need money, but I’d planned to sell my throwing knives.
Danny had told me the nurses only came during the day, so it should go smoothly. When it was well after midnight, I collected the kids. Dressed and ready, they both had small packs slung over their backs.
Hurrying through the castle, we slipped outside without incident. The moon was brighter than I’d wished, but we crossed to the outer buildings without raising an alarm. I paused in the stable’s shadows to listen for sounds of pursuit. After a few minutes of silence, we headed to the Death Lily garden.
Once there, I stopped next to the first one. Even though the petals were held open, I stuck my hand inside. A thorn pricked my palm. My awareness floated along the Lilys consciousness. Its misery consumed me.
How can we help? I thought.
Images of the orange toxin sacks filled my mind. I still had them in my pack. Then it showed me squeezing the liquid onto the ground around the plants. Its own toxin would kill the Death Lily. It wanted to die. Except I had the impression killing these plants was more like cutting off a limb than ending the Death Lily’s consciousness.
It released my hand and I held another two sacks. I quickly explained to Danny and Zila what we needed to do. Giving them each one of my throwing knives along with a stern warning to be careful with the sharp weapons, I sent them to the other Death Lilys. After they started, I grabbed my stiletto and cut a toxin sack open. I poured the poison around the base of the plant, then moved to the next one.
We worked as fast as possible. While the kids went deeper into the garden, I stayed on the outer rows. Because of the plague symptoms, I moved slower than the kids. I hoped I would get them to safety before I entered stage three.
Dawn was only a couple of hours away when we finished. At least I succeeded in one more thing. Tohon would have to plant a whole new garden of Death Lilys and wait for the Lilys to mature before he could start again. Perhaps by then Ryne and Estrid would be victorious.
The three of us cut through the dying garden to the back wall. Danny and Zila hesitated when they spotted the Peace Lilys. I assured them they wouldn’t be snatched. We pushed through to the wall.
Danny climbed over first, then Zila and I followed. As I crested the top, I felt no guilt in breaking my word to Tohon. Kerrick had been right. Tohon was a madman and there was no way I’d leave Danny and Zila in his care.
A surprised cry sounded as I dropped to the ground. I straightened and spun. Standing at the edge of the forest, Tohon held Zila, and Sepp had Danny’s arm twisted behind his back. I almost wilted in defeat right there. Damn.
“So predictable, Avry,” Tohon said. “I puzzled over why you would stay behind once Ryne had been rescued. Then I figured you had discovered my experimental children. Once I understood, all I had to do was assign a nurse to watch and wait. You didn’t disappoint.”
I glanced around, counting the soldiers. He’d brought six guards.
“You don’t think we needed an army to handle a couple of kids and a dying healer?” Sepp’s sneering tone bordered on incredulity.
“A healer who saved your life. As I recall, you almost died because Tohon had his dead soldiers capture me on my way to the cave. If it wasn’t for Kerrick’s timely rescue, you would not have survived your injuries.”
Sepp glanced at Tohon with anger and horror creasing his brow. I used the distraction to pull a couple throwing knives.
“Don’t listen to her,” Tohon said. “I allowed Kerrick to rescue her. I needed to touch her before they discovered Ryne was missing to ensure she’d return to me.” He studied me. “Is that all you have?”
It might not have helped me now, but I had planted a seed of doubt in Sepp’s twisted mind. “I have this.” I brandished my weapons.
“And if you move, I’ll hurt this little girl. So I suggest you drop all your knives on the ground,” Tohon said.
When I didn’t, Zila cried out in pain. I tossed my weapons down.
“Now, lead the way back to the castle. If you try anything stupid, I’ll hurt her again.”
I noticed movement along the ground in my peripheral vision, but I kept my gaze on Tohon. “How could I do anything, Tohon? All I have left are these.” I reached into my pocket slowly and withdrew my stones.
“What are they?” Sepp asked.
“Juggling stones. See?” I juggled the three rocks. Belen was right. They were the perfect size and weight. I did a bunch of tricks, reversing direction, throwing them high, then low, using one hand and doing a spin-throw combination.
Tohon and Sepp looked at me as if I’d lost my mind, but the guards and the kids watched fascinated. Good. No one noticed the vines creeping around their legs. And Kerrick had called me stubborn. The man was supposed to be long gone by now.
At the first shout of alarm, I threw my rocks as hard and fast as I could. One hit Tohon square on the forehead. The second cracked Sepp in his temple. Both men let go of their hostages when hit.
“Run,” I yelled to Danny and Zila.
They bolted into the woods as Kerrick, Ryne, Quain and Loren took advantage of the surprised guards whose feet were entangled in the vines. I dove for my knives.
But Tohon had already read the situation. Knowing his guards wouldn’t last long, he took off with Sepp close on his heels, heading back to the safety of his castle. And a lot more than six guards. I moved to give chase, but Kerrick clamped his hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“We’re in enemy territory. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of Tohon another day,” he said. “Find the kids, we need to go. It’s not safe here.”
“No, it isn’t. You should be long gone by now.”
“Frustrating when someone doesn’t follow logic and common sense. Isn’t it?”
I opened my mouth, but he said, “We can argue about it later.”
I nodded and searched the woods for Danny and Zila. They hid under a bush. I coaxed them from their hiding spot and held their hands as we followed Kerrick to the north.
It was the longest, hardest, most exhausting trek in my entire life. Every inch of my body ached. Chills followed flashes of heat. Sweat gushed from my skin only to freeze a few minutes
later.
The forest blurred into a green-hued watercolor painting. I lost track of time. When my body reached its limit, I tripped over my own feet and fell flat on my face. Content to remain there, I waved the others on. They wouldn’t leave me. Picked up and cradled like a baby, I nestled against Kerrick’s chest and fell asleep.
I woke…later. A bright campfire burned. Shadows danced on stone walls. Another one of Kerrick’s caves. I almost groaned aloud.
“Avry? How do you feel?” Ryne asked.
“Like I’ve been squashed by Belen.”
He laughed. “At least you still have your sense of humor.”
I sat up. The cave spun and I put my head in my hands to keep from passing out.
“Here, eat.” Ryne held out a bowl of meat. “It’s fresh venison.”
My stomach churned at the smell. “Save it for the kids.” I glanced around. “Where are they?”
“They’re with Kerrick. He’s giving them a tour of the caves. They were quite fascinated by them. And Loren and Quain are on watch.” Ryne filled a spoon with meat. He aimed it at me. “Are you going to eat or do I need to force-feed you?”
I growled.
“You’ll feel better. I know.”
“Fine.” I snatched the spoon and bowl. Once I started eating, my stomach settled. When I finished every last morsel, I asked Ryne why they hadn’t left for safer ground days ago. Once Tohon returned to his castle, I was sure he’d send out squads of his soldiers, both living and dead, after us.
“You know the answer.”
Because Kerrick wouldn’t abandon me. “Well, you’re all going to leave tomorrow. I don’t want anyone to stay and watch me die.”
“You’re going to need care.”
“No. I don’t want it.”
“I don’t think you’ll have the choice,” Ryne said.
“Then I’ll run away.”
He smiled. “Has that worked for you in the past?”
I huffed. “I saved your life—aren’t you supposed to be nice to me?”
Touch of Power Page 33