Sands of Aggar: Amazons of Aggar Book 3 (14 page)

Rox made it to the base of the dais, close enough that Jacquin could smell the old blood on her skin, the dirt and sour filth on her skin from weeks of imprisonment.

“Give me my daughter or I’ll kill you,” Rox hissed.

“We did some research on you, Rox,” the green-eyed twin whispered, unconcerned with his council hearing what he said. “You’re a tracker and guide, yes? Leading merchants through the desert to southern ports.”

“We want to offer you a deal. We have a contingent of soldiers in need of protection and guidance. Someone with your skills and ferocity.” Rox bared her teeth in response and the brown-eyed twin laughed. “You will be paid, of course. Handsomely. Enough to ransom your daughter from captivity and purchase a small settlement for the two of you.”

The green-eyed twin leaned in. “And to prove our good intentions, we will keep your daughter in holding until you return. If you are successful, no harm will befall her. If you fight us or try to escape, of course our offer would be forfeit and your daughter’s fate would be at the hands of the highest bidder.”

Rox paused for the first time, some of her ferocity falling. “I don’t trust you.”

The brown-eyed twin frowned, his eyes flashing red for a moment in his intensity. “We never break a contract. Anyone who harms your daughter or threatens to harm you would be instantly killed.”

“You will take Serena’s word if she says she’s been hurt?”

Both twins smiled, the expression disturbingly identical. “Why would we question a child?”

Rox fell back, logic and reality working its way into her primal conscious. She had already decided to accept their offer. “I want to see her first.”

The brown-eyed twin, who seemed to be the more dominant of the two, shook his head. “You could imagine, with your reputation for killing guards, that we can’t trust you not to try to escape with your daughter. You will have her again when you return.”

Rox pressed her lips tight together and shook her head. “I know you. You have eyes everywhere. You find a way for me to speak to Serena or I won’t help you.”

The green-eyed twin clapped his hands together, slowly pulling them apart, and a crystalline glass spread between his palms, creating a small mirror, revealing a small, stone room, Rox’s daughter sitting in the corner, her knees curled to her chest, hiding her face. “Will this do?”

Rox paled, tears streaming down her cheeks, carving wet lines through the dirt and blood on her face. “Serena? Baby?”

The girl looked up, searching the darkness for her mother. Her voice was soft and strained. “Mama?”

“Serena, listen to me. You’re going to be alright. I’m going to save you.”

“Mama, I can’t see you.”

“I know, baby, but please listen to me. It’s going to take me a while to get to you, but you’re going to be safe. No one will hurt you. You remember when mama has to go on a job and you stay with grandma? It’s like that, baby. I’ll always come back for you.”

“I’ll be a good girl.”

Rox shook her head, her hands twitching, grabbing at her manacles in a desperate urge to hold her daughter. Jacquin reached out, trying to touch Rox, to give her some comfort, but she knew she was walking through memory. There was nothing she could do.

“No, baby. Not a good girl. You be a brave girl. A strong girl. If someone hurts you, you tell someone. You don’t have to be polite. You don’t have to be quiet. You be loud. You be smart. You be my warrior girl like I know you can. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“I love you, Serena.”

“I love you, Mama.”

The twin closed his hands and the mirror disappeared. Rox stepped back, her eyes determined and settled. The brown-eyed twin nodded. “That’s that, then. You’ll be taken to your quarters where you can bathe and eat. Your orders will come by morning.”

The sounds of the vision faded, enveloping Jacquin in complete silence as she watched Rox walk away, led out of the hall by a team of armed guards. All confusion and pain at Rox leaving evaporated, replaced with a heavy emptiness. Rox didn’t abandon her. She chose her daughter.

A soft padding sound echoed in the darkness and Jacquin turned as the ginger eitteh crept forward again, ruffling her wings in silent invitation. Jacquin didn’t hesitate as she followed the feline, walking side-by-side with the eitteh back into the desert.

The warm sand and cool night air was familiar and comforting, soothing her heart after the trauma of Rox’s past. The sound of dustings of sand catching in the night air, dancing in small clouds of spray was like a lover’s sigh, the streaming waves of stars in the night sky singing across galaxies to heal Jacquin’s soul. Jacquin thought if she were to die of her sickness in the real world, this is where she’d want to stay.

Jacquin glanced down at the eitteh and smiled gently. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

The eitteh sat, seemingly weightless on the sand, its eyes still sad, beckoning. Jacquin spread her skirts like a blanket and sat before the creature, resting her arms on her knees and looking into the creature’s eyes. “What do you need?”

In a blink of her eyes, the eitteh was once again the changling woman, sitting cross-legged before Jacquin, her staff at her side. She reached out and took Jacquin’s hand, the touch surprisingly firm and realistic. She cocked her head to the side, her eyes beseeching.

A flash of images spun through Jacquin’s mind, reflected in the changling’s eyes. Cold stone floors and towering cave walls veined with lifestone and dotted with holes like a beehive. A fiery, red gem embedded in a long stalactite glowing in the darkness. Rockslides and earthquakes, changlings stumbling and fleeing out of the mountains into the forest. A heavy pain ripped at Jacquin’s stomach and head, sickness and death ripping at her skin and muscles, turning her stomach and snapping her bones.

“I don’t understand,” Jacquin moaned, trying to make sense of the images, the message the changling was trying to place in her mind. She fell to her knees, in too much pain to stand. “Please, I don’t understand.”

The visions stopped as the changling released Jacquin’s hand, her eyes more pained than before. Jacquin could feel her pain, the frustration at their inability to communicate. “I’m so sorry.”

The changling stood, shaking her head slowly and walking away, disappearing into a swirl of sand.

Jacquin woke, returning to reality with an icy blast, trembling in the cold. She was half-buried in sand, laying outside the desert walls. She had wandered from her bed in the vision, collapsing in the middle of the desert.

“Jacquin!” Adrian ran for her, her voice ringing in Jacquin’s ears, making her smile. She could hear again. Her brief connection with Rox must have given her a small shot of health.

Adrian pulled Jacquin out of the sand, holding her tight in her arms. “Don’t make me sleep again,” Jacquin gasped, her voice soft, gravely, already fading again.

“Never,” Adrian vowed, scooping the fatigued Jacquin in her arms again and carrying her back to Oasis.

Adrian sat on the floor of the wagon beside Jacquin, her bondmate’s hand limp and cool in her grip. She felt her stomach roll with a wave of nausea, her eyelids droop with exhaustion, but she pushed it aside. Jacquin needed her. She wouldn’t let Rox affect her. Not with Jacquin near death.

Khalisa crept into the room, a woven bag full of incense and herbs under her arm. “How is she?”

“She’s out again,” Adrian muttered, rubbing Jacquin’s cold hand between her own, trying to warm her. “Even without the tea her visions are taking over.”

“Is she still talking?”

Adrian shook her head. “I don’t think she can hear me, either.”

Khalisa lit a small diffuser full of jasmine oil, the warm, floral scent creeping into the fog of cardamom and neroli that had been lit before. Khalisa fidgeted nervously, her fingers curling around each other in time with her panicked thoughts. “If she’s losing her senses, I want to make sure whatever sense she has left is comforting to her. She loves jasmine.”

Adrian reached out and touched Khalisa’s hand. Jacquin’s sister hadn’t seemed surprised when Jacquin had returned from the sandstorm with Adrian. In the couple days Adrian and Jacquin had been healthy together, Khalisa had formed a tentative trust for the mage. Adrian’s dedication and care during Jacquin’s illness had only strengthened their bond. “We’ll find a way to help her. I promise.”

Khalisa pulled a patchwork quilt from her bag and laid it over her younger sister, tucking the quilt around her like a cocoon. “It was our mother’s. Jacquin always liked it.”

Adrian and Khalisa knelt together in silence, watching Jacquin’s face, hoping she’d open her eyes, take a deep breath, make a sound. Instead she seemed to grow more pale, weaker, more still.

Adrian shook her head, her jaw tight with anger and worry. “That’s it. I’m going after Rox.”

Khalisa looked up in shock. “You told me she’s sick because your bond is breaking. What will happen if you go?”

“She’s dying. I have a connection with Rox, I can find her faster than anyone else. If I can bring Rox back, we might be able to save her.”

“And if you leave Oasis and she dies?”

Adrian held Jacquin’s hand tighter. Her voice was soft, heavy with fear. “If Rox doesn’t come back, she’ll slowly waste away. You didn’t see her in the desert, Khalisa. She’s terrified. She’s not sleeping peacefully. She’s locked in visions, losing her senses along with her mind. I can’t watch her like this anymore.”

Khalisa fell still, helplessly accepting their only option. Her face fell, her eyes haunted as she tried to find ways to save her sister. Adrian could feel her helplessness and she ached to ease her pain. The sensation surprised Adrian. It was a Blue Sight instinct. Being around Jacquin was pulling her closer to her Blue Sight instincts.

Khalisa brushed hair from her sister’s brow, her hands shaking. “What do I tell her when she wakes and you’re not here?”

“Tell her I’m coming back with Rox. Tell her we’re going to be together. She’ll be strong enough to wait.”

Khalisa nodded slowly and stood. “I’ll have your horse prepared for your journey.”

Adrian shook her head. “Dread won’t recognize you. She won’t trust you unless I’m there.”

“I’m good with horses,” Khalisa assured her.

Adrian cracked a sad smile, “Dread is a stubborn beast.”

Khalisa drew a tense breath. “Then I’ll find you supplies. The markets in Oasis aren’t selling. Most of their stocks were damaged or used after the raid and during the storm. But I have a few contacts that might be able to help you. I’ll have the supplies delivered to the stables.”

Adrian nodded appreciatively and Khalisa left, leaving Adrian and Jacquin alone once again. Adrian ran her hand over Jacquin’s brow, her heart racing at the thought of separating from her. Try as she might to ignore it, she knew she was chasing after Rox for herself as much as Jacquin. She wouldn’t worry Khalisa with the thought that her own health was failing – that Khalisa would likely have two bodies to deal with before the monarc's’s end – but it rarely left her thoughts.

Adrian lay beside Jacquin, wrapping her arms around her lover’s waist, her head resting on Jacquin’s shoulder in a silent plea for her to wake. Jacquin’s breath began to deepen, become more steady, but she didn’t open her eyes. Still, Adrian knew her presence was a comfort to Jacquin as she wandered the dark realms of vision.

Adrian swore softly under her breath, fighting the urge to scream, to fight, to cry. She couldn’t understand how Rox could stand being away from her bondmates. How she could abandon them for the Circle. Rox had a strong will and wasn’t imbued with a particularly strong sense of empathy. She didn’t carry the lifestones, only the mark of one. She wouldn’t fall ill quickly, if at all, but she would always feel a sense of loss. An emptiness that she’d never be able to ignore. She had to know what she was doing to her bondmates.

After a few hours she heard Khalisa returning and she untangled herself from Jacquin. It was time. She leaned over Jacquin, laying a gentle kiss on her soft lips, closing her eyes and breathing her scent through her nose and over her tongue once more.

“I’ll find her, Jacquin. I’ll bring her back for both of us.” She stood and turned away, allowing her anger to flash in her eyes for the first time as she left the cabin to meet Khalisa. “Then I’ll kill her myself.”

Adrian ran her hands over Dread’s powerful shoulders, admiring the care the groomer had taken with her mare after the sandstorm. Dread butted her human with her nose, the strength of her weight against Adrian’s shoulder familiar and comforting.

She’d already prepared Dread for their journey, packing her saddlebags with her weaponry, water skins and the supplies Khalisa had been able to gather for her. She only had enough food for three days. She knew if she didn’t return in that time, it wasn’t likely Jacquin would survive and Adrian wouldn’t survive Jacquin’s death and Rox’s departure.

Adrian nuzzled Dread’s neck. “Ready to ride fast?” Adrian whispered. Dread huffed, stomping her foot once as if to argue that she never did anything else.

Dread could sense the difference in her rider, the oncoming weakness and, even more profound, the stronger bond between them, strengthened by Adrian’s stronger Blue Sight abilities. Adrian was softer, lighter. Dread shuffled anxiously, unsure of what to do with the new version of her rider.

“Don’t get any ideas, I haven’t changed that much,” Adrian assured the mare, grabbing her reins and leading her out into the city with as much strength and authority as before.

The sun was beginning to set, the sunlight shifting from a vibrant blue to a paler white. Adrian would make better time riding in the cool night than under the blazing sun. The nightly tribal fire was being lit as Adrian returned to the caravan, leading Dread to Jacquin’s wagon.

Khalisa raced toward her as soon as she was in sight of the wagon. Adrian’s stomach flipped with hope that Jacquin had awakened and terror that she had taken a turn for the worst. The panic in Khalisa’s eyes disintegrated the hope.

“She’s gone again. I don’t know what happened.” Khalisa wept as she reached Adrian, her hands curled over her mouth in terror, her mind racing and chaotic with exhaustion and fear. “I fell asleep beside her and when I woke she was missing. What if she’s in the desert again?”

Adrian handed Dread’s reigns to Khalisa, a quick look to her horse daring the mare to object. “Watch Dread. I’ll find her.”

Khalisa took the reigns, the leather straps providing something physical for her to focus on as she trembled. Adrian raced toward Jacquin’s wagon, quickly searching the interior and beneath the structure before racing out toward the town gate.

Adrian felt a burning pull on her wrist and she followed the sensation back toward the main town of Oasis. She spotted Jacquin in the distance, stumbling and crawling through the expanse of sand between the town and the caravan. She ran faster, quickly overtaking the sick woman, and pulled her into her arms.

“Jacquin! Jacquin, stop, you’re having a vision!”

Adrian gasped as Jacquin looked directly at her, her eyes clear. She grabbed onto Adrian’s shirt and cloak, her fingers like claws, desperate and clinging. She was truly awake. “Don’t leave me.” Her voice was barely audible, broken and distorted, but understandable as she desperately formed each word.

“I have to find Rox. You’re going to die if she doesn’t return.”

Jacquin wept, holding Adrian tighter, burying her face in Adrian’s chest, the weakness and grief in her bondmate moving Adrian to tears, her heart a deep ache in her chest. Her strength to leave Jacquin was wavering, nearly gone.

“Take me with you.” Adrian shook her head, the idea ridiculous. Jacquin could barely sit up on her own, let alone ride a horse. Even sharing a saddle with Adrian would be dangerous and could possibly make her worse. “My wagon…”

Jacquin’s words faded but Adrian paused. Of course.

She scooped Jacquin into her arms and ran her back to the caravan. Khalisa let out an audible gasp, her shoulders sinking as Adrian and Jacquin came into view. Adrian raced to her. “Jacquin’s wagon, is it still mobile?”

“Yes, but–” understanding dawned in Khalisa’s eyes and she nodded. “I’ll help you hitch her. Can your horse pull a cart with another?”

“She’ll do what’s needed.”

Khalisa’s face split in the first genuine smile Adrian had seen in days. “I’ll find you two cart horses. Your beast can ride untethered.”

Adrian sent her a grateful glance as she returned Jacquin to her bed. “I’m bringing you with me. We’ll find Rox together.”

Jacquin forced a shallow smile, reaching up for Adrian’s cheek, running her fingers over Adrian’s cheekbone in a gentle, silent request. Adrian bent low and kissed her, her gratitude at having a way to keep her beloved near overwhelming her.

“I love you, Jacquin.”

Jacquin couldn’t respond, but the smile in her eyes was answer enough.

Khalisa returned with two sturdy, ebony mares. She tethered them to the front of the cart with ease. She peeked in through the door into the wagon’s interior, her smile beaming as she noticed her sister, still awake. “You’re lucky Jacquin never moved the wagon from the outer circle. I’ll take you outside the town gates, then you’ll be free to move as you will. Lock the doors and windows. It’ll be bumpy.”

Adrian jumped to her feet to do as she was told. “Thank you.”

The wagon started to pull away from the caravan, creaking and trembling from years of remaining still, but by the time Khalisa had guided the wagon to the town gates, the wheels were turning smoothly once more, remembering how to travel.

Khalisa paused as they exited Oasis and climbed into the wagon. “The desert is treacherous. Don’t approach any sinkholes or divots. Sandworms nest underground and can attack your wagon from below. If you see an oncoming storm, stop where you are and take shelter in the wagon until it passes. Don’t try to travel through it. More than anything, don’t approach other travelers. Bandits stalk the main trade routes between here and the Great Market and they’re more vicious than any wild animal.”

Adrian kissed Jacquin’s hand and stood to meet Khalisa. “The Circle isn’t used to the desert, either. Even with Rox to lead them they’ll stick close to well-worn paths.”

“Do you know where they’re going?”

“Rox grew up along the southern coast. The Twins hired her as a guide for a reason. I can only assume they intended her to lead the Circle south. We’ll head that way by way of the Great Market.”

Khalisa nodded slowly, her mind spinning. “A party that large will be hard to hide. I asked around town. They told the merchants they’re mercenaries traveling for a job.”

“You’re lucky they didn’t attack.”

“They probably realized we had nothing worth taking after the changlings and the storm.”

“More likely they’re planning on stopping here on the way north again. If they come back again, that’s when you have to worry about them attacking.”

Khalisa crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll warn the Council. They’re taking me more seriously after the raid.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed in mild annoyance. “You should run the Council, Khalisa. You have good instincts.”

Khalisa glanced at Jacquin and sucked lightly at her teeth. “Perhaps.” Khalisa walked to her sister and kissed her forehead. “Come back alive.”

Jacquin wrapped her arms loosely around Khalisa’s shoulders, closing her eyes as she drew comfort from the embrace. Khalisa stood and walked with Adrian out of the wagon. “Take care of her.”

Adrian pulled her sword from Dread’s saddle bags and belted the sheath around her waist. “Always.”

Khalisa sized Adrian up once more, her face still, her eyes sharp. It was a face she only showed Adrian when Jacquin wasn’t looking, the face of a sister unsure of her sister’s new lover.

Adrian stepped closer to her, keeping her voice low to ensure Jacquin wouldn’t overhear. “You’ve kept Jacquin safe her entire life and now you’re trusting me with her after only knowing me for a few days. I don’t take that charge lightly.”

Khalisa took a deep breath and wiped a tear from her eye. “Bring her home safely.”

Adrian clasped hands with Khalisa. “I swear on my life.”

Khalisa’s grip was strong as she nodded. “That’s all I can ask. Now go before Jacquin gets any worse.”

Adrian nodded and climbed to the wagon seat, grabbing the reigns of the cart horses. She signaled to Dread to follow them and rode out into the desert, Khalisa standing behind, watching them until the cart disappeared into the sunset.

Adrian glanced over her shoulder as the sun started to peak above the horizon. Jacquin was resting again. Adrian wondered what she was dreaming, but she refused to be distracted. The faster she got to Rox, the sooner Jacquin could wake.

She pulled the thick wool blanket tighter around her shoulders, warding off the last of the night’s chill. In the distance she could hear wild sandwolves howling, but they were far enough away not to be a threat. Adrian silently said a prayer of thanks to the Mother for their safe passage. If their pace held, they’d reach the Great Market by morning.