The Healer's Legacy (5 page)

“Ach, I see yer meanin’,” he said. He spun around and left the room.

Before long, Malla returned, a wooden bowl clutched tightly in one hand, a small vial in the other. Ryospar came in behind her. “’Tis ready,” he said.

“Good. I’ll carry her.” Kira leaned over and lifted the little girl in her arms. Ryospar started to protest, but seemed to think better of it and turned to lead the way. The child’s face shone ghostly pale in the flickering lamplight, and she made no sound as Kira carried her outside. She followed Ryospar to a work shed that stood near the edge of the woods. Several lamps already burned inside the shed, hanging from the low rafters, illuminating a narrow set of shelves along one wall. Ryospar had heaped a large pile of straw alongside the wall. A heavy blanket had been thrown over the straw. Several more blankets were stacked in the corner.

Kira gave the gnome a questioning look.

“’Twas an old bit of bedding, and not worth a stone.” A catch in his voice belied his words and betrayed his emotions. “At least she’ll not be chafed by the straw,” he mumbled, facing away from Kira in discomfort.

Kira smiled at the gnome’s obvious concern for the child. “It was very considerate of you.” She laid the girl down on the makeshift bed, then gestured to Malla to bring the oils to her. Malla handed her the vial. “Ryospar, can you sit her up? I’m going to hold the oils under her nose to rouse her. Then we’ll have to get her to drink as much of the tea as possible.”

Ryospar did as she asked. Then Kira uncorked the vial and held the oils up to the child’s nostrils. Talya’s eyes fluttered, then she grimaced and pulled her head back, sneezing violently. Kira handed the vial to Malla and took the bowl from her.

“Talya.” Kira held the girl’s face with one hand to focus her attention on what she was saying. “Talya. You’re very ill, and I know you don’t want to eat or drink, but you must drink this in order to get well,” she said firmly. “Do you understand?”

Talya blinked, face slack and eyes dull.

“Talya. You must drink as much of this as you can. Do you understand me?”

Talya nodded her head a tiny bit. Kira wasted no time and put the bowl to the girl’s dry cracked lips, pouring the warm liquid into her mouth. Talya made a small face, coughed and pulled away. “Swallow it,” Kira said. “It will make you better.”

The little girl turned her bleary eyes up to Ryospar, who nodded back, reaching out to her. Her small fingers gripped his rough hand. She took a ragged breath, then leaned forward with her mouth open. “That’s it,” Kira said as Talya drank. “Good.”

Kira tilted the bowl up and encouraged Talya to keep drinking until there was nothing left but fine sediment. “Well done,” Kira said as Ryospar laid the weary child back onto the bedding.

“Now what?” asked the old gnome.

“Now we wait.” She handed the empty bowl back to Malla. “She’ll have some stomach pains at first, then she’ll begin to purge. No food, only tea for the next three days. After that you can start her on weak broth. But only if the stomach swelling has gone down. If not, you’ll have to make her another infusion to give her.” She took out the rest of the berries she’d collected and the last of the garget root she’d taken from Heresta’s stores and handed them to Malla.

The short woman cast her eyes to the floor and took the root without looking at Kira. “Och, ’tis a foul thing, them men a-chasin’ after ye as they are,” she said under her breath.

Kira jerked her head up. “What?”

Ryospar stepped between the two women, concern on his face. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said quietly. “They’ve been askin’ after ye, in the outer holdings. I would’ve mentioned it to ye, but I didn’t want to spook ye.”

Kira felt the blood drain from her face. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said, giving Ryospar her best blank look.

He smiled. “They haven’t made it this far south yet, but news travels on the wind in these parts, though I don’t think they’ll be comin’ our way any too soon. We’re not a bit more ’en a wide spot along the road, ye might say.”

His voice was soothing, but Kira’s stomach clenched. “You must be mistaking me for someone else,” she said, as calmly as she could.

“Nay. The name may be wrong, but the descriptive fits ye close.”

Kira combed her fingers through her fresh-cropped hair. The gnome’s left eye twitched, as if he was winking at her. She should have used the acacia resin to color her hair before coming here! No matter what she did, it never seemed enough. Never seemed to be the right choice. She stood slowly, holding her hands down at her sides to keep from trembling. “Talya will need watching,” she said with forced calm. “Someone will have to stay with her for the next few days.”

Ryospar tilted his head to one side, watching her with a quizzical expression. He smiled again. “Yer still welcome to stay with us.”

“I’m sorry, but I need to be on my way. My mother’s family will be worried if I don’t arrive soon,” she lied.

Ryospar, shrugged. “Malla, d’ye see what ye’ve gone and done? Ye’ve affrighted our guest.” Malla continued to stare at the floor. “Well, then. I suppose there isn’t anything to be done about it now,” he grumbled. “Malla, would yer be so kind as to fetch out the traveler’s goods?”

Malla nodded slowly, then headed toward the main hall.

“Ye needn’t be afeared of us,” Ryospar told Kira after Malla had gone.

Kira struggled to remain calm. The gnome held completely still, in the unnerving way that gnomes do. It was one of the things that enabled them to get around without being seen. Right now, it reminded Kira of the stillness of a snake about to strike. “I’m not afraid,” she said coolly. “I simply must be going. I’ve already stayed much longer than I had intended.”

Ryospar backed a few steps away from the door. “I’m sorry ye feel that way,” he said. “But I’ll not hinder yer goin’. We’ll owe our thanks to ye for Talya’s sake.”

Kira thought she heard kindness in his voice, but she no longer trusted herself. Her judgment had proven flawed with Toril. She dare not trust anyone. Not when her life and her freedom depended on it. And not when Vaith and Kelmir might be put at risk. “You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “I only hope the child gets better.”

Malla returned, carrying a small lamp. She held out a blanket and Kira’s provisions.

Keeping Ryospar in sight, Kira sidled out the door.

Malla’s red-rimmed eyes shone in the yellow lamplight. “Thank ye,” the small woman whispered, her voice gruff with emotion.

“Just take care of her,” Kira said, taking the provisions. “The wheel may turn without taking her for a while, yet.”

Malla held out the lamp to her. “’Tis dark along the woods road. You’ll be needin’ a light to find yer way.”

The lamp glowed in the night like a signal beacon. Kira shook her head. “No, thank you, Malla. There will be a waxing quarter moon tonight and enough light to see by.”

She stepped out into the darkness, her heart pounding against the wall of her chest. When she reached the road, she walked along it for a short distance, then slipped quietly in among the trees and paused to listen.

There was no sound of pursuit, no noise but the call of a blackbird and its answering mate. She willed herself to be still. It would do no good to have slipped unseen into the darkness beneath the trees only to go crashing and blundering through the underbrush. She reached out to Kelmir, asking him to come and lead her back to Trad. As she waited for him to join her, she grasped the woolen blanket and supplies, squeezing them tightly. She cursed herself for allowing compassion to overrule her caution. But Ryospar had seemed so friendly. And the child, Talya, had truly been sick.

But they knew her, knew who she was! Of course, the old gnome had been friendly, even letting her best him at bargaining.

She should have been more cautious. All her work to cover her tracks was lost. Even now, Toril’s men might be hunting for her here in this part of the forest. How could she have been so foolish?

Something moved in the darkness. She tensed. A throaty growl rolled from the shadows and relief flooded over her. She’d been so distracted by her thoughts and fears, she hadn’t sensed Kelmir padding through the trees to join her. One mistake after another, she thought. What was she doing? It was ridiculous to think she could escape from Toril. What he wanted was what he would have.

Kelmir stepped forward, rubbed up against her, purring. Tears moistened her eyes.
You’re right, my friend. I’m sorry. We are not yet undone.

A fluttering of wings brought her head up to see the dark form of Vaith alighting on a nearby branch.
Yes,
she told them.
I have you both. And Trad, too. And you all have me. We will find a place where we can be safe. Together.

She reached down, kneading the back of Kelmir’s neck.
Let’s be off
, she told him.
We must be far from here before dawn
.

CHAPTER FOUR

Cold drops of water splashed onto Kira’s face and she awoke with a sputter. It felt as if she’d been asleep for hours, but no glimmer of daylight pierced the heavy darkness. She couldn’t see them, but she knew the dark clouds that had followed them throughout the day had caught up to them and hung overhead, a heavy sodden mass. An oppressive feeling of closeness pushed down on her and she shivered.

Kelmir raised his head and yawned as Kira sat up, wiping the moisture from her face and blinking into the darkness. Trad stood nearby, leaning in close to the large boulders along the river’s bank. Just on the other side of the rocks, the Sethern River rushed past. She squinted in the direction of the sound. The rocks were dark shadows against the thick night.

The clouds suddenly erupted, dousing her with freezing rain. Kira jumped up, pulling her blanket from around her. “I knew we should have kept going. We might have found a cave or at least more of an overhang,” she grumbled. Kelmir stood, stretched, and shook himself, sending another shower of water in Kira’s direction. “Thank you so very kindly,” she groused. Kelmir yawned.

Since leaving the woodcutters’ holding, they’d followed the river’s path, aiming for the Zendel Mountains. They were now on the southern bank of the Sethern. Kira hadn’t intended to cross the river, but there was no cover on the northern side. The south bank offered a line of large rocks and boulders that formed a natural wall with few breaks. It wasn’t much in the way of protection, but she’d been nervous and uncomfortable traveling in the open as they had since leaving the shelter of the Aikewall Forest. When they’d come to a narrow place where a fallen tree provided a natural bridge, Kira had decided to cross. Now the boulders along the southern bank created a shield between her and the lands to the north.

Kira shook the water off her blanket, folded it into a triangle and threw it over her shoulders as a short cape. She walked to where Trad stood and tightened his girth before scooping Vaith from the top of the tall gray rock where he’d been keeping watch.

“Come on, little one,” she said, her voice tired and husky in her own ears. “Time to move on. We’ll be just as cold sitting here getting wet as we will on the road, such as it is. And there won’t be much sleeping to be had in this chill rain.” She frowned. Sleep, at least good sound sleep, had eluded her since they’d left the woodcutters’ holding. The wilds held many dangers, and not all of them wore the insignia of Toril’s army.

Pulling the blanket tightly around her, she picked up Trad’s reins and they set off along the bank of the Sethern. They settled into what, over the past several days, had become their usual routine of following Kelmir as he picked his way between the rocks, silently leading them westward.

They moved like ghosts through the thick shadows as the rain beat down on them from a starless sky. The sound of Trad’s hooves became lost in the noise of raindrops splattering against rocks and into the churning river.

They hadn’t gone far when Kelmir gave a low growl and stopped. Vaith cocked his head, glancing around with short quick movements, scanning the darkness beyond the rocks. Kira felt a cold prickling at the back of her neck. She let go of the blanket, slowly moving her hand to the hilt of her knife. As a weapon, it wasn’t formidable, but any bit of rope will do in time of need, as Heresta had always said.

Kira reached out mentally to Vaith and Kelmir. Both were taut, nerves tense, but neither had any idea of what it was they were sensing. There was no sound or scent. Only the cold damp rain and the rushing river. She stood listening, groping for a sound, a movement, anything that might tell them what it was that watched them from the shadows. Trad shivered and a chill sliced through her.

Then it was gone. Whatever they had sensed seemed to have melted away. Kira loosened her grip on the knife. Her fingers tingled as the blood seeped back into them.

Kelmir’s soggy coat dripped runnels of rainwater. He raised his head and looked into Kira’s eyes. His questions tugged at her mind and she shrugged.
I don’t know, but let’s be watchful
.

She quested through her memories for some name to give to the strange sensations they had just experienced. Kelmir waited another moment, then gave himself a mighty shake, spraying water in every direction. Kira gave Trad’s reins a gentle tug, and they set off once more.

Kira led Trad through the rest of the night and into a murky dawn. They stumbled across slippery rocks in the heavy wet darkness. She finally hauled herself shakily up into the saddle at dawn. The sun cast a weak light through the dull clouds overhead, but the chill of night clung stubbornly to the land. The feeble daylight that penetrated the thick expanse of clouds gave a pale cast to the landscape, dulling nature’s colors as if the rain had washed them away.

The river widened as they traveled, and the great rocks on the bank were spaced further apart. The water churned angrily as it rushed alongside them. Trees and branches and other debris floated by, dragged along by the relentless force of water. Beside her, the land rose up in a steep cliff that ran with rivulets of thick slippery mud.

Kira sat astride Trad, shivering beneath her soggy blanket. The wet wool smelled of sheep and made her want to sneeze. She rubbed her nose. It’s worth nothing, she thought glumly, clamping her mouth shut to keep her teeth from chattering. I should have traded for an oiled cape instead of a worthless blanket. She resisted the desire to fling it into the rushing river.

She considered dismounting. At least walking would help warm her. She pulled Trad to a stop, when something caught her eye. Squinting into the distance, she made out a pile of huge rocks that had tumbled down onto the sandy bank. Large blue-gray boulders had broken away from the cliff face and covered the bank all the way to the river’s edge. They were strewn across the riverbank, as though some giant hand had deliberately placed them there to block the path.

Kira let out her breath with an explosive hiss. “Serpent’s blood!” she spat. Leaping from the saddle, she threw off the cold sodden blanket and sank to her knees. “Great Troka! What have I done to deserve this?” she screamed at the sky.

Kelmir turned and walked back toward her, ears folded back against his head. He walked behind her and sat down, curling his body around hers. She leaned against him and pressed her face into his neck. It had been a long time since she’d needed comforting like this. After the death of her parents, when Heresta had first taken her in, Kira had spent days and nights out in the woods, burrowed into the soft warmth of Kelmir’s fur, letting her grief flow out. Now, here she was once again, feeling like a lost child. What else could go wrong?

Rain splattered down and the numbing cold crept over her, bringing her back to herself. Kelmir stayed close, keeping his body in contact with hers. Trad stood still, head down; Vaith clung to the pommel of the saddle, eyeing her. She sat up. “Well, boys, this is getting us nowhere.” Kira smiled weakly, giving Kelmir a brisk rub between the ears.

“We need to find some kind of shelter. Someplace where we can get out of the cold, at least.” She dragged herself to her feet and stared up at the wall of rocks before them. “But first we need to find a way around that.”

Kelmir stood up, following her gaze. He gave one glance back, then loped forward. Kira walked over to Trad and Vaith, stooping to pick up the blanket on her way. The sodden mass was caked in mud. She shook her head. “I just had to go and make things worse,” she muttered, a sob pushing its way out with her words. She picked up Trad’s reins and headed off to see if Kelmir had found a way past the barrier.

By the time she reached the rocks, Kelmir had climbed to the top of the pile and was cautiously making his way toward the far end. Kira shielded her eyes with her hands, cupping them close to her forehead as the rain continued to beat down. A low rumbling came from the south and grew louder as thunder rolled across the stormy sky. Kelmir continued to prowl along the top of the rocks, questing for a way past them. He stopped when he reached the top of the high embankment and gazed out.

Kira looked through his eyes, but land met sky in a blurring of dark grays and shadows. She stayed in his mind as he crept back along the rocks toward the river. Small stones loosened under his feet and rolled down the side of the rock pile. There was no way to get Trad over that barrier, nor would they be able to climb it to the top of the cliff. The sides were too steep, the rocks too loose.

Kelmir reached the end of the rock pile and stood above the roiling river. Kira saw through his eyes that the rockslide continued down into the water. If the remains of the slide were less steep where the water rushed over it, it might be possible to wade out around the end of the pile that blocked their way.

Kira pulled away from Kelmir’s mind and focused on the dark riverbank. She guided Trad to the river’s edge, then stepped slowly out into the water, sliding her foot out in front of her to find a point of purchase. She gasped as the icy water rushed around her ankle, sucking at her calf as she put her weight down. She repeated the process with her other foot and found that she had to move further out into the rushing water to find a stable place to stand.

She inched her way out to the end of the rockslide, with Trad following behind her. By the time she reached the end of the slide and found a place to turn back toward the shore on the other side, the water was up to her hips. It pushed and buffeted her, as she stuck one foot in front of the other, seeking a solid foothold.

The going was agonizingly slow. Her legs stung from the cold and her feet were numb. She struggled to keep moving. Trad blustered behind her, blowing air out in an impatient whoosh. “Be patient,” she scolded. “I’m cold, too. But I’m not falling into this river just because you want me to move faster.”

Vaith clung to the saddle’s pommel, nervously scanning the dark water and flexing his wings as if preparing to take to the air. Trad whinnied and once again the strange sensation prickled at the back of her neck. “All right, I’m moving,” she told Trad over her shoulder, but it wasn’t the horse’s impatience that spurred her on.

Above, the comforting form of Kelmir appeared, a dark silhouette atop the rocks. She moved quickly now. If whatever was nearby decided to attack she didn’t want to be caught in the water. Trad’s hooves slipped on the precarious rocks and he lurched from side to side as the stones shifted beneath his weight. Each time she cringed, but each time he regained his footing.

The water rushed around the rockslide, creating a whirlpool of ghostly foam against the black water. The torrent tugged and grabbed at them as they struggled toward the shore. All the while Kira was unable to shake the sensation that something dark and sinister watched them.

As she neared the shore, it seemed as if everywhere she stepped the treacherous rocks shifted out from underfoot. She teetered, arms extended, trying to maintain her balance. If she slipped, the torrent would carry her away.

A sudden pull from Trad’s reins brought her splashing down into the freezing river. Kira gasped as she hit the water. Trad foundered behind her, struggling to find a footing as the water dragged him alongside her. Suddenly, the bottom fell away and there was nothing to stand on. Vaith gave a loud squawk and leaped sideways in the air. Kira saw his silhouette pass her as he headed toward shore.

She hadn’t thought she could be any colder, but as usual, things seemed determined to get worse. She kicked out with her legs, finally brushing the bottom of the river with the toes of her boots. She tilted her head back to keep her face above water, struggling against the swirling current. Trad came up beside her, swimming toward the riverbank. She let the reins slip from her hand and grabbed hold of the saddle.

As they neared the muddy embankment, Kira heard a roar and looked up to see Kelmir pounce from the rocks above. He landed with a resounding thud on what appeared to be la arge dark boulder. A flash of lightning revealed the boulder as something more menacing. It swayed and toppled over, reaching out with bulky arms to grasp at the big cat.

The hulking shadow shoved Kelmir away and turned toward Trad and Kira as they labored to gain their footing on the shore. Kira watched it come, a dark heaving beast with burning eyes as bright as glowing coals. She let go of the saddle and reached for her knife as the dark mass lumbered toward her. Trad whinnied again, reared on his hind legs, and struck out with his front hooves. The shadow hesitated and Kelmir leaped at it from behind, knocking it off balance once more. It spun about and Kira slashed at its legs, but her knife glanced off the creature’s tough hide.

Kelmir clung to the beast with teeth and claws as it twisted around. It let out a rough guttural sound as it reached behind to grab at the animal clinging to its back. Confusing shadows danced in the lightning-shattered darkness. Kira struck again, this time with a stabbing motion. Her knife pierced flesh and the beast let out a howl of rage. It bent over, trying to throw Kelmir off its back, but the fierce cat held tight, his teeth sinking deeper into the creature’s neck.

Kira stabbed again and the beast flung out its thick massive arms, knocking her down. It threw its head back, striking Kelmir’s skull with its own with a loud crack. Kelmir clawed at its face, but lost his grip and was flung across the muddy ground. Kira scrambled to get up, the knife slippery in her hand. She couldn’t tell if it was covered in mud or blood, but she held on to the slick handle with stubborn determination as she backed away from the beast.