33. Jungle’s Edge
Chapter thirty-three
Jungle’s Edge
Rerdas drifted in a fog of pain. It was so insistent and ceaseless that it began to feel like he was breathing pain and sweating droplets of pain and hearing pain buzzing in his ears. His tunic was pasted to his skin everywhere that the barrel pressed against him.
He tried to distract himself. Uralta and Hammond should be well ahead of them. He pictured them on Hasting’s back, racing along the narrow pathways that would take them unseen into the south. Right through the nets of the Red Guard.
And Imalroc. He was probably in the Southern Felds. Maybe on his little farm already. Maybe his sword gathered dust on a mantel. Maybe he was asleep. In an empty bed. Eternals, let the other side of that bed stay empty. Please. Rerdas blinked furiously in the darkness.
Wheels clattered past the cart where he lay, and he heard muffled voices calling.
It must be full daylight out by now, but they were still winding their way through the city.
He pressed one ear to the side of the barrel, listening to the sound of a rising commotion.
The cart slowed and then stopped. His heartbeat jumped into his throat.
Fear was the only edge sharp enough to cut through the hazy pain.
“What’s the delay?” The male driver’s voice drifted over the bubbling sound around the cart.
“Red Guard sent word that we’re to hold everyone at the gate,” another man’s voice answered. “Don’t know what they’re looking for, but it’ll slow everyone up a bit.”
“Sir, I thought the city guard controlled the gates. Why would you let the Red—” the female driver began, but the man she was addressing broke in.
“Let them? You and I both know those fuckers do whatever they want. You’ll get through once they arrive and finish another one of their bloody inspections. They’ve done this every other day, y’know.”
“Didn’t mean to offend. I’m sure there’re plenty of merchants complaining,” the driver said.
The city guard grunted.
“Thing is, sir, we’re in trouble with time already. I’ve been sent directly from Princess Hassindra to go pick up a new vintage and get back to the city before sundown. I won’t make it at this rate, and Her Highness isn’t going to care that the Guard made me unpack everything at the gate.”
“Hassindra, eh? She’s a piece of work.”
“Can’t say it enough, sir. I’ve got thirty-seven barrels of the driest white wine in Inofar, which she demanded. Drove all night to get here before dawn, and then they tell us she’s changed the menu. Now she only wants red.”
The city guard laughed and then sighed. “Tell you what,” he began.
As he spoke, Rerdas felt a jolt. Someone leapt up onto the cart.
The guard’s voice came from almost directly above his hiding place.
“If one of these barrels were to fall off your cart accidentally, I might be moved to give you a pass for the gate.”
He kicked the barrel beside Rerdas’s.
Rerdas stuffed his knuckles into his mouth to keep from making a sound. Squeezed his eyes shut.
“Hey there,” the guard said, “this one’s lid is loose.”
Rerdas’s head snapped back, and he looked up at the tiny crack of light around the rim of the barrel. If they caught him, it was back to the Wishing Well. Back to Hize. He felt the invisible touch of a rough glove scraping down his spine. He’d rather the guard kill him right there.
“Oh, it only looks that way,” the female driver drawled. “You didn’t hear this from me, friend, but the best of the batch is on top. We brought a taster of aged mead. In a honey-oak cask. It’ll fetch you many fine evenings, or a heavy bar of onyx if that’s what you’re after.”
“This here?” Boots tromped away from Rerdas’s barrel, and the guard’s voice traveled from the back of the cart.
Rerdas closed his eyes again and breathed shakily into the back of his hand. His eyes stung.
“That’s the one,” the driver said.
“Alright. Give me a moment.” There was a clunk, and then the thud of the guard jumping back to the ground, weighted with the cask.
He collapsed to the bottom of his barrel. His shoulder throbbed like a second heartbeat.
When the guard returned, he was ahead of the cart, and his words were too indistinct for Rerdas to hear.
But all thanks to the Eternals, they were moving again, a slow forward roll that seemed to last for two or three lifetimes.
Rerdas held his breath until the barrels rattled on the rocking cart.
They were picking up speed, the horses trotting on the open road. They had escaped Kirinoll.
***
The motion of the cart swerved and slowed.
One driver gave him a warning tap against the lid of the barrel, just as they’d done each time they’d stopped to let him out long enough to relieve himself and wolf down some food.
It always felt, when they first looked in, as though they expected him to be dead.
Fresh air and twilight poured in from above, and Rerdas tilted his head back, his chest heaving. “Come on out,” the male driver said. “This is as far as we go.”
Unsticking himself from the inside of the barrel was a painful process. Once he was free, Rerdas struggled to stand. His muscles had tightened to a nearly unbearable degree. The throbbing pain in his shoulder was enough to leave him dizzy.
The driver steadied him and then went to Etiana. He plucked the lid off her barrel, and Rerdas leaned over the rim, hands outstretched.
“Rerdas,” Etiana said. “Where are we this time?” She was curled up at the bottom of the immense barrel, squinting even in the dim light.
“Get her out quickly,” the female driver hissed. “There’s no story that can make this sound proper if someone sees her climbing from a fucking barrel.”
Grimacing, Rerdas grabbed one of Etiana’s forearms and hauled her upward.
He could barely use his other arm, and it dangled uselessly at his side.
The male driver tilted the barrel with his foot so Etiana could slither out of it, one hand fluttering down to protect her wounded ankle.
Gods, it had swollen to twice the size it ought to be. They were both in dire need of a medic.
The woman clambered down and stored the recently vacated barrels back among the others. Rerdas left Etiana sitting stone-faced beside the cart and trailed after the man as he checked the knots on his ropes.
“What do we do now?”
“Afraid we can’t help you much further.”
“Where are we exactly?”
“Just west of Nishali, in the Midlands.” The driver paused, glancing at him.
“You and your lady there might be alright, so long as you don’t attract no attention.
You’ve still got time before the Guard decides you got out of the city, and then the news will hit the roads. Be sure you make it before then.”
“Make it where?” Rerdas wheeled around to take in the tufts of trees and empty fields, all blurred by a shroud of evening mist.
The man gave him a look as though it should be obvious and climbed back to the driver’s perch. “To the Southern Felds. Their territory starts where the trees take over.”
The thought of sneaking into the famed jungles when they were both as weak as they were was absurd. Nonsensical. A fever dream. And yet somehow, their only way forward.
“Listen.” The female driver glanced at the road behind them and leaned toward them as the cart began to move.
“Keep off the main roads and get new clothing as soon as you can. This close to the Southern Felds, folk around here aren’t likely to report you to the Guard.
But once word is out, there’ll be some who will turn you in for a sliver of onyx. Be wary.”
She said something else, but the cart slid beyond the cousins, and Rerdas could only lift his hand in thanks.
Empty vineyards radiated out from the road on either side. He stepped off the road into the rich earth. He found a loose piece from a vineyard trellis and brought it back to his cousin.
Etiana hoisted herself up and propped the trellis beneath her arm like a crutch. Rerdas tore a bit of fabric from his sleeve to make a cushion at the top.
“This might help a bit,” he said, indicating the crutch. He sounded as though he were trying to convince himself. “And”—he fished out the small purse Hassindra had thrown into his barrel—“the princess left us with a bit of onyx. If we can get into town, we can find a medic.”
Etiana gave him a broad smile and shook her head. “Never thought I’d say it, but may the gods above and below bless that madwoman princess. Let’s go.”
They turned towards the town ahead, walking down the long line of vineyards. Around them, night descended. Together, they limped into the outskirts of Nishali with darkness at their backs.