Chapter 13
“YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING,” Aven said for the thousandth time as we hobbled toward Ashin.
And for the thousandth time I considered ditching both them and Farrah and limping into Ashin on my own.
Because yes, I should have told them that I’d been exposed to the toxin.
I had been hoping to use the little vial that hung around my neck when they weren’t looking.
But the two of them hovered like mother hens, and I did not want to explain how I was in possession of a magic potion, when I so obviously despised mages and couldn’t share that I was friends with an ancient magical creature without blowing my cover, since I’d supposedly offed him years ago.
It was all too sticky, and I was too tired to come up with some feasible untruth.
Also, the thought of racking up another lie was uncomfortable, especially with Aven so close.
Farrah scoffed delicately.
“What?” Aven asked, voice gruff and right next to my ear. One of the many disadvantages of hanging between the two of them as they supported me on our walk, other than not being able to take the potion, was that I was literally stuck in the middle of their bickering.
Farrah shot a look at them over my head. “Oh… nothing.” She smiled in a way that looked as if she was trying for sweet, but the smugness was too strong to camouflage.
“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” they countered.
She feigned innocence. “I was merely agreeing with you. We shouldn’t keep secrets from one another.”
Ha! If she only knew.
Aven’s shoulders stiffened under my arm. They glared at her, their blue eyes gleaming dagger sharp, but said nothing.
Okay. Well. I guess we were completing the remainder of this journey in awkward silence. Which, honestly, was better than the arguing.
“By the way,” Farrah continued, and I bit back a groan. So much for silence. “Who knew Ellinore the Brave could wield a staff as well as a sword?”
“Well, you pick up skills as you go,” I said. Which was true. Like knowing when to bargain and when to run away.
“It’s unfortunate you didn’t have your sword. I really could’ve witnessed Ellinore the Brave in action! Those salamanders wouldn’t have known what hit them.” She raised her arm, miming a sword. “With a whack and a swoosh and a stab and a—”
I stopped abruptly, jolting Aven to a halt as well, my heels sliding in the grass. My stomach plummeting at her insinuation that I would hurt or kill the fire salamanders for the crime of protecting their children and their own territory. I opened my mouth, then closed it, unsure of what to say.
“Do you need a rest?” Aven asked.
I nodded quickly, and they guided me to a large, flat rock and helped lower me to sit.
I stretched out my injured leg and winced.
The fancy hem of Farrah’s cloak had been ripped off and was now tied tightly above my knee to keep the toxin from traveling any farther upward.
A bandage, also made from Farrah’s cloak, covered the wound, though it didn’t do much.
From the tourniquet down, my leg tingled unpleasantly, like a thousand little pins and needles poked into my skin.
It wasn’t enjoyable by any means, but I’d experienced worse.
Aven sat on the ground next to me as I rested, while Farrah pretended her staff was a sword and made clanging and whooshing noises as she danced around.
“We could still leave her in Ashin,” Aven muttered.
But that was not what was on my mind by any means. “I wouldn’t have killed the fire salamanders,” I blurted.
Farrah suddenly stopped, the remainder of her cloak swishing around her. Her full eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “What do you mean?”
I glanced to Aven, who appeared just as intrigued.
I licked my dry lips. “We encroached on them. What happened was our fault. That doesn’t warrant a whack and a stab and a whatever.”
“But you’ve killed beings before. The Ursa. The manticore. The Golden Dragon.”
Ack. Right. The toxin must have gone to my head for me to forget that Farrah had been singing the ballads the whole way and that Aven was reporting back to their uncle, who could easily throw me in a dungeon.
“That was for quests!” I said quickly. “That’s different.”
Farrah appeared even more bewildered. “But—”
“If you hadn’t tried to pet one of them,” Aven broke in, “Ellinore wouldn’t have needed to use her sword or your staff in the first place. So maybe pay attention to what Ellinore the Brave says.”
I couldn’t look at Aven. I couldn’t let them see the surprise painted on my face, or the heat in my cheeks, so I ducked my head.
Farrah huffed. “Fine.”
“It doesn’t matter what I would’ve done with my sword anyway,” I said, awkwardly pushing the conversation in another direction. “You wield a staff, which is very different.”
“I do…,” she said, drawing out the vowel.
“And did Sir Pellam teach you anything other than how to whack and bludgeon?”
Once again Farrah appeared confused. “What else would he teach me?”
Aven sighed dramatically. I ignored them.
“If you come across a human wearing armor, or a creature with natural armor like a griffin, a staff isn’t going to land a significant enough blow to neutralize them, no matter how much force you put behind it.”
Farrah stared at the staff in her hands. “So what would I do?”
“Hope one of your travel companions uses a bow and arrow,” Aven quipped.
I knocked my good foot into their leg, then continued. “You’ll have a longer reach, so it will be easy enough to deflect their attack, disarm them if you can, and if you are alone, without a quest companion with a bow or a sword… flee.”
She blinked. “That doesn’t seem very… brave.”
Great. “Well, if the choices are to be brave and dead or smart and alive, I’m going to choose the latter.” I heaved myself to my feet, annoyed and done with the interaction.
I took a step and immediately stumbled, my leg achingly weak, but Aven jumped up and caught me before I hit the ground. They slung my arm over their shoulders and gripped my waist. “I’ve got you,” they said, voice low.
Swallowing my overwhelming embarrassment and the sudden lump in my throat, I choked out a subdued “Thank you.” Then I added, “Please do not put this in your account to the king. I have a reputation to uphold.”
Aven chuckled. “No promises.”
“Fine. But come on,” I said, hobbling forward. “We’re wasting time.”
Farrah joined on my other side, her face flushed and her countenance somber. As we started back on our path, Aven didn’t say a word, as if reminding them of our quest had sapped the humor out of the situation. Neither spoke or argued; they merely supported me as we continued on our path.
Huh. Maybe we would complete the rest of the route in awkward silence.
With one arm slung over Aven’s shoulders and the other over Farrah’s, I hobbled along until we staggered into the town as dusk was falling.
Ashin was about the size of Traveler’s Rest, maybe slightly smaller. Which was good, because we found Main Street and a number of taverns within minutes.
With a grunt, I slid my arm from Farrah’s shoulders and hopped over toward the rowdiest tavern, pulling Aven along with me until I settled against the wall of the building. I used Farrah’s staff to steady me, then I gestured to the door.
“Zig is in there.”
“How do you—” Farrah asked, eyebrows pinched together.
“I just know. Okay? Trust me. It sounds exactly like his kind of place.” I yawned, covering my mouth with my grubby fingers. “Please find him so I can sleep.”
“Will you be okay out here by yourself?” Aven asked.
I gave them my best withering glare. It must have worked, because they shrugged and went inside.
Farrah followed, slipping through the crack of the door with her hands up as if she was afraid to touch anything.
Huh. No fear when she wanted to pet a creature that could kill us, but touching a doorknob was too much.
I wondered if she’d never been in a tavern before.
She was noble, after all. Well, it was a day of new experiences for everyone.
Hopefully, the two of them would be occupied for a few minutes, so I could fix myself.
I pulled the vial from beneath my shirt and eyed the magic liquid in the light of the streetlamps that had already been lit for the evening.
Despite the ornateness of the vial, the stopper was a plain cork.
I swished the potion to ensure it was adequately mixed (because who knew how long it had been in Dave’s secret stash), pulled the top off with a pop, and touched the dripping cork to my tongue.
The relief was instantaneous.
The tingles immediately ceased, and the respite from pain was so quick, I went light-headed.
Feeling returned to my foot, and for the first time in hours, I could feel my toes when I wiggled them.
I untied the strip of Farrah’s cloak from around my leg, which helped to release the rush of blood and potion throughout my body, and I sagged heavily against the post. My shoulder ceased hurting from the strain of saving Aven, and my headache immediately eased.
“He’s not here. The barmaid said he’d left. I don’t know why you insisted on continuing to look.”
“Didn’t you literally tell me to not question Ellinore? She said he’d be in here, and I wanted to be thorough…”
Their arguing drifted from the door, and I hastily plugged the vial and slipped it back under my tunic, right as they walked out.
“Are you okay?” Aven asked immediately, seeing me slumped against the post and admittedly a little loopy from both the potion and the pain relief.
“I’m amazing.” Ha. Perhaps a lot loopy.
Aven looked me up and down, noticing that the fabric was now in my hand instead of tied above my knee. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Ellinore,” they said, hands on their hips, their tone dripping with disapproval, “didn’t we just have a long discussion about telling us things that are important?”