35. Village Visit
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Village Visit
Istruggled to balance on the horse they offered. Cassiel wanted me to have Abrax, but the horse was too large and expensive to keep me inconspicuous.
“I do not know how you handle that man,” Tabby muttered. She rode sidesaddle, balancing with ease, her elaborate gown arranged around her. Upon setting eyes on her, one would think she was an Elite blueblood, and I her redblood servant.
I huffed. “With no choice,” I said louder than necessary. I knew he traveled nearby along the path we trod. Tabby did not know just how little choice I had. Every agreement, every interaction was a deal of some sort.
‘Do not take long. Shout for me if you need me. I will be near.’ Cassiel said into my mind. He must be retreating if these were his last words to me. It meant he would not be within distance to allow him to speak into my mind.
“I have the path memorized after Archer repeated the plan to me.” Tabby rolled her eyes. “There is a spot entering the pathway to the market where we can leave our horses. The satchel pocket has a few coins for you to offer the boy that will watch them.”
I patted the decently sized satchel I hung across my shoulder. It was larger than the one I had toted the grimoire in. I quickly found the pocket inside along the side.
“We arrive,” Tabby said, straightening her spine and lifting her chin. She’d perfected the haughty role of a lady.
The path branched to the left, the cobblestones smoother, and the wheat stalks chopped at waist length. A sprawling village lay before us. I kept behind Tabby, scanning the surroundings. A few shops scattered about. A soap seller, a dress seller, and another shop labeled All Things Steeds.
Within the entrance of an alley, a woman dressed in red held an arrow directing customers deeper through the village. A clear signal for a brothel.
We crossed a few inns, and Tabby took a left again.
Before us was a stretch of a market. Tabby guided her horse to the empty spot beside the line of others.
I navigated the horse I rode beside hers and dismounted, quickly so I could come to her side and help her down.
A behavior I had seen firsthand. The Bjorns tended to ride in the carriage, so it was similar to that.
“Ma’am,” a youthful boy said, tipping his tweed cap. His grin showed a missing front tooth.
“We are here for some provisions before continuing our journey, so we will not be long,” I said as I grasped the coin. “You get the rest when we return and they are well kept.”
The boy grunted, taking the coin from my hand and biting the gold. Satisfied that it was real, he inclined his head and turned to tend to the couple waiting beside their horses.
Tabby already stood beside the entrance, waiting for me.
I hurried to her side and kept my shoulders rounded forward.
I followed her to the third stand where there was an old woman sitting.
A shawl hugged her shoulders, and she clasped the front of it in one hand, holding it with her age-spotted hand.
Tabby hummed over the herbs on the surface. “I would like some mint leaves, and . . .” she trailed off, scanning. “What was the other piece I needed?” she asked me.
“Crystallized salt, my lady.”
“Yes, crystallized salt.”
The old woman was already packing it. My eye caught on a brown root with small spikes coming out of it.
“Oh, my lady, do not forget the burgadom root.”
“As my servant says,” Tabby announced, waving her hand about. “Triple the dosages.”
“Yes, my lady,” the old woman crowed, collecting everything into different pouches. I peeked at Tabby. She had gone off-script. We were to request only one of everything to not be too suspicious. “It will be two gold coins.”
I grabbed them and placed them in her palm. She handed over the first pouch full of mint leaves. I put the thick pouch at the bottom and stacked the other two items beside it.
Lady Tabby was already walking away. I thanked the old woman and hurried after Tabby.
“You are much too good at behaving like an Elite.”
She scoffed. “Well, I have a great reference. Earl Archer Andor was an ass when I was first assigned to him.”
I pursed my lips to hide my smile.
A few stalls down, we found a doctor’s stall. He offered a quick examination, and atop his table were already made salves. Tabby met my eyes.
“If there is a healing one, it is worth trying.” I kept my voice even.
She nodded and strode over.
“My lady, can I interest you in an examination?”
“No, good sir, I search for a healing salve.”
I scanned the surface. What caught my eye was a box behind the stall. There were familiar jars inside.
“I do have an alchemical healing salve.” His smile turned smarmy. “But it will cost you a pretty coin.”
“Her affianced has injured himself while he was harvesting stalks. The blade cut along his leg. We do not want him scarred.”
The doctor only spared me a look at my explanation and turned his smiles to Tabby. “Fifty gold coins and it is all yours.”
She drew straight. “A small fortune,” she scoffed.
We had not even brought that much.
It was theft. Awful theft. Besides us, this doctor took advantage of all the other villagers. It would be six moon rotation’s worth of savings.
“If you change your opinion, I will be here.” He was much too smarmy.
“Let us continue,” Tabby announced, turning her back. “Come.”
I followed her, walking along. We crossed cotton sheets, a dress alteration stall, and a fur blanket vendor.
While walking and observing, my mind was otherwise occupied with the passage I had recently read about bondmates.
The bondmate tie is not whole until it is sealed.
The binding is made by choice, and by choice alone.
Two tethers drawn into one.
The Omega makes the final claim; by her mark, the bond is bound.
Thus is the union made whole, as it was meant to be.
The first part was what had me so intent. The bondmate tie was not complete, I had known it in my stomach. Was that the reason Cassiel continued to be weakened by keeping me alive? He had not mentioned anything of the sort.
Tabby selected potato seeds. I paid and placed the package in the satchel with all the other items.
I kept the information to myself.
Screaming erupted through the market. A swarm of villagers began to run in the direction we had come. Tabby and I moved to the side, watching the rush.
One woman continued screaming, her hand missing entirely, leaving behind jagged flesh dripping blue blood. A man half-dragged her.
“Run!” The screams continued, blending with the warnings. Another voice screamed, “Hollows!”
“That is impossible. It is dawnlight,” I whispered. Tabby grasped my hand.
Panic clamped around my throat. Tabby’s fear-filled eyes snapped me to the present. Cassiel was near; he would not allow anything to happen. I grasped both her hands. “Go back to the horses,” I ordered.
She shook her head. “What about you?”
“Cassiel will come for me. I am going to filch the healing salve.”
“I will go with you,” she claimed, lifting her chin.
I did not have time to argue. I cut to the left, through a fruit stand that stood abandoned. As soon as we were on the other side, the creatures came into view.
They swarmed the area, feeding on felled bodies.
They were smaller than the other Hollows I had seen.
The leathery bodies were squat to the ground, with six legs the length of my forearm.
The face was flat with two beady eyes at the top and razor-sharp teeth that easily tore into flesh.
One of them sank its teeth into a man’s ankle, and the man stopped thrashing, going unnaturally rigid.
“It is paralyzing them,” I gasped. I gripped her arm and forced her behind me. The box was in view. I grabbed the jar inside. A male hand lowered on mine and squeezed. I screamed.
“Release it, thief!” the doctor shouted in my face.
A stone hit the back of his head. He rounded toward Tabby and I threw myself at his arm before he hit her.
With his target gone, he turned and smashed his fist toward my face.
I raised an arm and it bore the brunt of his rage. Numbness spread to my fingers.
Suddenly, Tabby was lifted and carried off on a horse.
Archer!
The doctor shouted, swinging his fist at me. I ducked the blow aimed at my temple. I kicked my foot out and hit him between the legs. He paled and toppled over with a wheeze. I backed away, shoving the salve into the satchel.
‘There you are.’
I was mid-turn when Cassiel plucked me off the ground, Abrax not breaking stride as he pulled me across his lap. I panted, looking up at him. He was livid.
“Cassiel—”
“Not right now,” he bit out, piercing me with a furious glare.
It was not as if I had planned the attack. I whimpered, rubbing my arm where a fresh bruise spread along the length of my arm.
Screams continued to echo. I passed more villagers running, and a woman lay dead while a man dragged her, still sobbing. Another woman lost her footing, and one of the creatures latched onto her legs.
“You must help them,” I breathed.
He said nothing, continuing to ride at breakneck speed. The throb on my arm incrementally abated as I rubbed it. When I looked down, it was gone. Another scream wrenched through the market.
“Cassiel! It is your duty to help—”
“My duty,” he scoffed, a sneer curling his mouth. “I will not place you in danger. Everything—everyone else can go fuck itself.”
The harsh snarl left me mute. Cassiel pulled me against him, riding away.
Sobs burst from my mouth. All that death . . .
I remained numb, unable to feel how hard I shivered, but my teeth clacked with force. How was it possible that the Hollows were developing a new immunity to dawnlight? I could not help but feel as if it was proof of the realm decaying in some way.
Cassiel rode to the side, deep through the stalks. I swiped my palm across my face. Cassiel remained forward and focused. Onyx stained below his nose.
I gasped, reaching up without thought. He frowned down at me as I swiped his upper lip and rubbed the blood on my frock.
“Why are you bleeding?” Had he been struck before arriving?
Cassiel hummed. “It is the cost of what I am,” he said. “Necromancy leaves its mark. It is nothing to concern you.” The vague response gave me no answers.
“Did you raise someone from the dead?”
Cassiel only grunted. I would not get any more from him, so I turned my torso back forward.
“Amara!” Tabby gasped. Her shout reached through the fog clouding my mind. She swam within my vision, mounted before Archer.
Thank Saints she was okay.
“Let’s go. Now,” Archer bit out, and Cassiel pushed Abrax into following them deeper through the foliage.