Chapter 19 #2
When Lucian awoke, he found himself bound again, but this time in a warm room with soft lights, the walls painted with undulating patterns like waves.
The place felt unnaturally quiet, and when he sat up, even his movements felt muffled.
The monster girl was perched on another bed on the other side of the room, the cub curled up on a blanket sleeping soundly. Elver yawned hugely.
‘You’re awake, then.’
‘I am.’ Lucian frowned. ‘What is this place? I feel like my ears are full of cotton wool.’
‘It’s weird, isn’t it? The god Enos watches over this inn, and she casts a spell of quietness over it to help its patrons sleep better.’ She shifted on the bed. ‘I don’t like it. In the forest, you have to have your wits about you at all times. Artair though—he was straight off.’
‘It seems you’ve had a busy day. Every night, we are somewhere different.
What happened today?’ His eyes roamed over her, the room, the windows, seeking clues.
The girl looked even more watchful than usual.
‘The monk must be very glad of your company. Dear Artair wouldn’t survive a morning outside of his precious monastery without help. ’
The girl scowled at him, which was curious. ‘Nothing happened that you need to know about.’
‘You won’t even give me a fragment? Where did you get that cut on your neck?’ When she didn’t reply, he shrugged. ‘Elver, I’m tied up. You’re the only person I get to interact with. Who am I going to tell?’
She sighed. ‘We were caught by a priest in a town near here, and we were taken to a Temple of Trilot to be… cleansed. We escaped.’
Lucian chuckled, although he wasn’t quite as amused as he expected to be.
It seemed Elver and Artair were having some interesting adventures while he was locked away in the monk’s head.
‘Trilot? That old bastard. I was never fond of that grasping little cult, so convinced of their own superiority. Not to mention weirdly obsessed with purity. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were covering up some unpleasant stuff… ’ He trailed off.
‘You’ve remembered something,’ said Elver. ‘From your previous life. You disliked Trilot’s priests?’ She almost smiled. ‘Sounds like you had some sense, at least.’
‘That’s right. I hated Trilot,’ he said wonderingly.
‘And I didn’t care for the Lady Dusk either, too wishy-washy.
Imagine being a mage and having to collect poetry , of all things.
’ He blinked slowly. ‘It’s like I can almost feel how I used to feel, Elver.
Isn’t that extraordinary? I’ve spent these last years suspended in a kind of numbness, and now feeling is coming back.
Thanks to you, monster girl.’ He blinked again, then yawned. Elver yawned in response.
‘What do you think of the other gods?’ she asked. ‘Tisk, for example? The Hooded Crow?’
‘Both respectable enough,’ said Lucian. ‘In truth, Tisk is the very opposite of respectable, but trickery is as old as blood, and lies are on every human’s lips.
Powerful. And the Hooded Crow is too sombre for my tastes, but if ever there were a god that has his eye on all of us…
’ He trailed off, and yawned again. His eyes felt like they had weights attached, and it would be so easy, so good in fact, to lay down and sleep. So easy…
Lucian sat bolt upright, his heart tripping in his chest.
‘Gods damn this place, I’m falling asleep!
As though I’d give control back to that fool so easily.
’ He swung his legs down and stood up awkwardly, the bonds around his ankles nipping at his skin.
‘Is there somewhere we can go in this place that isn’t enchanted?
I need to stay awake. I need to remember more—if you’ll let me, Elver. ’
The girl rubbed an arm over her face and blinked rapidly.
‘As far as I know, the whole building exists under this sleep spell, but there is a hot spring in the garden at the back, and guests can bathe in it.’
‘A bath! If there’s one thing I am sure of, it’s that I used to enjoy a hot bath. Untie my bonds and I will swear you the same oath as before, Elver of the Jih Forest—allow me to recover more of myself and I will behave.’
For a few seconds she looked uncertain. When he’d asked, she’d spoken of the Temple of Trilot and their experience there as though it were nothing, but he wondered if it had alarmed her in a way she was trying to hide. He kept his face carefully neutral.
‘Fine,’ she said eventually. ‘The cub can stay here.’ She nodded to the cub, who had rolled over onto his back, four little legs sticking up in the air. Tiny fluting snores emanated from his direction. ‘He’s asleep anyway.’
The spring was a deep, round pool surrounded by large grey rocks and squat, twisted little trees with crimson leaves.
The water itself was cloudy, steam rising from it like white smoke.
There were no other guests around, and the only sounds were the buzzing of some late-night insects.
A handful of moths danced above it, entranced by the moon on the surface of the water.
Lucian pulled off his shirt and stripped down to his underclothes, before splashing up to his knees in the pool.
The heat was intense, and for a few moments his mind felt entirely blank.
How long since he’d felt this kind of warmth?
Certainly never in the chilly little cell in the monastery. Grinning, he turned back to Elver.
‘This is incredible. Are you coming in?’
The girl was looking at him oddly, and for the first time he became aware of his body. The monk had spent much of his life in training, leaving him lean and well muscled. Not my body , thought Lucian, but it’s not a bad one to be stuck with.
‘No,’ she said, looking away. ‘But you knock yourself out, I guess.’
He waded deeper into the pool until the hot water came up to his chest.
‘Ahhhhh. Now this is good. I feel awake again. Are you sure you won’t join me?’ He moved so that he was leaning against the rocks that circled the pool. ‘If you like, I won’t look until you’re safely in. The water is quite opaque.’
Elver came over to the edge. Did he imagine it or was there a faint blush to her bone-white cheek?
‘We have some hot springs in the Jih Forest,’ she said. ‘A lot of the jih like to swim there, especially in the winter.’
She sat down on the rocks and took off her muddy boots, before rolling up her heavily patched trouser legs.
When her feet were bare, she dangled them in the water.
Lucian, watching her, found himself wondering what she would look like in finer clothes.
He had the idea that once he had been very fond of silk and velvet, and he suspected her white hair would look especially striking against a rich burgundy gown.
Once she was settled, she held out her hand toward him.
‘If you want to seek out another memory, let’s do it,’ she said. ‘Before another guest turns up to use the spring. But I want you to tell me what you see this time.’
‘Why?’
She scowled at him, and he found to his surprise that he liked that fiery little spark in her eyes very much.
‘Satisfying my curiosity is the price you pay for retrieving your memories.’
‘In that case, it’d be my pleasure to satisfy you.’
He moved through the water towards her, but rather than taking her hand, he slipped his own around her bare foot, sliding his palm over the arch and cupping her heel. She jumped a little, not expecting the move, and then—
He was bound and on his knees. He was in a rocky place, blasted free of all vegetation, save for a tiny red root that sprouted between the rocks and boulders.
There was a sense of extreme danger, of failure and pain, and around him there were people that meant him harm…
No, that wasn’t quite right. They hoped that he would receive harm instead of them.
A woman came forward, holding a torch. She was older than him by decades, and she looked at him with open hate.
Red hair blew around her head like a flag of warning.
Lucian , she said, can you guess what happens next?
When he came back to himself, he was half on the edge of the pool, his lower legs dangling in the water. Elver looked like she’d been splashed herself; her clothes were sodden.
‘You slipped under the water when you touched me,’ she said. ‘I had to pull you out before you drowned, you idiot.’ She leaned back self-consciously, away from him. ‘What did you see?’
He pushed his dripping hair out of his face. ‘A woman with red hair. I think she wanted to kill me. I think… I think maybe she did kill me.’
Elver’s eyes grew very wide.
‘I think we should go back indoors.’