Aerenden The Child Returns Page 11

  He handed the root back to Nick.

  “You didn’t take the bark off,” Nick told him. “I thought it was poisonous.”

  “It’s not. It’s the most concentrated part of the root. The Healers say it’s poisonous because swallowing it can have hallucinogenic properties, and because too much can be deadly. But it’s useful in some situations. Just don’t tell anyone I taught you that trick and don’t ever use more than half a thimble’s full.”

  “Good to know.” Nick put the root away. “How far are we from where we can teleport? I think we need to—”

  “Teleport?” Meaghan interrupted. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. Nick and Cal looked fuzzy. “You mean like Star Trek?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Cool.” She grinned, and then realized her leg had stopped hurting. “So you’re from space.”

  “Uh….yeah,” Nick responded. He narrowed his eyes at her before turning a censuring look on Cal. “What did you do to her?”

  “I took her pain away,” Cal responded. Meaghan giggled and he tapped her on the arm. “Sit up all the way, please. I need to set your leg.”

  “Won’t it hurt?”

  “You won’t feel much,” he promised. When she did not move, he took her arm and pulled her into a sitting position. “Brace her,” he told Nick. “And give me your backpack.”

  Nick handed the bag over and sat behind her, scooting her between his legs. She flopped back against him, giggling again.

  “Do you think maybe you gave her too much?” Nick asked.

  “Not at all,” Cal responded. He opened the backpack and pulled out the first aid kit. Removing gauze, tape, and a small pair of scissors from the plastic container, he set them by his side. “That’s what happens when you chew the root, which reminds me,” he held out his hand, palm side up. “You’ve had enough. Take it out of your mouth.”

  Meaghan shook her head. She felt too good. She did not want to let go of that yet.

  “Meaghan,” Cal warned, his tone stern as her father’s had been when she was a child. She frowned. “Now,” he added and she did as he asked. She spit the root into his palm. He sighed, tossed it aside, and then wiped his hand on his pants. “I guess it’s obvious why we’re not supposed to use it that way.”

  “I guess so,” Nick muttered. Meaghan lifted her fingers to touch his cheek, stopping when his hand met hers. “I’ve never seen her like this.”

  Cal chuckled. “It’s the bark, and it’s only an initial effect. It’s flooded her system so it mimics drunkenness, but it’ll wear off soon. I need to get this done before it does. Do you have a good hold on her?”

  Nick brought his arms around her and nodded. Cal began working, cutting a length of wood from one side of the torch with a pocketknife before setting the torch and wood aside. Feeling along her leg, he pressed to gauge the extent of the break. Although the pain was not severe, she jerked, and then quickly forgot about it. She watched, fascinated, as Cal placed his hands on the wound and snapped the bone back into place. Needles ripped into her awareness. She inhaled a sharp breath and tried to push away from him.

  “Nick, keep her still,” Cal commanded. “I have to finish this.”

  Nick tightened his arms, locking her against him. She struggled, and then went limp. Tears coursed down her cheeks. “It’s all right,” he whispered when she whimpered. “It’s almost over. Hold on.”

  Cal quickened his pace. He wrapped the wound in gauze, and then laid the stick against her leg to brace the bone before immobilizing it with another layer of gauze. He secured the bandage with tape before leaning back to examine his work.

  “It’s not bad,” he decided. “I’m sure a Healer could do better, but it only has to last a few hours.”

  “It’s better than most people could do,” Nick agreed. He released his tight hold on Meaghan, but did not let her go.

  “How are you feeling?” Cal asked her.

  “Loopy,” she responded. She smeared the moisture from her cheeks with her palms. “I think it hurts, but I don’t care.”

  Nick sighed. “You may not care, but your body does.” He addressed Cal. “She’s in enough pain for me to feel it. I’m glad she doesn’t recognize it. Where did you learn to use jicab that way?”

  “From your mother. She taught it to me during the Zeiihbu War. It came in handy more than once during battles.” Cal put the supplies away and zipped up the backpack. “So what’s Star Trek?”

  “It’s something they have on the televisions on Earth, kind of like a weekly short play.”

  “No kidding? I didn’t realize they knew about teleporting.”

  “They do but they think it’s fake, and when they pretend to do it, they don’t do it the same way we do.”

  “What do you do then?” Meaghan asked. “Can I do it too?”

  “Only when you’re with a Guardian,” Nick answered. “Teleporting is like using a portal, but Guardians can do it by themselves. It’s one of our powers. We can travel from one spot to another within a limited distance.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”

  “Then why are we walking?” She crossed her arms in front of her. “Why don’t we teleport to your village?”

  “I wish we could,” he answered. “The Mardróch can sense the signature trail teleporting leaves behind and they can follow it. We’d be caught right away. The only way to do it safely is in a large group where everyone is going somewhere different. It mixes up the teleporting signatures so the Mardróch can’t follow them.”

  Puzzled, Meaghan looked to Cal, then back at Nick. “But we’re a group.”

  Nick chuckled. “Not quite a big enough group I’m afraid.”

  “There’s another way,” Cal told them. “These caves prevent the Mardróch from sensing the signature. It has something to do with the crystals, I think. There are caves like this all through the underground in this part of the kingdom. Provided you teleport from one to the other, the Mardróch will never catch you. We can jump from here to one closer to the village.”

  “Let’s do that now,” Nick decided. He nodded toward the bruises and cuts on Cal’s arms. “I think you should come to the village with us. It wouldn’t hurt you to have a Healer look at you.”

  “He’ll come. He’s in pain too,” Meaghan muttered. Leaning back, she rested her head against Nick’s chest. “And he feels love and excitement when you mention the village. There’s someone there.”

  “No use hiding anything from her,” Cal responded with a lopsided grin. “I guess it’s a good assumption she isn’t focusing on your power anymore.” He handed Nick the backpack and picked up the torch. “Ready?” he asked, then without waiting for a response, he placed his empty hand on Meaghan’s back and for the second time in short memory, her world dissolved into white.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A SECOND cave appeared around Nick, its size and layout so close to the first he wondered for a moment if Cal had been unable to make the teleport. Similar crystals flashed brilliant light from nearly every surface. Large boulders of the same size and shape lined the walls. Even the dirt floor seemed to be the exact shade of the floor in the cave they had left behind. But unlike the first cave, a single beam of yellow sunlight descended from the ceiling, painting a circle in the center of the room. Cal moved to one wall to study the boulders and Nick stood, drawing Meaghan up with him.

  “There’s a tunnel to the outside,” Cal told him. “We’ll need to crawl through it.”

  “Can you manage it?” Nick asked Meaghan. She wobbled her head and he took it as a nod. “Where is it?” he asked Cal.

  “It’s,” Cal paused, took a step forward and pointed to a boulder on the far wall, “there.” The boulder slid away from the wall, revealing a small opening.

  Nick crossed the floor toward it, but Meaghan did not move. “Meg,” he said. “We need to get to the village.”

  Her eyes widene
d and she shook her head.

  He sighed. “Look, Meg, I know you’re under the influence of the jicab, but you have to—”

  “It stinks,” she interrupted. She tore her eyes from the hole, bringing them around to meet his. The cloudiness he had seen in them after Cal had given her the jicab root had started to clear. “They’re coming,” she said and turned to Cal. “Close it. Quick. They’re not far.”

  Cal raised an eyebrow at Nick. “Do it,” Nick responded to Cal’s unspoken question. “Now!” he insisted when Cal hesitated.

  Cal flicked his hand and the boulder slid back into place. Nick slipped his arm around Meaghan’s waist. She shook. He walked her to a nearby boulder and sat her down, then he focused his power on sensing what she feared, but found no danger.

  “I don’t feel them,” he told her. “Are you sure of what you sensed?”

  She nodded. “They smell terrible.”

  “Smell?” Cal asked. He moved in front of her, crouching down to study her face. “Did you swallow any of the root?”

  “No,” she said. “You told me not to.”

  He turned to Nick, frowning. “I’m not sure I believe her. I think she’s hallucinating.”

  “She’s not. It’s how her power translates Mardróch emotions.” Nick’s eyes trailed to the circle of sunlight on the floor then up to the hole that allowed light through the mountain. He pointed to it. “Can you use the hole to see outside?” he asked. “We need to know if they’re here.”

  “Sure. I can use smoke from the torch. I don’t see the point in it though. We’re not sensing them.”

  “Do it, please. I’ll explain later.”

  Cal shrugged and walked to the center of the room. He held the torch under the hole. The fire blazed, emitting a thick smoke, which turned opaque as it neared the ceiling. It floated up the hole, escaping into the sky in a long, continuous trail. Cal narrowed his eyes. “Turn around, twist and ride; seek to see what others hide. Around the bend, now there’s a friend, around the wall, tell me all.”

  “He’s singing,” Meaghan whispered to Nick. “He did that when he first spoke to me in the woods. Why? He doesn’t normally.”

  “It’s a focusing technique Guides learn in school,” Nick responded. “Most of them stop using it once they graduate, but Cal finds it helps him concentrate sometimes.”

  “Quiet,” Cal said, turning his head to cast an irritated scowl in their direction. The smoke waned. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”

  “Sorry,” Nick muttered.

  “Past the mountain, round the trees,” Cal recited, trying again. “Show the way if you please. To the village, do as I say. Don’t let the breeze make you stray.” The smoke thickened again. Cal closed his eyes. Silence filled a minute and then another before he opened his eyes again and the smoke disappeared. “I’ll be damned.”

  “You saw them?” Nick asked.

  “Yes.” He set the torch on the ground, and then waved his hand over it. It dimmed to gold embers. “There are about ten of them. It’s a hunting party. They’re in the field looking, but they won’t find it.”

  “Find what?”

  Meaghan leaned forward and answered. “The village. His words don’t match his emotions. He’s afraid they’ll find it. He’s worried about her.”

  “Stop that,” Cal snapped. “You’re not helping.” He clutched his hands behind his back and cursed. “You need to teach her to control her power, Nick, or at least to control her tongue. I don’t like having someone announcing what I feel all the time.”

  “She didn’t mean—”

  Cal ignored Nick and turned on Meaghan. “Just because you have a rare power doesn’t mean you can say what you please. I know plenty about you I shouldn’t, but I don’t announce it. And just because you’re—”

  “Enough!” Nick stood to square off with Cal. “You have no right to talk to her like that. The jicab root’s effecting her actions and you’re the one who gave it to her, so deal with it.” He held his position long enough for Cal to gauge his anger, then turned back to Meaghan, kneeling in front of her. Her face remained still, but shame flushed her cheeks a light shade of pink and held her eyes to the floor. He took her hands in his.

  “I’m sorry, Cal,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to say it.”

  Cal sighed and sat down next to her. Draping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against him, and then tucked a knuckle under her chin, lifting it so she would look at him. “Nick’s right. It’s the jicab root talking. And you’re right too. I’m worried. I’m taking it out on you, that’s all. I should be the one to apologize.”

  “Or we could forget about it,” she offered with a smile. “I’m sure I won’t remember it in ten minutes anyway.”

  Cal laughed, squeezing her shoulder before letting her go. “It’s a deal. I suspect we’ll be here a while. Why don’t you sleep while Nick and I figure out what to do?”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Nick said before she could object. He knew she would want to help, but he doubted Cal would be able to tolerate her jicab-influenced state much longer. The worry on the man’s face grew with every minute.

  Meaghan frowned, and folded her hands in front of her, but she nodded. Nick removed the blanket from the backpack and spread it out in a corner of the cave. Laying the backpack at one end of it, he picked her up and set her on the blanket. “We’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”

  She offered him a crooked smile as she stretched across the blanket and settled the backpack under her neck as a pillow. Reaching a hand up, she traced her fingers along his cheek, then pressed her fingertips against his lips. “I liked what you did with these, you know. It felt good.” She removed her hand, bringing it to her own mouth to stifle a yawn, and then closed her eyes. A moment later, her breathing deepened in sleep.

  Nick took a moment to erase the excitement her words and touch had brought him before turning to face Cal. He could not tell if the man’s half-smile and owlish expression stemmed from censure or curiosity, but he did not care. They had more important things to discuss.

  He crossed the room to sit on another boulder and waited for Cal to join him. “Is the village in danger?”

  Cal shrugged. “They have the standard protection. They should be fine.”

  “Yet you’re still worried.”

  Cal nodded. “The Village at Three Points was destroyed last week.”

  Nick hissed in a breath. “There’s no reason Garon would’ve wanted that village. It had nothing to offer him.”

  “Morgan’s daughter was stationed there. Things have changed in the time you were gone, Nick. Garon isn’t only targeting people with strong powers. He’s targeting specific people to prove a point. No one is safe from him.”

  “I take it a traitor lived within the Village at Three Points.”

  “There seem to be more of them every day.” Cal tightened his hands into fists and stared down at them. “Garon has become aggressive in his recruiting. Some sway to promises of power. Others fear torturous deaths. He’s left enough bodies behind to serve as examples of what he can do to those who refuse him.”

  “It only takes a single person inside the village to let the Mardróch in,” Nick said.

  Cal nodded again and stood. He walked to the center of the room, and then glanced up at the hole. “I wonder if I should look again. Maybe there’s a way to sneak around them.”

  “I can’t take the chance with Meg.”

  “You’re right,” Cal said and rejoined Nick on the rock. “It was a stupid suggestion.”

  He clutched his hands together in front of him, and then leaned over his knees, and Nick could not ignore the nervousness in the gesture. Cal, the unshakable mountain, trembled.

  “Who is she?” Nick asked.

  “Her name’s Neiszhe,” Cal answered and drew his hands under his chin. “She’s beautiful. She’s smart, kind, and I don’t know why she puts up with a fool like me.” He smiled. “Maybe it’s because we don’t se
e much of each other. She hasn’t had the time to get sick of me yet. The Mardróch are relentless about finding me and I don’t want to put the village at risk.”

  “You love her,” Nick guessed. “Are you wed?”

  “It happened soon after we met. From the start, I had no doubt she was for me.” Cal sat up straight. His hands tightened in his lap. “I can’t lose her, Nick. With this war, with the Mardróch after me, I worry every day I will.”

  Nick lifted a hand to squeeze Cal’s shoulder. He wanted to offer words of comfort, but he knew they would be false. In this world, fear belonged to everyone and no person could guarantee who would live to see tomorrow. Death was the unvarying consequence of war. It left no one free of its numbing grasp. Nick had learned that firsthand at too young of an age.

  “Listen to me carrying on,” Cal said, standing up. “She’s safe now. I have to focus on that. I’m going to check on the Mardróch.” He picked up the torch again, then extended his arm to hold it below the hole. His lips moved, uttering silent words and the fire flamed again. A few minutes later, he set the torch down again. “No change.”

  “We’ll set out as soon as they’re gone,” Nick promised, “even if it’s in the middle of the night.”

  Cal sat back down. “It’s a good thing she sensed them or we would be dead now.”

  “I know,” Nick said. Meaghan stirred in the corner, and then settled again. He watched her, waiting for her breathing to resume a deep rhythm before continuing. “Her powers are getting stronger. She couldn’t sense them this far away when we crossed over.”

  “It’s expected,” Cal told him. “Our powers stem from the world. She’s growing accustomed to being here and opening up to more power as a result.”

  Nick tore his eyes away from Meaghan to focus on Cal. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. It’s not anything you did.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You do,” Cal said. “You forget I was watching you through the rain. I saw everything.”