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Note: Okay, Myriad has been very, very, VERY bad. What’s it been, four months? (-smacks self-). I’m really sorry. Real life just went crazy. Really crazy. As in, surgeries and such. It’s not noticeably calmer now, but I’m going to make an effort to be more prompt all the same. I’ve been doing a lot with TWC, which is another reason why this has been so long in coming. Challenge 11 is up on TWC’s account, and while my story leaves much to be desired, the others are really quite good. Go check it out! Also, later today I will be posting Eternity Waits, which is the prequel to my submission for Challenge 12, so if you wouldn’t mind…that one is only a short story, so you don’t have to worry about lack of updates, and it stands on its own, so you shouldn’t be confused. Finally, my apologies for the fact that the writing in this chapter is hideous. Really, truly hideous. The beginning is okay, but after that…again, my apologies for all my misdemeanors.
Chapter
Seven:
Be Sure
to Get Enough Rest
When I awoke, my head was pounding so hard I thought it would surely implode. Every muscle in my body ached, and my hands were shaking badly.
My lady? I felt the pressure of small paws on my shoulder and stiffly turned my neck to face the creature, but couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. My lady, are you all right?
I feel like a wet noodle that’s been put through a meat grinder and then given to a pack of wolverines.
…Is there anything I can do to help? Dan’el sounded like he wasn’t sure whether to be amused or concerned or just plain confused. He’d probably never heard of a meat grinder or a noodle before.
Pouch…on my belt. S’posed to drink in water, but…
The paws left my shoulder and moments later I felt a small tug at my hip. This was followed by a series of harder tugs, accompanied by a pair of paws braced against my side as Dan’el tried to free the bag from my belt. It’s not working, my lady. Can you turn us back?
Us?
Lady Namu and Lady Eri are here as well. The others have fled.
I don’t know how, I thought stupidly.
Just think of us as we are normally. Hopefully your power will do the rest.
What power? I thought grumpily. But I tried anyway, thinking of Dan’el. Instantly there formed in my mind an image of a russet-colored fox with three tails and large blue-green eyes. No, that wouldn’t work. Carefully I replaced it with his human image—shaggy hair, long lashes, lean frame, large hands. Did it work?
“Yes, thank you, my lady. Ladies Namu and Eri are back to normal as well.”
“But I didn’t do anything to them…” I croaked.
“I think you didn’t have to. You turned us all to foxes at the same time—most likely you couldn’t turn one of us back without turning all of us.”
No more foxes… I thought idly, sinking again into darkness.
The calloused fingers paused in their rubbing of my palm. “My lady?” Dan’el asked. “You passed out again.”
“No shit,” I croaked, forcing myself to open my eyes.
His eyes widened. “You curse.”
“Don’t you?” I asked, feebly trying to sit up.
“Well, yes…but you’re a lady! You shouldn’t—”
“Damn shit fuck hell,” I recited tiredly. “I feel like crap and I’m going to tell the world.” I managed to get myself sitting up, only to flop sideways against Dan’el. “Whoops. Sorry.” I would have blushed if my face had not been already flushed with fever.
“You should lie down, my lady,” Dan’el said carefully, shifting me so that my shoulder wasn’t rammed into his solar plexus.
“M’not a lady,” I mumbled. “And I need to drink that dandelion stuff.” I leaned my forehead against the side of his neck and fumbled with the pouch on my belt.
“Let me,” he said gently, untying the pouch strings. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it) to do this he had to reach his arms around me.
Dan’el cleared his throat nervously. “Ahm…Namu and Eri have gone to search for water. There’s no snow this far south. Here.” He placed the open pouch in my lap, but didn’t remove his arms.
“Where are we, exactly?” I asked. Not that I knew enough about the Kingdoms to understand his answer, but it beat sitting in uncomfortable silence.
“I think we’re in Tarbainat, near the border with Lunaca.” In my mind there appeared a map of an egg-shaped continent. A vaguely mitten-shaped country in the southwest was sectioned off from the other fourteen kingdoms by a bold outline. A dot appeared near its northeast border. “I think we’re an hour or two north of the capital.”
“Are you doing that? The map, I mean,” I asked, sitting up to look at him. Then my balance failed and I flopped against him again. “Crap.”
“Do you always swear this much?” Dan’el asked, amused.
“Only when I feel this bad,” I sighed. Actually, the pain had faded while I was distracted by our conversation, but my loss of balance had brought it all back.
“Here.” Dan’el took my hand and began massaging it again.
“Thank you,” I yawned, burying my face in the crook of his neck. “I’m going to go to sleep again…” I mumbled.
“We’ll probably head for Rokkal—the capital. I’ll wake you when we get there,” he said gently.
I meant to ask him how he was going to get me to Rokkal if I was not awake, but fell asleep before I could.
“She holds great power, Aunt. Do not underestimate her,” said a voice I recognized as Dan’el’s.
“What did she do to end up so fatigued?” the other voice asked.
“She turned about a thousand people into foxes,” Dan’el replied. He sounded…admiring? Of me?
“And you say she only came into her power a week ago?”
“That is what Delia said, yes.”
“Amazing. You will not take her back to the King—Dan’el,” the voice said warningly, off some expression I hadn’t seen. “You can’t take her to the King.”
Dan’el sighed. “I must. I should. I—it is only by his grace that I live. But she doesn’t want to, and…well, somehow I feel like I’m supposed to help her.”
“Do you know,” his aunt said teasingly.
“It’s not like that!” Dan’el protested. “She’s going to save the world—the least I can do is help her.”
She laughed. “I know that. But it’s been so long since I’ve had a young man about to tease, I just can’t help myself.”
I shifted and opened my eyes to a room dimly lit by a branch of candles. “Where am I?” I asked hoarsely.
“This is the Inn of the Golden Tusk in Rokkal, capital of Tarbainat,” Dan’el said gently, taking my hand. “This is my aunt, Anna. She is the innkeeper.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Anna said with a smile. She was a short, plump woman with blue-green eyes like Dan’el’s and dark brown hair pulled into a knot at the base of her neck.
“Thank you for letting us stay here,” I said quietly. “I feel much better.”
“We’ve been burning dandelion weed, since we couldn’t get you to drink it,” Anna said, nodding to a dish on the nightstand that was smoking slightly.
“Thank you,” I said again.”
“Is there anything I can get you?” she asked.
“I’m hungry,” I said, suddenly realizing I was starving.
“I’m sure you are,” Anna said, her eyes twinkling. “I’ll bring you something.”
She returned soon with a tray holding bread, stew, and a steaming mug of what proved to be dandelion tea. Dan’el helped me sit up and I tucked in.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I’m supposed to find a sword, but other than that…”
“You have no idea where it is?”
“None at all,” I grumbled. “Your prophecy is most unhelpful.”
“Maybe it doesn’t need to be. I know where the sword is.”
I choked on a chunk of beef. “You do?”
Anna nodded. “I think so. You bear Tyler’s mark—foxes are sacred to him.”
“So?”
“This is Karsh’s country—the boar god,” she explained. “There are few foxes in any land but Lir, which is sacred to Tyler. But several miles south of Rokkal there is a stone monument bearing writings in the Old Tongue. Historical mages like me have been trying to read if for centuries. But they can’t—the monument is well protected. It is guarded by many-tailed animals as big as horses—huge foxes.”
“And you think that because it is Tyler who brought Lady Myriad here, the sword might be at the monument?” Dan’el asked.
“Yes. Hopefully she will be able to get past the foxes. At the very least, the monument may provide you with some clues as to where the sword is.”
“Sounds like a plan, I guess,” I sighed, settling back against the pillows. “I’m so tired…when do we leave?”
“Not tomorrow, certainly,” Anna said. “I had rather keep you here for a week, but I don’t think it’s wise…”
“The day after tomorrow, then?” Dan’el asked.
“Yes, that should give you all enough time to rest. Come with me, Dan’el. Let’s let our lady sleep.” Anna pulled the tray from my lap and bustled from the room. Dan’el helped me lie down again and made to leave.
“Wait,” I said, catching him by the hand. “Don’t go.”
“Yes?” He sat down again.
“I…wanted to thank you for not taking me back to the King.”
He shrugged, a little embarrassed. “I’ve spent much of my life around mages. I’ve found it’s impossible to force one’s will upon them.”
“You’re bigger and stronger than I am. I’m sure you would have found a way,” I said with a teasing smile.
“You deserve better than that. You’re capable of making your own decisions, ad you’ve a right to do as you wish.”
“Would that everyone felt that way,” I grumbled. I squeezed his hand. “You said you only lived by the King’s grace. Why?”
He looked away. “I’d prefer not to talk about it.”
“Oh. Sorry…” I pulled my hand away.
“That’s all right,” he said quietly, standing up. He crossed to the door, hesitated, and turned back to me. “My mother was a priestess of Mela. She’d taken vows of chastity, but…well, she fell in love. Normally the penalty for breaking her vows would have been death, but the high priestess was fond of my mother, and concealed the affair. But when I was born, she could ignore it no longer. My mother and father were executed, as I would have been had the high priestess not gotten the King to pardon me. That pardon must be reaffirmed by the new King, and His Majesty has yet to do so.”
“Oh,” I said softly. “But…why are you risking your life to help me?”
He smiled sadly. “I was born in defiance of the gods. My life is not worth much. Good night, my lady.”
Dan’el went to the markets of downtown Rokkal and returned around midday with new clothes for us all, as well as several short knives. Upon his return, Dan’el promptly took these last and dragged me to the yard for practice. When it was discovered I had little experience with a blade of any sort, the other pounced on me and spent the day teaching me any number of ways to separate a man from his life. Needless to say, by the time night fell, I was dirty, bruised, and not noticeably more skilled with my knife. I had never had so much fun in my life.
We went to bed cheerfully anxious of our task.
Stardust—The sparks are nice, aren’t they? Hopefully the foxes make more sense now. Glad you liked the snugglies—I did, too (-grin-). Thank you for sticking with me…
