The Laws of Unintended Consequences

Chapter 7

   They sped across the river in the rowboat so fast that the old boards creaked in alarm. Joiner sat in an anxious bundle of ratty packs while he clung to the back of the boat. In the middle, Stinky cranked the oars like a machine, laughing and yodeling all the way. At the bow, Sorrow and Rowan sat on the bottom, struggling to support the unconscious man between them while trying to keep from falling into the river.

Sorrow didn't know what to make of Ardent's injuries. Beneath his shirt, his torso was a swollen bruise with gross, black veins radiating from a half dozen manticore spines buried in his chest. She plucked one from his skin, noted the tiny black barbs at the end and sniffed it. She smelled the faint scent of something sickly sweet and sulfurous. She knew that meant animal venom, but she couldn't tell anything beyond that. She tossed the spine into the river and focused her attention on her patient. The small hole left by the spine streamed with a thin, putrid liquid. His flesh burned and he groaned in pain when she touched him.

Sorrow started to tell Stinky the spandex barbarian to hurry up and get them across the river but was stopped when the rowboat slammed into the riverbank with a hideous crack. It exploded into pieces around them and hurtled them onto the rocky soil. Before Sorrow could figure out what was going on, Stinky leaped from the wreckage and scooped up Ardent.

"Now what?" He demanded.

"Wait a minute and we'll go to the clinic." Sorrow gasped, struggling for breath. The crash had launched her pack onto the shore and scattered everything inside of it. She scrambled to get her things together and help a stunned Rowan to his feet. As she got him pointed in the right direction, she saw the satchel they found lying among the wreckage of the shattered rowboat. She didn't remember picking it up, but then everything happened so fast when the manticore attacked. She probably grabbed it without thinking. She considered throwing the filthy thing into the river, but a small, and persistent feeling nagged at her, demanding that she keep it. Figuring that she could always throw it away later, she slung it over her shoulder.

"Stay close but don't get ahead of me." Sorrow told Stinky. "We haven't had any new visitors here for a few years. I don't want the sheriff to freak out at the sight of you and throw you in jail."

"I understand," Stinky said, anxiously dancing in place. "Please, let us hurry."

She led them to the village where they startled a troop of gnomes who cussed and shook their tools angrily at them. Above, pixie lights flashed in morse code along roof tops and in the trees as the little people took note of their arrival and sent the news across the village. They reached the Green as half of the village came rushing at them from the direction of the docks. Sorrow paused long enough to glance at the crowd of shocked faces and Beavis' pixie light bobbing frantically above them before she turned and continued on to the clinic.

"Put him on one of the big tables." Sorrow told Stinky as soon as they entered the exam room. He settled Ardent gently down while Joiner shed all of the bags he carried and piled them carefully against the wall. The crowd poured in after them, caught a whiff of the funk radiating off of the big man's body and recoiled in disgust. However, they still wanted to know what was going on, so they retreated as far as the entrance to watch from a safe distance.

Daisy pushed through the crowd and shot her foster-daughter a scathing look as Sorrow gathered every tool, salve, and potion she thought they might need. She set them on trays all around the room, arranging them so that they could be easily reached. Sorrow made a face at her foster mother to show her how very much she regretted what was happening, but it did nothing to sooth Daisy's temper.