Sember (Forestfolk, Book 2)

Chapter 23b

When we returned to Odavik, I found Goben elbow to elbow with Vina at a table outside, grinding herbs.

"Did you learn anything?" I asked when it became evident that he was completely engrossed in what he was doing.

"Sember!" He dropped his stone pestle and ran around the table, wrapping me in a huge hug. "You're alive!"

I laughed at his exuberance. "Yeah. You're not rid of me yet."

After another long moment, he pulled away to look at me. "That looks painful." He reached up to touch my forehead.

I batted his hand away. "I'm fine. The only person who should poke at head wounds is Siena."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. So tell me about this glittering cave. I keep hearing stories about it. They say no one ever comes back from there."

"Well, obviously someone had to come back from there to tell stories about it," I said dryly.

"Good point. So what did you find? Was it actually glittery?"

"One cavern was." I pulled out a shard I had saved. "It was full of crystals."

Goben's green eyes were huge as he took it from me. "Wow... the walls were covered in these?" He held it up to the sun. "Wait... these aren't the cause of the plague, are they?" He tossed the shard onto the table and hopped away from it. "Am I infected now?"

"No." I chuckled and picked up the shard. "The cause was a Gifted Iceling named Vill."

"He was an Iceling? From here?"

"I don't know from where, but he had the same light eyes and light hair. He... sprayed stuff on people."

"Stuff?"

I tossed the shard back and forth between my hands. "He called it his essence. He said it absorbed strength from people and transferred it to him. Like it sustained him or something. It eventually kills them."

"My mother once told me a story about someone like that," Vina said softly from behind the table.

Goben and I turned our gazes to her, and she faltered at the attention. After regaining her composure, she went on. "It was about an odd boy, who used to roughhouse with his friends when they played. They eventually stopped playing with him, because they didn't like that they always lost to this boy. Felt weak around him. They thought it unnatural." She paused in the story to sprinkle brown leaves into her mortar and began grinding. "He grew to be a young man, and one by one, those old friends began dying. The villagers eventually discovered the young man's connection to the deaths, and they banished him." She paused her grinding to look at us. "I always thought it was a cautionary tale."

Goben raised his eyebrows. "Don't stop playing with the Gifted or they'll murder you when they grow up?"

Vina laughed. "Perhaps not. But I wonder if the story is about that Vill from the cave?"

"Hmm." I tapped my chin as I thought. "Maybe his little friends always lost because the kid was stealing their strength? Making them weak?"

Goben joined in my musings. "And then he grew up and started stealing people's strength until they died." His eyes drifted as he thought about this, then he looked back at me. "And the Gifted are immune?"

"I don't know. I don't think immune. I think resistant. Dozan's father was in pretty bad shape when we left. Maybe it takes longer for us." I watched sunlight glint off the shard as I rotated it. "And I think only with direct contact, because we've been around the sick, and we're fine."

"Did he spray you?"

"Yes. And he got Jastin too. He's washing up right now." I turned my gaze to where he'd gone.

Goben's face pinched with horror. "And you let me hug you before you washed up? Ugh!" He began whipping his hands through the air, as if shaking off water.

"Calm down! I jumped in a stream before we left. I'm clean."

"Oh." He stopped flailing. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I think so. I'm not sure how to tell."

"So, what happened when you found this Vill?"

My eyes dropped to my boots. "Um, he's gone now."

"Gone? As in, dead?"

An image of his bursting body appeared, unbidden, in my head. "Yes." I blinked rapidly. "So what did you learn while I was gone?"

Goben didn't seem to notice my discomfort. "Well, I've got remedies for foot sores, mouth sores, and bedsores. And," he drew out the syllable, "I also learned that Vina here is an excellent cook."

The woman, who had been quietly mixing herbs during our conversation, paused to blush and smile. "Your brother is too kind." Her blue eyes shyly met mine and dropped back down to her work. "I've enjoyed having him around."

I glanced up at him and dug a playful elbow into his ribs, raising my eyebrows in an unspoken question.

His face reddened slightly. "Later," he mouthed. To Vina, he said, "I'm going to take a walk with Sember."

"Of course." She nodded vigorously, eyes following us as we left.

"Is there something between you two?" I whispered when we were out of earshot.

A silly grin appeared on his face. "She is so sweet. And attentive. And smart. I've never met anyone like her."

"No wonder you like her. She's obviously nothing like me."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

He regarded me as we walked. "Don't sell yourself short. You're pretty great."

A derisive snort escaped my lips.

"I mean it. You killed that plague-beast, Vill, didn't you?"

I swallowed, dropping my eyes to the ground. "Yeah. I guess."

"What's the matter?"

I inhaled a deep breath, about to tell him what was bothering me, but changed my mind. He wouldn't understand. He'd never killed anyone before. "Nothing."

His mouth twisted, but he didn't press further. He knew me. Knew I wouldn't share until I was ready. I just wasn't sure when that might be. If ever.

When you're a good person, taking a life can leave its mark on you. Let's give her a vote of support!