Tainted

Chapter Twenty-Two

The sky undulates above me. Patches of leaves turn to wisps of cloud. I move, up and down, up and down.

"Shae's awake!" an unfamiliar voice behind me says.

I try to reach for my knives, but my left arm screams against the move. Tears prick my eyes as the memories flood back. The warden's crimson blood against Alani's blonde hair. The healer's Fate reaching for me through the skylight. My father's apparition. The lake.

"Ask her if she wants medicine." It's Red Hair. He's before me. I duck my head to look, and heat blooms in my cheeks. Red Hair's sitting between my thighs. His back is straight, while I'm lying back on something warm and...furred, my head against a splotched teal pillow. I tilt my head to see what's beyond Red Hair's body.

It's a head. A massive, black, shaggy dog head.

"A Cenophaly," I breathe. But, they died, didn't they? They lived alongside Dynami, they're supposed to be legend.

"'is name is James," a voice says proudly behind me. It must be Dimples, the other boy who was with Red Hair. His accent is Traigh.

The Cenophaly barks at the sound of his name, and it rumbles deep under my spine.

James, I think to myself, slowly taking in the fact that I'm lying atop a dog at least six feet in length, his muscled legs and massive paws churning the dirt beneath me.

"Would yae like med'cine?" Dimples asks.

The memory of the healer pinching my nose while he forces medicine down my throat comes to mind and I feel the familiar panic building again.

But no, I think. That's not these people. Red Hair touched my Fate. He bandaged my arm. He's trying to help me.

For a price.

"You needed me to answer a question," I say, half-remembering the bleary conversation we had the other...night? I squint up at the sun. I don't know if it's the following afternoon, or the afternoon of the next day. I feel disoriented, and my stomach crawls.

Red Hair's shoulders stiffen. He takes a breath. "Was there a prisoner named Esmeralda at the prison?" he asks.

I wrack my brain, my stomach still roiling. "No," I answer. "There was no one named Esmeralda at the prison." It's true, I don't remember someone by that name.

Red Hair's shoulders sag, but I don't think he's relieved.

"Who is she?" I ask.

Dimples's hands cinch more tightly on my shoulders. He's holding me in place so I don't slip off the Cenophaly.

"No one," Red Hair answers. His tone ends the conversation.

We sit in silence for a moment. I watch the clouds pass, feeling whatever's in my stomach clambering for a way to get out.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I say.

"Then sit up and eat some ginger," Red Hair snaps.

"I'm sorry," I say, "but aren't you the one who asked me to go along on this little venture with you? You wanted to heal me and you needed me to answer your little question."

"And you proved to be useless."

The words are a slap.

"Rogue!" Dimples shouts. "Tha's no' very nice."

I slip my right elbow beneath me and try to push myself up. Dimples notices, and helps me the rest of the way.

My head swims much less now that I'm perpendicular to the horizon. We're moving at a fast clip through scrub brush and sand, a rolling desert before us.