Taste of Darkness

Remembering my dream with Tohon, I guessed she’d planned to use them to guarantee my cooperation.

“What do you want, Wynn? You know I won’t agree to heal Tohon.”

She drew her knife and advanced on Odd. He stood his ground and glared at her with such intensity that if he were a fire mage, she’d be a pile of ashes by now.

Wynn pressed the tip to his throat. “Not even if I threaten his life?”

“No,” I said.

“How about the monkeys?” she asked, sweeping an arm out.

“No.”

“What about someone younger? Like that young fellow standing next to you?”

Danny had followed me into the main cavern. Oh, no.

“I wouldn’t let her,” Danny said, crossing his arms. “Tohon would kill thousands more than you.”

Wynn chuckled. “No love for the king, eh?”

“Not from anyone in here,” Danny said.

“Probably a good thing. Love is dangerous.” Wynn stepped away from Odd. “People do crazy, idiotic things for love. Take my sister, Cellina, for example. All her time and energy went into finding a healer for Tohon, despite the fact that Sepp and I liked Tohon right where he was.”

Not what I’d expected her to say.

“Surprised, Baby Face?”

“A little.”

“Well, you know what surprised me? That Cellina found herself a healer.”

Her words sliced right through me. Another healer? Mixed emotions—happy there was another, and terrified that Cellina had reached him or her first. “Who?”

“She tracked down that little girl who escaped with you.”

It would have hurt less if she’d stabbed me with her blade. “Zila? But she’s—”

Wynn pointed to Danny. “Younger than him, I know. But according to Tohon’s research notes, he hypothesized that the people injected with the Death Lily toxin will develop healing powers years earlier than those who are pricked by the Lily due to the amount of toxin that is injected. And he was right.”

Danny clutched my arm. Horrible scenarios played in my mind. Poor Zila. “Is she... Is Tohon...” I couldn’t say the words out loud. If I did, they might come true.

“Now wait. You’re jumping ahead of the story. Cellina failed to inform us of the little healer when she tricked Sepp and me. She agreed that the Fifteen Realms was better off without Tohon and we should allow him to die. Sepp touched Tohon and we retreated to give Cellina some privacy.” Wynn laughed, but the harsh sound lacked humor. “Imagine our surprise when Tohon comes striding out.”

“And Zila?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. Sepp and I took off before Tohon could kill us.”

My mind swirled with all the information Wynn had dumped on me. Grief for Zila jumbled with the horror of Tohon’s recovery. “If Tohon’s alive, then why are you here?”

Wynn drew her sword. “Since you’ve caused so much trouble, killing you would make a lot of people happy.” She advanced.

“No,” Danny said, stepping in front of me.

The monkeys and Odd joined him.

“You’ll have to get through us, first,” Quain said.

“Aww, that’s so sweet.” Wynn snapped her fingers.

Her soldiers rushed in and subdued the four of them. Danny lasted the longest, as he zapped anyone who touched him. Atta boy. But they quickly caught on and trapped his hands behind his back.

Wynn approached me. “You asked me what I wanted, why I was here. Right?”

“Yes.”

She stopped two feet in front of me. “I’m here to recruit you. We want you to finish what you started and kill that bastard.”

I stared at Wynn. She wanted me to kill Tohon. “Why can’t you?”

“We can’t get near him.”

Now I laughed. “What makes you think I can get close enough? I almost killed him before. He’d never let me near him again.”

“Remember what I said about love? People do crazy idiotic things. He’s in love with you. He’ll welcome you back and keep you by his side.”

Probably in chains. “Which means Cellina will want my head.”

“There’s that. No plan is perfect.”

I sorted through the logic and nothing convinced me I had any chance of repeating my attack on Tohon. Only Noak’s comment about us being bonded kept me from dismissing the idea out of hand.

“No. I’m not doing it,” I said.

“Did you think you had a choice? I’m sorry, but you don’t. You are coming with us no matter what. We can drag you out of here or you can cooperate.”

I wilted. “And you’ll leave them alive?”

“Sure. Why not.”

“Can I fetch my pack first?” I asked.

“All right.”

“And I need Danny for a moment. I need to show him how to care for a very sick patient in my absence.”

“Hagar, Keelin, go with them,” Wynn ordered.

“That wouldn’t be wise. The patient has the plague.”

She crinkled her nose then turned to the man holding Danny. “Let the boy go. If you’re not back in five minutes, Baby Face, I’ll start slitting throats.”

“Danny, grab a few medical supplies, please,” I said.

He rubbed his wrists, but headed over to the infirmary. Many of the caregivers had remained at their posts. He picked up a few syringes and we retreated to the stage-one cavern. Of course, they wanted to know what was going on.