Chương 9: Chapter 10: Mirrati

There's a shift in the air as we travel to Mirrati and now, standing right on the border of the large city, I can feel the life teeming around me. It's under my feet in the density of the soft soil. Up above me in the way a massive variety of palm trees spread out above us. Shade trees like the umbrella trees, fig trees as well. So many varieties I've only seen in books. The ground underneath has changed too.

From the usual soft hum that I hear and feel gently through my bones to this almost vibrating sensation that is just this side of ticklish. We have to dismount and lead the horses through because the footing is unknown to us. I don't want Jax to get injured. The contact only makes the thrum beneath me that much more intoxicating. I have a confession to make. Of all the places in my known world, on this continent that I've never left, Mirrati has always been my dream to see.

My mother was going to take me there before I tithed to Sage, but she was dead before I hit fifteen, so it never happened. Mirrati is the rainforest region, the tropical portion of our otherwise mostly dull little continent. It's lush with greenery I have only ever dreamed of. The prospect of traveling there, gathering plants, and getting to see others… well, that is something that's been on my wishlist my entire life. Not that I'd ever let Aarron know. Or anyone else, for that matter.

"You're thinking loudly today," Xan says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What? How can I think loudly?" Another bit of nonsense interrupting my appreciation of all the beauty around me.

"You're the only person I know whose thoughts show clearly on their face when they're not paying attention." Xan flashes me a smile as they pick their way along the path. It's not a road like the one we're supposed to take into the actual city, but a round-about path that Lennick specifically spelled out to us. It should take us to the Enclave.

"You're saying I wouldn't do well at poker?"

"Not that. You're great at concealment when you're focused on a task." Xalin frowns, pushing forward through some low- hanging fronds. We move deeper in. Using a luminescent binding attached to the end of a stick like a type of torch means we don't give away our presence with smoke or smell before we reach our destination. The dimness in here is other than the forests I'm used to. All the vegetation is so much denser. After a while, I find the thoughts inside my head somewhat overwhelming.

"I didn't expect a court mission here."

"Did you think the Courts got their hands dirty themselves?" Xan scoffs. For a second, a hard expression passes over their face, far different from what I'm used to seeing.

"We exist because of the Courts, so they can claim innocence. I'm surprised this is your first exposure to such a contract." I raise an eyebrow even though Xan can't see me.

"You've had one before?"

"Three so far. They're usually making an example of someone, and your contracts tend to specialize in subtlety." Xan moves forward quietly for a few moments more before continuing.

"The Courts deliver their missives. You get most of yours through scrying avenues, so it's not really surprising." I look at the emblem adorning the top of the orders I've kept in my pocket. Keep the order, complete the task, burn the order. That's how it works. Burning it breaks the seal on the missive and the connected one at the Enclave. Aarron would know the job was completed. No one knew exactly how the magic worked, just that it did. Another remnant of the past.

Each step we take leads deeper into a darkness that soothes me. There's nothing I fear in here. The ever-present sensation of life and power that well under me with each step I take lends a strength I didn't realize existed in nature until now. A strength in me. I want to roll on the floor in the fronds and let them carry me up to the top of the trees where I can see everything clearly.

"Ria. You okay?" Xan sounds worried, and it's all I can do to pull my awareness away from all of the sensations around me and send what I hope is a reassuring smile. Xan shoots me a weird look and goes about tracking our path. There are notches and slightly discolored nicks on tree trunks and in the ground that show us the way. Ingenious, really. I think I was supposed to live here. I've never felt so alive before. There's this beautiful synergy about a rainforest. Experiencing it is something else entirely.

By the time we reach our destination, it'll have taken almost three days to get here. Jax will be grateful for a full day to recuperate. Vines and creepers wind their way around the trees. There are scents I've never experienced. So much more I want to discover. If I ever get to take time away from the Korrien Enclave, I think I'll come here. It takes us a couple of hours to wind through the track completely.

By the time we do, it's almost pitch black in here, and our phosphorescent lights are startlingly bright in contrast. I guess Jax is getting half a day's rest.

"You're from Korrien." The voice that speaks from out of the darkness almost gives me a heart attack. I hadn't heard them approach, hadn't sensed their presence at all, not even through my earthen connection. I'm not sure if that should worry me or not—I'm not usually easily surprised.

"Yes," Xan responds, recovering much faster than I do.

"I'm Xalin. This is Taria."

"I'm Maria." The woman introduces herself.

"Lennick told us to expect you." She smiles, and there's enough glowing blue light to reveal how startlingly beautiful this woman must have been when she was a tad younger. Her black hair is long and sleek with only a few strands of white peppered throughout. Her skin is a beautiful walnut color that reflects the blue light by which I can see her. I've never met a female assassin of her age. Lareny still has a decade to go before she reaches old. Maria gives me hope that I can potentially lead a decently long life.

"Do you have the box?" Maria asks, her tone gentle, yet commanding, like she's used to having her words followed. I retrieve the box Lennick constructed for transporting the plant from behind my saddle, and hand it over somewhat nervously.

"Excellent." Maria smiles thinly.

"I'll start preparing and take you to see our conservatory. Jaysup will be eager to hear if Lennick has been telling us tall tales about your ability to hear the plants." I blink as I follow Maria with Xan and the horses bringing up the rear. Who else has Lennick told about my affinities, and just what has he said?

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The alchemy lab sits off a conservatory filled with plants. It's majestic and feels like so many different shades of home that all I can do is close my eyes and experience, and listen. Melancholy fills my mind, heart, and soul. It aches through to my bones. I realize I'm standing on an uncovered root that's pushed up through the floor, and bend down to touch it with my hands. The hum here is more than that.

It's a song that takes away the emptiness, that seeks out what I was, what I could still be. In a way, it's scary, and if I stop to think about it, perhaps I would find myself terrified. But as it is… all I can do is love how much strength is in everything around me.

"Well. Can you hear them?" There's a jovial, upbeat to the words. They act in discord with the subdued melody all around me.

"You must be Jaysup," I say, attempting poorly to keep the irritation from my tone.

"And you must be Taria." He doesn't sound like he cares whether or not I'm annoyed.

"Can you hear them?" he asks again.

"Yes." I don't elaborate. I'll only give them what Lennick has, because I don't trust anyone who isn't him, and I am rather miffed that he told anyone. No one else needs to know how different the songs and sounds are here. It's just another clue that I might be losing a little bit of my mind. Perhaps. Xan interjects.

"I'm hungry." Jaysup has medium-length blond hair coming out of the ponytail he's shoved it in, in all sorts of wisps. I can't see what color his eyes are because he won't meet mine as he jumps up to head toward what I presume is a kitchen.

"Sorry! I was distracted." He comes scurrying back with bread and cheese on a platter. Before I can deny the need to eat, my stomach grumbles loudly, giving me away.

"Thanks." I force the word out, as a wave of tiredness hits me. The silence as I eat, able to hear my own chewing vividly, is uncomfortable. Especially since Jaysup has decided to stay with us. It's not until Maria comes into the room that he balks.

"Did you show them to their hut? They need to leave for their mission in the early morning." Her tone is not unkind, but there's a steely edge to it that Jaysup is obviously used to.

"Not yet. Apologies." He bows his head, but fails to make eye contact and flits away. We all follow him to our hut. Maria sighs as she watches him lead the way.

"Please forgive Jaysup. He sees the world a little differently and swears the plants talk to him. He was excited when Lennick implied that you might be the same." Information clicks into place.

"Is Jaysup adept at scrying?" Maria frowns for a second.

"How did you know?"

"I wish I had more time here. I'd have loved to talk with him about it." Because maybe Jaysup is right. Perhaps the plants talk to him too.

"Next time, then." For a moment, Maria just stares at me, and then a smile takes over and she pats me on the shoulder. I'm not a touch sort of person, so I freeze at first. But I can see she's genuinely fond of Jaysup, though I still can't figure out just how he ended up in Nightshade.

"I'll get your things settled in your room while you finish eating. Then I'll come and collect you so you can take the necessary steps to harvesting the solanaceae datura. Better to do it tonight than in a rush before you leave tomorrow." She moves with a purposeful stride, and I glance around the hut we're in. Used to the mountainside Enclave, the way these huts are built into the trees, almost as a part of the rainforest, feels so much closer to nature. Would that I'd been taken here initially.

Once I was a Journeyman, perhaps I could choose to change my main quarters to here.

"Are you ready?" Xan asks.

"Always." I wipe my hands on my black leathers and wait for a few moments. Maria is approaching. When we get to the plant, I'm in awe. The beautiful white bell flowers hang upside down, their little thorn-like apples overshadowed by the beautiful blooms. Beautiful in a fever-, delirium-, and hallucination-inducing sort of way, of course. It's one of the prime ingredients that allow us to use the scrying water for communication. Without it, we're cut off from one another.

It grows best here in Mirrati, and so this is where most of the distilling is done and shipped out to the rest of our Enclaves. It's dangerous to keep our only stock all in one place. So here I am, to see if we can get it to thrive in the artificially created environment Lennick has been working on. The box we've created for it should be good for up to six days. We hope anyway. It's a long trip back. Three cuttings.

A part of me thinks I should do them in the morning before we leave, giving ourselves as much time as possible to make this work. But there's another part of me that realizes the contract target is on the way out, and to come back here afterward might invite mistakes that we would otherwise not make. Taking a breath, I reach down and through to the earth to the roots of the plant, gently coaxing them to remain strong, asking the datura to do its best for me. To please make it back to my Enclave.

And then I take the cutting. There's a soft sigh that runs through me, not my own. As if detaching from the main branch has weakened my little sample. I will my care into it, trying to help bolster it so that it doesn't wilt, and place it finally into the casing with soil from its home. There, I encourage it to sprout roots, will it to give itself a chance. Two more times and the casing is finished, enclosed, and my energy is all but gone. I'm so tired, I think I might curl up on the ground where I am and not move.

But Xan is there, like they always are, and ushers me back to the little bungalow-type hut. I can't even appreciate how encased by nature we are, but the hum of these trees, their melancholy, it lulls me. My sleep is fulfilling for the first time since my parents died. By the time Xan wakes me in the morning, all of the packing has been carefully done. Maria is awake and ready to bid us farewell. I'm grateful she got up at two in the morning to see us off.

The horses are tethered in a hidden alcove at the edge of the rainforest for after we've completed our last task.

"I will make sure the horses have all of your belongings strapped in securely, ready to go." Maria looks like she wants to lean forward and hug me, but thinks twice of it.

"Thank you for coming. I hope to see you again." I like that farewell much more than physical contact, and even smile. Because I too hope to see this place again.

"I'll be back." And it's not until I say the words that I realize it is indeed a promise.

"Xalin knows the way. I've shown them how to navigate through the passageways to avoid the gates and guards." Maria smiles once more.

"Now off with you, before the cover of darkness no longer obscures." I follow Xan, stepping into a corridor I couldn't see before this. Like it's woven through vines and trunks of trees, and appears to be a part of nature. It makes me wonder how long something like this has been here.

"You could have just gone and done this and let me sleep in," I grumble. It's uncommon for me to have gotten such a good night's sleep. It makes me want more.

"I'm not touching your poison vials. And we all know my aim with a blow pipe is woeful." Xan moves forward with purpose, and I wonder if Maria took them on a tour of these pathways last night while I slept. I'm not used to gardening taking so much out of me. I'd been so tired. Finally, Xan stops, and holds up a hand to make sure I don't speak. Not that we ever speak when on contract. I nod, to make sure they know I'm aware. I take a deep breath, not as ready for this one as I like to be.

Court ordered means from the High Court of Arralesh. The royals, the ones who oversee the well-being of our continent giving a direct order they view to be of utmost importance in keeping our realm safe. It sounds grand, and I know they pay handsomely, but at the same time, I'm never overly happy with people telling me what to do in the name of… something good. If I remember correctly, and I do, that's what the Bryony member said to my father the night before he died. But it's for the good of our world.

It's necessary. So necessary that they had to kill him for disagreeing? That sort of logic doesn't sit well with me. These court contracts always rub me the wrong way. I finger my poisons in their delicate suede padding. Just a few of these into my pipe and I can spell an agonizing, horrific death for anyone. The only thing is that I didn't have the time to research this kill, and I don't know how it'll affect the target. With me doing most of the work, Xan being with me feels like a liability.

Even if they have a small part to play too. We're there before I realize it. The house is nothing like I've seen before. Made of wood that appears like it's just grown into a house, I hesitate before stepping through the window and into the room, where it's just me and my target, who is sleeping. Xan has taken off to muddy the waters as it were, to fulfill the secondary part of the contract. Do not mess with the council, for their wrath is devastating.

That's the message Xan will send while they destroy everything this person ever owned. I settle myself on the windowsill. Strange windows with no panes and no glass. The hum of the rainforest rings through the material, making me realize it's not only still alive, but resonating with the parts still surrounding it. The calm suffuses me, and I raise my pipe to my lips. One sharp breath out and it flies true. Always easy to hit a stationary sleeping target. This next part is one I don't relish.

This particular concoction rushes pain in through the veins, the nerves, sets everything inside your body on excruciating fire. My target sits up screaming, but his vocal cords are already shot. All that comes out is a gasping form of hissing. He tries to stand but stumbles to the ground, grasping at his neck, at his eyes, at his hair as he falls and rolls. Each sensation that hits his skin brings alive another round of pain ignited by that touch.

His skin begins to sink as the bones inside his body start to partially dissolve. It's not going to melt them completely as such, but the density is being attacked, reduced, and makes them fragile. I can't watch any longer. He's too real now. Not just a sleeping body in his bed as the poison ravages his form. Plus, I can hear footsteps coming. Perhaps I'm just used to the sound of normal screams and thus his sounds dull to my ears. I swivel on the sill and make my descent easily, meeting Xalin below.

They cringe as another gasped scream echoes out of the upstairs window. Definitely louder than I'd thought.

"Done, then?" they ask me. I raise an eyebrow.

"Of course."