Chương 26

Some are blessed by the Sea. Watch those closest of all. They made it to the edge of the village without incident, passing over the bridge without anyone the wiser. No guards. That still confused Harker.

"Were you the one that took care of the Aberrants attacking the village?"

"Least I could do," Adhira said as they ducked through the open gates.

"The five of them were only Wave-Warped."

"Right." And here he'd struggled with three Tide-Touched. Bestial Aberrants came in several flavors, depending on how much of the Sea they had been exposed to and for how long. The weakest of them were Tide-Touched. Then came Wave-Warped, Sea-Maddened, Depths-Twisted, and worst of all, Abyssal-Cursed. Each category was a vast step-up in danger, increasing the beast's mutations, power, and aggression. She handled five Wave-Warped Bestial Aberrants? She's more of a monster than I anticipated.

As they passed further out of the village, Harker slowed his strides, keeping a reasonable gap between him and Adhira. Perhaps if he had a moment's warning, he could defend against that axe. The thing was brutally elegant, with three gleaming heads etched with extensive designs that appeared like waves in the metal. Two faced forward, paired together somehow, and the third faced backward. It was ridiculous and terrifying in equal measure.

It's reach was massive too, and he had to keep adjusting his speed to stay outside her immediate range. Every time he slowed though his guts churned. Harker kept an ear toward Creston, waiting for someone to find Miriam's body. The knot in his stomach dragged at his spine, sour and tense all at once. Would someone call out? Rush the gates and hunt him down? He walked a bit faster, and Adhira matched him, though she didn't say a word. I suppose she really didn't want to travel with those three.

For several miles, there was nothing between them but the sound of boots on dirt roads and the tumble of loose stones. An hour later, when no hue and cry was raised in the village, Harker allowed himself a measure of relief, a measure of calm. They were into the foothills of the gnarle now, and Creston had been lost in the towering trees behind them. Sun streamed down through the bare branches, and wind whistled in fierce gusts, growing ever fiercer as the hours went on.

Harker pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders. It was warm but not for long. The walk was silent. Ahead, Adhira used her axe to support herself as she climbed over rock and root. Harker stayed behind her, keeping her and the axe in his periphery at all times. She wore a heavy cloak against the chill, but under it was a set of silvered armor carved into wave-like designs.

Her legs though were wearing fine trousers, embroidered with swirling designs in bright thread, and capped with thick boots perfect for hiking or battle. He assumed, anyway. Her hair was up, held up by who knows what Talent, creating a cascade of inky curls down her slender neck. She fiddled with it often, using it as an excuse to glance back at him—no doubt assuring herself that he wasn't sneaking up on her. Those odd silver eyes were hard to miss though, and when he caught her looking she flushed.

She's dangerous, he reminded himself. It didn't matter if she was beautiful as well. And entirely too chipper. No one was that happy, not unless they were planning something. As they had for the past hour, Harker's thoughts lingered on Miriam. She too had been kind and generous. He kept his hands near his knives.

"You're welcome." Stillwater said. Harker pulled in a sharp breath through his nose. He hadn't noticed the little cretin returning. Now he strode at his side, hands tucked into his waistcoat pockets, and a pleased grin on his face.

"For—," Harker paused, taking in the Gilken. He seemed brighter than before, as if his skin had been flushed with color. Even his clothes weren't so bad as usual—some of the rips mended and the stains removed.

"For what?"

"I not only stabilized your soul for the moment, but I brought you a teacher."

"A teacher?" Harker glanced at Adhira, where she navigated the path some ways ahead.

"What makes you think a noble will share secrets with me?"

"Call it a hunch, stupid human. But I'm right. See?" Stillwater flexed, and something flushed inside Harker. That clay around his center thickened yet again, warming his center and sending waves of relief down across his left arm. Almost as interesting was the effect on Stillwater. The Gilken tugged at his waistcoat and a stain vanished from the left side even as a tear in his pants mended itself.

"That is much better," he said through a satisfied sigh.

"One debt down. Two to go." Harker touched his chest, frowning.

"See? If I were lying, and I don't do that, but if I was, that Bargain wouldn't have completed." Harker couldn't argue with that. He could feel a sense of satisfaction in his bones, as if a piece of him had been held up toward the sun. That buoyant sensation filled him and stayed there, lifting him higher than even visiting the Charterstone had done. If that was him saving my life then… Harker glanced at Adhira again. Then maybe she can help me. He swallowed.

He was walking a very thin edge, and there was little room for error.

"Why do you think she'll help me?"

"I'm not here to hold your hand, human. I brought you to the river, but it's up to you to drink." Stillwater's pupilless eyes glowed.

"Besides, with your Bargain she'll amost have to help you out."

"How do you know about that?"

"You think someone can make a Bargain near me and keep it secret? It was well done, I'll admit. You're figuring things out fast."

"I'm a quick study," Harker muttered.

"What if she breaks it?"

"Then she will suffer the consequences. You did add them, yes?"

"... No." Stillwater's wide features bent towards disgust.

"Bah! Then you'll simply harvest a portion of her Stature for your own. A standard consequence for a broken Bargain, but quite boring. You couldn't have asked for her firstborn child instead?" Harker stepped over a root, ignoring his taunts.

"Where were you?"

"It is remarkable how many Bargains you can find if you ask the right questions. You humans are always so deliciously desperate." That put a hitch in Harker's step.

"You made Bargains with the villagers?"

"That rub you raw? Tch. They were simple things, all but one of which are resolved." He patted his belly.

"I am quite satisfied." Now Harker did feel a twinge of guilt. Miriam brought her fate on herself, but he'd brought the Eidhrin into Creston. Whatever happened to them was his responsibility.

"Did you hurt them?" If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Hurt is subjective. It's like lopping off a few toes. Who's gonna miss them?"

"Humans need toes, Stillwater."

"You do?" He shrugged, as if casting the idea off his back.

"Ah, well."

"They're alive?"

"Of course they are. What do you take me for? How could they make new Bargains if they're dead?"

"That is…a good point." The Eidhrin's logic, however predatory, was ironclad. Stillwater had never proven himself to be murderous; scheming, conniving, and vicious for certain, but he was not stupid. He could only hope that the villagers would recover in time. He had no idea how much losing Stature could affect others, but Harker did not doubt that it would have consequences.

"She's quite capable," Stillwater said. He was looking at Adhira.

"A noble of your kind, and not nearly as stuck up as the Courts. Look, she even does her own walking." Courts?

"Perhaps she'd be willing to make a deal."

"Don't try it," Harker warned.

"Oh, quite feisty this morning."

"You've had your fill already."

"I suppose I have. You, however, have not. Go, talk to the noble child and steal her secrets."

"When I'm ready." Stillwater put both of his small arms outward, palms raised.

"She lies before you, human. There is no ready. There is only do or die." Harker ignored the Gilken. He would speak with Adhira when it was time. For now, the silence was comfortable. It was also a shield, and it offered him the grace to sort his thoughts. No longer preoccupied with Creston or its vengeance, he focused on Adhira up ahead. Her lead had grown beyond a hundred feet—far enough away that his low conversation with Stillwater would remain unnoticed.

She still cast an eye back at him every once in a while, but at worst she would have seen him staring at a patch of empty trail. Now she clambered over skull-sized stones, the trail turned uneven and far rougher than he expected. Harker could just make out the silver lines of her Chartermark along her right arm. Harker squinted, and just as before, small details floated into his vision. Talent: Torpor & Bulwark Scope: Special Depth: Surface Harker sucked in a surprised breath and tripped on a stone.

He hit the ground hard, but caught himself with an outflung hand. A Dual Talent?! They were more myth than fact. One of the nine Ancestors was a Dual Talent, and she changed the world.

"Are you okay?" The girl had hopped down the trail, closing the distance between them far faster than he expected.

"I'm fine," he snapped, before squeezing his lips shut. Guard your tongue more carefully! Not only was Adhira's body clearly refined, but she had two Talents—both of which had Special Scope. Forget the axe. The woman was beyond dangerous. Despite his terse tone, she thrust her hand out. He ignored it, standing up on his own, one hand dusting off his knees while the other remained close to the hilt of his knife. The hand remained.

"I fear I never introduced myself." Neither had Harker. He'd all but forgotten. She waggled her hand.

"I'm Adhira Demir." Harker didn't bother to wipe the dirt and sweat from his palm. He grasped hers and gave it a single pump.

"I'm Harker Shoalborn." He stared at her, waiting for the inevitable pity or disgust that came with his last name. All he received was a wide smile.

"Lovely to finally meet you," she said, then turned and continued on. Harker frowned after her before glancing down at Stillwater. The Eidhrin waggled his eyebrows before following, a bounce in his step that Harker did not like.

"Sejal would have had my head for not formally introducing myself. Glad we got it out of the way before she found us." Adhira laughed, curly hair flouncing through the dappled sunlight.

"Sadly, her and the Hollow Hold together haven't been enough to teach me manners."

"Hollow Hold?" he asked.

"A preparatory school of sorts." Adhira waved her hand like she was shooing flies.

"No matter. It's in the past." Harker kept his expression still but added another tally to his estimation of Adhira, and the marks were getting heavy. He'd never heard of the Hollow Hold, but preparatory schools weren't a simple thing. They were for the elites, to get their children ready to enter the Nine Spires. The advantages of the powerful are as numerous as the stars, son. Do not underestimate the power of foreknowledge. Traveling with Adhira could prove beneficial after all.

If he could get information out of her about the Spires, then maybe his chances had just increased.

"Did you see the Stitcher?" Harker's stomach dropped.

"I did," he said cautiously. She had stopped walking ahead and now walked alongside him, glancing up with undisguised interest.

"Was he as gruesome as I've heard?" An image flashed through Harker, unbidden. The Stitcher's cadaverous expression, paired with owl eyes and wolf fangs of the man, were unforgettable.

"Yes." Adhira waited, clearly hoping for more, but Harker wasn't in the mood to accommodate her. The silence stretched on a bit too long, and she coughed into her fist.

"Stitchers are rare where I'm from."

"Rare here, too."

"Illwrought aren't, however," she continued.

"Did you know they can remain well after their maker is dead? The last war left entire territories filled with the monstrosities. There are entire standing armies whose main task is eliminating the stain of their existence." Harker couldn't imagine that. Hordes of stitched abominations wandering the world was nothing short of a nightmare.

"So after running into the Stitcher, he simply let you go?" She's gnawing like a hound with a bone. Harker laughed.

"No. He sent his Illwrought to chase me down, remember?"

"But you saw nothing unusual?" He looked at her, expression flat.

"I saw a man with wolf teeth and stitched abominations. There was a great deal unusual in the woods that day."

"That's not what I…" Adhira's smile finally slipped from her face, replaced by a flash of irritation.

"It's—never mind. I'm sure encountering a Stitcher and his beasts was the worst thing you've ever experienced in your life. I'm sorry for bringing it up." Correction: a hound would be better at this. She was angling for information, but she hadn't much practice. In fact, Harker was surprised that she got angry so quickly. He filed away that detail for later. What information was she hunting, though?

Harker had to imagine she was still interested in the Vestige—a treasure like his didn't come around every century—but she had no clue that Harker bore it. If she had, he'd already be dead. She also wasn't trying to draw information out of him swiftly either, otherwise she'd use different tactics. It could be she just wants to learn more about the Vestige… and why the other two groups were there. That was a possibility and a strong one. Harker would have to pull details out of her himself, it would seem.

A smell caught his nose. Brine, with a touch of dry musk. Harker slowed his steps, letting Sovereign Sight unfurl around him despite his discomfort. His vision soured but the smell intensified, and with it came a sharp, almost metallic flavor he'd tasted once before on the weasel Aberrants he'd killed.

"Adhira, something's in the woods." She gripped her axe with both hands, her stance shifting into something low and aggressive.

"Where?"

"I'm not—" Two huge, yellow shapes ripped through the underbrush on their left and right, their massive heads leading fang-first toward the girl. Harker darted back, easily keeping distance as he drew his knives. Adhira didn't bother.

"Yes!" She caught the first on the flat of her axe. Its two-foot wide snout rebounded off the metal, and she kicked the second serpent in the jaw, snapping it shut and sending its slithering length sailing over her head. The first twisted, opening its maw and revealing slick fangs. They plunged toward her, but she stomped her foot and Water gushed beneath her.

"Bulwark!" An earthen wall heaved upward, plowing into the serpent's pink mouth. It choked, jaws forced wide, before it attempted to pull back. With a casual spin, Adhira lopped the snake's head clean off.

"Impressive," Stillwater said.

"How come you're not that good?"

"Harker! Look out! The serpent is—" Adhira trailed off.

"Oh."

"Huh." Stillwater said, hands on his hips. Harker pulled his knife free, having thrown it directly into its fist-sized eye. He dropped his Talent, enduring the haze of disorientation as he cleaned the blade as casually as he could manage.

"Behind you," he said. Adhira spun, just in time for third, blood-red serpent to rise from the trees. It was at least twice the size of the others, and its wedge-shaped head was the size of a wagon-bed. She laughed.

"Oh now it's getting fun!"