CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Waking brought with it a wealth of aches and pains. Chief among them was the burn on Enfri's calf, but her back was a determined contender. Every joint was stiff, and each muscle was sore. Enfri would have thought that she'd have grown used to sleeping on the hard ground by now. Perhaps she wasn't yet as rugged as she thought.

Enfri shivered. The firefly light shone a steady glow, a contrast to the flickering fires still burning throughout the city. Deebee's battle with the assassins left much of the ruins demolished and in flames. Dragon fire consumed all. Even stones burned.

The sky was dark outside, so Enfri must not have been asleep for long. She had tended to Jin for several hours before trying to get some rest.

It was thinking of Jin that brought Enfri fully awake. Looking up, she was confronted with who she had been using as a pillow through the night.

I had to, Enfri told herself vehemently. She's anemic, and the cold air could have done her in. I had to warm her somehow.

Enfri put her hand to Jin's cheek and was gratified to feel that she was still warm. Her chest was rising and falling with slow, even breaths, and her pulse was stronger. There were a few things that made Enfri draw her brow together in concern, however. Jin wasn't only warm, she was sweating. Her cheeks were flush, but most of all, she hadn't yet come awake.

Enfri sat up, but was held down by something tugging at her scalp. Jin's fingers were tangled in Enfri's hair. Taking care not to stir the assassin, Enfri freed herself and knelt over Jin.

After treating Jin's thigh muscle and a host of other minor injuries, Enfri had taken off her linen dress and put it on Jin. It wasn't much of a barrier to the cold, but it was better than leather armor that didn't even cover the arms.

Left with just her shift, Enfri was feeling somewhat exposed. In survival situations, modesty was the first casualty. She pulled the skirt of the linen dress above Jin's abdomen and lifted the bandages to look underneath.

The sutures were holding, but the skin was turning a pale red. Enfri hissed in sympathy. Despite using every drop of antiseptic she had, the wounds were showing some signs of infection.

That blustering barrier. If Enfri could only get past the interdiction, she could gather grasses and desert marigold from the oasis. Gently, Enfri touched at Jin's stomach with her fingertips.

Jin's eyes snapped open, and she let out a sharp gasp. The flesh was hypersensitive and tender. Her eyes were dilated and bloodshot. Jin's pain must have been horrible.

"Easy," Enfri whispered soothingly. "Easy, now. Try not to move." She got up and hobbled to the wellspring. Her water skins needed refilling, and Enfri soaked a pair of bandages in the ice-cold water. She returned to Jin's side, placed a wet bandage on both her forehead and over her sutures, then made her drink some water.

Jin drank half a skin, then sputtered up the rest. She dropped her head back down to the stone and breathed heavily. "I could use a drink," she murmured.

"I'm guessing you don't mean water," Enfri replied with a disapproving tone. Her eyes then widened as an idea hit her. "You can have one drink, but I'll need the rest."

"Raiding my supply, Sky Woman?"

Enfri clucked her tongue as she retrieved Jin's boot flask. "No. I can use it as a disinfectant. Too many sugars, probably, and it'll dry out your skin, but it should help lessen the infection setting into your wounds."

After allowing Jin a pull from her flask, Enfri set to work dousing her wounds with the vile drink. Jin's lips contorted as the stinging hit her.

"How do you feel?" Enfri asked.

"Like a scale lion's meal."

"Fair enough." Enfri looked around the cave for anything else she might use. The wellspring had some lichen growing on the stones around it, but it was likely as not rife with filthy elements. Mushrooms grew in a dank corner, but Enfri wouldn't trust an unknown species of fungus for all the gold in Nadia. The only other thing she could see was the vial of oren Jin had taken the previous evening.

Picking up the vial, Enfri noted that there were still a few drops of the blue liquid inside. She sniffed at the potion, a sweet scent but cloyingly sharp. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't place it.

"I'm wearing your dress," Jin said in confusion.

"To keep you warm," Enfri replied while inspecting the vial. "What can you tell me of this? My supplies are limited, so I have to make use of everything I can."

Jin shook her head. "The oren won't help you. But, if you could consolidate what you can..." She winced as she tried to shift her weight on the floor. "I may need it."

Most of the empty vials in Jin's pouch had a drop or two left. She began shaking them out into a single vial. All told, there was a sixth of a full dose remaining.

Enfri sniffed the oren again. Definitely familiar. Was that the scent of almonds? Strange. Alkali, too, maybe. She corked the vial. "I can't let you take anything I don't understand," Enfri cautioned. "Not unless I know precisely what's going into you."

Jin eyed Enfri for a long moment. "I suppose under the circumstances... it wouldn't do any harm to tell you."

"Oh, is it a secret?" Enfri asked testily. "Well, seeing as you're going to kill me anyway, I won't be blabbing your trade secrets to every alchemist in the Five Kingdoms."

Jin at least had the decency to look abashed. This was a girl who had offered payment to— and accepted guest-rights from— a doomed sky woman. Jin possessed a strange code of conduct.

"Oren is the source of some of our abilities," Jin said as if the information was being pulled out of her like a rotten tooth. "I began taking it at a young age, not long before we first met, actually. Prolonged use enhances strength and stamina, ether stores are increased, and it hardens the skin."

Enfri peered at the liquid in the vial. "Some manner of steroid?"

Jin shrugged.

"Side effects?"

She looked away and frowned. After a time, Jin gave a slow nod.

"What, exactly?"

"We're... dependent... on it," Jin said. "I must take it daily. When necessary, I can hold off for a few days, but..."

Enfri wrinkled her nose. "Withdrawals."

Jin nodded. "Too long, and it's fatal. No one has ever lasted more than three days without oren."

Enfri remembered the vials Dashar had left behind for Jin. It wasn't medication he left her, but time. The oren kept the assassins alive. "Maya said it fortified your ether. What does that mean exactly?"

"Many of our targets have unnatural abilities," Jin explained. "Vampires and blood mages in particular are thwarted by the oren. Many powers of fey and shifters won't affect an assassin when our ether becomes resistant to outside manipulation."

"Of course!"

The tiny shout from just outside the cave's mouth startled both Enfri and Jin. Deebee, in her tiny form, was curled on the rocks beneath the firefly light. Her head was raised above her body, and her amber eyes were wide and bright with excitement.

"That's why she could remember you, Enfri," Deebee said. "The memory ward worked by changing how your ether interacted with that of others."

"Creature," Jin mumbled.

"Monster," Deebee retorted nastily. She turned her eyes to Enfri approaching the barrier, and her expression softened.

"You came back," Enfri said to state the obvious.

"Of course I did, love. I didn't want to disturb you as you worked, and you were so exhausted afterward."

Enfri sniffed as she knelt at the entrance. "I'm sorry I sent you away."

Deebee got up and pressed her front claws against the barrier. "Hush, girl. No tears. I should be the one to ask forgiveness. You did what you thought was right, and I pressured you to do something that you would never forgive yourself for."

Enfri bowed her head, and her voice failed her.

"Your leg," Deebee observed remorsefully. She dropped her voice to a low register. "Why haven't you healed?"

Enfri cast a brief glance towards Jin. She looked back to Deebee and shook her head.

Father once made the mistake of using the bond to heal where an assassin could see. That Enfri was Aleesh was hardly a secret anymore, but she suspected Jin wasn't certain that she and Deebee were bonded. The burn hurt, but Enfri would rather keep that card close to her chest before playing it.

"I made certain the others were gone," Deebee reported. "They left Jin's horse at the oasis along with a pack horse with most of their supplies."

Jin grunted with displeasure. She must not have liked that Maya and Dashar left so much behind for her sake.

"My horse," Enfri murmured thoughtfully. If she remembered correctly, Jin had taken the Gaulatian with her when the assassins split into two parties.

"We can discuss all that happened later," Deebee whispered. "Don't give up hope, love. We'll think of a way to get you out of there, one that won't compromise that troublesome morality of yours."

Enfri cocked an eyebrow. She decided that Deebee must have been trying to add some levity to the situation.

"In any case," Deebee continued in a louder voice for Jin's benefit. She tapped the tip of her tail against the vials Dashar left behind. "Have you figured out where this oren nonsense comes from? I recall the smell."

"You do? It's been nagging at me, but I couldn't place it."

Deebee nodded grimly. "I knew it was strange to see royal assassins on such a seemingly trivial errand. Oren is distilled from the toxic ore that almost killed Goodman Smith."

Enfri nearly dropped the vial she held. Oren was made from the mineral that caused iron fever? She distinctly recalled Grandmother's notes on the affliction. Ore that carried the scent of almonds and an alkaline taste. It was a virulent and deadly poison.

She rounded on Jin. "Is that true?"

Jin sighed. "It is. The main component of oren is unearthed in Nadia, then slated for shipment to Althandor. It's been known to find its way into the ore sent elsewhere."

Enfri was furious. She got to her feet and limped towards where Jin lay. "A blustering clerical error? Do you have any idea how many people have died over the years from iron fever? Hundreds!"

"I am aware," Jin shot back. "Which is why we did all in our power to recover every ounce of it that went missing. We're not monsters, Enfri. We took responsibility and made it right. We compensated all who purchased the ore and made reparations to the families of any who succumbed to the fever."

"Why would you use something like this?" Enfri demanded while shaking the vial at her. "Aren't sorcery and elder magic enough? You have to poison yourself with this... filth... as well?"

Jin glowered and wouldn't meet her eyes. "It's necessary."

"I've had enough of what the Althandi deem necessary!"

"We must take every edge we can. Royal assassins aren't sent to fight common rabble, Enfri. We're called to eradicate the true threats to Althandor, rogue nations, wild fey, and arcanists."

"And teenaged girls with gold hair," Enfri growled. "I see the danger."

"It is a danger when the girl is Aleesh," Jin argued, then pointed an accusing finger in Deebee's direction. "Need I remind you of what your ancestors were? You consort with dragons and still you claim that you're not dangerous?"

"I'm a healer, Jin," Enfri shouted. "I'm not about to resurrect an evil empire!"

"Maybe you won't, but there are others who dream of Shan Alee and see visions of power. This desert harbors more secrets than dead slaves. The Dragon Emperors possessed magics that dominated the Continent, and anyone of Aleesh blood could be the key to unleashing that horror on the world again. You're a threat!"

Enfri felt her blood boiling. "I am the threat? What are you? Look at any map you want and show me which nation is swallowing the world, piece by piece. You call me the tumor that could kill the world while the Althandi fit it for a noose. No, a collar!"

"How dare you?"

"Congratulations, Jin. Your people defeated Shan Alee just so you could take their place. You're not liberators. You're conquerors. The king is no better than the Dragon Emperor!"

"My father is a good man!" Jin winced and clutched her arm over her stomach. She cried out and doubled over from the pain.

Winds take me, Enfri thought angrily. She rushed to Jin's side while cursing herself for being every kind of fool under the sun. Jin was at death's door, and here Enfri was, getting her worked up.

Jin went rigid and her teeth were clenched. A low growl was coming from her throat. Her breathing was stilted and erratic.

"What's happening?" Deebee called.

"She's in pain," Enfri said. "Winds and storms, I don't know what to do. I don't have the medicine she needs."

Deebee was silent. Doubtless, she thought Enfri should let things take their course. With Jin dead, there'd be nothing between them and freedom.

"I won't let you die," Enfri muttered stubbornly as she stuck her hands into the linen dress's pockets. "Winds take your pride. The pain is killing you."

Essenroot and nightshade painkiller. As a side benefit, it was also a strong antiseptic. Enfri let five drops fall into her palm. No, ten was better. She massaged it into Jin's abdomen. Essenroot was topical, and should take effect immediately.

Jin screamed. Her cry shook the wellspring cave, and dust showered over the two of them.

Enfri scrambled away from Jin as the assassin's body twisted unnaturally. Jin's arms and legs grew to twice their original length, her fingers becoming claws. Bone spurs erupted from Jin's spine and suspended her over the stone floor, and her ribcage warped beneath her flesh like a nest of serpents.

"Flames!" Deebee shouted. "Enfri, get away from her!"

Jin continued to howl, an unearthly sound that carried a perfect, pure note of suffering. Her eyes were wide open as her teeth turned into fangs. Jin became a twisted abomination of bone and flesh.

Her claws reached to the cave walls and drove into the stone. She hung in the air, writhing in agony.

"Her elder bloodline," Deebee said. "Winds and flames, she's lost control of it."

Enfri looked at the bottle of painkiller in her hand. It was the cause. Stubbornness wasn't what led Jin and Gain to refuse it. They knew what would happen if anything numbed their ability to hold the elder magic in check.

Blustering fool, she thought in a rage, though she wasn't certain who she was directing it towards. Enfri got to her feet and took a step towards Jin.

"Keep back, girl," Deebee yelled. "She's dangerous. You don't know what she could do to you while she's like this."

Enfri stood beneath Jin's head and reached up. She wrapped her arms around her chest and pulled her down. Enfri held tightly and whispered into her ear.

"I'm here," she said. "Breathe. Listen to my voice."

Bones cracked and reformed within Jin's body. Her joints popped in and out of place. She clenched her fists and crushed the stones she hung onto. Jin fell onto Enfri, taking them both to the ground.

Enfri lay beneath her and wouldn't let go. "I won't leave you. Breathe in and out. It will pass, and I'll still be here."

Deebee watched with her jaw hanging open as Jin's thrashing lessened. "Remarkable," she whispered.

Jin turned her head and looked into Enfri's eyes. Tears streamed down her face. She was afraid.

Enfri smiled for her. "You're stronger than the magic. You can beat it. Come back to me."

"I... can't."

"There's nothing you can't do. I should know. Don't be afraid, and breathe. You're not alone."

Enfri held on. An hour passed before Jin managed to stop her bones from changing, another before they began to revert back. In all that time, Enfri kept to her promise. She never let Jin go.

"You're doing it," Enfri said in encouragement.

"Enfri..." Jin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It wasn't me."

She was exhausted from the ordeal. Jin's body was back to what it was. She had her osteomancy under control again.

Enfri held Jin's head on her shoulder. It was over, but she was hesitant to let her go. Outside, the sun was beginning to rise. The firefly light waned and winked out.

"I was a little girl, the first time," Jin murmured. Her voice was small and almost too quiet to be heard. "Too young. I was too weak to contain it. When I couldn't hold the power in, my mother would hold me. She'd stay with me until it passed."

Enfri bit her lip. "This happened often?"

Jin nodded. "Daily, at its worst. Osteomancy is an aggressive power. It fights us. They say that each of the elder bloodlines has its own trials, and this is ours. I was ten years old when I finally mastered it. Before I did, whenever I was overcome by the attacks, Mother would hold me as you are now. When it passed, I would look to her and see that love had a face."

"I wish..." Enfri bit back what she had been about to say.

"What is it?" Jin asked.

Enfri looked to Deebee. The dragon stared back sadly. She knew what Enfri wished for.

"I wish I had a mother like yours," Enfri said. "One who could hold a child with crooked bones and tell her that she was loved. Mine... She was cruel. She despised me."

"Why?" Jin asked in disbelief. It was as if the very concept of an unloving mother was completely foreign to her.

Enfri blinked back tears. "My back. My father. He died while Mother carried me, and she saw me as a poor replacement, her deformed daughter."

Jin was silent for a moment before responding. "I would never have known. I'd have thought you untouched by cruelty. You're so like my mother."

Enfri recalled what Jin said immediately before her attack. "Your mother. The queen?"

Jin snorted, but kept her eyes closed. "Let that slip, did I?"

"You did."

She sighed. "My name is Jin Algara, second daughter of Cathis the Algara."

Enfri blinked, stupefied. "When Gain speaks of his brother, you and Maya of your father, you mean..."

"The king."

"Drat," Enfri mumbled. "I figured your father was just the head assassin."

"He is. Father bears the bloodline's mark like the rest of us. He just wears a crown as well."

Enfri looked away. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Pardon?"

"For what I said before. It wasn't right of me to insult your father." Enfri got a sour look. "Where you could hear, at least," she added.

"I'll overlook your treason," Jin said, though it wasn't clear if it was meant as a joke or not.

Winds and storms, she's a blustering princess. Enfri became suddenly anxious. She ought to have known. After everything she'd been through, Enfri wouldn't have thought anything could surprise her, but here she was. "Is that what Maya was going on about? Being the heir, and all that?"

Jin grunted. "It's her failing. She rails to the winds about what should be hers, but if she put half the effort into improving herself as she does complaining, Father might very well eschew tradition and name her as his successor."

"What do you mean?" Enfri asked.

"Women cannot inherit," Jin said. "Gain is the elder brother, but he abdicated the throne. He wanted no part of ruling a country, and neither does Tarlus and Josy's father. I have no living brothers, so Maya believes that she should be heir as the king's eldest child."

The laws of succession were a subject that was lost on Enfri. It had never been anything a sky woman needed to know before. "So, if Maya's not the heir, who is?"

"Succession follows the male line. Cathis has no sons, so the throne reverts to Gain's eldest son. That would be Dashar. He's the crown prince."

Enfri had some difficulty processing that bit of information. It was too ridiculous. Without warning, she burst into laughter.

"I beg your pardon?" Jin said, indignant.

"Sorry," Enfri said breathlessly. "I'm sorry. It's just... I'm picturing it, King Dashar."

Jin watched her cackling maniacally as if she had gone mad. "I fail to see what's so funny."

Enfri covered her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle her fit. "He's sitting on the throne, and petitioners come before the king. They present their case to him, and he just... stares at them. After a time they say, 'Sorry to bother you, Your Grace. We'll sort it out ourselves.' He'll be the most effective king in history."

She couldn't stop laughing, and even Jin wasn't immune to it for much longer. The princess cracked a smile and joined in, though in a much more subdued and refined manner, of course. Any more would be unseemly for someone of her station.

"I suppose," Jin said, "there'll be a sudden drop in the number of public speeches."

"Maybe not," Enfri laughed. "Subtle nods and gestures could be the next big thing. The king does set the fashion, I hear."

Deebee cleared her throat— twice— before the two girls got ahold of themselves again.

Enfri saw Deebee's aghast expression and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. What was she thinking, holding Jin to her chest while they giggled like two village girls at festival? She had forgotten herself, where she was, and who she was with. Enfri looked to the side and saw where Jin's sword lay on the ground, waiting to be used.

"I should let you rest," Enfri mumbled. She lay Jin down and made to step away.

Jin's hand caught hers and kept her close. "Wait. You won't kill me. I... understand... why you won't. That doesn't obligate you to help me. You could leave me be. Why don't you?"

"I don't see a difference between the two," Enfri replied. "Not helping you is killing you."

"But you'd be alive. Saving me seals your fate. I must do as I must. I can't fail my father's command. Help me, and you won't leave this cave alive."

Enfri swallowed. The look in Jin's eyes was intense. Demanding. She needed to know the answer to her question.

"Your dragon was right when she said I blundered. I all but handed you your escape. Why won't you take it?"

Enfri looked at Deebee, then back at Jin. "That would only prove that you were right about me all along. It's not enough to be the one that lives."

Jin let go of Enfri's hand and lay back on the ground. She turned to look away as if in deep thought.

"She's recovering quickly," Deebee muttered as Enfri came close. She kept her voice low so as not to be overheard. "Her sorcerer training, no doubt. Jin's ether is being poured into recovering her injuries. That episode took a lot out of her, but she'll soon be able to cast spells again."

"What are you saying, Deebee?" Enfri asked as she sat by the barrier.

Deebee changed into her human form. She sat with her back to the barrier and picked up one of the vials of oren. "We're running short on time."

Enfri watched Deebee turning the vial over in her fingers. "Don't do it," she warned.

Deebee shrugged and set the oren back down. "As you wish, but don't expect me to let that thug go unpunished should the worst happen."

"I don't want to think about that. Come up with anything?"

Deebee shook her head as she stared out towards the burning city. "I'm Deebee the Storyteller. More than anyone, I know that not all tales have happy endings. But this one... I would tear down the sky to make it so." She snorted and got a bitter smile.

They sat in oppressive silence for a long while. Enfri didn't know what to say, and Deebee was lost in her own thoughts.

"Did you mean what you said?" Deebee asked abruptly.

"About what?"

"About your mother," she said. "Would you rather she was someone else?"

Enfri didn't much want to think about that either. "I... wish she was what she should have been. I wanted her to always be the mother who brushed my hair and sang to me. She was sometimes, but it never lasted. I got only glimpses of the woman that Father fell in love with, and it only made me want to know that part of her more. You called her a gentle girl, but I never knew the jewel of Sandharbor." Enfri glowered at her feet. "Grandmother was the gentle one of the family."

"That she was," Deebee sighed. "Mierwyn wasn't always as you knew her, love. I'm afraid I've done her a disservice by speaking of her to you as I do."

Enfri hugged her knees to her chin. "It's not because of you that I think poorly of her."

"No," Deebee agreed. "I suppose not. Would that I had the wisdom to have seen how she treated you. Maybe I could have..."

"It's not your fault," Enfri insisted harshly.

"Nor is it yours. You forget that too often. The sin is hers, but... I think you should know that I don't blame her for what she became."

Enfri scoffed. "Are you going to tell me some story that will cast her in a new light? How Mother was the victim all along?"

Deebee shook her head. "Never. We must own who we are. However, it's important to learn of the why. How else are we to stop ourselves from going down the same path? As for who is the victim, we all have some claim to it. Nothing that lives exists free of suffering, and I fear that you lay crimes upon Mierwyn that were never hers."

"Such as?"

"Mierwyn never hated you," Deebee said. She rolled her bare shoulders and adjusted how her hair fell over them. "That must make the way she was to you hurt even more, but it's the truth."

Deebee was right. It did make it hurt more.

"I don't believe you," Enfri whispered.

"One more story, then?" Deebee asked. "We have time before the princess there recovers. Listen carefully, now. This story's important because it's about you."