Promising Light (42 page)

Dar touched her leg softly. “Not
really.”

Sierra let out a cry of pain from a
distance away. Grace left the damp cloth with Dar and followed the
noise. Sierra lay behind a large oak tree with her dress open, her
stomach bloody. Evan sat next to her, cleaning the
wound.

Grace dropped to her knees next to
them. “Is she all right?”

“I don’t know,” Evan said, wiping
the sweat off his forehead.

“Shouldn’t you change your
bandage?” Grace motioned to his arm. “I can take care of
Sierra.”

“No, it’s all right,” he said
roughly. “I’m capable.”

“You are,” Sierra said, touching
his arm, “but you should look at that.”

He frowned down at her. “It’s my
fault this happened.”

Sierra sighed. “Just go, Evan,
please. I’m fine. Grace can do it.” Her voice was tired and hoarse.
Grace brushed a lock of hair off her forehead.

He handed her the damp cloth and
left, practically stomping. Grace bent down over the wound. In the
dim light, she could see where the skin split in two. She felt a
little woozy just looking at it, but she had the feeling that it
wasn’t very deep. She gently cleaned the blood away, leaving to
rinse the cloth and coming back to clean the cut again. “It only
looks an inch or so deep. That’s reassuring.”

“It still hurts like hell,” Sierra
said through gritted teeth.

Matilda offered some Mahri cream
she said would speed the healing. Grace smoothed it over Sierra’s
cut as Sierra sighed with relief. Then she tied a clean fabric
tight around Sierra’s torso. Sierra said she could hardly breathe,
but Grace assured her it would stop the bleeding.

Sierra sat against the tree, and
the two of them drank water and ate a couple pieces of fruit. Grace
left to check on the others; Dar’s face looked much better, and
they were setting up camp.

“You think we’re far enough away?”
Grace asked, glancing over her shoulder toward where they came
from.

“We should be fine,” Dar said.
“We’ll set up a sentry duty, though.” He was crouched next to a
bundle of kindling and firewood, starting a fire.

“How’s Sierra?” Evan asked as he
got to his feet. He didn’t wait for her answer, walking back to
where Sierra sat.

“Well, I am tired,” Grace said.
What an understatement. Her back and legs ached from riding, her
ankle was still sore, and she was getting kind of dizzy. “At least
Matilda was smart enough to make us bring our bags.” She grabbed
her bag and rustled through it for her blanket.

“Thanks for taking mine.” Dar
stood and stumbled on a stick with his leg leg. She dropped her
blanket to steady him. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“How’s your knee?” she asked.
“Maybe I should look at it.”

“It’s fine. Just
bruised.”

“Are you sure?” She touched his
black eye.

He caught her wrist and squeezed
her fingers. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Grace smiled, and she realized Chad
was watching them from his position, propped up against one of the
trees. He held up his hands. “Don’t let me interrupt,” he said,
grinning.

Dar’s face tightened, and Grace
bent down to pick up her blanket. “You’re not interrupting
anything,” she said. She lay down her blanket and stated making her
bed. After a few moments, she told Dar, “I’m glad you’re okay,
too.”

* * *

They packed up to leave mid-day.
Grace’s energy wasn’t very high yet, but her anxiety about
Protectors from Rahuda following them woke her up enough to help
the others get ready. Sierra changed into a spare dress of Grace’s,
and, looking at Sierra’s torn, bloody, and burnt dress, a familiar
wave of guilt wash over Grace.

“Maybe I should just leave you to
it,” she said, tying up Sierra’s new dress.

Evan looked up her in confusion. He
hadn’t left Sierra’s side since last night. “What do you
mean?”

“This is happening because of me.”
Grace dropped her hands and avoided Sierra’s eyes as she turned to
face Grace. “Because I left. Maybe I should go back to them… and
leave you all to find the texts…”

“That wouldn’t help anything,”
Sierra said, putting her hand on Grace’s shoulder. “They’d still be
trying to fix you. They’d still be looking for us.”

Evan stepped forward from the tree
he’d been leaning against. “Grace, you’re the one to break the
curse. You don’t need to get pregnant. We need to find the ancient
texts.” He stared up at the sky. “I saw Sierra and I think you were
there, too. I know you all still think I’m crazy… or maybe you
don’t, otherwise you wouldn’t be running from the Protectors
looking for the texts with me…”

“I don’t think you’re crazy,”
Grace said slowly. “I came because I wanted to help, but now I feel
like I’m doing more harm than good.”

“They’re still going to try to
stop us if you leave,” Sierra said.

“And if you leave, we could lose
Dar,” Evan added.

Grace swallowed. “What do you
mean?”

“He’s only here because of you.”
Evan still gazed at the sky with a deep frown. “You know how
reluctant he was to help.”

Grace glanced back at Dar, who was
washing his face in the brook. “I don’t think he’d leave you.” Her
voice faltered, though. Would he? Or would he try to go with her to
convince the Protectors she was innocent? He hadn’t reminded them
of his unwillingness to cooperate with the Avialies, but she hadn’t
forgotten all he’d done to supposedly keep her safe: leaving her
after the man at the tavern, helping the prince find her, lying to
his family, making the deal with the Protectors. He’d wanted to go
into Rahuda with them because of her.

“He cares about you more than us,”
Sierra said, and she didn’t sound upset about it. “I don’t know if
you picked up on it, but he and Matilda used to be
together…”

“I thought as much,” Grace said
quietly.

“But I can tell… it’s nothing
compared with the two of you. He feels stronger for you. When he
lets it show. He can seem like an emotionless bastard, but when he
lets it slip…” Sierra glanced at Evan. “You’ve seen it, too, right,
Evan?”

Evan met Sierra’s eyes and nodded.
“Definitely.”

Grace stepped away. “Please, I
don’t think this is the time.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not
going anywhere.”

Sierra reached out and squeezed her
hand. “Good.”

Since they were one horse short,
Evan suggested he and Sierra ride together just in case her wound
opened again. Grace thought Dar glanced at her, but it was probably
her imagination. It was probably what Sierra had said. She knew Dar
cared about her, but most of that came from their six months
together or stolen moments when no one else was around. Their night
in Belisha, the time he told her about his teenage years in Rahuda,
or their wanderings in the tunnels.

It surprised her that others could
see it, and it made her feel self-conscious about how she herself
acted around him. William had said she looked stupid whenever she
saw him. Part of her wanted to ask Sierra, but it seemed so vain
and shallow when they were in such a dangerous
situation.

Vashti was apparently two hours
from there, and Sierra said the circus should be there. She’d lost
track of the days since she’d been kidnapped by the Protectors, but
she said if it had been two weeks, then this should be the circus’
last day in Vashti.

Matilda made Grace invisible again,
and Dar and Evan said they’d save their energy by remaining in
their original forms. They assured the others they’d change as soon
as they saw someone approaching. They moved quickly, and they only
passed a few people on the road.

The others asked Chad if he knew of
any tigers who’d been bonded to a bloodline, but he said it was
such a cruel concept he hadn’t heard of any animals bonded to more
than one person since he was a child, and in that circumstance, the
animal was a war horse.

At the end of the two hours, they
approached Vashti, a city at the southern edge of Shyra. It lay in
the valley of two hillsides, and they looked down on the bustling
city. “You see the large white tents?” Sierra said, pointing to the
far west side of the city.

“Yeah, the circus is definitely
here,” Chad said. “I can feel all kinds of animals.”

On the outskirts of the city, which
thankfully didn’t have any gates, they gathered to piece together a
plan. Sierra knew the way the circus worked in the large tents, but
her last boss had turned her into the Protectors for a bit of
money, and she had a feeling he’d do it again.

“Can you make me invisible?”
Sierra asked Matilda, her voice quiet.

Matilda sighed. “Okay. The magic
tied with the traveling is tiring me, though. I need to visit a
Mahri and get some strengthening potion. Or we need to have a real
rest tonight.”

“We may be able to if things go
smoothly,” Dar said. “What if the three of you go to the circus and
look for the tigers while Matilda, Grace, and I go searching for a
Mahri? We’ll pick up some information, too.”

“See if the rewards are any
higher,” Grace added with a wry smile.

“All right,” Matilda said,
motioning for Sierra to come closer.

A few minutes later, they separated
ways. Evan had changed into a preteen boy who’d pretend to be
Chad’s eager brother. He didn’t look very eager to Grace, though;
he seemed like the most sullen boy she’d ever seen.

Dar changed into his previous form
of Ira Herlonsen, the muscly blond man. Grace trailed behind him
and Matilda as they entered the town. They dismounted and walked
their horses through the streets. Unlike Rahuda, things were much
more spread out here. They passed farms and cottages. It took them
twenty minutes to get to the middle of the town, but Grace liked
stretching her legs.

She remained mostly silent behind
Dar and Matilda, and Dar periodically glanced over his shoulder at
her. From what she gathered of their conversation earlier, Dar had
been here plenty of times since his father was governor of Shyra
and Vashti was an important farming town.

“Should we go see Nan or
Benjamin?” Dar asked Matilda.

“I don’t know,” Matilda said.
“They’re both probably working for the Protectors.”

“Benjamin? You think
so?”

“I practically know with him. Nan,
I’m not so sure…”

“You know of anyone else?” Dar
asked.

“If only I had the time to make my
own,” Matilda said with a sigh. “Let’s go to Nan. He might have
Cosa revealing spells around his place. Are you willing to wait
outside?”

Dar didn’t respond at
first.

“I thought you trusted me,”
Matilda said.

“I don’t want to leave you alone
with him,” Dar said. It was one of those times Grace couldn’t read
him, couldn’t tell if it was an easy lie or if he really was
concerned about Matilda’s safety. It’d been years since he was with
Matilda and she seemed to have something going on with Chad, so she
knew she shouldn’t be jealous. But she couldn’t help that insecure
feeling, wondering if he saw something more in Matilda.

Then again, maybe Dar was just
being a good person, showing normal concern for his friends. She
hadn’t had many chances to see him with others since in public they
pretended to hardly know each other. But now that he was around
Sierra and Evan, she saw a different side of him. A side that was
protective, not just of her, but others, as well.

Matilda chuckled. “Just stay out
here with Grace. I’ll only be a minute.”

They walked a few blocks in silence
before reaching a small house nearly hidden behind a large oak
tree. Matilda handed her horse’s reins to Dar and walked up the
path to the door.

Grace took the moment to sit down
on the ground, stretching her legs out in front of her. A couple
weeks ago, she couldn’t have imagined soiling her dress on the dirt
ground. She didn’t have one of her extravagant dresses on now,
though, and she was too tired to care. She couldn’t believe how her
perspective had changed in such a short time.

Dar sat down next to her, watching
as Matilda walked inside the house. He looked around at the quiet
street and asked Grace quietly, “How are you doing?”

Grace shrugged. “I’m fine. A bit
tired from the ride last night. What about you? You’ve been through
a lot the last few days.” That morning, he’d shown her his knee: it
was bruised purple, and when he was in his own form, he didn’t put
much weight on it.

Dar smiled. “I suppose.”

“Can you still feel the pain from
your face when you’re in a different form?”

He shook his head. “Fortunately
not.” He kept his voice so low Grace moved closer to she could hear
him. “You’ve been through a bit more than me, though. I’m used to
fearing the Protectors.” He took her hand and ran his fingers over
her bandages. He paused for a long moment before asking. “Are these
feeling better?”

“Yes,” she whispered.