Chapter 19

Jaden left the common room early. Noah stayed a little longer, sipping his ale, but he soon began to feel his presence was not relevant much. Kitera and Dharkan laughed together, ordering more drinks, kissing… Besides, Noah was exhausted�"he could not remember the last time he had a proper sleep.

“Good night, Noah,” Kitera said as he adjusted his bag’s strap over his shoulder.

“’Night, Kit,” he replied, before glancing at Dharkan. “Good luck with the snoring.”

“I do not snore,” Kitera protested.

“Yeah, you do.” Again he addressed Dharkan: “I don’t know how you do it.”

“I snore louder,” Dharkan said.

Shaking his head, Noah made his way out, a small smile on his lips.

Second floor, last door on the left, a staff member had instructed for the room he shared with Jaden. 

Floorboards creaking under his boots, Noah stopped as he reached it, dropping a hand on the handle and shouldering the door open.

Jaden was doing his meditation thing�"sitting with his spine very straight, eyes closed, face relaxed, breathing deep and even. Behind him the wide curtainless window revealed the clouded night sky, and some candles were lit atop the desk.

There was something odd about the air in the room, Noah thought as he closed the door and dropped his stuff.

Am I going crazy?

The air shimmered. It was translucent, yet when Noah raised a tentative hand, watching as his fingers moved across the stuff, he felt something. A caress. Tingles.

Then it was gone.

Jaden rubbed his eye. “Oh, hi, I didn’t hear you come in.”

Uncrossing his legs, Jaden rose and sat on one of the beds.

Noah fell on the other. “What were you doing, just now?”  

“Just a bit of meditation.”

“There was nothing… special about it?” Noah asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The air was… You know what? Never mind. I think I’m just tired.”

“I’m beyond exhaustion,” Jaden admitted.

In a silent agreement they blew off the candles and sank in their beds, Noah letting out a contented sigh as the darkness soothed his eyes.

“How did you do that, earlier, with the knives?” Jaden asked.

“Spider web threads,” he answered.

“Right...”

After a pause, another question came.

“Did you truly put a spider in Kitera’s bath water?”

He laughed, sliding an arm under his head. “No. I’m not that evil. Not every spider is my fault. But she didn’t believe me.”

“I see.” His voice held a smile. “So, Dharkan, he’s quite…”

“The worse person, ever?” Noah tried.

“I was about to say entertaining.”

“Well,” Noah concluded, “you’re even more polite than I thought.”

“If I may ask, what’s the name of your cult?”

For all his talk of exhaustion Jaden was quite chatty, but Noah found he didn’t mind.

“It changes names a lot. Right now it’s the Spider and the Snake.”

A silence, then: “Who has the snake demon?”

“Kitera’s brother,” Noah said.

“Oh.”

“Can I ask you something too?” Noah asked.

“Of course.”

Noah turned to his side, facing the other bed.

“Do you know who your father is?”

Jaden didn’t answer right away. Noah heard him taking a deep breath.

“I do. However I… I’m not ready to…”

“It’s all right,” Noah said, “I get it.”

 

***

 

Yanked from a dreamless slumber by the shudder-inducing sound of teeth grinding, Noah stirred, glaring at the other bed. A nightmare again, Noah decided.

“Jaden, wake up.”

Grunting, Noah dragged himself to the other side of the room, where Jaden’s back faced him, trembling and thrashing with the occasional spasm.

“Wake up!” Noah squeezed his shoulder.

Jaden rolled and pushed him away, eyes open but still terrified. He kept pushing Noah away as he wriggled himself from the bed and to his feet.

“It’s over,” Noah tried but Jaden was completely out of it.

“We already told you everything,” he whispered frantically. “But you won’t listen… Stop hurting her…”

He made for giving Noah one more violent shove, but Noah clasped his wrists mid-movement, and after a brief struggle they clumsily fell to the floor.

“It’s over,” Noah repeated as Jaden panted. “You’re safe.”

After a long, shaky breath that resembled a sob, his shoulders sagged, and Noah released his arms slowly.

“They ripped out my teeth,” Jaden said, a shaky hand going to his lips.

“You’re fine,” Noah told him, wishing he were as confident as he sounded.

He held him for a time, until the trembling stopped, until Jaden regained enough of his senses to be embarrassed and apologize.

After a moment’s hesitation, Noah asked: “A girl in your dream. You said to stop hurting her. Who was she?”

Jaden shook his head. “I don’t know.  I never saw her. But in the dream I knew her, and they were torturing her…”

“Who’s they?” Noah asked.

A soft sigh escaped him. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”

 

***

 

The middle of the afternoon saw them swerving from the road for a brief pause by the Fel River. According to Noah’s map they were a little more than halfway to the port city of Clearwater.

“Great food and ale to be had in Clearwater,” Dharkan said, chewing his snack of heavily salted and spiced dried meat, seated with Kitera and Jaden by the fire.

Down by the shore, Noah was filling their water skins, while the horses quenched their thirst.

Save for Dharkan’s horse, that is, Jaden thought nervously. Xephos, he was called. A tall black stallion, Xephos made even Bolt seem unimpressive, and had scant use for water or food.

And, of course, another perk; no stable fees. When no longer needed, Xephos disappeared and returned in the form of a small equine tattoo upon Dharkan’s ankle.

The demon lottery had favored Dharkan with luck.

Truth be told, Jaden felt rather terrified of the demon horse, as marble-like black eyes stared him down, seeming far too intelligent, making him flinch.

“He doesn’t like you,” Dharkan explained.

Jaden swallowed. “I’m truly sorry he feels that way.”

Kitera sprang to her feet. “Jaden, a word, please?”

None too saddened to escape from Dharkan and Xephos, Jaden nodded and followed her as they walked a little distance, gravel crunching underfoot, the broad waters of the Fel stretching to their left. The sun blazed fiercely in a cloudless sky, softening the bite of the brisk autumn wind.

Kitera cut to the chase. “I’ve devised a strategy.”

Jaden ignored the guilt lancing his chest. “Do tell?”

“Tonight,” she said, “we shall get them both completely drunk, allowing you to steal the catalyst and depart at night. From Clearwater you will take the ferry, then ride to Veicira without pause if you can. By the time they wake up tomorrow, you should be long gone.”

“A keen plan,” Jaden said quietly. Then: “What if our friends are not thirsty?”

“They’ll be thirsty,” Kitera said.

“No backup plan, then?”

“It will work, Jaden,” Kitera stressed.

He halted, and she did the same, long brown curls dancing in the wind, dark eyes lost in the river.

“I take it you’re staying with them,” Jaden said, his voice soft.

“The queen instructs me to keep my cover intact, if possible.”

“Of course. I understand.”