He found Poril waiting outside. The cook gripped Achan’s arm as if squeezing juice from a lemon. “Yer through serving, yeh are. Talking with noble folk like yer one of ’em? Never has Poril been in such a place to be forced to interrupt a prince. Gods have mercy on poor, miserable Poril. Lord Nathak said to keep yeh away from the knight, but yeh went right to ’im. What’s Poril to do, I ask yeh? Into the kitchens until Poril can get his belt teh yer hide. That’s what.”
Lord Nathak would never allow Achan to train as a knight, and this proved it. Achan stalked out of the inner bailey. The sun beat down on him as if to laugh at his feeble attempt at a new life. He passed through the outer bailey and stepped into the kitchens.
He stood in the doorway and watched the women bustle about preparing desserts. He had never been filled with more rebelliousness in his life. The gods had given him a taste of noble life today and, with the exception of his bath, he didn’t want to lose it. He stepped into the kitchens, lifted a briarberry pie from the table, and slipped away.
Normally he would’ve sought out Gren, and they could’ve shared the pie together in secret. But she was engaged now. And besides, he had only bad news to share. Lord Nathak’s discovery of his training would likely mean the end of Achan’s dreams of knighthood, which crushed his hopes of rescuing Gren from a life with Riga. So instead of heading to her home or even the Corner, Achan carried his pie over the drawbridge and toward the river.
The sun shone high in the sky as Achan sank against the allown tree. He shoved a bite of pie into his mouth. The sweetness brought comfort, but changed nothing. It was foolish to hope. No stray could serve in the Kingsguard. Achan knew the law. Why had Sir Gavin insisted on breaking it?
Achan sat under the allown tree until the sun sank behind Sitna Manor, watching the rushing river and picking at the pie until it was gone. He should return and take his beating like a good stray. Instead, he lay down and dreamed of Lady Tara’s kiss.
10
“What’s this?”
Vrell could see Khai’s boots through the cave entrance from her position under the torch. He was still unconscious. It was not his voice that spoke. Nor was it Jax’s.
“Somebody done a number on him,” the voice said. “That’s quite a wallop.”
Vrell leaned to the right until she saw the speaker. A hunched man stood at Khai’s side, wearing only blackened undershorts. He had a narrow, skeletal build, but his sinewy arms and legs burst with muscles. A few wisps of black hair lay matted to his bald head. It looked like he’d tried to shave his head but had missed a few spots.
Jax stepped into Vrell’s line of sight. Her heart leapt to see him alive and well. He crouched behind the stalagmite where Khai’s wrists were bound.
“No!” Vrell scrambled to her feet and ran to the men, who turned to her in surprise. “Leave him!”
“Vrell!” Jax stood, his wide smile baring two rotten bottom teeth. “I thought the reekat ate you for sure.” He motioned back toward the river. In the dim light, she saw a wet form at the craggy base of the dripstone tree. A swollen brown beast lay where the water met the shore. In the shadow of the dripstone tree it was difficult to make out anything specific.
“Is it…”
“Dead,” the near-naked man said. His skin was winkled all over as if he had been in water his whole life.
Jax pointed down at Khai. “Did you do this?”
She looked at Khai’s face. A small turnip had swelled from his temple, shiny and purple. “He attacked me.” She pointed to the sticky cut on her neck. She had forgotten to clean it, not that it would matter in such a filthy place.
Jax’s bushy black eyebrows sank into a scowl. “Why would Khai attack you?”
Vrell looked at her feet. “He said he wanted my secret. He forced me to drink something bitter, but I spit it out.”
Jax sighed. “I’m sorry, Vrell. I meant to keep an eye on that.” Jax rubbed his face, fingers lingering on his right eyelid. “But I can’t leave him like this. Khai’s greedy, but he’s my partner. I need to untie him, make him comfortable. You understand?”
Vrell swallowed but nodded.
The giant pulled a dagger from his boot and cut Khai free. He lifted the unconscious Kingsguard over his shoulder and carried him into the cave.
Vrell glanced back at the wrinkled man. He was watching her with raised eyebrows. Feeling self-conscious, Vrell walked into the cave. She cleared a spot in the droppings across from the dark tunnel that led up into the cave wall and sat. She watched Jax out of the corner of her eye, but he spent only a moment settling Khai under the torch before joining the wrinkled man by the dripstone tree.
The two men dragged the reekat into the cave. Under the torchlight, the beast came into full view. It was a slug-like creature covered in short brown fur. It had the whiskers and scrunched face of a bobcat, a short tail, and webbed feet with thick claws on each toe.
Jax glanced over his shoulder to Vrell before giving the front left limb of the reekat a final tug. “Peripaso here saved me.”
“Ah, you’d of done all right.” The man — Peripaso, apparently — stood and stretched his arms overhead until his bones cracked. “We’ll just leave her for now. I’ll skin her tonight.”
“It is huge,” Vrell said.
“Aye. She’s a big one,” Peripaso said.
“But how? What do they eat that makes them so big?”
“Oh, they got themselves a filter in their mouths like a whale to swallow tiny fish from the springs. Garra, dace, suckers, and chubs.”
“Then why do they attack?”
“They’re real territorial. They got at least one nest up river. Likely have a young one. It’s the right time of year.”
Vrell kicked a beetle away from her foot. “What are we going to do now?”
“Peripaso has invited us to dine with him,” Jax said.
The wrinkled man burst into laughter. Jax joined in, the sound so jolly Vrell smirked.
A groan from Khai silenced them all.
Jax squatted beside his companion. “All right, Khai?”
The knight rolled to his side and up onto his knees. “What happened?”
“Met some help up river,” Jax said. “Peripaso here killed the reekat.”
“Jax nicked the first one,” Peripaso said.
“Scared it away.”
“Well, that’s a big one,” Khai said, staring at the beast. He turned to Peripaso. “You live down here?”
“Up in a cave. Reekats don’t leave the water much, and when they do, they’re too fat to get in my tunnel.”
Khai fingered the lump on his head and rose to his feet, glaring at Vrell. “Was the boat destroyed?”
“Only torn,” Jax said. “Peripaso says he can mend it, but we’ll have to fetch it first. It anchored when it tipped. It’s upstream a ways.” Jax tugged the handkerchief from his hair, wrung it out, then retied it. “Vrell, if you don’t mind helping Peripaso bring down supplies from his place, Khai and I will fetch the boat.”
Vrell’s eyes bulged. “Me? Go up there?” She stared up the dark tunnel.
Jax nodded. “Once we’ve eaten and the boat’s mended, we can head out again.”
“But how will you swim upstream?” Vrell asked. “The current is too strong.”
“I’m tall enough to walk it. I’ll carry Khai on my back.”
“Just leave me,” Khai said. “Thanks to the boy, I feel ill. I’ll only be a burden.”
“I’d let you rest if I could,” Jax said. “But I’ll need help should another reekat come along.”