Kaad left the hearth and walked out of Hweilan’s sight. She looked at her wound again. The worst of the pain was over. Most of her right arm had gone numb. She could feel only a lingering warmth there, pulsing with her heartbeat. “You’re making a mistake,” she said.
“Let’s not start that again,” said Maaqua. “I know of your master, and I know it’s less than a tenday until the moon is fat. I have no desire to provoke the ire of Nendawen. But I served Soneillon. If you don’t know who that is, you can ask Kaad after I leave. Enough that you know I am not without means to defend myself, even against the Master of the Hunt. So if you persist in threatening me, I’ll cut off the middle two fingers of your right hand. See how well you wield a bow then.”
Kaad shuffled back into view. The mitt was gone, and he balanced a silver bowl in both hands. “Drink this,” he said, and lowered it to Hweilan’s face.
Hweilan pulled her head back. It had an earthy, wet scent, like sodden leaves.
“The medicine I put on your arm killed what was left of the poison in your flesh and blood,” said Kaad. “So you will not die, yes? This will heal the arm.”
“What else will it do?” Hweilan asked.
“Eh?”
“No more sleeping?”
Kaad smiled. “Ah. Nothing like that. Quite other, I fear-at least with our kind. This is gunhin. It restores the body to health. Those who take it sometimes cannot sleep for two or three days after. Very … invigorating.”
Hweilan could see he was trying to suppress a smile.
“You lie,” she said.
“No.”
“Out with it, Kaad,” said Maaqua. “Tell her what you mean by invigorating. Speak our tongue if you have to.”
Kaad bowed his head to his mistress before returning his gaze to Hweilan, and spoke in Goblin, “Understand that its effects upon a human may differ. But when hobgoblin warriors take this, it makes them not only very vigorous, but very … focused in their vigor. It is no accident that after a particularly fierce raid we heal many wounded-and have many little ones born the next season.”
“I wouldn’t let that worry you,” said Maaqua. “The three idiots are still in their hole, and the big brute is in no condition for loving. So unless you have a liking for hobgoblins, a roll in the snow should set you right. Or perhaps I’ll just keep you tied up until it wears off, eh?”
Kaad offered Hweilan the bowl again, and she drank. She forced it at first, because it tasted worse than the smell of rotting leaves, but then she gulped with more enthusiasm, for the effect was almost instantaneous. It reminded her of the kanishta root-a sort of slow warmth like strong spirits, only without the numbing of the mind. But soon there was a mix of sensations, like the ecstasy of a steaming hot bath on a cold winter’s night combined with the relief of a cool breeze on a summer’s day-only it was on the inside. Hweilan felt the tiniest fibers in her muscles trembling like plucked harpstrings, and for a moment she felt the roots of her hair sizzling.
All the pain of the past days-sore muscles, scrapes, even the gouge on her cheek from Maaqua’s fingernail-flared for just a moment in an exquisite pain that bordered on pleasure, then melted away.
“Better, yes?” said Kaad.
“Yes,” said Hweilan, and she blushed at the genuine pleasure in her voice. Her bindings suddenly itched worse than sand in her bed linens. She could feel every rough fiber in the twine, every crease in her skin where the bindings were too tight. Even her clothes and boots suddenly seemed constraining. Not being able to move became worse as slow fire spread through every limb, making her want to run, to punch out her frustrations on the nearest flesh, to sing out all the battle songs Scith had taught her. Worse still, a warmth spread through her torso and loins … a warmth she had not felt in a very long time, one that made her want another’s flesh in very different ways.
Maaqua sat down just beyond Hweilan’s feet, settled her robes around her knees, and laid her staff across her lap.
“Shall I have my warriors fetch the young prince?” Maaqua said, looking at Hweilan with a wicked grin.
“What?” said Hweilan as she felt her neck and face fill with blood.
“I didn’t think your taste would be for the old man,” said Maaqua. “And the scrawny one whines too much. But the princeling seems quite mountable as humans go, eh?”
Kaad grabbed another cauldron sitting in the far corner. For a moment, Hweilan thought she was in for some new torment, but it was only water. Kaad put it to good use scrubbing the muck from her arm with a large, hairy cloth that Hweilan suspected had been shorn from the back of one of the local rams.
“Why are you doing this?” said Hweilan.
“Eh?”
“Healing me.”
“Hm. Now that is a tangle.” Maaqua scratched at her chin while she gathered her thoughts.
Hweilan had no time for this. She had to get away. She’d been a fool to try to help Darric and the others. She knew this, but had always talked herself out of leaving. What a fool she’d been.
With new energy making her limbs quiver with strength, Hweilan struggled against her bonds. The ironwood rack to which she was tied gave the faintest cracking sound, but her bindings held.
Time is running out, the wolf had said. She hadn’t understood in the dream, but she thought she did now. Jagun Ghen and his ilk were far away, but she could still sense them, much as birds could sense the coming winter and knew to fly south. It was like an itch in the farthest part of her brain. Had her hands been free, they could have pointed straight at Highwatch. He was out there, and every passing moment allowed him to build his strength.
Hweilan remembered the words she had heard in the vision of Kesh Naan’s lair: In the Hunting Lands, Jagun Ghen almost conquered. Only hundreds of years of blood and sacrifice vanquished him. Here in this corrupt world beneath its cold stars, here Jagun Ghen could become a god.
“Why are we healing you?” asked Maaqua. “That depends on you, I’d say. You’ve presented me with quite a puzzle, girl. When you first appeared on my doorstep, with Menduarthis speaking for you, I had half a mind to help you. I have no love for you or your master, but there’s no denying what you’ve been doing in the mountains, killing those things out of Highwatch. Enemy of my enemy is … well, if not my friend, then at least someone worth helping, eh?”
Hweilan surreptitiously tested her bonds again. They didn’t budge. Much more pressure, and Hweilan knew she’d only tear her skin. The ironwood rack creaked louder.
Maaqua chuckled. “You’re strong, girl. But not that strong. Save your strength. I said I had half a mind to help you, but that was before that thing appeared at my fortress and took your friend Menduarthis right out from under my nose. I don’t take kindly to threats, even from Highwatch’s new master. However, faced with an army of those things coming here …”
“You’re no fool,” said Hweilan. “You know giving me up will buy you only a little time. No more.”
“True,” said Maaqua. “But a little time might be all I need to figure out how to deal with Highwatch’s new master myself.”
Hweilan hung her head and laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I take my words back. You are a fool.”
Maaqua’s staff came down with a thwack! on Hweilan’s thighs, but they were so wrapped in the thick rope that it didn’t hurt.
“Manners, pup,” said Maaqua. “Or you might make me change my mind again.”
Hweilan raised her head. “You’re letting me go?”
Maaqua gave her a wicked smile. “That depends on you. You asked a good question before. Why are we healing you? Well, I had hoped to bring you up out of your hole to discuss how we might help one another, but I fear your stupidity has robbed us of that chance.”