R'shiel didn't move.
The itching spread up his left arm. He scratched at it with his right hand and discovered his arm covered in small hard lumps. He tore his eyes from R'shiel and glanced down. The lumps were growing larger. As he watched, one of the lumps on his forearm began to develop a puss-filled head. The itching progressed beyond annoying into true pain. The lumps were spreading. He could feel them forming on his back and across his belly. His trousers chaffed as the sores began to form in his groin. His face was swelling with them, too. He tore at his clothing as another sore erupted, the burning itching growing more and more relentless; his breath came in gasps as he realised what was happening to him. The sores kept spreading.
“No!” he panted, as he tore at his own flesh in a futile attempt to relieve the burning. “No! No!... Noooo!”
R'shiel stood there watching him.
“What have you done to me?” he wailed. “Make it stop! Don't do this to me! Not this! Kill me if you must, R'shiel, but not like this! Let me die like a man!”
That evoked a reaction from her. She laughed.
“Like a man, Loclon?”
“Stop it, R'shiel! Please. I beg you!”
“It takes years to die from Malik's Curse, did you know that?” she asked in a conversational tone. “Of course, a few years being slowly devoured by your own body doesn't seem sufficient to repay all you've done, but it will have to do, I suppose.”
“I'll... kill myself before... I let this thing... eat me alive,” he gasped, unable to stop scratching at the spreading sores.
“No, Loclon, you won't kill yourself. For one thing, you're too big a coward, and for another, I won't let you.”
“How are you... going to... stop me?”
“Magic.”
R'shiel turned and walked away, until eventually she was swallowed by the darkness. She didn't look back.
I'll kill myself, he decided silently. I won't die this way. He staggered to his feet and turned towards the ocean. That's all it will take. Just wade into the water and let the sea take me.
The salt water stung the sores on his legs as he splashed into the foam. He plunged into the sea until it was waist high, then suddenly found he could go no further. He wanted to live, he realised with despair. Even though he had consciously made the decision to die, there was another voice in his mind that wouldn't let him. He found himself unable to take another step.
Loclon staggered back to the beach and threw himself down on the sand, rubbing against the grains to ease the itching, but the sand merely aggravated his already inflamed skin. He was sobbing with frustration. He couldn't relieve the itching. He couldn't stop the pain. He couldn't even die...
A hand reached for him and hope flared bright for a fleeting moment! He knew she couldn't walk away from him! She had to come back! This was just a game, she was just tormenting him for revenge...
“Mister?” the voice said gently. “It's all right, Mister. The itching goes away after a few days...”
He looked up to find the girl from the settlement with her pathetic smile and her ruined face staring down at him, her eyes filled with pity.
Loclon's howl of despair echoed across the empty beach.
Then he forced himself up and looked around urgently, but it was as if R'shiel had never even been here. There was no sign of her.
Not even footprints in the sand.
_____
Glossary
Affiana — Innkeeper in Testra. Brak's great-great grand niece.
B'thrim Snowbuilder — Villager from Haven. Elder sister of J'nel.
Basel — Sergeant of the Defenders stationed on the southern border.
Bek — Prisoner at the Grimfield. Sentenced to five years for arson.
Belda — Sister of the Blade at the Grimfield.
Bereth — Former Sister of the Blade. Now a pagan.
Crisabelle Cortanen — Wife of Wilem Cortanen, Commandant of the Defenders.
Davydd Tailorson — Lieutenant of the Defenders attached to the Intelligence Corps.
Dayan Jenga — Quartermaster of the Defenders stationed in Bordertown. Younger brother of the Lord Defender.
Denjon — Captain of the Defenders.
Draco — First Spear of the Sister and ceremonial bodyguard.
Fohli — Corporal of the Defenders in the Grimfield.
Francil Asharen — Sister of the Blade. Member of the Quorum. Longest standing member. Mistress of the Citadel.
Garet Warner — Commandant of the Defenders. Head of Defender Intelligence and second most senior officer in the Defenders.
Gawn — Captain of the Defenders posted to the southern border.
Georj Drake — Captain of the Defenders. Tarja's best friend.
Ghari Rodak — Rebel Lieutenant. Brother of Mandah.
Gwenell — Physic. Sister of the Blade in charge of the Sisterhood's Infirmary at the Citadel.
Harith Nortarn — Sister of the Blade. Member of the Quorum. Mistress of Sisterhood.
Heaner — Mistress of the most notorious brothel in the Citadel.
Hella — Joyhinia's maid at the Citadel.
Herve Rodak — A Rebel from Testra. Mandah and Ghari's cousin.
J'nel Snowbuilder — Died in Haven from complications of childbirth without naming the father of her child.
Jacomina Larosse — Sister of the Blade. Member of the Quorum. Mistress of Enlightenment.
Joyhinia Tenragan — First Sister of the Sisters of the Blade following Mahina's impeachment.
Junee Riverson — Probate at the Citadel.
Khira — Pagan Rebel and Physic in the Grimfield.
Kilene — Probate at the Citadel.
Korgan — Deceased. Former Lord Defender. Rumoured to be Tarja's father.
Lenk — Corporal of the Defenders at the Grimfield.
L'rin — Innkeeper of the Inn of the Hopeless in the Grimfield.
Loclon — Wain Loclon. Lieutenant of the Defenders and Champion of the Arena. Promoted to Captain following the Purge.
Louhina Farcron — Sister of the Blade. Appointed to the Quorum following Joyhinia's elevation to First Sister.
Lycren — Sergeant of the Defenders in the Grimfield.
Mahina Cortanen — First Sister. Mother of Wilem.
Mandah Rodak — Formerly a novice and now a pagan rebel from Medalon. Elder sister of Ghari.
Marielle — Prisoner at the Grimfield, sentenced with R'shiel.
Marta — Probate at the Citadel.
Mysekis — Captain of the Defenders stationed in the Grimfield.
Nheal Alcarnen — Captain of the Defenders.
Padric — Pagan rebel.
Palin Jenga — Lord Defender. Commander in Chief of the Defenders. Brother of Dayan Jenga and rumoured to be R'shiel's father.
Peny — Court'esa working for Mistress Heaner.
Prozlan — Sister of the Blade stationed at the Grimfield, responsible for discipline among the female prisoners.
R'shiel — Probate. Daughter of the First Sister.
Suelan — Sister of the Blade. The First Sister's Secretary and Harith's niece.
Sunny — Sunflower Hopechild. Court'esa from the Citadel who befriends R'shiel on their journey to the Grimfield.
Tarja — Tarjanian Tenragan. Son of the First Sister, Joyhinia. Captain of the Defenders.
Teggert — Former convict. Works as a cook in the Commandant's household in the Grimfield.
Unwin — Sister of the Blade at the Grimfield in charge of the Grimfield's Kitchens.
Verkin — Kriath Verkin. Commandant of Bordetown.
Wandear — Probate at the Citadel.
Wilem — Commandant of the Grimfield. Son of Mahina and married to Crisabelle.