Page 16 of Poisoned Kingdom
My eyes flew open, focusing on my hand as it stabbed upwards, my throat so tight my breath hardly filled my lungs, making me dizzy. The bed I laid on creaked as I sat up, heart racing, drenched in cold sweat from the night terror. It didn’t help that I didn’t recognise the house I was in.
What’s going on?
‘Ah, you’re finally awake. I thought I’d have to throw you back into the river.’ The sharp voice startled me. I blinked, trying to focus on the woman standing in front of me.
‘Who are you? Where am I?’ I asked, shaking my head until the reality that I was in a strange cottage, its peasant origins clear in the dawn’s faint light, finally sank in.
‘In my bed, and you’ve overstayed your welcome. Now move, you need to leave,’ said the old woman, pulling off the covers.
‘Call me Sana. I thank you for your help, and I’ll go, but could you at least tell me who you are, where I am, and how I got here? Oh, and may I ask for my clothes and the purse that came with them? Travelling in a thin chemise will certainly attract too much attention,’ I said, standing up. I grasped the edge of the bed; I was as weak as a newborn kitten, and the rapid movement made me giddy.
Despite my meagre height, I towered over the woman in front of me, her back bent by the passing years. And although her skin had weathered over time, her eyes shone with intelligence and strength. Her disdainful huff at my questions nearly made me smile.
‘My name tells you nothing, but you may call me Vera. You’re in Dagome, or at least that’s what most people would say. We’re so close to the border that we could even be in Wiosna. As for your arrival, I found you in the river nearly two weeks ago. Since then, you’ve been in bed, delirious from fever,’ she said. ‘I called for the healer, but he didn’t want to come. Nobody did. They say you’re a rusalka1 and that I should have thrown you back into the water.’ She huffed with a shrug, ‘Like any rusalka would ever look like a drowned rat.’
Two weeks? I’ve been here for two weeks? Fever?
I sat back, trying to make sense of my predicament. ‘My clothes, please.’
‘Please . . . thank you . . . You speak like a lady, yet you wear the mark of the Brotherhood. You’re lucky I’m too old to fear an assassin under my roof,’ she said, eyeing me suspiciously before pointing to a pile of clothing on the wobbly table. ‘I burned your rags; the hands that ripped them weren’t kind to the fabric or your flesh. Pick something from there—they’re clothes left in payment for my services. I’ll feed you, then you can leave.’
I stepped back, eyeing her sharply, but Vera just shrugged.
‘Don’t even think of killing me, girl. It wouldn’t benefit you. I won’t say a word to your masters, so just do as you’re told.’
With my senses on high alert, I rummaged through the old clothes, trying to pick out the cleanest and least damaged. Finally, I was dressed, and even though the mismatched items made me look like a ruffian ready for a tavern brawl, at least they were warm.
My mouth watered while I waited for her to put the food on the table, but my host was in no rush, apparently. She hobbled to the fireplace, pulling Tova’s pouch from a pot and pouring a few coins on the table. ‘There. I’m taking these for the food, clothes, and the days I spent watching over you.’ She pushed the pouch in my direction. ‘You can keep the rest.’
Well, that was unexpected.People rarely parted with money they thought they deserved, and I’d already mentally bid goodbye to Tova’s coins. She must have noticed my surprise, because she just shrugged.
‘I’m an honest woman, and assassin or not, I can see someone hurt you. I won’t add to your troubles, Sana of the River,’ she said casually. ‘Eat, take your money, and leave. The wool merchant should be heading to Truso today. If you hurry, you can catch a ride.’
An hour later, the sun barely above the horizon, I stood on the threshold of her cottage, sweating under the collar from the sheer exhaustion of moving around. I could barely stand. Nevertheless, I bowed to my saviour.
‘Makosh2 bless your heart, Vera. I won’t forget your kindness,’ I said. She only shrugged once again in response before disappearing inside the cottage. My back creaked as I straightened, and I braced myself before strolling to the village centre to find the merchant.
***
He was exactly where Vera said he’d be, ready to set off. The merchant eyed me warily, his wagon packed to the brim, yet his reluctance to transport me disappeared when I held out several silver coins. The money, however, did not earn me a seat. Instead, he threw a rancid sheepskin in the back with his goods, instructing me to keep my grubby hands to myself.
What would have taken two days to travel by horse stretched to three, but even that was better than walking, and spendingmost of my time lying on the sheepskin was helping me recover. ‘We’ll be at the capital by noon,’ the merchant shouted, his voice breaking through my thoughts as we stopped near the riverbank. ‘Get yourself ready.’
I jumped off the wagon to go wash myself, pausing briefly to look at my reflection in the moving water. I smelled like a shepherd’s daughter and looked even worse. My hair hung in oily strands, falling on the mismatched clothes stained from the natural oils in the sheepswool. I certainly wouldn’t be returning to Truso in a blaze of glory—more like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. Still, I couldn’t arrive unprepared.
The small knife that I’d swiped with the clothing was worthless as a means of defence. However, with my talents, I could create something potent enough to make any Brotherhood lackey pause over forcing me to do their bidding.
The merchant looked at me strangely when I wrapped scraps of fabric around my hands and dived into a nearby ditch. Little did he know that what others thought of as common weeds was a cornucopia of ingredients for someone who knew what to look for.
I returned with a bundle of hemlock, and my companion’s eyes widened. ‘That stuff’s poisonous! Don’t let the oxen near it,’ he hastily called out. When ingested, hemlock could cause weakness, vomiting, confusion, and an inability to see straight. Introduced directly into the bloodstream, however, it could lead to paralysis within minutes.
I nodded, taking a seat near the small fire he’d lit. Using the knife and a stone, I crushed the stems and leaves, allowing the juice to coat the blade before drying it over the fire. Then, I repeated the process until the entire blade was covered in an oily, black coating. Even though it was all I could muster, it would have to do.
The familiar routine had also given me time to think, and a plan slowly formed in my mind. It might not have been thebestplan, but with its hint of viciousness, it was one I was proud of.
Without an invitation from the grand master, my return to Truso would be seen as a betrayal of the Brotherhood’s rules. The risk of stumbling upon some overeager dark brother and ending up dead in a ditch was real. But even if I couldn’t get the old man’s permissionbeforehand, I had no doubt he would back me up. Years of serving as his shadow, a position that marked me as his right hand, had taught me a lot about the kind of man he was behind closed doors.
‘I can’t wait to see you again, Boyan,’ I whispered, smiling at my thoughts as I tried to think of a way to alert him to my arrival while giving him time to issue me a formal invitation to return.
