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Teth scanned the gaps in the trees following the slight rut in the forest floor as far as her sharp eyes could see. The forest around them was a dense mix of evergreen and deciduous trees. There was little undergrowth, but a fresh layer of leaves had fallen in the heavy rains, and the trail was difficult to discern. Even then, it was only when she nearly twisted her ankle in the slight impression that she realized where she was.
It had been a long, slow walk to the trail through the dense underbrush around the road to the older portion of the forest where they now stood, and she had been driven to the edge of insanity by the ungodly fire erupting from her face and arms. The pain gnawed at her until she almost wished that she had left Dasen to burn rather than staying to save him. After what he had been planning in the coach, he certainly would have deserved it.
And then she would have been a widow. Young enough to remarry, her custody would have reverted to Ipid. She considered that. Could he do worse than his son? Perhaps.
The thought sparked her anger. Why does this have to be so hard? She had just started to trust the boy, to think that he understood. Then Pete Magee and that driver. . . .
Pete Magee, she thought. The driver. Not Dasen. And in the coach? He had done nothing to substantiate their claims. He had seemed nervous, unsure, even afraid. He did not try to sit by her or even touch her. The driver’s words had clearly upset him. He did not laugh, did not try to defend them. He had not made excuses, had not tried to brush it away, or used it to press his claim. Then she had said those terrible things, accused him of being the worst kind of monster, and he had been sad, not defensive, not aggressive, sad, as hurt by the implication as her.
As if on cue, Dasen stumbled behind her, nearly crashing into her. She grabbed his arm to keep him from falling and spun him around to face her. He was breathing hard. His hand was clenched tight over his forehead with his fingers on his temples. He looked like the living dead, but after the way he had bounced around the inside of the coach like a bean in a baby’s rattle, it was impressive that he could move at all. As it was, he was pushing bodily through the brush with all the grace of a drunken blind man and leaving a trail that another blind man could follow, but he was moving.
“Why are we stopping?” Dasen's eyes rose to the sensation of Teth holding his arm. He looked around, wobbling precariously until he finally placed a hand on a nearby tree for support.
“I found a path.” Teth’s voice was distorted by her intense desire to move her face as little as possible. She motioned down the path, but he did not seem to notice. “Besides, you look like you could use a rest.” She put her hand beneath his chin and brought his eyes up to hers. His pupils were as big as saucers, blank and empty.
“Thanks, but I actually feel better when we’re moving. It keeps things from spinning too much.” There was great distance in his voice, but he started down the path, watching it carefully, using each passing tree for support, but seeming no more stable.
Teth followed, forgetting about her own pain as she watched him. As much as she hated to admit it, she admired his courage. It would have been easy for him to remain lying under that bush, to send her off alone for help, but he had made it to his feet, and now he just kept moving. He was clearly stronger, more resilient than she could have guessed. Yet, he allowed her to lead, did not pretend to be in charge, did not treat her like the half-wit invalid that his great Book of Valatarian seemed to think women to be. She thought on that as they walked, tried to reconcile it with her previous images of her husband.
A short time later, they came to the first of several landmarks for which she had been searching. Surrounding the path on all sides were close to a hundred thin trees with starkly white bark and large serrated leaves. The trees grew in a radial grove that stood out from the rest of the forest. Their white bark made them look pure and clean while the radial pattern presented a sense of order that she always found comforting. More importantly, the bark of these trees was the best pain reliever in the forest. She placed a hand on Dasen’s shoulder to signal that he should stop.
“What’s the matter?” he asked somewhat stronger. “I’m feeling better, but we should keep going before the dizziness returns.” He did look more stable, but his pupils were still dilated, and his hand was still clamped across his forehead.
"The bark from these trees will help your head,” she explained with all the patience she could muster.
Dasen looked around as if noticing the strange trees for the first time. He nodded then thought better of it and reached out to brace himself on one of the white trunks.
Seeing that he was stable, Teth started working on the nearest tree with her knife. She cleaved off a hand-sized chunk of the white bark and cut a generous piece from it for Dasen. “Here, chew on this. It may hurt your stomach in this form, but it’s the best thing for your head.”
He took the coin-sized piece of bark without a word, placed it in his mouth, and started chewing. After two chomps, he brought his hand back to his mouth and pulled out the bark. “By the Order! This is terrible!” He held the partially masticated bark out to her, his face twisted in a look of disgust.
“Well don’t chew it then! You’re a big boy. If you want that headache more than a bad taste in your mouth, I won’t argue with you.” She scowled at him but had to stop because of her face and cursed under her breath instead.
To show him up, she cut a chunk of the bark for herself and started chewing. Unfortunately, she had only had higg bark in teas and was not prepared for the strong taste it had when eaten raw. She almost spit it out. The bark was acrid and bitter to the point that it almost hurt. Her tongue started to tingle and she dreaded swallowing, but she was not going to let Dasen see her back down, so she forced herself to smile and was gratified to see him put the bark back in his mouth.
The next of the sights for which Teth had been searching appeared a few hundred paces down the trail. The small green plant was growing against the base of an ancient oak well off the path. Enough branches grabbed her arms on the way to it that she was close to tears by the time she reached her goal, but the prize was worth the effort. She started ripping the bright-green spikes of the dellum plant from the base of the tree. Those tendrils were as thick as two fingers at its base and a foot or more in length. They were soft to the touch and cone-shaped with a watery sap inside. She squeezed that sap onto her arms, using tendril after tendril until they were soaked. The sap felt cool and soothing as it oozed thick and moist over her arms, quenching her burns almost immediately. She reveled in the relief and smelled the earthy fragrance covering her. It reminded her of everything that nature should be, reminded her of all the ways the Order looked after those trapped in its wild game.
She smeared one more tendril’s sap on her face, selected two more for Dasen, and made her way back to the trail. Dasen was standing in exactly the spot she had left him. He looked haggard, but he was not wavering, the hand had come down from his forehead, and his pupils were closer to normal.
“You’re looking better,” she said as she began to rub the sap on his face. "This will help with the burns.”
“Thanks.” His voice was the strongest it had been since the crash. “I am feeling better. That bark is some of the worst stuff I have ever tasted, but it has certainly helped my head.” He paused as Teth rubbed the sap over his lips. “How do you know so much about all these plants?”
"My aunt is the herbalist and healing woman in Randor’s Pass.” Teth was almost flattered that he had noticed. “She taught me almost everything I know about the forest.”
“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” Dasen started, “But I’m sorry for what happened in the village. I promise my conversation with the villagers was innocent – they gave me the jug and made a joke about you thinking I was a drunk, nothing more – but I should have known what they were up to. I can’t defend my
driver, but you should know that neither of them spoke for me. I . . . I would never . . . could never do the things you said. I never told the villagers, my driver, or anyone else that I would. I would never even speak of you that way. And when we return, I will tell every one of them exactly that. I hope you can believe me. I know you are wary, and I understand that. I know that this must be very difficult for you, but I cannot stand to have you think I would . . . .”
“Shut up,” Teth breathed and put a hand over his mouth. “I know. I should have always known. We both made mistakes. Now let’s just forget about it and get back to the village. Agreed?”
Dasen nodded, looking as if someone had just lifted a boulder off his shoulders. She finished rubbing the sap on his face and allowed her hand to linger there. She studied her husband and decided that he could be considered handsome in the right light. He was obviously an idiot, but she could not believe that he would hurt her on purpose. He still had a lot to answer for – that accursed book for one – but she was having a harder and harder time lumping him in with the other men she had known. She moved her fingers around his chin and realized how doe-eyed she must look. She snapped her hand away, cleared her throat, and reached into her pocket. She pulled out another piece of bark. "Here eat this,” she demanded as she turned and stomped down the trail.
Chapter 12