Persephone (The Lily Harper Series Book 4)

  “Whit was in it fer ye?” Tallis demanded.

  Saxon faced the much larger man and his smile instantly vanished. “Alaire promised me credit for retrieving two souls.” Then he shrugged as he turned to face me. “We’ll see if he holds true to his word or not.” He grew quiet for a second or two before he seemed to remember something else. “Oh, I almost forgot. Alaire also said you should turn your phone on, and he will text you with an explanation about what each item is.”

  “Ye willnae keep any of it,” Tallis ordered as he reached for the bag, but I turned away, refusing to let him to take it from me.

  “It could be important, Tallis,” I argued.

  “Nae,” he announced with a firm shake of his head. “’Tis generally good practice not tae accept anythin’ frae Alaire.”

  “Be that as it may,” I replied as I exhaled deeply, “I want to hear why he gave me these things in the first place before I decide whether or not they could be useful.”

  “And on that note, I’m going to bid you all good-bye and good luck for the remainder of your trip home,” Saxon announced, smiling at each of us in turn.

  “Later, dude,” Bill replied with a quick wave.

  “Thanks, Saxon,” I said. He nodded as he approached me to envelop me in a very large and very close hug. I immediately glanced over at Tallis and saw his eyes narrowing. He made no motion to approach us, but I could tell he was fuming, all the same.

  “You take care of yourself, Lils,” Saxon whispered as he pulled away from me. I didn’t miss his blatantly flirtatious smile. “And I hope you still have my number in case you ever need my help.”

  “I do, and thanks,” I said, dropping my attention to the ground. I felt suddenly very uncomfortable beneath Tallis’s scrutiny.

  Saxon didn’t say anything more, and with a quick nod to Tallis, he soon disappeared into the darkness and hulled-out remains of the long dead trees.

  “Whit did he say tae ye?” Tallis asked as soon as he approached me. His body language strove for casualness, but I knew better. In truth, he was hanging on my every word.

  I shrugged, trying to pretend like my conversation with Saxon wasn’t a big deal, since I sensed Tallis was about to make it exactly that. “He said that I should take care of myself,” I began before I lost my nerve.

  “Aye; an’ whit else?” Tallis demanded.

  “Well, um, he also asked if I, uh, if I still had his … phone number.” My feeble attempt at appearing cool and confident suddenly tripped and landed right on its face.

  “Ifraen Fola!” Tallis yelled. Apparently, my reply made him so upset that he couldn’t even speak English. “Why dae ye still have his phone noomber, Besom?”

  “Um, because he gave it to me?” I answered. Frowning, and feeling very unsure what else to say to the enraged Titan to calm him down, I was temporarily frozen.

  “Ah dinnae like him one wee bit,” Tallis announced. “Ah dinnae troost him an’ neither should ye, lass.”

  “Saxon never did anything to either one of us; what makes you dislike him so much?” I asked. I tilted my nose in the air slightly to let him know his little tantrum couldn’t sway me. “The only thing he’s done is try to help me.”

  “I gotta side here with honey mounds, Conan. Ya need to take a chill pill,” Bill piped up although neither one of us paid him any attention.

  “Saxon is ah liar,” Tallis declared.

  “A liar?” I scoffed, my jaw dropping. I was shocked he would take it this far. “And what leads you to believe he lied to us about anything?”

  Tallis took another step closer to me, his eyes narrowing until they seemed deadly. “He said he was in the Oonderground, savin’ ah soul,” he started.

  “I heard him,” I replied as I crossed my arms over my chest and returned Tallis’s scowl.

  “An’ yet when Ah looked in his pack, there was nary ah soul tae speak o’,” Tallis answered.

  “There was no glass vial?” I asked, my inner doubt audible in my tone. Soul Retrievers were required to transport the souls we rescued from the Underground City by enclosing them in small glass vials. Then we dropped the vial into a river, which was located at the mouth of the Dark Wood. I wasn’t sure where the river took the souls, nor did I really care. The only thing that mattered to me was that I got credit for them. And so far, so good.

  “Nae glass vial,” Tallis reaffirmed.

  “And it wasn’t as though Saxon already reached the river since we still haven’t reached it yet,” I added, shaking my head since none of it made any sense.

  “Aye,” Tallis agreed. “There was nae vial ’cause there was nae soul tae begin with.”

  “Maybe he just failed to locate the soul?” I suggested, looking up at Tallis. I wasn’t yet ready to castigate Saxon on pure suspicion when none of us had any of the details. “Or maybe Alaire took the soul from him?”

  Tallis immediately shook his head. “Alaire wouldnae have any interest in takin’ the soul from him, lass,” Tallis answered. “An’ as tae Saxon failin’ tae apprehend the soul … Ah believe he has been ah Soul Retriever far longer than ye have?” I just nodded because it was the truth, so Tallis continued. “An’ ye have yet tae fail tae retrieve ah soul oan one o’ yer missions.”

  That was another good point. There was no reason why Saxon couldn’t have retrieved the soul; it was just another walk in a very familiar park. But I still wasn’t ready to accuse him of lying to us.

  “So what if he didn’t come back with the soul?” I asked, throwing my hands on my hips. “That still doesn’t prove anything.”

  “Ah was payin’ strict attention tae his choice o’ words; an’ he said he was oan his way from ‘savin’ ah soul,’ nae losin’ one or havin’ one abducted from him,” Tallis explained as further evidence. Apparently, he was still hell-bent on proving that Saxon lied to us.

  I nodded as I exhaled a pent-up breath. “I still don’t think that makes him guilty of anything,” I replied as I faced Tallis again. “And just what are you accusing him of?”

  “Ah amnae tryin’ tae accuse him o’ anythin’,” he announced. “Ah jist dinnae troost him an’ Ah dinnae like ah man who lies tae meh.”

  “Don’t forget, He-Man, you lied to us too!” Bill piped up. Tallis glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he just turned back to me again.

  “An’ Ah find it verra coincidental that Saxon managed tae catch oop with oos as quickly as he did,” he continued, nodding as though that point was still resonating with him. “The Dark Wood is vast. ’Tis nae an easy feat tae locate anyone,” he said with authority. “An’ yet, he managed tae locate oos as easy as ye please.”

  “Maybe he’s just a good tracker?” I suggested with a shrug. And that could very well have been the case. It wasn’t like we spent any time covering up our tracks.

  “Aye, mayhap,” Tallis said with a nod before growing silent for a few seconds. “Boot none o’ this explains why he would be travelin’ in the Dark Wood with nae sword, an’ nae means o’ defendin’ himself.”

  I swallowed hard. Tallis was dead right; Saxon hadn’t been carrying anything except his backpack. Regardless of whether or not he’d saved the soul, the Dark Wood was hostile territory to everyone. Any Soul Retriever would have known that it wasn’t a happy place for unarmed travelers.

  “You’re sure he didn’t have a gun in his backpack? Or a knife? Or something?” I asked Tallis.

  “Naethin’ o’ the sort,” he answered as he shook his head. “An’ the only reason Saxon wouldnae have ah means o’ defendin’ hisself is because he didnae need one.”

  “Who with the body mortal make the soul…”

  - Dante’s Inferno

  FOUR

  “Yo, Conan, how much longer tilz we reach your place?” Bill asked as he huffed and puffed. We’d been walking for no more than twenty minutes. Well, they were walking. I was riding on the makeshift platform Tallis constructed for me.

  After very nearly meeting my maker a few days ago
, I was still too weak to walk. So, Tallis built a platform for me to lie on. He constructed it from branches that he tied together with the intestines of some poor, unfortunate creature. Although it wasn’t the most comfortable bed to lie on, it was efficient, all the same. Tallis draped the animal pelt that he usually wore around his shoulders over it to prevent me from getting any splinters. He also looped my scabbard over one of the branches so my sword was always within easy reach.

  “We have … mayhap anither day’s journey, stookie angel,” Tallis responded. His tone of voice rose at the end, and I imagined he was probably smiling at his pet name for Bill. I couldn’t be sure, though, since Tallis was pulling me behind him and I couldn’t see his face.

  “Stookie angel,” Bill grumbled, shaking his head, as he kicked a rock while muttering something beneath his breath. “What the hell does that mean, anyway?” he asked, turning to face me.

  “It’s probably better if you don’t ask,” I offered with a smile of consolation. My mind, however, was not on the conversation. Instead, I was debating the idea of whether or not to turn on the cell phone Alaire gave me. I wanted to find out the purpose of each object in the canvas bag; and, of course, Alaire was the only one who could tell me. Yes, I was leery of the phone, in general, and guessed it probably had some sort of bug attached to it. Alaire would no doubt be able to read all my text messages and overhear my phone calls and locate me through GPS. But I wasn’t really that worried because I wouldn’t be using it long term.

  “So, guess what, bubble butt,” Bill interrupted my internal debate and glanced over at me again. “When we gets back to our pad, first things first, we’re gonna have us-selves a manbecue.”

  “A what-be-cue?”

  “You know … the ultimate form of a manly barbeque,” Bill replied, his expression completely serious. “No vegetables allowed—just beer, meat an’ some cheese, maybe … oh an’ a bag o’ Fritos.”

  “Sounds good,” I said with a hopeful smile. I wasn’t just trying to appease him, either. A good, old-fashioned American barbeque really did sound mouthwatering, Fritos included.

  “I can’t frickin’ wait,” Bill gushed, rubbing his palms together and licking his lips. “Just one more day an’ it’s gonna be a feastiality!”

  “I’m looking forward to it too,” I agreed.

  Bill nodded, but then started shaking his head. “I’m so freakin’ sick of all the nasty shit Tido makes us eat!”

  “Well, he’s not really making us eat anything,” I replied, shrugging. “And without him, we’d have starved.” Actually, it was more truthful to say that without Tallis, we’d be dead. Well, I would have been anyway, seeing how Bill couldn’t die.

  “Whatever,” Bill said while frowning down at me. “The point is I’m gettin’ sick an’ tired o’ healthy gas. I been eatin’ way too many grains an’ veggies an’ whatever other sproutin’ shit your caveman over there whips up for us. If it goes on much longer, my stomach’ll think I’ve joined PETA.”

  “God forbid you might actually eat something healthy,” I said with a playful smile.

  “Nah, there’s no point,” Bill responded as he shook his head. “It’s not like all this exercise an’ health food did anythin’ for my assgut anyways.”

  “Um, what?”

  Bill immediately stopped walking and turned around so his back was facing me. Then he lifted up his shirt. “I’m so fat, I’ve even gotta second belly hangin’ over the back o’ my pants. See it?”

  “Yep, I do,” I said, not really sure if I was supposed to congratulate him or commiserate with him…

  “That’s what I call my assgut,” he announced with a final nod. He dropped his shirt back into place and hopped a few steps in order to catch up with me again.

  I said nothing, but simply smiled up at him to let him know I had no words.

  “Speakin’ of, you think I could fit on there with you?” Bill asked while eyeing my platform accommodations with sudden interest.

  “No,” I answered resolutely, severing any ideas he might have had. I half wondered how much longer the contraption would hold up as it was. “I think it’s nearly ready to collapse.”

  “Fine, raft hog,” Bill retorted glumly.

  “Ouch!” I yelled a half second later when the platform suddenly rammed into a rock, or something equally obstructive, and came to an immediate stop, slamming one of the branches right into my lower back.

  “Whappened?” Bill called out, his eyes wide.

  Tallis immediately stopped walking and turned around before dropping both of the leather straps he was using to drag me behind him.

  “Ye all right, lass?” he asked in a worried tone, and I just nodded, ignoring my back that was burning like an SOB. Tallis leaned down and gripped me beneath my knees with one arm while putting the other around my back. He lifted me up only to set me down, feet first, on the ground beside him. He rotated me slightly, so my back was facing him before inspecting the damage. I was glad I was dressed in yoga pants and a sports bra. It made accessing the wound easier without any clothing to get in the way.

  “Yer skin is poonctured,” he announced before I heard the sounds of him fumbling with his sporran again.

  “Shit! She’s a bleeder!” Bill exclaimed with awe.

  “Is it really bad?” I asked as I turned to face my guardian angel.

  “Yeah, looks like it’ll need stitches,” he answered. He was studying my wound pointedly, as if he were a doctor offering a diagnosis.

  “Ye will be fine, lass,” Tallis announced before giving Bill a discouraging glance as he continued to fish through his sporran. “Dinnae listen tae him.”

  Seconds later, Tallis started rubbing something gritty and cold on me. “Ow!” I yelled as soon as the wound began to sting.

  “Shh, lass,” Tallis crooned in my ear as he patted me on the back of the shoulder … somewhat awkwardly.

  “What is that stuff?” I demanded, deciding not to pay any attention to the fact that Tallis and I didn’t seem to know how to interact with each other when everything we’d said earlier was still hanging in the air.

  “’Tis ah balm that will stop any infection froom takin’ root an’ spreadin’,” Tallis explained. “Withoot it, the branch would infect ye, an’ ye would sooccumb tae ah nasty fever an mayhap, even death,” he added from where he stood behind me.

  “Well, whatever it is, it really hurts!” I ground out, as tears filled my eyes when the stinging became almost unbearable. After a while, I figured I had to suck it up and just deal with the pain. The alternative wasn’t exactly something I welcomed.

  “Aye, ’tis the salve fightin’ the seeds o’ infection,” Tallis clarified.

  I felt him gripping me by my waist before he dropped down to a squat and started blowing on my burning skin. His breath immediately soothed the stinging sensation, causing it to die down even though something else was beginning to stir inside my belly. Those feelings, however, were not soothing at all, but full of excitement and anxiety. I wasn’t sure what prompted me, but I immediately covered his hands with mine, urging him to tighten his hold on my waist. I noticed he no longer was blowing on my ruptured skin, but he didn’t get up right away. Instead, he just kneeled behind me, saying and doing nothing. I could feel the strain and tension in his hands, though; they weren’t relaxed. Seconds later, he pulled away from me and stood up.

  Lumbering over to the platform and tossing the pelt aside, he inspected the damage. “’Tis done for,” he announced, without bothering to look back at me.

  “It’s broken?” I asked, scolding myself for cornering him into an uncomfortable situation. It was becoming glaringly clear that whatever affection Tallis harbored for me couldn’t have amounted to much since he refused to act on it. And as far as I could tell, he wasn’t open to me acting on my feelings either. That meant our strange relationship would continue being just that—strange, awkward and uncomfortable, sometimes to the point of being almost intolerable.

  “Aye, ?
??tis broken,” he answered as he finally turned to face me. His eyes locked onto mine immediately and we both just stared at one another for the course of a few seconds, neither of us saying anything.

  “I hate to have to pause the starin’ contest,” Bill interrupted snidely as he threw his hands on his hips and glared at us both in turn. “But how the hell do we travel with nips if the freakin’ raft is all busted?”

  “Ah will carry ’er,” Tallis replied, his gaze still locked onto mine. I didn’t reply, but I couldn’t pull my eyes from his.

  “Dude! Nerdlet blinked, an’ that makes you the winner, okay?” Bill grumbled as he threw his hands into the air and muttered something unintelligible.

  After a few seconds, Tallis realized Bill was glaring at us. He immediately dropped his gaze to the ground and cleared his throat as if he were suddenly uncomfortable. Then he took a few steps forward and checked his right side, and then his left, like he was doing reconnaissance. He took another few steps before vanishing down a small hill.

  “Tallis?” I asked, instantly growing anxious at the prospect of being left standing here alone.

  Thankfully Tallis reappeared only seconds later. He climbed up the embankment again, wiping what looked like mud onto his kilt. And mud meant water …

  “We hae reached the river,” he said from where he stood about ten feet in front of us. “We will stop haur tae drink.”

  “Um, hate ta break it to ya, Ginormo, but that water is like toxic to Pippi Long Legs. If she drinks it, she’ll get eboli or some other fatal shit,” Bill declared.

  Clearly, he was confusing ebola with e-coli, but I didn’t have the energy to correct him. But as to my drinking the river water, he was right about that. It wasn’t a good idea. Something that Tallis should have already known …

  The brooding Scotsman didn’t say anything before he disappeared over the crest of, what I assumed was, the bank of the river. Bill followed him so I figured I better too. I reached over and grabbed my sword from its scabbard where it rested on the platform and used it as a crutch. Granted, it took me much longer to make my way over the crest of the embankment since I was still so exhausted, but I managed all the same.