“What, why?”
“Because if you do this now, you will—” the Fate pushed her tongue to form the words she could not say, you will die and humanity will be lost. Come on, say the words, say them! But the force of the magic binding her to the oath she swore as one of the Fates, literally kept her from being able to utter the words. “Let’s play a game,” she said nervously. Maybe she could make them understand as she had with Lopt. She had already risked it once, and she could do it again.
“No, what are you talking about?” Brenna’s voice raised. “Do you have any idea how I’ve struggled with this choice? I need to stop this plague now! If you won’t help me, then I will find someone who will.”
“No,” the Fate pleaded. “Don’t do that, no one else will tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Brenna was now close to the point of screaming. She was worried about Kemma still on Valhalla. She was worried about her friends spread across the realms, some of which were in the direct path of the plague. She wanted to end this, rebuild whatever it destroyed, and put it all behind them. “Tell me!”
The Fate opened her mouth and tried to push out the words. To hell with her oath. She didn’t deserve to sit among her sisters anyway. She didn’t have the same vision they did; she wanted to have compassion, and adventure, and love. She wanted to break her oath and be free from her servitude as a Fate. She hadn’t asked to be born into it anyway.
“You—Brenna, you will—” as hard as she tried to force her voice to speak the truth, the magic would not allow it. Blood began to stream from her eyes, a punishment and consequence for her attempting to break her sworn duty. Blisters sprung up inside her mouth, making her tongue burn and her teeth hurt. There was nothing she could do. There was no way to break free from it. The only way to keep Brenna from attempting to cure the plague was to leave without telling her how to do it.
“I’m sorry,” the Fate said. She slammed her burning mouth shut and stood up. With a single swirl of her hand, she disappeared into the air.
CHAPTER TEN
Leif paced the corridors of Valhalla’s great hall while Jerrik and Colby stood with Kemma, afraid to let her out of their sight since she was obviously under some sort of influence.
“How do we get it out of her?” he said in a clearly agitated voice while he paced.
“Get what out of her?” Jerrik asked.
“Whatever is in her. Clearly, there’s something making her act like she’s lost her mind.”
“I’m right here, you know,” Kemma said as her own level of attitude increased.
“Yes, I know, thank you for the update,” Leif snarked. “But clearly, the real you has gone missing.”
“Or maybe I’ve just lost my mind entirely.” Kemma meant it as a snide comment, but it gave Colby an idea.
“Hang on,” Colby said. “What if it was a mind-altering drug Bard put into the ale Kemma drank? Remember the old alchemist? He used to talk about countermeasures to stuff like that. He used to ramble on forever about the medicinal cures for this and that.”
“Kind of like the rambling you’re doing now?” Jerrik said.
Colby rolled his eyes and ignored Jerrik’s sarcasm. “I think I remember him saying rainwater was the cure for mind-altering herbs.”
“So, then what, we sit here and wait for it to rain?” Leif asked in frustration.
Kemma could see he was digging his fingernails into the fleshy part of his palm. It looked like he wanted to punch someone but knew he shouldn’t.
“We don’t even know if it rains here on Valhalla.”
“Oh, it definitely rains here,” the brown-haired warrior from before said as he walked by them.
“You’re Edwin, right?” Colby said. He had a relatively good feeling about this guy, or at least not as bad a feeling as he had about Bard.
“Yeah,” Edwin said as he downed yet another mug of ale.
“Edwin, do you have any places here that collect rainwater?”
“This is ridiculous,” Leif muttered under his breath.
“Sure,” Edwin replied. “Rainwater is great for various potions and stuff.”
Colby shot Leif a glare. Even though his mouth didn’t move, Leif was pretty sure that in his head, Colby was saying something to the effect of I told you so.
“If you need some, I can take you there,” Edwin offered. “There’s an old woman just around the hill outside that collects a bunch of it. She’s kind of witchy if you know what I mean. She uses it for her various endeavors. She probably won’t let you have it for free, though, so I hope you have some coin on you.”
Colby nodded, and they followed Edwin out of the hall with Jerrik towing Kemma along with him. Kemma wondered how come Leif didn’t walk beside her, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that she had allowed Bard to touch her. Leif was probably either very mad or very hurt. Either option wasn’t good. She knew she had broken his trust. She had broken everyone’s trust, and she didn’t even know why. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps she was under some sort of influence. Considering she wouldn’t be able to tell for herself, she allowed them to lead her onward.
Leif wasn’t actually surprised when they saw Bard standing outside of the old woman’s house. It solidified his resolve that Bard had absolutely given Kemma some sort of drugged ale that made her more susceptible to his influence. Otherwise, why would he be here trying to head them off from getting rainwater? It was too suspicious to be a coincidence. He wished Erik was here with them. It would be interesting to see what Erik’s power of persuasion would be able to do up against an artificial reagent.
Edwin greeted Bard with a hearty pat on the back, and the two men laughed about the rollicking time they were planning to have at the upcoming feast.
“What are you doing here?” Edwin said in innocent curiosity. “I don’t usually see you at this old crone’s house.”
Bard laughed. “I try not to torture the old woman with my seductive good looks.” He winked at Kemma just in order to piss off Leif and it worked.
Kemma felt her cheeks flush, and she grew increasingly prone to the idea that maybe Leif was right and she wasn’t in complete control of her feelings.
“Actually,” Bard continued, “I just found myself needing a few things for some recreational dabbling I’ve been doing.” He motioned toward a sack sitting on the ground by his feet. When he picked it up and swung it over his shoulder, it made the sound of several glass jars rattling inside. “See you later,” he said as he walked away.
Kemma turned her head around after he had left and felt uneasy as she saw that he had done the same and was staring at her from a distance.
“Come on,” Colby said as he urged her inside the cottage with the rest of them.
“Hello there,” Edwin called to the old woman who appeared to be canning some sort of pinkish goo into jars.
“What can I help you with today?” she asked in her raspy voice.
“We’re looking for some rainwater,” Leif said.
“Ah, sorry, boys, but the gentleman just before you bought the last of it. I’ll have more for you after the next good rain.”