She gets to her feet. “Now, I had just heated water for a bath before you arrived. Why don’t you take it?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t.”
“Oh yes, you can.”
I blush some more, and Urox laughs. His face clears as I hesitate.
“I can leave the tashiv if you like.”
“Huh? Oh no, it’s nothing like that…it’s just…the commander.”
“You feel bad about him lying in his own filth in that cave?”
“He’s not lying in his own filth!”
Urox grins, and I realize I took his bait.
I sigh. “I do feel bad about it, yes.”
“Well, look at it this way. I need to go find a few things so we can make sure everything will go smoothly. And only an idiot would hit the Dokhalls during daylight. There’s no reason not to bathe.”
Well, when he puts it like that. I glance at Teriez. “I’d love a bath, if you’re sure it’s not too much trouble.”
“Not at all.”
She leads me into a small bathing room, and guilt hits me at the sight of her bath, still steaming. Hot water is a luxury around here. It must have taken her a long time to heat enough water.
“I’ll get you a fresh dress,” she says, and I vow to someday repay this family for their help.
I strip off and slide into the water. Teriez returns with a clean gray dress and hands me some soap.
“I’m going to go send a message to our cousin,” she says. “She lives in the Seinex Forest—between the cave where your commander is and your camp. Once you’ve created enough chaos for the Dokhalls, you can get your commander onto a mishua and get to Iprox. She’ll give you a place to stay overnight if you need one.”
“Thank you. He’s not my commander, by the way. He’s Arix’s commander.”
Teriez smiles. “A female doesn’t fret this much over the well-being of a male unless he is hers.”
I wrestle with that while Teriez leaves to send her message. I can see how she’d get the wrong idea about Korzyn and me. But it’s just basic loyalty. I’d worry about anyone I’d left alone in that cave.
I chew on my lip. Maybe I should’ve waited. But if the Dokhalls had found us in that cave, we would’ve been in big trouble. At least this way, we have a chance of slowing them down so we can get back to camp.
I dunk my head and scrub my hair. The water turns a light brown, and I wince. Gross.
I’m drying myself and reaching for the clean dress when Teriez returns. Her smile makes the corners of her dark eyes crinkle as she runs her gaze over me.
“Well, you look cleaner.”
“I feel like a new woman.”
Her gaze lingers on my lower legs, and she gasps. “That looks painful.”
I shrug. “Thanks for the bath.”
She waves that off and leads me back to the fire, handing me a comb for my hair. I manage to work through most of the knots and tie it back in a braid while we wait for Urox.
A braid…
I turn to Teriez. “I have an idea.” I tell her what I need, and she nods, leading me out of her house and to the forest. She stops and points to the long, dry branches of a tree that’s similar to a weeping willow on Earth, only the branches are much thicker and stronger. I run my finger along one of them and smile. Perfect.
I climb the tree, knife in hand, and slice through the long leaves so Teriez can catch them below me. She cocks her head, and I grin at her as I shuffle and slide back down the tree.
We drag the branches through the back of the forest and behind Teriez’s house—away from prying eyes. Then I sit outside in the afternoon sun and braid the branches into a rope.
It certainly isn’t pretty, but hopefully it’ll work for what I need.
When I’m done, Teriez offers me more food, but I’m too nervous to eat, my stomach tangled in knots as I sit back down near her fire.
The sun is going down when Urox arrives, taking off his boots at the door.
“I found the pods,” he says. “Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Listen, I have an idea, but I’m scared the fire will get out of control and burn everything to the ground.”
Urox smiles at me. “You’ll find that the trees in this part of the forest are remarkably resilient. Their leaves may burn, but it would have to be an extremely hot fire to damage their trunks.”
I raise my eyebrow at that. “What if it spreads to the town?”
“Did you happen to notice the charred ground between the river and this forest?”
I smile. A natural firebreak. Thanks, Dragix. The dragon may not have been around when I needed to use him as a flying taxi, but he’s proving helpful after all.
“And on the other side?”
“An open plain between this forest and the Seinex Forest. You’ll likely remember crossing it when you were on your way to the Colossal Water last time.”
He gives me a dismissive wave of his hand, and I narrow my eyes. That’s the exact gesture I make when I’m about to start some shit. Urox is clearly looking for some action.
“What exactly do you do for a living anyway?”
He grins. “I’d tell you, but I’d have to ensure you could no longer speak any secrets to anyone.”
That sounds a lot like “I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” And that’s my line.
I shrug it off. “All righty then. Let’s get this party started.”
Korzyn
My heart pounds as I search through the forest for the little hellion. She is small, and from the struggle in her quarters, it’s clear she is bleeding. Whoever took her will not need her for long. Just long enough to ensure her cousin cooperates.
I curse. If she had trusted me, perhaps I could have helped her.
I ignore the little voice in my head that insists she
