CHAPTER 21
DEFINING WHAT CONSTITUTES A CHORE
Damien hated a cage. Unlike the joke the elves of the Gloomweald had thrown him in or the bedchamber in Faebarrow that he had used to plot from, this prison was much more absolute even though it looked like a quaint dwelling. With walls and a floor constructed from thin branches that had been molded and woven together, the whole chamber suspended well above the ground in one of the larger trees that surrounded the ruins, the hut was at least impressive. It was sturdy and well enough furnished and had enchanted facilities, appearing to be exactly like the other homes dotting the trees. But if he wasn’t allowed to leave it—and that woman, Kalani, had been very clear he was not—it didn’t matter if they gilded the thing: it was still a cage.
At least Amma was a good negotiator, and as annoyed as Damien was to be left out of whatever bargain the witches were making with her, he trusted in the outcome, especially after she’d insisted they could not keep him. It wasn’t a thing he was truly concerned about—the cage, as burdensome as it was,wouldbe temporary—but it had tickled him to hear how fierce her words were nonetheless.
He chuckled to himself as he washed the blood off his face and shoulder in the enchanted basin, then ran a hand over where the claw marks had been. They’d healed, but it was unfortunate he’d gotten them at all—cats usually liked him, and with Soot’s ability to conjure shadows, it should have been a foregone conclusion they get along.
As he pulled back on his tunic, he heard the now-familiar skittering of Kaz and that furry, little monkey, clambering in through the window. They’d taken a liking to one another since Kaz had mimicked his form, running up and down the tree Damien’s cell was attached to. Upon their latest entry, the two had armfuls of fruits and nuts and sat together on the floor, nibbling and trading with one another, and Damien sat himself on the foot of the hut’s bed to watch, wondering where Amma was.
The witches were unlikely to hurt her, but they would push her, he could see that in their eyes and hear it in their unspoken words. Amma was strong enough to endure it, and they might even get the talisman out, though as that thought struck him, Damien’s unease spiked. If they managed to free her of it—of him—what would she do? The Innomina Wildwood was much better suited to Amma than the karsts, she was drawn to the plants and the place’s aura the moment they’d been invited inside. Would she choose to stay?
The chamber’s door opened then, and the elderly woman stood there, the one who said she’d heard from the trees that Amma was coming. Slightly hunched, she didn’t appear out of breath despite climbing her way up the stairs built into the trunk. With such folded skin and milky eyes, she had to be close to one hundred, but she stumped into the hut with her staff, a head and a half taller than her and covered in little, white petals, and grinned up at him with the pep of at least a seventy-year-old.
But then that grin broke. “What’s wrong with you?”
Damien’s frown only deepened. “Oh, what isn’t?” he groused.
“You’re restless, that’s at least part of the problem, and I’ve got a solution for that.” Voice like dry leather, she cackled, taking herself over to where Kaz and the monkey were still sorting their goods.
“Do you?” Damien dragged himself up from the bed and went to the small window to peer out and be sure she’d come alone. The clearing in the ruins below had a few others crossing through it, none of them Amma, but the way up to his cell was clear.
“Your keeper tells me you’re a blood mage.”
“Look, I understand you don’t want infernals here, but I’m not leaving without her, and she needs to stay until she’s satisfied, so—”
There was a thwack as the woman’s staff banged into the wall beside him. He recoiled from it, glad to not be under it but surprised she’d missed. Kaz and the monkey crept closer to one another. “You need to listen before assuming the worst.” Then she chuckled. “Though I am sending you away.”
Damien growled, and the room’s furry creatures gathered the last of their snacks in their arms, ready to bolt.
“Your keeper has loaned you out to us in trade for our guidance.”
“She has?” Damien’s shoulders relaxed, and he actually grinned, not bothering to argue that Amma didn’t have that authority which, he supposed, might actually mean she did. A loan wasn’t forever, and if it helped her, then of course he would do it. “Who do you want me to scare off?”
“Sickness,” she said. “There is a corruption in the wildwood, and it needs absolved.”
At this Damien squinted back at her. “You want me, a blood mage, tocleansesomething? Have you confused me with the son of a dominion?”
“I want you to get rid of our problem, and the trees said the newcomer would bring us the help we need. It’s up to you how.”
Rolling his eyes, he went to get his armor. “Lead the way.”
“It’s a few days from here. I’ve arranged for the others to take you.”
“A few days?” he balked. “And what about Amma?”
“You said she would stay until she’s satisfied. When you return—ifyou return, I suppose—then you can ask her how much longer until she gets the help she came for.”
He couldn’t argue with his own words, but he could be cross about them, and as he finished dressing, he was. Perhaps it would be easier for Amma if he were out of the way.
The small band of witches he’d been saddled with intended to leave immediately. While they finished gathering supplies in the middle of the ruins, he waited, both Kaz and his monkey companion running in circles around him, and just as he assumed he would be dismissed without so much as a wave, Amma came darting down from another of the huts set high in the trees.
Contention on her face, she stepped close to him, voice low as the others tarried nearby. “You will come back, right?”
He blinked down at her. “You are the one sending me away.”
“Not forever, just on a little chore.” A green moth flitted between them. They watched it bob toward a flowering plant, land, and immediately be crushed in the cerulean petals. Amma groaned. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
