“My mother was treated when she made it back to the tribe.” He was sure of it. “They journeyed a fortnight prior. Most humans, if they live past the first night of entering here, are treated away from the walls. It’s too dangerous otherwise. I wouldn’t be taking you to Prayer if you weren’t degrading so fast.”
Faster still than he had thought.
Aldora matched his pace, and her long hair breezed over his arm. The touch did little to ease him. She brought her hand to her mouth again and he stopped her.
“Don’t do that.” Vedikus took it and held it firmly this time. “You’ll just lick your skin off trying to seek something that is no longer there for you.”
“It brings me comfort.”
“Then it is a trick of the mind.”
“Everything has been a trick here. I’m not supposed to be here!” He picked up his pace and pulled her after him despite the mud trying to slow them down. “I’m supposed to be on the farm,” Aldora’s voice had gone hollow, “tending to the apple trees and preparing deliveries. My father would be hauling the crates onto the cart while my mother spoke to the townsfolk. She and Mr. Branis would be arguing and the sickeningly sweet smell of fresh jam would be making me nauseous. I hated it...” Her tone deadened on a whisper. “I shouldn’t be here.”
Stopping short, Vedikus turned and faced her, forcing her to look at him. Her brown eyes were glazed over and his throat tightened, imagining her going blind. “Aldora,” he warned. “I will have your thoughts.”She looks at me as if she doesn’t see me.
“I wish I was back home, with the apples, and their nauseating scent,” she said quietly.
He did not know what she spoke of but knew, when her eyes did not focus on him, that she wasn’t listening to his command. Aldora lowered her head and looked away, allowing her hair to fall before her face. He swiped the strands away. “Tell me about them.”
“The apples?” she sniffled.
“Yes.”
“They were the best in Thetras, the best in all the western regions of Savadon. They’re bright and blood red with a gleam that reflected the midday sunlight. When polished for market, I could see my reflection mar their surface, a blight to their natural beauty. They filled my arms and when not watched carefully, would tumble and roll away.”
They had nothing like that in these lands. “Do you speak of mountain rocks? Rubies?” he asked.
“No.” Aldora focused on him. “They looked like rubies, the best ones of the yearly crop, but those were saved for the celebrations in the capital. Have you never seen an apple?”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“I can’t believe that.” She gripped his wrist and pulled his hand from her face. “They’re a common crop. My mother’s grove is right on the other side of the wall and stretches for a hundred acres.”
“So, they are a grown food,” he stated, thinking back. Vine bread was considered food given by the land if cooked correctly, and there were edible roots and herbs that could be found if one was looking, but not much else, and not something that looked like rubies.
“Yes, from apple trees. One tree can produce hundreds of them.”
“Do they taste of blood?”
She frowned, her mouth parting in shock. “They’re sweet and sour, enough so they make your teeth ache. Nothing like blood. Do you really not have apples?”
Vedikus straightened. “No.” And they never would.
“Then...” she paused, “I’ll never see one again, never eat one again.”
“Most things that grow here are as hard and as horrid as the creatures that walk this land. If you ever see one of these apple trees appear in the mists, avoid it for they are an illusion to lure you closer.”
“Then are you an illusion too?”
Vedikus stilled and peered down at her. “What do you think, female?”
“If you are, you’re a painful one.” She placed a hand carelessly on her chest and turned away. He clenched his fist to keep from reaching for her and forced himself to slowly relax it and settle back on his weapon.
“We are both painful illusions then,” he muttered and continued walking.
Time passed by in silence with nothing but the sound of their footsteps, and after a short span, he found it grating. “Tell me more about these apples if they make you feel better,” Vedikus heard himself saying.
“They don’t make me feel better. They make me feel worse.”
