He wavered, blinking rapidly.“I have a friend nearby. We can catch our breath there,” he said.
“A friend?” Valenna asked. “Here?”
But Evander was so near collapsing, she decided not to press it. Dozens of questions battered around in her mind, but she tamped them down. Shelter first, explanations later. Still, Valenna couldn’t shake the sense that she was standing on a frozen lake, and the ice had begun to crack.
It felt like hours before they came upon the hut. It was little more than a heap of stones with a thatched roof and a wooden door. A small, mossy patch of sun-dappled forest floor stretched before it, broken by a shallow stream burbling over smooth, brown rocks.
Beside the hut grew an unruly garden. Hera stood among the pumpkin vines, half her big body crushing the fence as she munched a cabbage. She glanced at Evander and Valenna as they entered the clearing and huffed a diffident greeting, then pulled a mouthful of carrots from the soil.
The hut door opened, and a tall man dressed in an oversized, ill-fitting robe bustled out. He was lanky and leathery, with no hair on his head, and an overabundance of hair everywhere else. He resembled a hedge someone had given up trimming.
“Welcome! Welcome! Oh, I’m so pleased you made it, Evandaine!” he cried.
Valenna jumped away from Evander like he was a venomous spider. “Evandaine? That’s impossible!”
Evander smiled sheepishly at her and conveniently collapsed.
“Oh, dear,” the man said. He moved to help Evander, but Valenna stood frozen, her jaw slack, staring at him in blank stupefaction.
Evander didn’t get up. He seemed only half-conscious, and Valenna’s instincts took over. She grabbed his arm, not as gently as she normally would, and shook him. “Where is your wyvern bone powder, Vander?”
Of course, he didn’t have any on him, but Valenna was reeling with shock and exhaustion, and she madly expected him to produce a tin of it from his pants pocket.
With a belligerent grunt, he stumbled to his feet and staggered into the hut. Frustrated and confused, Valenna followed him through the rickety door.
The interior was dark, the ceiling low. To Valenna’s right, a rough cot woven of branches extended the full length of the tiny space, with a bookshelf at its head and another at its foot. A clay oven stood against the wall to the left, and a small table with two handmade chairs filled the center of the space. Against the far wall was a little counter strewn with vegetables, sliced bread, and a few chipped dishes.
With every passing second, Evander’s cheeks washed ashen, his movements growing clumsy. He sat heavily on the cot, planted his elbows on his knees, and rested his head in his hands.
“Evander!” Valenna’s voice came out shrill. “Where is your wyvern bone powder? Tell me! You need it! Is it in your room? I can go back and get it!”
He sank sideways. “I just need to rest for a moment.”
“Stay awake!” Valenna cried, kneeling and gripping his arms. “Don’t fall asleep. If you fall asleep, you might not wake again. Vander, where is your medicine? A few sips of it and you’ll feel better!”
He sat up, his head hanging and his hair tangling over his eyes. He squeezed her hand and said in a husky voice, “Val … I’m out.”
All the blood drained from Valenna’s face, and her fingers, clutching Evander’s sleeve, went slack. She sat back on her heelsand stared at him, her mouth agape. He looked at her, almost apologetically. His pupils were tiny black pinpricks in a halo of ivy green.
“I’m sorry, Val,” he said. “I should have told you, but I hoped …”
“No, you must have more. What about the tin I gave you?”
“Out.”
The hermit bustled in, his long robe dragging on the dirt floor. “Good news!” he announced. “I’ve got fresh purple potatoes for supper, some lovely radishes, and something else … I can’t remember what I was so excited about. It wasn’t the potatoes. There was another thing …”
Valenna ignored him. “It’s alright. I’ll go back to Silvanlight and buy more wyvern bone from the apothecary. Stay here and try to …”
“There isn’t any in Silvanlight,” Evander interrupted. “There isn’t any anywhere.”
Valenna let out an unhinged little laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. Surely there’s more somewhere.”
Evander shook his head and said, “Wyverns are extinct. There is no more wyvern bone powder in Allagesh.”
Valenna was not accustomed to helplessness. She had the warrior’s instinct to act and to do. Evander’s words struck ice-cold terror in her veins. No more wyvern bone powder meant … it meant …
“You must be mistaken,” she said. “You didn’t look hard enough. If you ask at other towns … or send letters to larger apothecaries …”
