It was undoubtedly Marso—except the Marso they remembered never would have acted like this.
“Huh,” Zera said. “I think he has a new tattoo.”
Kreya and Jentt stared at her.
“Just because he’s made different life choices than you two does not mean this is a cry for help.” Zera waved her hand to indicate his nearly nude body.
Hearing her, Marso giggled. “Help.” He then twisted over and licked at the water flowing from the horns, as if he were a feral cat.
“That’s arguably more of a cry for help,” Zera said.
“In fairness, it’s not as if the two of us have done so stellar since the war,” Jentt said. “Of all of us, Zera is the only success story.”
Kreya opened her mouth to refute that, but it was a valid point. While she’d been poring over forbidden texts in search of a way to defy nature, Zera had been excelling as a highly successful businesswoman at the top of her craft. Maybe her taste was tacky and her spending habits frivolous, but that didn’t change the fact that she had done what she’d set out to do.
Marso, on the other hand, most likely had never planned on becoming an accessory to a water fountain.So much for his “unassailable reputation,”she thought. “We should help him down.”
“Agreed,” Zera said.
Jentt waded into the fountain. “Come on, buddy.”
Leaning over, Marso reached out a hand and touched the tip of Jentt’s nose. “I know you. You are nice.” He tapped his nose three times.
“That’s right,” Jentt said. “I’m your friend, and I’m here to help you.” He wrapped an arm around Marso’s waist, but Marso giggled and pushed off him. Using the momentum, he swung around the horns, holding on to their undersides.
“It drowns them,” Marso said, as if he were explaining.
“Yes, water can drown,” Jentt said patiently. “Release the fountain, and let’s find someplace nice and quiet we can talk instead of drown.”
“There’s no quiet here. No quiet anywhere. That’s why I drown them!”
This is going nowhere,Kreya thought. She stepped forward, checked to make sure no one was paying attention to them, and pushed back the hood on her coat. “Marso, it’s me, Kreya, your commander. Get off that fountain right now and come with us.”
Marso smiled happily at her, released the fountain statue, and fell into the water. He splashed down, spraying Jentt. Kreya put her hood back up as Jentt helped Marso out of the fountainwater. She noticed there were chicken bones in the water, left by people wishing for good luck.
In a singsong voice, Zera said, “We’re drawing attention.”
Surrounding Marso, they hustled him through the market. A few of the vendors called out after them, and Kreya thought she saw the boy who’d helped them and a few of his friends following along, but the boy lost interest once they were beyond the market.
They checked into an inn, with Zera paying, and ordered soup and meat rolls to be sent to the room. Zera also slipped the innkeeper an extra coin for private access to the bathing facilities, which, despite spending his days in water, Marso definitely needed, and another extra coin for a set of new clothes for him, also definitely needed.
Aided by his friends, Marso was bathed and dressed in fresh clothes. Sitting cross-legged on one of the beds, he ate soup with a shaking hand while Kreya, Zera, and Jentt all stared at him.
Zera finally broke the silence. “So... did you take something that messed with your head, or did your head mess with your head all on its own?”
“He wouldn’t need chemicals to do this,” Jentt said. “A place like this, stirring up his magic—it would be bad enough to stir up his mind.”
Marso took a sip of soup, lifted his spoon, and stared at it as if it had spoken.
“Then we have to un-stir it,” Kreya said.
“It’ll take time,” Jentt said. “And quiet.”
Kreya shut the window as revelers outside decided to sing three different songs simultaneously. “We need to take him out of the city.” But where? Her tower was gone. Zera’s mansion wasn’t private enough—even if she dismissed all her sycophants,word would spread from that act alone. Plus Cerre was too many miles away. A close, quiet place . . .
She had it.
“The farmhouse.”
