Page 100

She took a few steps, her head already clearing. Pulling up her shirt, she confirmed that the rashes were starting to fade. “I have cream that might work for the rashes if we need it, but I think we will be okay.” She checked Pyetar just to be sure.

“I’ve never seen a rash like this,” Pyetar admitted, looking more closely at the fading marks on Iryana’s skin.

They were quiet for a moment, staring at those marks. Something about it didn’t feel right. Didn’t feel normal.

“I can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if you hadn’t realized,” Pyetar said softly, chewing on his bottom lip.

“It’s strange,” Iryana said as she wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t know of any substance that can do that.”

“I don’t either. I’ve never found any hot springs around here before, though.”

She shrugged; there wasn’t much to be done about it now. Iryana pulled away from his arms to tidy all the things she’d yanked out of their packs.

“I don’t think it’s in the air, at least,” Iryana said after she finished, plopping down beside the fire in one of the few dry spots.

Pyetar froze. “Was that an option?”

“The air is humid. There’s steam in it. Whatever the poison is, I don’t think it evaporates. It probably isn’t strong, just concentrated.”

“How do you know?”

“I already feel much better out of the water. If we were breathing it in, I don’t think that would be the case.”

“Okay, well. That’s good. I didn’t realize you knew so much about being poisoned.” He sat behind her, pulling her protectively into his arms.

“Hadima learned a lot about them when she was preparing to poison Karvek. She likes to tell me about all the different ones she toyed with, some of her experiments.” She felt droopy now, like her body was using all its energy to neutralize the poison. “We shouldn’t both fall asleep, just in case.”

“Don’t worry.” Pyetar kissed her on the head, tucking her in closer. “Sleep, I’ll keep watch.”

She nodded, letting sleep claim her.

When they set out the next morning, bundled up against the freezing air, it was still dark. The sun wouldn’t rise for hours, but the nearly full moon reflected brightly off the snow. It was almost as bright as a cloudy summer day.

They retraced their steps to where they had run into the dakii the day before, but Iryana wasn’t optimistic the fox’s tracks would be there. She could hear the wind howling all night.

When they reached the spot, Iryana looked around half-heartedly. The dakii were mere lumps in the snow now, white powder covering them. The beasts had torn up the snow, but she stepped between a couple of pine trees where the dakii hadn’t been.

“Pyetar,” Iryana called out, shocked. “The tracks are still here!”

Somehow, the creature’s prints hadn’t been blown away or covered during the night.

“We’re pretty far behind it now,” Pyetar said. “Do you still think it’s worth following?”

“Do you have any better ideas? Perhaps we can at least find where it’s living, wait for it there.”

“Might as well.”

It was almost funny. Now she was the one encouraging them. It was obvious how worried Pyetar was. So, they set out again, Pyetar tense with vigilance.

The creature had gone into a burrow for a while; the tracks that came back out looked far fresher, returning straight to their onward march. After a few hours, the sun lightening the dark blue sky, the tracks did something new. They swerved off the near-straight path it had been heading in for days and then disappeared.

“I think it…” she leaned down, tracing the final depressions in the snow. They were deeper as if it had jumped. “Climbed up there?”

Pyetar joined her as they scanned the branches. He pointed partway up the tree. “There’s less snow on the bark there. And some is knocked off that branch.”

“And over there,” she pointed at the next tree.

It seemed like the creature had moved between the pines, and it was a slow process determining where it had gone, but Iryana was reinvigorated by the new behavior. She wondered what had changed to make the creature move to the trees after countless miles of traveling along the ground. Something had clearly drawn its attention. The creature she’d seen had been sitting in the trees watching them. Perhaps it had found something here to watch, too? Or perhaps it was merely avoiding an incoming pack of dakii?