it up on you. So if you want to repay me by acting like an imbecile, I will be teased, and forced to leave my order. It isn’t just the skill that is valued. It’s the judgment in using it properly. I have spent all eighteen years of my life cloistered with the other healers. You were my first test. A rather successful one at that.”
“What will you have me do? If I follow you, that is?” Bastian swallowed, suddenly nervous around this wisp of a woman. He was strong, but she had powerful magic.
“I will protect you, of course. I’ll find a place for you to hide until things calm down here in Ashoom. Until a new leader steps forward and claims the Blue Throne. Without one, we are vulnerable to the other dragonlords.” She clambered off the chair and smoothed out her black gown. “But we’re wasting time. You must follow me. I will not have my first success die only moments after I’ve healed him.”
“Thank you.” Bastian stuttered a bit. It was disconcerting how someone so small could set him off kilter.
Elinor shoved a black cloak at him. “Cover your hair. Not many giant redheads in Ashoom. You’re too easily recognizable.”
Bastian slung the cape around his shoulders and pulled the hood over his head.
“Hold your wrists together.”
Bastian did as he was told.
Elinor tied a rope around his wrists and before he could protest, she’d knotted the rope so tightly he couldn’t move.
“Hey!”
“It’s part of the disguise.” She waved her hand and gestured for him to follow. “I don’t want a month’s worth of healing to go to waste. Now follow me. Stay close.”
Bastian shrugged and followed the girl, woman, whatever she was, out of the back of the cottage. It was just like when he’d escaped with Tressa after finding Connor missing.
Tressa. She’d be back soon with Jarrett and he’d be gone. How would she find him? He looked over his shoulder at the crowded street. People were agitated and angry. He pulled farther back into the hood. Better to be alive in hiding than for Tressa to find him dead at the hands of her former mates in the Black Guard.
Elinor pulled a bundle of herbs from a pocket inside her cloak. She waved her fingers over the herbs and muttered a series of incomprehensible words. The herbs began to smolder.
Smoke wafted into his nose, stifling his breathing and choking him. Bastian coughed and held an arm over his face. “What is that?”
“Lavender and oregano. I’m cleansing the air around you as we walk through the town. Everyone will stay clear, and no one will suspect you are anything other than a diseased wretch.” She waved the herbs in front of his face again, her blue eyes unflinching.
“They will because it reeks,” he said, muffled through his arm.
“No. This marks you as ill and me as your healer. No one will want to tempt the fate of the gods by coming any closer than they have to.” She tugged hard on the rope leash. “Come on.”
Bastian stumbled and followed her down the street. She spoke true. Everyone kept far away from them. A few made strange gestures with their hands and some spat on the ground while cursing. Elinor was right. They quickly left the town without any interference. He just hoped she was exactly what she’d told him and that he wasn’t being led into another trap.
Chapter Six
After they left the town, Elinor smothered her smoldering herbs and untied Bastian’s hands. She commanded he keep the hood on in case they came across anyone who was looking for him.
Bastian hadn’t been this way before. Only northwest to Hutton’s Bridge. His head spun. Earlier in the day he’d marched out of his town into the fog, killed the beasts, and reasoned with the woman in the tree, only to get captured by Stacia’s men. Again. Despite all of his brawn and bravery, he couldn’t remain free.
Women kept saving him. First Tressa. Now this Elinor girl. It was embarrassing.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
“Somewhere safe.” Elinor fell back, walking next to Bastian. They were no longer healer and patient, but equals.
Bastian looked down. Where he was too tall, she was too short. A tiny thing, the top of her head barely reached his elbow. “I think it’s okay to tell me now. No one is around to hear you.”
Elinor stopped and yanked on his sleeve. “Fine. We’re going to a cave along the Snake River. It’s