Shadow Lands (16 page)

“So?” Ruisa said, stepping forward. She held a large vial filled with clear liquid.

“So, that’ll make the poison useless…”

Ruisa shook her head in impatience. “You’re thinking of bacteria. Boiling water gets rid of most bacteria. This poison was made from boiling various elements, it’ll survive just fine.”

“But they don’t boil it,” Leilius said quickly and a little too loud. He looked back and forth between Ruisa and Sanders.

“
Shhhh,
” Xavier said, elbowing him.

“They don’t,” Leilius repeated in a breathy whisper. “I’ve been around the Village, and I’ve been around the water place a lot, and I’ve been around the camp—I’ve only seen people boil stew. But to drink, they just drink out of their canisters, which they fill from the water bucket. I’ve seen them drink directly from the tap, too. I’ve never seen anyone boil water without food stuff in it.”

“It is mostly clean,” Denessa nodded. “With so many humans here, and their stink, the animals probably find elsewhere to get water.”

Ruisa looked at Sanders. “Moot point, anyway. The next question is, how do we get the poison into the water supply? If we kill those guys, someone’s going to make the connection as to why. At least, with the first death they will. They’ll suspect the water right away.”

“You’ve accounted for the rain?” another Shadow person said, a man with dark, fuzzy hair. “It rains a lot. It will dilute your formula.”

“Oh, good, everyone’s an expert at underhand killing,” Sanders said under his breath. Marc shifted, hunched and nodded all at the same time—clearly he was thinking along the same lines.

“I did, yes,” Ruisa answered the man, her gaze lingering on his a little too long. Sanders was about to say something when she shifted her gaze to look at her feet. Apparently she had no plans to lose her head over a pretty face, unlike the boys. Sanders was liking her more and more every day.

“It’s made to take effect immediately, and kill within half a day,” Ruisa continued, looking everywhere but at the man. “I didn’t know how long we had. I could’ve made the kill immediate, but Leilius said that they often hang around the tap and drink while there, so a bunch of dead Graygual around the water supply…”

“Good thinking,” the man said, still staring at her.

She shrugged, not meeting his gaze.

“We need a distraction,” Sanders said. “What’s our timing like, Burson?”

Burson stared toward the flame. “We can wait, and we will get a helping hand. That will lead to death for the Graygual as a whole, which will help us in the days to come. That is the best option for the future, but the worst option for this night.”

“What happens tonight if we wait?” Sanders pushed, shifting in impatience.

“We will need to fight our way back. There are three possible outcomes, and two of those will mean a loss. One will mean a narrow escape. I cannot tell what decisions will lead to which. It is all muddled.”

“I’m sorry I asked,” Sanders growled, staring at the flickering light up ahead, and the shadows dancing around it. Thinking.

If they didn’t reduce the Graygual this way, they’d probably lose a lot more than one in whatever was coming. They might lose everyone. The journey could be at an end here, on this wet, miserable island.

Making the decision to stay meant he was cutting off someone’s head. It meant he would be sacrificing one of his own. The greater good didn’t matter. What
might be
made no difference. He was sending someone to the chopping block if he chose to stay.

Sanders shook his head and stared at the ground, purposely not looking at anyone else. This was his decision, and the consequences would rest on his shoulders, no matter what happened.

He sighed, refocusing on that flickering light. He felt a hollowness inside of him, a sickening twisting of his gut, as he said quietly, “We should wait.”

Shuffling feet interrupted the silence that followed, but he couldn’t look back at his men. He couldn’t see their faces without wondering which one he was throwing into the fires. Even if he tried to sacrifice himself, there was no guarantee that’s how it would play out.

And so they waited, the sickening weight hanging on Sanders’ shoulders. No one spoke. No one condemned him out loud.

The Shadow people stood still and quiet, waiting with them. For all Sanders knew, it could be one of them that would meet their end. They were in just as much danger as his own men. Yet, they stayed.

After half an hour or so, a grueling, guilt-filled half hour, Marc said in a harried whisper, “Someone’s coming!”

Sanders turned around then, noticing two figures walking up the road. Their outlines suggested females with a heftiness in the bust and through the hip. As though suddenly realizing they were the subject of scrutiny, both woman slunk down as they walked, swaying their hips from side to side as if walking on the deck of a boat deck in the middle of a raging storm.

“Women of the night,” Denessa muttered. “It is a strange place for them to be.”

The women walked up to Sanders’ men and glanced around. The moonlight sprinkled the first, showing a heart-shaped face and a lot of cleavage. The other remained mostly in shadow, but Sanders could see her sleek smile and half-closed, bedroom eyes.

Xavier stepped away. He’d learned his lesson.

The first woman opened her mouth to speak, but Marc reached over Tobias to slap his palm on her mouth. “
Shhh!
” he said, using his other hand to press air repeatedly toward the ground. “Quietly. Eh?”

Marc yanked his hand away and wiped it on his jeans. “She
licked
me.”

“Do you boys need a little entertainment?” she said in a quiet purr filled with sex. All the boys but Xavier and Marc stood up straighter. A lazy smile drifted up Rachie’s face.

Her eyes told a different story. From what Sanders could see in the dim moonlight, those eyes had a dangerous gleam. A deadly gleam. And suddenly, he remembered where he had seen a whole bunch of eyes like that.

Tomous reached out and put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “We’ve come to kill the Graygual. We could use your help.”

The woman’s gaze slid from Tomous’ hand, up his arm, and finally rested on his face. The other woman looked over, eyeing him too. Their gazes drifted around the group, noticing the Shadow people, hesitating on Ruisa and then sticking to Rohnan.

“You are with the violet-eyed girl?” the woman with the heart-shaped face asked quietly.

“Yes. You are suspicious, but I do not know how to prove it to you,” Rohnan responded.

“Who are you, then?” the woman pushed.

Sanders’ brow furrowed. She obviously knew who he was—or at least, she’d guessed he was with Shanti. What more could he say?

“The Ghost,” came Rohnan’s reply.

The second woman elbowed the first and pointed at Burson, who was smiling at them. He nodded to their scrutiny, “I am the Guide to the Wanderer, and was freed from the Hunter by her hand. She is claiming her right as Chosen, and we need your help.”

“I’ve heard about you. The Ghost and the Madman,” the woman with the heart-shaped face said, straightening up. The sex act melted from her demeanor. In its place stood a curvy woman with a scowl and determined, scarred eyes. “You are the reason we are here. Helping you means we help the violet-eyed girl. She is in grave peril here. The old gypsy woman said women like us, like Rosy and me, needed to help. So here we came.”

“And you marched into a camp infested with Graygual, into danger, because a gypsy told you to?” Sanders asked with disbelief.

“They are speaking the truth,” Rohnan said. “And you are in time. We need those three men distracted. We need to get at the water supply.”

A merciless smile drifted up both girls’ faces. “Then we are your girls. I hope whatever you have planned makes them shit blood like the last little surprise you left.”

“Word’s out. They know it’s you,” Marc muttered to Ruisa.

“It was ingenious work. Of course it had to have come from a woman.” The woman with the heart-shaped face laughed as she sauntered forward, hips and breasts all over the place. Even Sanders was mesmerized for a moment; watching that flesh sway made a man feel young again.

As they passed, he motioned Ruisa forward. “Do you need to dump it in, or can anyone do it?”

“There’s nothing special. Just upend the bottle,” she answered in a hush.

“No stirring or anything?” he clarified.

“No. Just upend and go.”

Sanders nodded and took the formula. The fuzzy-haired Shadow said something to Denessa in their language, but she shook her head. Her gaze rested on Sanders. “I will be your backup. I can confuse their mind with my mental power if need be. It is my special gift.”

“Great.” Sanders couldn’t help the sarcasm. It had been so simple when the rule was that dangerous people had a sword, and peaceful people did not. Now there was sneaky poison that didn’t kill for three days, mental killing, and reading thoughts. Sanders didn’t like this new set of rules. It was too hard to know what was coming at any given time.

He took the poison and waited to give the two women a little time to work on the Graygual. Then he snuck up in time to see one of the women drape herself onto a Graygual lap. She traced her finger down his cheek before outlining his lips. “How about me and you, friend, have some fun?”

“Disguising her knowledge of the language—smart. They will think she’s not educated,” the Shadow woman said quietly, watching with interest.

“We don’t have any money to spend on you gals, honey doll,” one of the Graygual said, tracing his hands down her sizable chest.

“I give sample,” she countered, gyrating across his lap.

“I’ll take a sample of that,” another of the men said, a sexual fire in his eyes.

The other woman had her top down and was pulling the third man’s head toward her nipple. “You like?” she asked the second man.

That man got up as though in a daze. He was already undoing his pants.

“We go in darkness,” the second woman said, looking all around. “You head man no like us around. But you like—we give sample. Maybe you like so much, you pay.”

“Maybe…” the second man pulled her up by the hand. The other man rose, too. They drifted off into the trees, the men following with dazed, lust-filled eyes.

The other woman tried to stand and take her man with the others.

“No, no, we can just do it right here,” the man said, digging between them and fiddling with his pants. “See, I’m ready.”

“No, no!” The woman adopted a terrified voice, looking around. “I threatened. No! I supposed to stay away.”

“It’s okay, I’ll protect you.” He palmed her breast and tried to situate her.

“No, no! I scream! I bring your leader man.”

The man tightened up at that. He glanced off through the trees, pausing for a moment in thought. It must’ve been hard, with his dick taking all the thinking power away from his brain. Finally, he pushed her up and then grabbed her hand. “All right, fine. Let’s make it quick, though. If they find out I took off, they’ll cut off my dick and put me on display.”

After they cleared away, Denessa stepped forward with a sneer. “Those men are filth.”

“You wouldn’t let a handsome man lead you away if he offered roses and candy and all that crap women like?” Sanders accused. “I bet you would. He’d offer to clean your house so you could take a bath, and you’d club him over the head and drag him home. You women are no saints.”

“I would have sex with a handsome man if he offered himself for free, sure, but those men will take the goods without paying a fair wage. It’s a disgrace.”

Sanders couldn’t help a chuckle as he poured the liquid into the water. “Not the roses and chocolates type of girl, huh? A woman after my own heart.”

They moved away quietly.

“I think I would take the chocolates, actually,” she said. “And the clean house and bath, but I would give him something for his trouble if he didn’t talk too much.”

Sanders laughed quietly. “You and Shanti will get along fine. It makes me wonder what my wife giggles to her friends about, though…”

“The size of your penis, probably.”

The humor drained from Sanders. He shot her a glower, squinting his eyes at her soft laughter. “On second thought, maybe I’ll make sure you don’t meet Shanti.”

They made it back to the others. Sanders handed over the empty bottle as Burson stepped toward the city. “We must go.
Now!
”

“What is he?” Denessa asked.

“No time to explain,” Sanders said, jogging down the road.

“Weapons out,” Burson called.

Swords slid out of sheaths. A bow creaked.

“This way is faster,” Denessa said, starting to run right.

“No!” Burson replied, slowing the group in confusion. “We take the secret passage. It minimizes the possible death-outcome.”

Sanders didn’t hesitate. They continued up the road before they turned right and saw a group of twenty or so Graygual making camp in the trees. The group was organized and efficient, spreading out and hunkering down. Away to the right more noise caught Sanders’ ear; the sound of other troops setting up a barrier in the night.

Denessa slowed with the rest of them, sword at the ready. A wicked gleam burned in her eyes. “They are trying to block escape through the wood to the dock we use for fishing. They are preparing for war.”

“So are we.” Sanders looked back, focusing on the boys. “Fight as a group, like Shanti taught you. Keep yourself alive, you hear me? I don’t want to lose a single one of you.”

“What about me, sir?” Tobias said with a grin. “You ready to lose me?”

“I was ready to dump you off at sea. You’re hard to kill, just like the rest of us.”

“Got that right,” Tobias answered.

“All right, kill at will,” Sanders said as he started jogging again.

Everyone fell in behind. The Shadow took the outside, swords low, running like predators. As Sanders neared the Graygual getting ready for the night, he put on a burst of speed and whirled through the crowd. His sword slashed down on a shoulder, cutting in through the neck. Someone hopped up, faster than the trash in the city would. Sanders stabbed him through the gut before turning to another man.