Page 6 of Storms & Sacrifice
I can’t hold in the guffaw that flies out of my mouth and quickly clamp both my hands over it. “He left hickeys on yourdick?!”
“Several,” he deadpans. “He took the ‘sucking’veryliterally—” Khazak cuts himself off, eyes going a little wide. “David, donot move.”
I freeze in place.What?!
“Everything is okay. Just stay still.” Khazak’s hands are out toward me, but he doesn’t look panicked. “Look down. Just behind you.”
I slowly peer downward as requested, and right behind my left foot is a plant, a dark purple flower, maybe a foot high. Actually, there’s a whole patch of them.
“What is it?”
“A very poisonous flower known as ‘Ralor’s crown,’” Khazak speaks calmly. “You have not touched it yet. Just step over to me carefully.”
I nod slowly, moving away from the flower patch. I see now the way each of the petals bloom out then curl back in, each flower resembling a small purple crown.
“What does it do?” I ask when I’m safely away.
“In its current form, it would leave you with a very unpleasant rash before making you feel sluggish and causing your muscles stop responding correctly.” He looks down at my legs to make sure there’s nothing on them. “The real danger comes when it is processed into a poison. That increases its potency tenfold, enough to killa person.”
“Fuck, and it just grows out here?” Seems like a bad plant to keep around.
“It is native to the area, but we do not normally allow it to grow so near the city. It is too dangerous.” He eyes the patch suspiciously. “This must have cropped uprecently.”
It is spring, time for plants to start growing. “What do we doabout it?”
“You and I will do nothing, but once we get back to camp, we will let Shaman Bonespirit know so that he can take care of it.” Makes sense. Plants are probably that guy’s whole deal.
“Sounds good.” We have been walking a while now. “Is it time to headback yet?”
“Yes, actually.” Khazak doesn’t move though, instead reaching into his pocket. “Here, thisis yours.”
He hands me one of the red rocks from earlier, the compass stone Wu’dag handed him for me. He then takes a few steps away from me. “Hold it in your fist and stretch your hand toward me.”
I do as asked, and the stone in my hand begins pulsing in a steady rhythm. I drop my hand and the pulsing stops, only to return when I point my fist at Khazak again.
“The stones are all linked. When one is held and pointed in the direction of another, it pulses.” He takes out his own stone to show me. “The stronger the pulse, the closer the target stone. Try and see if you can find camp.”
“Okay.” I turn to the direction I think camp is, holding the stone out in front of me. I slowly scan it across the horizon until I feel it vibrate in my hand, and I freeze. It starts to beat steadily, but much more slowly than it did with Khazak. “I think Ifound it.”
“Glasha and Arik would have left for their own patrols by now, so it could easily be one of them. Keep looking, and see if you can tell the difference.”
I nod, happy to prove that I know what I’m doing. I keep using the stone to scan the horizon line, finding two more pulsing beat patterns. One feels almost as slow as the first, but the second is a little stronger. It’s also in between the other two, so that hasto be it.
“Okay, got it this time.” I turn to Khazak, confident inmy answer.
“Lead theway, pup.”
It’s nearly dark by the time we get back to the campsite. I see the two officers and Wu’dag seated around the campfire, some meat cooking over the fire. My stomach growls at the smell, hungrier than Irealized.
“Welcome back.” Wu’dag greets us with the officers as we join them by the campfire. “Anything out of theordinary?”
“Actually, yes.” Khazak frowns. “We found a patch of Ralor’s crown about five kilometers north.”
“Huh. I just cleared out a patch of that last week.” Wu’dag frowns. “I will take care of it first thing in themorning.”
“Thank you, friend.” Khazak nods, the two of us joining the group, and I groan happily when I take my seat on a log by the fire. I’ve done more walking today than I have in three weeks.
Glasha returns about half an hour later, then Arik another half hour after that, and the seven of us sit down for dinner—which ends up being some rabbits the two officers caught while we were patrolling, a signal of what future meals out here may be like. I’ve had rabbit before; it’s not bad. Plus, by now I’ve learned to trust the orcs of Tah’lj and their cooking.
