Excerpt: The Price of Thorns
Nivvy, our weasel thief hero, has brought his injured hawk friend to a place where he thinks they’ll be safe, run by a suspicious naked hippie-type named Frankh. He’s trying to resume his journey to the lake, but Frankh wants him to stick around …
“Nivvy,” Frankh called. “Are you hungry?”
He walked slowly back from the edge of the forest. “No,” he said. “I’d like to get to the lake. I’m very anxious to be there.”
“Do you know the story of the lake?” Frankh’s smile stayed wide, but now to Nivvy’s eyes it seemed a little bit vacant. More than a bit, maybe.
“Yes, we heard it. The kingdom angered Aji and she drowned it in revenge. That doesn’t matter. I’m meeting someone there.”
“Oh, that’s not the story. Why don’t you eat some breakfast and I’ll tell you and Zein the story while you eat? Then we can go.”
Nivvy was tempted to just go, to run off through the forest. The breeze had picked up again and he was fairly sure he could follow it back to the lake. But the lure of another story tugged at him, and as long as he didn’t eat any more of the leaves, he’d be fine. Right? “I’m not hungry,” he said, and sat back to listen.
Zein, awake as well, also tilted their head up. Nivvy supposed he could call them “she” now, but he’d gotten used to saying “they,” and they didn’t seem to care one way or another. They seemed at peace, which was nice and made him feel better about maybe leaving them to the care of Frankh. He would worry about getting them away later (though, the thought itched, not that much later because it might get more difficult after they’d eaten a lot of those leaves).
“The story is the whole reason I came out here to the lake,” Frankh said. “But not too close. It’s a cursed place, and I wanted to bring it some peace. The town here doesn’t care about the curse. They know about the Drowned Kingdom but they just live next to it. Would you live next to a house where thousands of people lost their lives? I hope that by bringing Aska here, I am shining the light of kindness into their lives and driving away the shadows.
“This place used to be kind. Over in Yamali, where I grew up, the order of Aska is older than the city; it is said that first there was a garden, then there was a town, then there was a city. One of the first stories of our temple there is a man who came here from the Drowned Kingdom. He said that his king was wise and just, that his kingdom was happy. All were well-fed and clothed, and sheltered by the mountains, they never felt storms nor invaders. They were a peaceful town.
“But one day an evil sorceress drowned everyone in the space of a breath. He saw it happen, and fled for his life. When he arrived in Yamali, he sought shelter and sanctuary from Aska, who granted it, and he wrote down his stories so that his kingdom would no longer be forgotten.”
“Why did the sorceress drown everyone?” Nivvy asked. “Did he record that?”
“Evil has no reason to exist save for evil,” Frankh replied peaceably. “It is the duty of Aska to stand against evil.”
Again, Nivvy held his tongue, but the story sounded even less plausible than the others he’d heard. As trivial as Bella’s complaint was, about the king’s son being inappropriately interested in her daughter, at least it was a reason. Evil people didn’t just do things because they were evil. Kids were spiteful sometimes, and people often did evil things to prove they had power over you, but drowning a whole city was a big thing that you wouldn’t just do because you woke up and said, “I should do something evil today.” That was something that’d been done for a reason. Also, and not to pick at small things, but Nivvy knew merchants who’d boasted that Copper Port was happy and prosperous, which was true of the merchants but not of everyone. He’d wager this survivor, if he’d even existed given this had happened ten centuries ago, had been one of the wealthy people in the city. Orphans and hungry people were invisible to that kind of person, even if they had to work hard to keep from seeing ‘em. Lastly, what kind of story was that? It barely got started before it was over. Didn’t the happy, prosperous city have any great accomplishments?
But he said, “It’s very sad that the town ran afoul of evil that way. Your garden here keeps evil out, does it?”
“I do my best,” Frankh said with a serene smile. “You must be very hungry. Are you sure you won’t have breakfast?”
“Why don’t we get started on our way to the lake,” Nivvy countered, “an’ I’ll find a bite along the way?”
“I find it’s much better to be fortified before a journey.” Frankh smiled that same serene smile.
Zein blinked at Nivvy. “Just have something to eat,” they said. “You’re hungry all the time.”
“I’m not hungry right now,” he said. “Why do I have to be hungry?” His stomach growled right then, and he hoped he was too far for them to hear it.
“You don’t have to be hungry,” Frankh said. “But there’s food here if you want it.” He gestured to the seed cakes he’d left on the ground. “I’m just going to check the clearing and see if anyone else is hungry, and then we’ll go after that.”
“Fine.” Nivvy waited until Frankh had walked around the large rock and then he scampered over to Zein’s side.
“Why are you being difficult?” they asked. “Frankh’s trying to give you food. Isn’t that easier than killing some grass-rat? Also, we shouldn’t kill the grass-rats. They’re cute. They’re not harming us.”
“If you could fly,” Nivvy asked urgently, “would you take me to the lake right now?”
“I can’t fly.” Zein glanced toward their wing.
“But if you could. If I could heal your wing with magic right now, would you take me to the lake?”
“I…” They blinked at him. “I suppose I could, in a little while.”
“Don’t you want to see the lake? See the lovely underwater kingdom? It’s so close now. It’s one of the things you wanted to see.”
“It is.” They seemed reluctant to admit it. “But it’s not going anywhere and it’s so nice here. Why not stay?”
He nodded and took a step back. “You’ll be safe here,” he said. “But I’ll come back for you if I can. I promise.”
“I know you will. You’re my friend. My best friend.”
Frankh wasn’t going to take Nivvy to the lake. He was going to wait until Nivvy was hungry enough to eat more of his leaves, and then Nivvy wouldn’t want to go to the lake anymore. Zein was already changing under the influence of the leaves, becoming complacent. Soon they would be as fat as the grass-rats. Nivvy couldn’t get them away now, but maybe in a few days when their wing felt better—or a week? Or two weeks? He didn’t know how long wings took to heal. It might be too late for them already.
But it wasn’t too late for him. “Tell Frankh I had to go on my own,” he said, and then he heard the man approaching, so he ran off into the forest before Zein could answer. It wasn’t the good-bye he wanted, but it was the only one he could manage.