Jaleigh Johnson - Unbroken Chain - The Darker Road

“We should talk to Tatigan,” Cree said. “Judging from the goods he’s brought back, he knows every trade route and merchant in Faerun. He’ll be able to tell us what we’re in for.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ashok said. He stood, and Skagi moved to join him at the door. Cree started to follow them.

“Oh now, where do you think you’re going?” Skagi said. He crossed his arms and blocked the door.

Cree looked at him incredulously. “You can’t mean me to stay here? I’ll eat through the walls or fade away if I don’t get out of this damned circular cage.”

“The clerics want to make sure there’s no lasting damage from the poison or anything in the snake’s blood that might have affected you,” Ashok said.

“He doesn’t want you spitting foam like a mad dog on the caravan journey.” Skagi snickered.

Cursing, Cree trudged back to his bed. “I’ll make you pay for every bit of enjoyment you’re getting out of this, Brother,” he warned Skagi.

“Looking forward to it,” Skagi said.

Ashok watched Cree climb back into his bed. His elbow bumped the bedside table and knocked over a cup of water sitting there. The liquid made a dark stain on the stone floor. Though he tried to hide it, Cree stiffened, and the muscles in his jaw clenched. He turned, moving more slowly than Ashok had ever seen him, and picked up the empty cup.

Ashok left the room before Cree noticed that he’d lingered.

When they were outside the tower, Skagi said, “He’ll come back from it, you know. Just needs time to adapt. He might not be as fast as he was before, but he’ll still be able to outpace the rest of us.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Ashok said.

“But you look at him like he won’t,” Skagi muttered. “Makes it harder on him.”

Ashok stopped. “I didn’t realize.”

“We’re all Guardians,” Skagi said, “ready to pay the price to protect Ikemmu, even if Uwan asks for a limb.” He looked at Ashok with a strange, unreadable expression. “Did you forget we’re all willing to give it?”

“I didn’t forget,” Ashok said.

He hadn’t forgotten, he told himself stubbornly. He’d just never thought it would be necessary. If he could keep them safe, that sacrifice would never be needed.

Ashok considered going to Darnae to ask the halfling where to find Tatigan, but it took only a few minutes of asking around the trade market to locate the merchant. He kept chambers in Tower Pyton near the topmost span, one of the bridges that connected the tower to its sister Hevalor.

The door stood ajar when he and Skagi arrived. They could see the merchant pacing back and forth in front of the door. During one pass, he saw them and beckoned.

The room was smaller than Ashok expected from the merchant, who dealt in some of the most exotic goods in Ikemmu. Tatigan had a reputation for catering specifically to the needs of the shadar-kai and their constant search for new experiences and pleasures. His own quarters were simple, but what furnishings he owned appeared to be of the finest quality, even to Ashok’s uneducated eyes.

A large bed covered in thick blankets and furs took up one side of the room; a dark wood table with two chairs matched a large desk at the far side of the room. The smoothly polished wood grain followed a beautiful pattern like falling rain. Maps of Ikemmu, the Underdark, and various parts of Faerun covered the walls. Next to them hung a single painting of a green landscape-a vast forest as seen from a distance through pale mist. A path veered through the wood, and on the path were riders wearing a livery Ashok didn’t recognize.

“That’s Cormyr,” Tatigan said, following Ashok’s gaze. “I’m told the painting once belonged to Azoun IV, a former king, though I’ve never had it verified.”

“How go your studies of Ikemmu?” Ashok asked. He nodded to the stacks of parchment on the merchant’s desk, a strange mixture of account keeping and research notes written in spidery shorthand.

“Well enough. I don’t have as much time for them as I’d like, but now that you’re here, maybe I’ll make some progress,” Tatigan said. He had on loose-fitting trousers and a silk shirt overlaid with a vest of light gray fur. As was his custom, he wore spectacles with dark green lenses, even in the dimness of the lantern-lit room.

“What makes you say that?” Ashok said.

“Oh, that reminds me, I have something I think you’ll want to try, Skagi.” Ignoring Ashok’s question, the merchant went to the table, pulled out both chairs for them, and took down a decanter of wine and two glasses from a shelf above his head. He poured a taste into one of the glasses and handed it to Skagi.

“Don’t need to be so stingy,” Skagi said, eyeing the tiny amount. “I wasn’t going to drink it all.”

Tatigan chuckled. “You’ll want to take this vintage slowly, my friend. It hits you when you least expect it.”

Skagi sniffed the drink, then drained the glass in one swallow despite the merchant’s warning. Tatigan poured a slightly greater amount into the second glass and offered it to Ashok.

Ashok took the glass, but he hesitated before putting it to his mouth. “What did you mean when you said you’d make progress with me here?”

“Godsdamn, this is the stuff!”

Ashok turned to see Skagi half out of his chair, his hands pressed against the floor as if for balance. When he looked up, Ashok saw he was sweating, his eyes feverish, but he grinned at both of them.

“More?” Tatigan asked politely.

Skagi made a grab for his glass, missed, but picked it up on the second try. He waved it in the air.

“You can’t be drunk already?” Ashok said. “I’ve seen you drain four flagons that were each larger than this decanter without losing your wits.”

“Yes, but his body isn’t used to the jhuild,” Tatigan said. “Rashemi firewine.”

Ashok looked at Tatigan sharply. “This is from Rashemen?”

“Oh yes, I understand you’ll be making a journey there,” the merchant said with feigned nonchalance. “Did you know the Rashemi are the only people in Faerun who make the jhuild? One decanter is worth more than the pair of you, so a trickle is all you get. Enjoy.”

His curiosity aroused, Ashok drained his glass. Immediately he felt the wine’s warmth in his blood, as potent as if he’d drunk half a bottle. The drink left a strange aftertaste on his tongue, making it feel thick and awkward in his mouth. He took a step forward and back to test his balance, but his reflexes didn’t seem to be as impaired as Skagi’s were. Yet when he lifted his hands, for a breath, his vision blurred and a tremor went through his hands. His heartbeat quickened, and a burning sensation spread through his chest, slowly at first, but then so fast he broke into a sweat. He couldn’t control his heartbeat.

“This isn’t wine,” he snarled. He braced a hand against the wall to keep from falling. “You poisoned us.”

“Of course I did.” Tatigan took Ashok’s glass and refilled it. Instead of handing it back to him, the merchant took a drink. “That’s what jhuild is-wine so potent it attacks your body. It won’t kill you, but your system fights with it, so you have to monitor your limits. But if you can find the right balance between kill and cure-and isn’t that the essence of liquor? — the jhuild will make you stronger. The berserkers drink it among the Rashemi.”

He was right. Ashok’s body slowly adapted to the effects of the drink. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. The Rashemi obviously didn’t brew the jhuild for flavor, at least not in the way other wines were carefully bottled and aged to bring out their subtleties. This brew dominated the senses-the firewine masters me until my body masters it-then came the experience of flavors. Gods, he never knew there was such a thing as a battle with wine.