Monastery of St. Evilsizer

The Infected didn't pause as it passed Southwallow.

Cita glanced uneasily at the charred remains of the village. Inexorably, his eyes were drawn again to the village, and his mouth fell open. The stockade, grey and worn, encircled the thatched houses once more.

'This … That's not real. I burned it down. I don't remember, but Bilal said … and it was gone.'

His feet stopped, and the world bent and distorted like a thin sheet of plastic. He ground his palms into his eyes and, when he opened them again, stared at the inside of the stockade's gate.

He strode to the gate, swinging it open onto the harvested fields. With a deep breath, he greeted the rising sun.

"Good morning!" A grey-faced man smiled at him. "Do you think we'll be able to get another logging run in before winter closes on us?"

His face twisted, and he hesitated.

"John?" The man's eyes begged.

"I don't know if Mayor Thom will allow that. You'll need to see him for a permit."

The man's face fell.

"The mayor's not accepting petitions again until next week."

"I know. But you've already spent three days logging. Isn't that enough?"

"No!" the man said. "After the tithes the lord demands, and the mayor takes his cut … well, we'll run out before midwinter. My youngest got frostbite last winter!"

He swallowed hard and glanced around.

"Look, it's worth my life if I let you out with the logging sledge and no permit." He licked his lips. "But if your oldest son slipped out while I'm checking the stockade, and took your ax …"

"Thank you, thank you!" Tears shone in the man's eyes as he bobbed in a series of clumsy bows.

"We're going past Southwallow?" Kody's voice drew Cita back with a start.

'That … What was that? I thought the salvia flashbacks had stopped before I left the Nexus?' Clammy sweat trickled down his spine. 'Unless this was something else? But what?' To ground himself, he turned back to the Infected, paused and motionless past the ashen ruins.

"The Infected kept going," Cita said.

Kody opened his mouth, glanced at Rashida, and shut it.

Ash sighed.

"What he means is, it's dangerous to go past Southwallow. There's more cursed lands to the east and south."

"Cursed lands?" Cita traced through his fragmentary memories, searching for where he'd heard that phrase before.

**

"These Infected — they came from the cursed lands." Michael glared off to the east, where the Infected had entered the field.

'Cursed lands?' Cita tried to focus on the bloodied ground before him, but found himself glancing over his shoulder.

Bilal glanced to the southeast.

"It is unlikely," Bilal said. "The nearest cursed lands to the east is over two days' journey."

"There are cursed lands closer than that."

"Yes."

"Then that is where they came from."

Bilal pressed his lips together and his golden eyes narrowed.

"The Infected avoid the cursed lands, as should we."

"That's not true!" Michael glared at him. "The stories my tutor tells —"

"Do not mix unfounded rumors with the truth," Bilal warned. "In truth, I and many of the merchants that visit your markets have had to choose between facing the Infected or the cursed lands. The Infected won't pursue into those forsaken places, but something worse lurks within."

"What are cursed lands, exactly?" Cita asked. He looked up to Rashida, Kody, and Ash standing clear of Southwallow's ruins.

Rashida looked ready to bite, her face twisted into an impatient scowl.

"Don't talk about the cursed lands," Rashida said. "It's bad luck. And I thought you wanted to follow the Infected?" She pointed to where the black rabbit still waited.

But shouldn't I know about them if we're walking into them? And what if they're the key to saving Bilal?

"Why can't I ask about the cursed lands? Bilal was talking to Michael about them." Cita felt his face settle into mulish lines.

"That's different," Rashida said.

"How is it different?" Cita tipped his head to the side. "Wait. You weren't there. How do you know it's different?"

"Cita, please, we don't talk about the cursed lands." Kody glanced nervously around. "Can we just drop it?"

"No," Cita said. 'Why won't they just tell me?'

Red-orange eyes glared from Ash to Kody, then to Rashida.

"The cursed lands don't matter to you," Rashida said. "We won't be going near them. Don't ask again, boy."

"Don't call me boy." The snarl erupted before Cita knew it was starting. Red hazed his vision. "One of you is going to tell me about the cursed lands."

Three pairs of eyes evaded his.

"Now." Licks of red flame crawled up his arms.

He refused to let their presence distract him this time.

"Walk and I'll tell you. It's not something that's discussed, though, so don't bring it up if we meet anyone."

As the tension leeched from his shoulders, Cita nodded and continued after the Infected.

When they approached near enough, the Infected rabbit resumed hopping. Only then did Ash begin to speak.

"A long time ago, the Cataclysm wiped out almost everybody. We told you that, right?"

Cita nodded again.

"Well, their homes — the places where they lived and died? That's the cursed lands. The houses are blasted to scorched bits, but sometimes, if you get too close, you can hear the dead screaming while they burn." Ash shuddered.

"Sometimes monsters swarm out," Kody added.

Cita glanced between the brothers.

"You're pulling my leg, right? It's just ghost stories or the Infected."

"Not really, no," Rashida said. "The Infected avoid the places, from what my people have seen. And the monsters … they steal children."

"Like how people think the Dracaenaekin steal kids?" Cita asked, still skeptical.

"Where did you hear that?" Rashida asked, her head cocked to the side. She shook her head. "Nevermind. Believe what you will, but don't bring up the cursed lands. And if the Infected leads us there, I suggest we find another way to free Bilal."

Possibilities flitted through Cita's mind until he locked in on one option like the jackpot on the slots.

"The boogie men in the cursed lands will stop you? What about the demon back in the forest? You think she's gonna let a broken deal slide? You'll be running from her Infected until you join them."

Rashida stumbled, catching herself on her staff, while Cita hurried after the rabbit.

*****

Cita's stomach growled as he looked up at the rough-finished stone building. The journey bread he'd choked down at midmorning was a distant, ash-laden memory. Now the sun shone down on the pale, broken cross crowning the peak of the roofline.

Cita glared down at the corpse of the rabbit.

"Apoptosis," he muttered and summoned flames to devour the remains. "Do we knock?"

"Oh, I say! Did you destroy that sample?" A tow-headed young man leaned out of a gaping window in the stone wall. He wore a dark, nondescript shirt with laces hanging loose at the collar. His skin peeked through the gap, pale and smooth. "I wish you hadn't."

"Uh …" Cita answered.

"Our apologies," Rashida said. "We hadn't realized. We're traveling and have lost our bearings. Could you tell us where we are?"

Cita shivered at the cool arrogance in her tone.

"Really?" The man beamed. "We get so few travelers nowadays. Please, come around to the door." He pointed to his left. "I'll send one of the brethren around immediately. You must stay at least overnight!"

He vanished inside the window. Then he popped back out.

"Oh, this is the Monastery of St. Evilsizer." He vanished again.

Kody and Ash snickered.

Rashida silenced them with a look.

"Hush. He's polite, and we can't afford to make an enemy because you two can't control yourselves."

"We can't stay the night," Cita said. "If Baron Dorf is here, I'm delivering the demon's message and going back for Bilal." He forced his voice to remain steady.

"Lord Baron Dorf," Rashida said. "Do you think it wise to deliver the demon's message without taking a measure of the man? Lady Staryu—"

"I don't care about Staryu!" Cita snarled. "And don't you think it's a bit late for that?" He stormed off.

"I told you …" Kody hissed.

"It's not over yet," Ash cautioned. Clutching his pack's strap, he hurried after Cita.

A wooden door stood at the top of several wide, stone steps. Stained glass windows gleamed in the sunlight. The door opened before they arrived, revealing a tall, robed figure. The shaven head cocked to the side before the figure stepped aside and gestured them into the building.

"What about Aspen?" Kody asked as Rashida led the packhorse to the base of the stairs.

The robed figure emerged and stepped down the stairs, then turned left.

A small, wooden outbuilding with a paddock resided to the east of the stone building. A glossy-coated chestnut watched their approach with pricked ears.

"I can't turn her loose with a strange gelding," Rashida said. "Is there room in the stable?"

The figure pointed toward the outbuilding.

"I'll get her settled," Ash volunteered. He pulled the leadline from Rashida's hand.

Kody eyed the robed figure.

"I'll go with you. Wait for us?"

Cita nodded and leaned against a fence post. He rubbed his eyes and blinked. The world still blurred around him, and his eyes drifted shut of their own accord.

"Cita?"

Cita turned.

An elfin smile greeted him from beneath shaggy, mud-brown locks. A jaggedly broken tooth peeked out behind the thin lips. Clever fingers twirled daggers in both hands.

"Tobias! I thought McDougal had you on a job this morning?" Cita shuffled his feet, trying to hide his shabby rucksack behind him.

Tobias's head tilted. "He did. It was a short run, with no trouble. So I came to see you. Did you miss me?"

"Did I … ?" Cita blinked. "What?"

The smile took on a brittle cast.

"You didn't, did you? You thought you could run away without telling me. Abandon me without a thought."

"Tobias, I … you have to understand —"

"Understand, what?" Tobias's hands stopped the spinning daggers and squeezed the hilts until the knuckles bled white. "You let that prick Uncle Tom take me — for all your sorries afterward. You left me — chasing pretend-happiness inside a packet of black-market pills! Then you moved out of McDougal's clan house! Running away to this … interstitial space you're so proud of." The daggers slashed the air around Tobias. "Now you're running again."

Cita took a step back and looked around. Familiar crumbling highrises met Victorian brickwork, leaving an awkward courtyard of mixed asphalt and cobbles. 'It looks right, but … No. This is wrong.'

"After everything I've done for you? This is how you repay me?" Tobias demanded. "Cita! Answer me!"

"No," Cita denied. He shook his head but kept his eyes forward. "Tobias never called me that. This didn't happen. You're not Tobias! Stop using her face, you bastard!"

Cita lunged forward.

Tobias faded into a swirl of shadow, and Mr. Smith stepped out.

*How astute. Too bad you aren't so perceptive when it matters.*

"How did you get loose?"

"Aki told you the spiders wouldn't hold me forever. And they won't hold the others, either. Not for long. Not if you keep adding to them."

"What? Adding to them? What do you mean?"

Mr. Smith laughed, his shadowy face tilting backward.

"You still can't remember."

Grinding his teeth, Cita said, "I hit my head, but I've remembered enough."

"What? That little rap on the noggin?" Mr. Smith scoffed. "That's never been the reason for your refusal to retain the day to day facts of your life. Even your precious Tobias hated that about you."

"What do you mean?" Cita stepped away from his tormentor, wary of this new attack.

"It doesn't matter, I suppose. But you must remember this.

"You. Are. Mine. Always. Forever."

"No!" Cita jolted up, staring around wildly.

The sun beat down as Cita shivered against the fence post.

"Cita?" Rashida asked.

The robed figure watched intently with bright brown eyes.

"Heya," Kody waved from the stable. "Aspen's set for now."

The shaven head tilted in a graceful incline. Then the figure led the way back to the door.

"No dead bodies in the stable, at least," Ash whispered to Cita as they trailed along. "If we are staying, we'll need to come back to untack Aspen properly — I took the packs off and loosened her girth, but that's it."

Cita nodded and ignored the hollow feeling inside.

The robed figure led them through pale stone halls and up wooden stairs bearing deep grooves.

"How old is this place?" Cita asked, rubbing a smooth stone pillar at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, it predates the Cataclysm by hundreds of years," a proud voice answered.

Cita's head snapped toward the towheaded young man.

"There is nothing like it," he continued. "You can see places where the stone was scorched, but it stands strong. But enough of that — you must be famished! Come, join me in a light repast."

He waved the robed figure away and led the way to an open area set with finger foods.

As Cita selected bits he thought he could force down, he noticed the young man watching; the blue eyes skimmed over Cita's weapons but lingered on Cita's hands.

"What?" Cita asked.

"Oh, well," the young man demurred. "It's just that I so seldom meet a fellow righty."

Cita frowned. He looked at Rashida, Kody, and Ash; all plucked delicacies with their left hands.

"I'm … sorry? Is it rude to use your right hand?" His cheeks heated under the young man's gaze.

"Not at all!" The young man waved away Cita's blossoming embarrassment. "It's a bit of superstition, really — dating back to the Cataclysm."

"You mean how Ak—" Ash cut himself off before continuing, "the flame summoner killed anyone who was right-handed?"

Red-orange eyes watched Ash duck his head, who flushed as he checked that his pack was next to him.

"Yes, that's it precisely." The young man smiled happily. "Every generation since then has ingrained the notion that being right-handed is unlucky. But my father doesn't hold to the old superstitions. Neither did his father, or his father, or … well, you get the idea."

"Your father?" Rashida asked. She slipped a piece of sausage to Aria.

The kitten gripped the tidbit fiercely and dragged it, growling, under a side table.

"Oh, yes, I suppose we skipped introductions," the young man laughed. "My father rules these lands and sponsors this monastery."

Kody jumped as if bitten, and Ash glared at him, shaking his head and pressing his lips tight.

"Baron Dorf is your father?" Cita asked. He fingered his dagger. His plate sat to the side, forgotten. "That makes you … his heir?"

"Lord Baron Dorf," Rashida hissed under her breath.

"No need for formalities. And most would consider me the most likely heir; I'm the eldest," their host said with a shrug. "Oh, please, call me Ron. Anyway, I'm much more interested in the brethren's research."

Why would a Baron's son be called Ron? And why does Rashida keep insisting it should be Lord Baron? The thought left a taste in the back of Cita's mouth, but it drowned quickly in ashes. It doesn't matter. He's here, and that must be why the Infected led us here. He can tell us where to find his father.

"What do they study?" Kody asked.

Ash elbowed Kody in the ribs.

"My brother's forgotten his manners. That's Cita and Rashida. Kody." He indicated his brother with a nod. "I'm Ash."

"Lovely to meet you all," Ron beamed. "The brethren study quite the most fascinating topic of the modern era — the Infected!"

"They … study the Infected?" Kody asked. "Is that safe?"

Ron scoffed, "If we were to remain in safety, we would learn nothing. Without understanding, there is no way forward." He leaned forward earnestly.

"My father thinks the key is the ancient ruins — and not the ones that survived like this one. He has no concept of the future!"

"I have a message for Baron Dorf," Cita cut in. He focused on Ron's quizzical smile instead of Rashida's near-silent rebuke.

"Really?" Ron asked. "I hadn't thought you one of his couriers. May I ask what the message is?"

Ash darted a worried glance at Cita.

"The demon of the forest says she's hungry. She wants more than 'petty bits'." Bile rose in Cita's throat, and he set his plate aside.

"Demon?" Ron asked with an arched brow. "That is … quite the message." His head cocked to the side as the clatter of hooves echoed in his open window. "Ah. That's my father's guards now. They're here weekly, trying to persuade me to abandon my studies and return to the capital."

He leapt to his feet and snapped his fingers.

"That's the trick. I'll have them take you to Father. If you leave now, you'll be there before sundown. Come!"

Ron dashed downstairs and out the door.

Everyone hurried after, abandoning unfinished plates.

When they emerged into the brilliant sun, Ron already instructed the guards.

"Have them ride double with you and hasten back to the capital. They will be my special guests!"

"But, my lord! Your father commands your return, not these—"

"That is enough, Captain." Ron's voice was harsh, a jarring contrast to the pleasant tones he'd used when addressing Cita. "Do as I say. Tell my father I will return within the week, after I have wrapped up some loose ends here. And tell my personal guard to reassemble as soon as they can."

Visible relief flooded the guard's clean-shaven face. He brushed a hand through his thick brown hair.

"Aye, my lord. It will be done as you say. Is it only the four of them?" He eyed his new charges, lingering on Rashida's full figure.

"We have a packhorse," Kody offered.

"And maybe a kitten," Ash mumbled.

"Ash, you and Kody get Aspen ready. Aria has proven she can take care of herself," Rashida directed. "Who are we riding with?"

The guards shifted packs and decided which mounts could bear the extra weight.

Cita watched Rashida swing up behind the captain. She pressed against his back and laughed at something he said.

"No," he whispered.

*Are you sure? If they let you ride in front, it will be like old times,* Mr. Smith snickered, standing behind Ron.

"No!" Cita shouted.

Preparations stilled around him.

"I don't understand," Ron asked with a quirk of his lips. "I thought you had a message to deliver to Baron Dorf?"

Cita gritted his teeth.

"I do, but …"

"There is no other way," Ron spoke with finality. "Without the guards paving your way …" He shrugged.

**There's always another way,** Aki whispered. He faded in and out. Blood dripped from fresh wounds.

"There's always another way," Cita echoed. He held out his palm and asked.

In a burst of flame, Nocturne flared into being and nuzzled Cita's palm.

Equine squeals bounced off the stone walls while the shouting guards fought to control their mounts.

In the chaos, Cita swung astride Nocturne.

"It's to the east, right? Catch up."