“Snubbed, but with eyes.”
I moved forward, wondering if they’d change their mind and come back. They didn’t, and I decided I could live with the insult.
It took another hundred or so stairs before we got to the opening of the cave. All I saw was blackness. I would’ve stumbled into Ryker, but caught myself with my palms on his back.
“Why did you come?” It was barked out by what sounded like an older woman, but I couldn’t see anyone. Didn’t need to see her, though. It had to be the Cave Dweller.
“I need a favor.” Ryker walked forward, undaunted, pulling me along with him.
“No.”
A blast of air shot at us. Ryker grabbed my wrist, keeping me on my feet. “We’re not leaving.” He continued forward, dragging me along with him.
I couldn’t see a thing, but Ryker’s movements seemed sure, keeping me on my feet when I would’ve tripped.
I heard the flare of a fire coming to life, and then I saw her. The cave was stark except for a few rough furnishings, a table, and a pile of pelts on the floor. The Cave Dweller was wearing little more than rags. Bedraggled grey hair hung in strands. She would’ve looked like a normal old woman if it wasn’t for the ten tiny black eyes scattered across the surface of her face.
They all focused on me. “I can’t fix her.”
It was immediately obvious that those eyes saw more than was normal.
Ryker’s hand, still wrapped around mine, tugged me slightly closer to him.
“We aren’t here for that. Do you know who I am?”
All her tiny eyes ran over him at once. “Of course I do.”
“Do you know a way to get close to Bedlam’s ward without them knowing?”
She walked around the fire and came closer. “Why?”
Ryker didn’t budge. “You know why.”
“What do you have to pay?”
“What do you want?”
“If you succeed, I’ll be protected.”
“Deal.”
Why would she need Ryker for protection? What the hell was he getting in Bedlam? What had I gotten myself into? I didn’t know, but I really hoped I was on the winning side, since I was stuck with him.
Chapter 32
“Now what do we have to do again?” Burn asked, while staring at me as if I’d told him that the sun would cease to rise every day.
Ryker had already explained the situation once, and I’d repeated it after that. It was clear that this was going to take at least one more time.
“We both have to eat half of the Cave Dweller’s eye.” I didn’t pull out the eye that was sitting in my sack. He was struggling enough, and he hadn’t even seen how grotesque it truly was.
Ryker was standing beside me, arms crossed, but looking like he was going to break out in a laugh at any second.
Burn slapped a hand over his eyes.
“I knew he wasn’t going to take this well,” Ryker said. I elbowed him to shut him the hell up.
Both of Burn’s hands went up as he took a couple of steps away. “You’re telling me I have to eat a Cave Dweller’s eyeball?”
“Half. I have to eat the other half.” I would’ve eaten the whole thing if it would’ve made this easier. But I couldn’t. I needed Burn with me, and it was the only way he wouldn’t be seen approaching. The Cave Dweller had been very specific. Eating her eyeball would make the people at Bedlam turn a blind eye to us. If she’d been willing to part with more eyeballs, we could’ve all marched in together, but one was enough for me and Burn.
“I have a very weak stomach for strange foods,” Burn said.
Ryker turned and choked on laughter. Ruck and Sneak were suspiciously quiet, but I thought I saw Ruck bent over, laughing right beyond the trees, with Sneak beside him, hand on his stomach. Sneak must’ve been muffling them.
This was what happened when you ate biscuits for too long. You got soft. “You know what your problem is?” I continued, not waiting for Burn to ask me what. “You’re getting doughy.”
“Doughy?” His hand shifted to a flat stomach.
“No, not fat. You eat too many biscuits.”
“I’m not doughy.”
“Then shut up and eat your eyeball.”
His features bunched, and it appeared as if he was going to have a total meltdown. “Fine. When?” he spat out.
“We do it tonight if we can,” I said.
Ryker nodded, and so did everyone else. Talk ceased as everybody grabbed their gear to move out.
We stopped at the closest high point before Bedlam.
“Looks good,” Burn said, as he handed the field glasses to Ryker.
He took them and watched for a second before he said, “No. Not yet.”
“Why?” Burn asked, and I took the glasses from Ryker.
“There’s too much action. I don’t like the guards. They’re too alert,” Ryker said.
I located the guard stations on the perimeter. I wasn’t a soldier, but I’d stolen enough in the past and found myself agreeing with Burn that it looked quiet enough. I handed the glasses off to Ruck.
“It looks pretty good to me,” Ruck said, then handed the glasses to Sneak.
“Ryker, the guards look like they’re half sleeping, not to mention they won’t see us approaching anyway,” Burn argued.
Ruck and Sneak looked over at Ryker as if they weren’t quite understanding the problem either. None of us were.
Sneak dropped the glasses again, and I took them, double-checking my initial assessment. “I didn’t want to do this, but if it’s happening, let’s do it. I don’t want to sit and think about it for days when it looks this good. I’m either going to be able to do it or I’m not. The longer I sit here…” I choked on the rest of the words, but they could all fill in the blanks. None of us wanted to wait and debate if this was the moment we’d get ourselves killed.
Ryker sat silently for a few minutes before he gave a nod, as if he’d just signaled for an execution or something.
That was it. We were a go, if a hesitant one.
“Eyeball, please,” Burn said.
I found a nearby stone, placed the eyeball on it, and cut it in two with my dagger. I had to use a piece of fallen bark to scrap the goo off before I tucked the dagger away.
I popped my half in my mouth, grabbed my water, and swallowed it whole. Compared to hollyhoney, it wasn’t that bad.
Burn, on the other hand, was gagging and putting his hand over his mouth.
“You chewed it?” I stared at him in disbelief. What idiot chewed anything that looked that disgusting when it was small enough to swallow?
His face was contorting as if he had no control of it. “I didn’t mean to. It was instinct.”
“Did you at least get it all? No bits stuck between your teeth? This is important.”
His tongue danced around his mouth and he nearly gagged again.
“What part of ‘swallow it all’ did you not understand when we discussed this three times?” If his sensitive stomach screwed this up, I was going to kill him again after the people at Beldam did.
Ryker stood beside us as if he were at our funeral. I would’ve preferred a lousy pep talk. He was seriously killing the mood, and it hadn’t been good to begin with.
“Come with me.” Ryker grabbed my arm without waiting for a response and tugged me after him.
“What? We don’t have much time. We need to get moving.” The Cave Dweller said it would kick in about thirty minutes after we ate it, and we’d get an hour tops. I wanted every second I had available to work that ward.
He walked well out of hearing range of the group then dropped my arm but grabbed my shoulders with both hands, staring into my eyes. “You don’t have to do this. I can find another way and I’ll still help you get out of your debt.”
“What?” As shock coursed through me, it was all I could come up with. He couldn’t be serious. “I thought you didn’t have another way?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
I was right. There was no other way he knew of.
He meant it, though. I could walk away from this whole mess right now. Why was I hesitating? I should take the out and run with it, and yet I wasn’t running.