“Its form is somewhat beautiful: sleek and black. Almost elegant. The ugliness is in its purpose. To kill in such a horrible manner—secretive and covert—so that its victim doesn’t even know it is waging a battle for its life until it’s too late.”
“Aye,” Accora said. She regarded Selena with hard eyes. “The stowaway mantis changes the color of its skin in order to blend in with its host. An ingenious deception, is it not?”
Selena met the woman’s stare, wondering at her sudden intensity. “Is there a purpose to showing me this?”
Accora held her gaze a moment more. “When Bacchus is dead you will understand.”
An ugly, hollow feeling expanded in Selena’s stomach. “Understand what?”
“Everything.” She released Selena from her penetrating stare and resumed her seat on the bench. “But first, death must be achieved, mine and his. Mine will be simple. Bacchus’s will not. I will show you what I’ve learned so that you may defeat him.”
“Why?”
“Why else? Revenge.” Accora leaned forward, her eyes now full of icy zeal that erased any lingering doubt as to which face of the god she had sworn allegiance. “I want to see it happen. I want to watch his rotted soul slip from his body like a vapor, dissipating until there’s nothing left but a carcass to burn.”
The murderous hate in Accora’s eyes made Selena’s hand itch for her sword. “Revenge will not bring you peace,” she said quietly.
“Your sword will.”
The old woman went to a shelf upon which stood many glass vials, jars, vases, and bottles. She drew one small vial of yellowish-brown liquid and sat again. She indicated for Selena to do the same.
“Have you heard of the darkpool?”
“No,” Selena said. “Never.”
Accora sighed. “The Aluren do not send spies into Bazira territory, no matter the advantages.”
“We haven’t the Paladins to spare,” Selena admitted.
“It matters little. The Aluren will learn of the darkpools soon enough, much to their detriment.”
“What are they?”
“None know precisely what they are, or why the waters in them are so tainted. But they form in places where great death, pain, and destruction were wrought, that is certain. That they are powerful weapons for the Bazira is also certain, as the various effects of the darkpool seem to be uniquely tailored to Bazira magic. It is as if the darkpools were meant to be used as tools to those who serve the Shadow face. And its uses are as are numerous as they are dangerous.”
“How so?”
“Drinking a tiny sip of darkpool water opens up the mind of the drinker to the Bazira. Thoughts and feelings, memories and dreams…the Bazira may steal them all, depending on the amount of water consumed.” She held the small vial between two fingers. “I stole this from Bacchus five years ago. And two nights ago, I poisoned you with a drop or two while you sat, enraptured, watching a pretty little flame dance in your lap.”
Selena clenched her jaw. “Why? For what purpose?”
“Information, of course.”
Selena remembered the pirate captain, Jarabax, had told her that information was like currency, and Skye had been rich in it. She looked up from her thoughts to see Accora watching her with a dry twist on her lips.
“I don’t see how prying into our thoughts can offer you any advantage.”
“Do you not yet understand that my every action is done on your behalf? The advantages gleaned from that ritual were not mine, but yours. When used by Bacchus, the darkpool water has the capability to destroy you. I used it for your benefit. So that you may know if there are any among your crew who would stand in the way of your purpose.”
“My companions stand with me,” Selena began, but Accora spoke as if she hadn’t heard.
“Take Niven, for instance. Sweet Niven. He has his own secrets that he is trying so desperately to hide from all of you, from all of Lunos, for he feels exposure will mean his death.”
“You should not tell me this.”
“Do you know which of Captain Tergus’s mute crew is not quite so mute as you’ve been led to believe?”
Selena started in surprise, but quickly shook her head. “I don’t want to hear anymore.”
“Or why your devoted Ilior has stood by your side for nearly a decade? Are you not a touch curious to know the lies he’s fed you? Lies that you’ve swallowed without question?”
“Ilior…?” The doubts seeded when they discussed the Vai’Ensai translation bloomed, and the ache in her heart was swift and deep.
Accora smirked. “You have already been betrayed by those you trust. Don’t you wish to know how?”
I sometimes doubt his motivations for helping you.
Selena hugged herself. “No. Not like this. This is wrong.”
“No, this is truth! And no game, girl. The eradication of your wound is at stake. Nothing less than that.”
The urge was great. Sour words to allow Accora to tell her everything were on her lips, and she nearly spit them out. Then An-Lan’s prophecy came back to her.
The dark will try to consume you. Make you something like itself.
Selena inhaled deeply, mastered her emotions. “That is between he and I and no one else. He doesn’t deserve this base treatment. I will submit to your tutelage in order to kill Bacchus, Accora. To eradicate my wound. But I will not let you tempt me with Bazira deceptions in the meanwhile.”
Accora sniffed. “Some would call that noble. I call it foolish.”
“Some would say of all of the those in that kafira tent, your secrets would be the most useful to me,” Selena said.
“Pity that you haven’t the Bazira magic to make use of the darkpool water in that manner,” was the reply, and Selena could see that her words had gotten under the old woman’s skin. “Shall I tell you what I saw of you, girl?” Accora sneered. “What I saw in your sweet, noble heart?”
“If you must. It won’t change anything.” Selena said.
“Won’t it?” Accora smiled snidely. “The Aluren are forbidden to fornicate with anyone who is not also Aluren, yes?”
“Yes,” Selena said slowly. “That is true.”
“And your wound…Besides the tortuous cold, it is an ugly thing. Hideous. Your Aluren brethren shun you for it. They’ve turned you into an outcast in your own Temple. But even so, even so…” Accora tapped a finger to her lip knowingly. “Even if there had been one brave Aluren knight in your dwindling ranks willing to try to overlook it, you would have rebuffed him because you know on singular truth above all else: that all good and decent people are repulsed by your wound.”
Selena’s mouth went dry and her throat felt as if she’d swallowed a stone. “There is nothing awful you can say to me that I haven’t already felt a thousand times over.”
“That may have been true…Until Julian Tergus.” Accora’s ugly triumphant smile widened. “Because of the darkpool water, I know that you sometimes dream of your captain’s arms around you, as if he could free you from the icy prison of your body with his touch alone.” Accora shook her head like a parent reprimanding a wayward child. “Foolish girl.”