The Way of the Black Beast - Book 1 of The Malja Chronicles

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Nobody was happy. Tommy crouched on the rocks clutching his arm as if it had been broken. Tumus, the Chi-Chun woman, stood near the dock watching the lake — her mouth open, her face stoic, her mind lost in disbelief. Knee-high in the water, his worn but flashy robe soaking, Fawbry kicked and splashed and screamed.

“You bastard! Come back here. You can’t do this to me. This isn’t right. Come back here.”

Malja didn’t care about Fawbry, and she didn’t care about Tumus. At that moment, she wanted only to hold Tommy and ease any suffering Barris had caused him. Yet she could not move. She watched Tommy rubbing his arm and wondered if this marked the beginning, if the magician in him would now take over, if the little boy she had rescued would cease to exist, if madness waited to consume him. She tried not to look across his skin for the new tattoo. She snuck a peek anyway — not a brave approach but she couldn’t bear to let Tommy see her face if he, indeed, had a new marking. A wave of relief crashed over when she did not see it. But if he lacked the tattoo, then Barris had done something else to him. Perhaps something worse.

“I won’t do it,” Fawbry said, now sobbing into the lake. “I don’t care about what you want.”

The sun rose. Malja wondered how long they had been unconscious and how long they had been in communion with Barris. A new day awoke around them, and for her part she wanted to make it worthwhile. Cole Watts. Find him to find Jarik and Callib. Find them and put an end to the constant gnawing, constricting, worrying tension in the middle of her chest that even thoughts of Gregor could not ease.

“I refuse,” Fawbry went on. “You hear that, you big bastard? I refuse!”

With a tinge of pleasure, Malja turned toward Fawbry. This she could handle. “Fawbry, get out of the water.”

Her voice cut through his panic. He stopped screaming at the lake and looked over his shoulder. Dripping with confusion and fear like an abused pet, he shook his head. “He was supposed to keep me safe. Not send me off with you.”

“Where do I find Cole Watts?”

Fawbry pouted at the lake. “I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to go to the Freelands.”

“You don’t have to. Tell me where in the Freelands, and I’ll go by myself. You can stay here. All of you can. Just stay here where it’s safe.”

Everyone stopped their personal mourning and stared at Malja. Fawbry even stumbled a few steps away from her. Nobody said a word.

Tommy broke the silence first. Pushing himself to his feet, he let out a single, puppyish whimper. He walked to her side, cold determination set in his eyes, and huffed as if to say Don’t even think about arguing. Malja had no such intention. She had expected Tommy to come. No matter how angry he might be, he wouldn’t leave her. Not yet. But she needed Fawbry for information — not just Cole Watts’s location, but his connections, his importance. Everything Fawbry could provide, she wanted.

Tumus’s dark face twisted in a tug-of-war. Her lips quivered, and for a moment, Malja feared she would have two blubbering fools to contend with. But with a garbled shout and a rude gesture to the lake, Tumus stomped over to Tommy.

One more.

Fawbry still shook his head. “I’m not a fighter. I’m not brave. I’m not smart. I’m just trying to survive.”

“You’re more than that,” Malja said. “You’re the one who got us across the river. You’re the one who fed us so well that morning. And as for brave, the only reason we’re here at this lake is because you stood up to me. Now, you know where Cole Watts is, and you know Barris wants you to help me.”