The Gardener of Nahi

Chapter 16

Nahi

Finally I have some time to write.  It has been a few long days on horseback and my body aches beyond belief, but I am not sure I can blame all of my discomfort on our travels.  The drugged artemisia our harasha gave us last night has been slowly working its way through our bodies and my throbbing headache is proof enough of this.

     Akuli says the masked man was not even a real harasha, but an imposter.  The turquoise jewelry he had on beneath his black cloak would apparently never have been worn by a real one, although we’ll never know the truth since the man is dead, lying cradled in a hollowed out tree a half-day’s journey from here - far enough from the road to not be seen by wandering eyes.

But not far enough away to be caught by my wandering thoughts.

It was already very late and the three of us were situated comfortably around the fire when the harasha came back from his horse with a large waterskin and offered it to Akuli.  The guardsman gave it a sniff and then nodded enthusiastically, hoisting the bag over his head and letting the drink trickle from the spout into his open mouth.  Across the fire pit as I was, I could tell from the dark liquid that it was not water.

     “It’s artemisia,” Akuli said, closing the bone tip and throwing the waterskin to me over the dying flames.  I could see him give a nod of thanks to the silent man in black, and it was returned.  “Very strong, so be careful,” Akuli warned me.

     It was herbal flavored, bitter and potent, causing a chill and then a subsequent warmth to course throughout my body.  I took a second sip and then threw the leather-stitched bag back to Akuli.

At the time I simply thought that the harasha was trying to be kind, showing us a quiet act of sharing on the road to the Shule, but now I know he had far different motives.  Myria was already asleep, curled up next to me under her blankets, but Akuli and I were primarily the ones he was worried about.  Drugging us with the artemisia would make his job significantly easier hours from then.  And now that I think about it, the harasha never drank a sip from his own waterskin - but of course before the end of the night Akuli and I took many.

     Much later a scream brought me awake.

     With a curse I frantically tried to get up, but I realized that my hands were bound tightly behind my back.  I was able to knock the heavy blanket off my head with repeated violent kicks and immediately saw Akuli lying next to me, his body limp and his face bloodied.  He was not bound as I was, I realized, and his fingers twitched as if his mind was caught in a bad dream.

     A second scream came forth and I arched my chest and shoulders up so that I could see the source of it.  Past the glowing embers I could see Myria standing in the distance near the ring of trees.  Most of her body was covered in shadow and then I understood why – she was in the arms of the cloaked harasha, and the harasha’s back was facing me.

     My eyes were cloudy and had trouble adjusting, but I could still understand what was happening.  She was being pushed up against a thick truck of a tree, and the harasha was slapping her hard in the face as she continued to yell out for help.