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"Alright, alright,fine!Bloody attractive shifters," he muttered. "I was called out to work on a soldier in Ilysen who'd been moved there from one of the islands. He had a nasty injury on his leg, half of it ripped out by a swamp beast or so they told me. But that was no swamp bite; it was covered in a venom I've never seen before, his blood black in a strange way. Blacker even than poison."
A strange hush had fallen over Ark, Jaro, and Kheir. In a quieter voice, Kheir asked, "Could you heal the man?"
"To a point." Heron shrugged. "He'll have to walk with a stick for the rest of his life, but he's alive. A job well done, I say."
"And the thing that attacked him?" Ark asked.
Heron sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose and giving Ark a disapproving look. "If you want my opinion, leave this well alone. You don't know what you're involving yourself with. The soldier said all kinds of crazy things while he slept. I put it down to fever, but then I swore when I left the house he was in, Isawone of the nightmares he talked about."
The soldier.So this was a member of the Vehausian army. Or the Vassalian army if Ismene was involved.
"Describe it," Kheir breathed, hastily adding, "Please."
"Huge, low to the ground. Something between a lion and a swamp beast but with scales and claws, and teeth bigger than my arm. I only saw it for a split second, but everything I'd dismissed in his ravings seemed possible, just for that second. I reckon I was delusional, but I'd rather not take the risk. Now leave, you're bothering me."
"What was the soldier's name?" Ark asked.
"No idea. He was too out of it to tell me, and the man who called me didn't offer it."
"Your army or Vassalian?" Ark pressed.
"They all look the same to me," Heron huffed, waving a hand. "Now pay me and take this. You're done here."
Ark exchanged a look with the others. Heron had told them some things at least—Zamanya's prisoner had told the truth about something happening on an island nearby, and the soldiers were involved somehow.
Ark sighed, about to step forward, but Kheir beat him to it, flashing several gold coins to pay for Maia's jar of treatmentandthe information, however reticent it had been given. It was more than enough, and surplus.
"Sorry to trouble your sleep," Kheir said with compassion—and understanding. "Thank you for telling us what you could."
Heron slid the jar across the counter and pocketed the coins. "How does this concern you lot anyway? You're the prince of V'haiv, not Venhaus, and her highness doesn't have a vested interest, either."
Kheir shook his head. "There are dangerous powers at play."
The prince nodded at Ark and Jaro, and swept up the jar of flaming paste, heading for the door.
Ark watched the healer for another second before following his brothers to the door.
"Wait," Heron called, and then sighed heavily. "The soldier—I heard he got out of Ilysen before the place was flattened."
Ark turned quickly, a shudder moving down his spine for a reason he couldn't quite place. "You know where to find him."
"Not exactly. I heard talk of a drunk who matches his description. He's holed up in an empty house on the end of Crystellion Road. Kids heard him ranting about dark islands and sacrifices. It sounded a lot like what the soldier said in his fever."
"Thank you," Kheir said, laying a hand over his heart. "We appreciate it."
Ark nodded. "Be careful, Heron. Get out of the area if you can."
"And lose all this?" Heron spread his hands, gesturing at the shop.
"It's this or your life," Ark replied bluntly. "Choose wisely."
He was starting to think he and his family had the same choice, and if they were smart, they'd leave this whole mess alone.
"We have to talk to him," Jaromir said, seizing onto anything other than his sexual history with the prince of the Vassal Empire. "This soldier. He's seen what's happening with those creatures. He might know what's happening on the island, and where our missing beastkind are. Where Vawn is."
Ark wanted to tell him this wasn't healthy; he couldn't escape his problems by drowning himself in work. But Jaro was right. This was all connected to the reason they were here. The missing beastkind. The ruined towns. The monsters. Vawn's abduction. The saints urging them out here.
"Not without Maia and Azrail," he said firmly, and pretended he didn't see Jaro flinch.
