Free 02 - Taint of Evil by Neil McIntosh - (ebook by Undead)

“Careful,” he cautioned. “The last
woman you took a fancy to betrayed us. Turned out to be a pawn of Chaos that
nearly got us all killed.”
    Bruno sat silent for a moment, the darkness sparing his blushes. “That was
different,” he said at last. “Bea’s no pawn of Chaos. I don’t think she’s going
to betray us, either.”
    “No,” Stefan agreed. “Nor do I. I don’t think so at all.”
    The two men sat side by side as the evening waned, the twin moons melting
into the night sky. Gradually the fires dotted across the camp faded as well,
until finally all around was darkness. At length Bea joined them, settling
herself at Bruno’s side.
    “Quite a day,” she observed.
    “We’ll have easier ones,” Stefan replied. “And harder ones as well, no
doubt.”
    “Looks like your patient will pull through,” Bruno said. “I’d have marked
that man for dead. You excel at your craft.”
    “And you at yours,” Bea replied.
    “Stefan’s the finest swordsman you’ll see,” Bruno affirmed. “The best.”
    “So is every man,” Stefan countered. “We all think that. Until we meet the
one swordsman who’s better still. Somewhere, death waits along the road for us
all.”
    Bea sat contemplating Stefan’s words. “This man you’re pursuing,” she said at
last. “Alexei Zucharov. Could he be that one?”
    The words struck home with Stefan, with surprising force. “What makes you ask
that?” he said, sharply.
    Bea shrugged. “I’m not sure. But sometimes I wonder if in some way we all
pursue our end, our undoing.”
    “A troubling thought.”
    “Don’t get the wrong idea. Zucharov isn’t invincible,” Bruno said, firmly.
“And anyway, we’re jumping to too many conclusions. We don’t even know for sure
that he is our enemy.”
    “We don’t,” Stefan agreed. “But that’s one question I can’t leave unanswered.
That’s why we must keep searching,” he told Bea. “Until we find him.”
    “And then?”
    Stefan had no ready answer. Since Erengrad, he had been consumed by the hunt
for the man who had once been his comrade. But every journey must have an end.
He could not yet see what that end might be, but in his heart he knew that it
was impossible for both him and Zucharov to survive. Bea’s words echoed in his
mind, an unwelcome harbinger of death.
    “Let’s talk about you,” he said steering the conversation towards other
things. “You heal people, I kill them. You have the better part of virtue, I
think.”
    The briefest of smiles crossed Bea’s features. “You didn’t kill me,” she said.
“In fact, if it wasn’t for the two of you I doubt I’d still be alive. I haven’t
the power to disappear completely.”
    She reached out towards Stefan, her fingers tracing the cuts on his face.
Stefan flinched back as her touch drew a stinging pain from the wound.
    “That could leave you scarred,” she said at last. “Put your head back.”
    “Why?”
    “Just do it,” she said, briskly.
    Too tired to argue, Stefan did as he was bidden. He smelt a strong medicinal
scent in his nostrils, and a sudden, stinging pain as Bea rubbed what remained
of the herb into the cut running down the side of his face. The effect was
immediate, and surprising. The pain was still there, but softened by a gentle,
suffusing warmth that flowed down the whole of his body, soaking into his aching
limbs.
    “Ulric’s toil!” he murmured. “What is that stuff?”
    “Just an ordinary flower, the sort you can find growing almost anywhere.”
    “Well the effects aren’t ordinary, I can tell you that.”
    Bea pressed her palm firmly against the side of Stefan’s face. “It’s how you
use it that matters. And who uses it,” she added. “That’s what makes a healer.
Now sit still and let the herb do its work.”
    Stefan closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of the pain melting away from
his body. “I could get too used to this,” he observed.
    “Don’t worry,” she assured