Free The Enemy Within by Richard Lee Byers - (ebook by Undead) Page A

“Is there water?”
    “Yes.” She went to fetch it, and as it gurgled from pitcher
to cup, he looked about. He was lying on the stained cot in Mama Solveig’s
infirmary. Up close, the bed smelled of sweat, blood and mildew. Shafts of
sunlight fell through the windows, and it appeared that except for Jarla, no one
else was about.
    She brought him his drink, and, parched though he was, he
made himself sip it a little at a time, lest it make him sick. “Thank you. How
long was I unconscious?”
    “Hours.” She sat down on a little three-legged stool beside
the cot. “It’s afternoon. Mama and Adolph had to leave, but I stayed with you.
At the end, when you were yelling and flailing around, I was afraid you were
going to hurt yourself, so I took hold of your arms.”
    “Thank you,” he repeated. “You’re a good friend.”
    She smiled and lowered her eyes. “It’s all right. Mama and
Adolph would have stayed, but they had to do their work. My job… well, you
know. It’s mostly at night. I asked before if you’re all right. Do you know
yet?”
    He took stock of himself. As best he could judge, his
memories and character remained as they’d always been. Jarla wasn’t reacting to
him as if his body had altered in some freakish fashion. Perhaps he’d suffered a
frightening dream and nothing more.
    Or perhaps not. He felt a strange feverish restlessness and
had a throbbing tender spot in the middle of his forehead. He told himself that
anyone newly awakened from a delirium would feel unwell, and that he’d likely
smacked himself in the face while thrashing about.
    “I’ll live,” he said, swinging his legs off the cot and
sitting up, noticing in the process that someone, most likely Jarla, had removed
his shoes. “I have to say, no thanks to anyone but you, and even you weren’t
truthful about what was going to happen to me.”
    She flinched. “I didn’t know. No one else has ever had such a
strong reaction. Mama says it’s because you have an extraordinary aptitude for
magic.”
    “Really?” He hesitated. “In that case, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
have spoken harshly to the person who took care of me.”
    In point of fact, he actually did feel a twinge of guilt, and
had to remind himself she was a Chaos worshipper who’d turn on him instantly if
she learned his true purpose. It would be idiotic to regard her as anything but
a threat.
    Or a resource.
    Because it was plain that she liked him. He didn’t know why,
except that over the course of their conversations, he’d always tried to appear
friendly and never to show disdain for her profession. Perhaps, melancholy,
lonely, and dubious of her own worth as she seemed to be, that was all it took
to win her affection.
    “It’s all right,” she said. “I can understand you being
angry. To tell you the truth, I was upset, too. I was afraid the Changer would
mark you right away, you’d have to go into the forest with Leopold and his
company, and then I wouldn’t see you anymore. Not until I change.” She sighed.
“If I ever do.”
    Dieter peered at her. “Let me get this straight. You want to
transform?”
    “Yes. We all do. It’s a blessing from the god.”
    “Then why do you and the others keep the icon set back from
the area where you work your rituals? Why not bring it close and bask in its
power as much as you can? I imagine you’d change pretty quickly.”
    “Mama says that would be impious. Like trying to force the
god’s hand. We need to worship as we’ve been taught. She says there’s a
practical side to it, too. Every servant of the Master of Fortune can’t acquire
his mark and flee to the woods, not all of us at once. He needs human beings
here in the city, to smuggle supplies and new recruits to Leopold, and to
discover the army’s plans and pass those along. I help with that part. Sometimes
the soldiers talk when they… spend time with me.”
    “Well, maybe it’s because I lack understanding, but I’m