Chapter 50
They left the town behind, and spent the last few hours of darkness driving towards their unnamed destination. Katelina dozed against Jorick's shoulder, the pretzels clutched tightly like a teddy bear. When they parked next to a sagging motel, Jorick woke her gently. For once, he stayed in the car and let Oren and Torina procure the rooms - one for Oren and the two women and one for himself and Katelina.
The room was like any other and Katelina curled up on the bed while Jorick began his sunlight calculations. Her stomach growled and she unconsciously opened the bag of pretzels. She stuffed the crunchy snacks one after another into her mouth without thought. She watched him stack the furniture with only half interest, her mind fogged by pain pills.
When he had all the furniture piled before the window, he threw the heavy flowered bedspread over the heap for good measure. Then, he stood back, satisfied, and said smoothly, "I'm going to go take a shower?" It was really more a question than a statement, as if he expected her to object.
She nodded absently and he disappeared to the bathroom. He returned a few minutes later with only a towel swathed about his narrow hips. He motioned to her and she stood so he could turn down the sheet and slip beneath it. She peeled off the large coat and dropped it to the floor. She was surprised to find the hospital gown still beneath it. It would have to do in place of anything else.
Jorick settled into bed and held out his arm for her. She climbed in next to him and he pulled her close. In the darkness and silence of predawn she slowly relaxed against him and all her tightened muscles began to uncoil. She closed her eyes and nuzzled her face against his clean smelling skin. Unshed tears built up behind her eyelids. Last night she'd been so certain she was going to die; that she'd never see him -or anything- again. Now, the experience seemed like a bad nightmare that hadn't really happened.
Tentatively she raised a hand to her shoulder to find the bunched up skin and stitches beneath her fingers. She shivered in revulsion and told herself that it had been real, despite how it seemed now.
"Are you all right?" Jorick asked her as he ran an absent hand over her back.
She drew in a deep, cleansing breath. "Yes." Despite the answer, she wasn't sure it was true. There was too much crowded inside her head; too many questions. "Kateesha-" Words failed and she trailed off. "She and Troy were in it together, but I-I don't understand. He - why would he betray Claudius? I mean, Kateesha, she said-" She stopped again.
Jorick drew a tight breath. "Yes?"
"She-she said something to Troy about Patrick.".
Jorick tensed. "There are some things you should leave alone, little one. Some answers you don't want."
She struggled with his answer. "You-you mean?"
Jorick sighed. "Troy had a- soft spot for Patrick, in his own twisted way. He was no doubt displeased when Patrick was killed."
The words made her stomach feel slippery and sick. "Are you saying-" She couldn't finish it.
"No. For his part Patrick intended to be- monogamous. Troy was not his choice." Jorick cleared his throat noisily. "There are some things you don't want to know, particularly when it comes to slaves and masters."
She suddenly understood, and it made her even sicker. Right now, after everything she'd been through, it was too much to deal with. She squeezed her eyes closed and wished she hadn't asked.
Jorick shifted and pressed his lips against her ear for a moment; a fluttery kiss. Then he asked, . "You said Kateesha tricked you. How?"
"I thought you knew? She said it was a mind trick." She closed her eyes again. A deep pool of nothingness sucked at her consciousness and tried to pull her down. It was better than the real world and she mentally moved towards it.
"What mind trick?" he asked sharply.
"She-" Katelina searched for words. "There were- words in my head; thoughts. I thought they were mine, but they weren't, they were things she was saying." She was too ashamed to tell him what those thoughts had been. "But I didn't look her in the eyes. She wasn't even in the room with me."
His answer was slow in coming. "I see. I didn't know she was that powerful." He tightened his arm around her. "We need to be careful of her."
Katelina nodded against him and found words slipping uncontrolled from her lips. Even as she said them, they sounded foreign to her ears, as though they had nothing to do with her. "She killed Arowenia and blamed it on you. She had a deal with them. They were supposed to make sure Claudius killed me. She said you'd be upset and have only her to turn to." She thought for a moment that she'd already told him this, but she couldn't concentrate long enough to be sure.
He sighed heavily. "I'm eventually going to have to kill her. I've tried to avoid it for many years." He paused before uncharacteristically explaining, "We have the same maker. He made her shortly after me. He thought she'd be a good companion."
Katelina murmured but was unable to say anything. Her heart beat a steady lullaby rhythm in her ears and the memory of Kateesha had faded away in favor of cool darkness.
"I've always disliked her," Jorick continued. "She's too cruel. Malick was always trying to encourage me to be more like her." He gave a soft, hollow laugh. "She enjoys killing so much; she was quite an asset to The Guild."
Katelina roused herself and tried to concentrate on his words. "She was in The Guild?" She half imagined Kateesha standing by the bonfire, her skin glowing as she smashed in the baby's skull and laughed that cold musical laughter.
"Yes. She was under me - one of the Executioners. She left for the final time several years after I did in a bid to overthrow The Guild, which she expected my help with. Needless to say she was disappointed."
"Oh?" Katelina was so tired that all she wanted to do was go to sleep and forget everything that had ever happened to her. She couldn't understand why Jorick was suddenly talking to her when all she wished for was sweet oblivion. "Then why is she helping you?"
Jorick laughed scornfully. "She's hoping to overthrow Claudius now. She wants power and intends to take his place once he's dead and then, I think, she still intends to rival The Guild. But, I've already told her that I won't help her." He stopped his narrative. "I'm sorry." Some unspoken emotion hung on the edges of his voice. "You're tired."
"A little," she murmured. Somewhere, beneath the haze of medication, she was just glad to be alive and away from that nightmare.
"Go to sleep, little one," he whispered softly and brushed her hair back from her face. "Tomorrow we'll need to regroup and try to discover where Claudius has gone. That wasn't even half of his coven, so they must have moved to a new location, already."
"Sorem."
His hand stopped mid motion. "What?"
"Sorem," she repeated. "He sent them to Sorem and he's meeting them there later. I heard them talking," she finished in explanation as she began to drift into purple shaded dreams.
She heard him muse, "Sorem," and then she knew no more.
