Chapter 7
Embracing the Consequences
By the time they reached a little inn at an obscure crossroads, Hisa was barely able to stand. Placing Summer down as gently as he could, he waved at an inn. “We will stay there for a couple of hours.”
“Will that be enough?” Summer looked at him as he staggered toward the door.
“Don’t worry, I can carry you again if you are still tired.”
“I’m not worried about me.”
“There is no reason to worry as long as we stay ahead of Cyprian. If he catches up, then you can worry.”
They entered the inn and a little old woman hurried forward. “Oh, you poor dears, you look very tired. Here,” she said, handing them a key. “It’s your usual room, Hisa. I won’t even scold you about the young woman this time because I very much doubt there will be any of that business going on in your current state.”
“My dear Molly, you are a precious doll whom I would take home with me if your husband would allow it.” His expression was charming, even as Hisa looked like he was about to topple over.
The woman giggled. Behind her a large, burly man appeared, his white hair thin and waving like a flag in the slight breeze. “Hisa!” he stretched his arms wide, “I hope we can expect some entertainment tonight once you are rested!”
Placing a hand over his heart, Summer’s companion bowed, “I would love to, but unfortunately, we are in an impossible hurry to be elsewhere.”
The man laughed, “Stole another man’s bride again, did you? I look forward to hearing the tale the next time you come back. Rest well.”
Summer inclined her head as Hisa tried to give them a grand bow. He stumbled, and Summer quickly moved to his side. Sliding his arm around her neck, she nodded to the couple again and guided Hisa to a room. As soon as the door was closed, Hisa pulled away. Swaying, he fell onto the bed. Summer moved to the dresser where a little dancing figure rested. Picking it up, Summer ran her hand over the intricate details. It was unexpected in such a small place in the middle of nowhere. Turning her eyes back to Hisa, Summer considered what she had learned. Clearly, he was the same kind of creature as most of the people he had associated with since she had encountered Hisa. They had something to do with dragons, and the red ones were insular. But it was obvious that the people here were very familiar with Hisa. Either he had been sneaking around the reds’ territory for forever, or the people running the inn were a lot older than they appeared.
Stepping out of the room, she headed back to the front. The woman looked up. Her smile was clearly the one used for the rare guest; it didn’t shine nearly as brightly as the one she gave Hisa. Returning the smile with something more sincere, Summer stepped forward. “I would like to get some food for him, something that will give him a lot of energy. And a sponge bath. He’s too tired for the bathroom.”
“Look, dear, it isn’t going to last. I will do it for his sake, but don’t think it will change him. Hisa is who he is, and you aren’t going to fix his ways, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Summer opened her mouth ready to be offended, then thought better of it. The smile emerged. “Don’t worry. I’m his cousin.”
The woman frowned, “I was under the impression he had no family.”
Summer laughed, “Of course he does. He’s been disowned. I agreed with him recently, so I have suffered the same fate. As soon as I was free, I hunted him down because we were always close growing up.”
The woman beamed, “Well, it is good to hear he has someone to take care of him. I will get you what you need, just leave it with me.” She hurried through the door behind the counter.
Summer looked around the tidy little inn. At least the woman was human, with some traces of something else far back in her lineage. Stepping toward the wind, Summer looked for the husband. He was out whistling as he worked on cleaning up the area near the stable. Without a doubt, he was human. That solved one question about Hisa – clearly he was very good at hiding his presence, not just who he was.
When the woman returned, Summer took the stuff and headed back to the room. Balancing the food on her head, she managed to get the door open. Slipping into the room silently, she placed the food next to the bed. Noticing that Hisa had shifted a bit, she moved a chair over beside the bed. The water was still very warm, a fact that she hoped to use to clean him without waking him.
Undoing his shirt, she slipped it off of him. For a moment she was stunned by an elaborate dragon that seemed to move along his body. It looked up at her and moved in a way that reminded her of a dog. With a little giggle, she took a sponge and began to clean him. Next, she removed his pants, leaving only his underclothing to cover him. Relieved that he was sleeping on his stomach, Summer finished cleaning his legs. Taking his clothes out of the room with the bath water, she headed back to the common area. “Excuse me, but I need to wash these.”
The man looked up at her. “Oh, you needn’t worry about that. He keeps plenty of clothes in the room.”
“Oh, well, thank you.” Summer turned and began heading toward her room.
“You can still leave those with us. The missus will clean them up for next time.”
Summer smiled, “Thank you again.” Following his pointed finger to a small room on the side of the hallway, Summer noticed the washer. There was a small stack of laundry, and she dropped the clothing on top.
As she walked back to the room, she considered the fact that Hisa was traveling without any luggage or bags. The fish he had prepared earlier was the only item that she knew he had. She placed it on the table beside the meal. Closing the door quietly, Summer moved over to the food and picked up one of the fish. She began eating as she opened the door to the wardrobe. At the sight of the clothing, she nearly dropped the fish. It was packed full of both men’s and women’s clothing. This was probably the way he stocked everywhere that he stayed. Looking down at her dress, Summer couldn’t help but wonder how many other women had worn the dress.
“No one else has worn it. When Hisa tries to hide a woman, he never uses clothing that others have worn. It means there is something special about you, and his interest in you is not like that of the other women he brings here.”
This time she did drop her fish as a familiar voice came from the window. Placing her hand on her chest, Summer slowly turned around.
Sitting on the window was a man with a familiar face. As soon as she looked at him, he rocked back, nearly falling out of the window. His eyes widened, and a single word was nearly lost on the wind: “Summer?”
Blinking at him, she felt a smile forcing itself onto her face. The man’s name appeared without her having to try. “Anani?” She hurried over to him, feeling as if the world had just shifted out from under her. “My gods, Anani, you don’t look like you have aged a day.”
He stared up at her, his expression frozen. Shaking his head, he muttered, “Shiiiiiiiiiit. I am not up for this. This is… shit.” With a heavy sigh, he stood up. He wrapped his arms around her, and Summer buried her face in his chest. “My gods, but we have missed you. I can’t... I see what he was doing now, and I no longer blame him. When I see Cyprian, I am going to….”
Summer pulled back and beamed up at the face of a man she had not remembered before his appearance. A small part of her was bothered by the fact that she had not yet placed Hisa, but that did not matter at the moment.
She gave him a playful push. “Are you in the habit of peeping into windows and trying to scare women away from him?”
Anani was silent for a bit before finally saying, “You mean you are alright with all of this?”
“You mean the rather impressive number of women Hisa has bedded since I died? Why would it bother me?”
A cloud passed over Anani’s face. “I thought…”
Summer shrugged, “To be honest, I remember next to nothing about my life before I died, I barely remember anything from after I died. I kept an eye on Chesed the whole time, but what I need to remember about that time is completely escaping me.”
Anani gave her a look of pity before pulling her into a hug, this time with a lot more force behind it.
A voice from outside of the window interrupted their reunion. “Hey, I thought this was only going to take a moment. Cyprian was very clear about that.”
Anani looked down at Summer. “I have to go. Avoid the water, and get him out of here as quickly as you can. I will buy you as much time as possible, but it isn’t going to be long. As soon as he realizes that I know who Hisa was hiding, he is going to strike like a fucking Kraken. I am so sorry, but I know that I will side with him once the shock wears off.” Summer looked at him, the confusion clear on her face. Unable to say anything else, Anani kissed her forehead and slipped out of the window.
As tempted as she was to watch her old friend, his words rang in her ears. Hisa had been hiding her from Cyprian. Shaking her head, Summer couldn’t understand why Cyprian would be after her, but it was something that made sense to Anani. She had learned to listen to Anani from the first time they had met. He had warned her against something foolish. Laughing at his caution, she had headed into a cavern near the top of a mountain in the Oltimians. A chimera had nearly killed her. He may have seemed only lightly tethered to the ground, but when Anani gave a warning, she heeded it.
“Hisa.” She placed a hand on his bare back. “Hisa, you have to wake up.”
The man stirred a little.
Giving him a slight shake, Summer tried again. “Hisa. Cyprian will be here soon. Anani said so.”
Though she felt guilty for the cruel wake-up, the words had the desired effect. Hisa sprang up, “I didn’t do it this time! I swear! I have the testimony of five ladies about–” His eyes finally met Summer’s and his face flushed. Slumping back, he sighed, “Gods, not this dream again.”
“What are you talking about? Hisa, Anani was just here and he said we had to get moving if we want to avoid Cyprian. He made it sound like Cyprian is going to attack you.”
Whatever sleep remained was instantly dispelled. “Like hell he will catch us. Thank gods for Anani – I always knew he was the least fickle of the lot. We have to go, now. The window will be fastest.”
“Um, Hisa, your clothes.”
The man frowned and looked down. “It doesn’t matter what I’m wearing – oh.” His eyes moved back up to Summer’s. “Do I want to know what you were doing?”
“Washing you. Now move it.”
He nodded and pulled a handful of clothing out of the wardrobe. “They’ll clean it up. We have to get out of here.” He grabbed Summer’s hand and pulled her to him, his mostly naked body pressing up against her. “Sorry, no time to dress right now. We need to move.” With that he dove out of the window with her in his arms.
As soon as they were on the ground, he pointed in a slightly different direction than they had been going. “That way. Move as quickly as you can, I’ll catch you.” He was pulling on a shirt.
Summer took off at the speed that she had achieved while fleeing the city. It seemed strange that she was now running from her oldest friend instead of disembodied voices. There was no time to ponder the cruelty of it, though.
Before she knew it, the ground was swept out from under her and Hisa was holding onto her. “Keep breathing. It’s going to be alright. I swear, I’m not going to let anything happen to you this time. Not this time.”
Summer’s eyes moved over his face as her body felt his warmth spreading through her. Suddenly she realized who he was. “I was looking for you!”
Hisa nearly tripped as his eyes moved from the ground to Summer. “I told you that you would be disappointed.”
“Why didn’t you say anything? You knew. I…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes searched his face for some trace of the emotion he had once expressed, some hint of the pleading he felt as she died in his arms. The only thing looking back at her was pain and regret.
“Hisa,” she reached a hand to his face, but he turned away.
“I killed you. Remember, I was the one who killed you. If I hadn’t been there, if I had listened to reason, you would have lived.”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Yes! It was because of me.”
“No. I was dying before you arrived, that was what he planned all along. Chesed wanted you to lose control, he failed, and the poison took its course.”
Hisa’s eyes searched hers, “But I–”
“No, you didn’t. He made you believe that. Mostly you rampaged among a few houses. You caused a good bit of damage, but no fatalities. You kept your senses long enough to get somewhere far from the fight. He planted me there so that you would feel guilty. That is what he has been banking on this entire time. More than 500 years of trying to use that last move to break you.”
Hisa slowed down. “It doesn’t matter if I was the one to deal the blow, I failed to protect you.”
“And I failed to protect you.” Summer looked at him, a tear rolling down her face.
Suddenly a large sheet of water doused the path in front of them. If they had continued at their speed, it would have knocked them down or more likely knocked them out.
“Why do you always make things more difficult than they need to be?” Cyprian materialized on a bank to the right of the path.
Hisa grinned, “Because you wouldn’t have me any other way.”
Cyprian gave a sad smile, “No, I really wouldn’t. Hello, Summer.”
When she looked into her friend’s eyes, all she saw was determination.