When Ryn’s grief had subsided a little, it left only anger at Nuthea.
He lost track of the time he spent by himself on the side of the Zerlanese hill brooding on the revelation that Nuthea had been the person who had told Vorr where the Fire Ruby had been hidden.
Part of him wanted to walk away now, to abandon the group and strike out on his own. He felt so much anger at Nuthea for what she had done. Hot, roiling anger that choked his lungs and made it hard to breathe whenever he thought of it.
But something held him in place. Over the last few weeks—months? How long had it even been?—he had grown fond of Nuthea, and he knew he was extremely attracted to her. This new revelation had brought with it a deep ambivalence about all of that. Why did it have to have been her who had betrayed his hometown to the Empire? He had become very attached to her, but now he wasn’t sure if he could ever forgive her. That just made him all the more angry.
The sun climbed higher in the sky. Nobody came to fetch him or check on him. Maybe they had moved on already. No, Cid wouldn’t do that. Nuthea wouldn’t do that either, damn her. Perhaps they were giving him space.
In the end, he knew he only had one choice.
He must find General Vorr again and kill him, to avenge his family and hometown. To do that, he must continue to train with a sword. To do that, he must continue travelling with Cid. And to find Vorr again, he must finish making his way to Manolia, where the General had gone. And the best chance he had of doing all of that was if he stuck with the traveling party. He needed their money, the supplies that it would buy, their guidance, their ability to teach him, and their protection on the way.
That means staying with Nuthea for the time being. Damn it.
He supposed he would just have to tolerate being around her for a bit longer. But he didn’t have to enjoy it, or to talk to her, did he?
Oh how he hated Vorr. Vorr who had given Nuthea the opportunity to betray her homeland. Vorr who had gotten her to reveal the location of the Fire Ruby to him. It was Vorr who had...seduced her…
“Raaargh!” Ryn punched a fist into the sky and a ball of flame shot from it, disappearing somewhere above the clouds.
That made him feel a little better. But only a little.
He got to his feet and began to make his way back to the top of the hill where he had left the group.
When he reached them everyone was sitting down except Vish and Cid who were having an argument.
“I’ve told you,” Cid was saying as Ryn came into earshot, his face red, clutching his healer’s bag tight to himself, “you’ve got to space out the hits or they’ll diminish too much in intensity and it will be harder for you to come off the poppy.”
“And I’ve told you, old man,” Vish growled, “I don’t want to come off the poppy. The poppy is what makes me feel good. The poppy is what makes me feel alive. The poppy is my life.” His fingers twitched.
“But don’t you see? That’s no way to live. There’s so much more of life to experience, to be alive in. The poppy doesn’t make you more alive. You’re losing your life to it.”
Vish went silent and stared death at Cid. His hands bunched into fists, and Ryn fancied they were trembling.
“I don’t care,” he said at length. Ryn couldn’t see Vish’s teeth under his face covering, but he was pretty sure they were gritted. “Taking Poppy makes me feel better than I do the rest of the time. It’s the greatest feeling in the whole of Mid. Nothing else compares to it. It’s the only thing that makes me feel anything. I want it, old man.”
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“Be that as it may, you need to space out the hits or the next one won’t even feel as good as the last. And if you space them out far enough and start to come off it, you can start to feel other things too. It is possible. I’ve seen others do it. I’ve helped others do it.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Because you’ve only got a limited supply of poppy and you need to keep me under control with it to keep me around.”
“I can see why you’d think that, but that’s not what’s going on here. And I...I actually have quite a large supply of poppy in here.”
“Then give me my poppy, old man.”
“No.”
Silence, full of intent.
“GIVE ME MY POPPY!” Vish shouted, and then he was on top of the healer, grabbing for his satchel, trying to rip it out of his hands.
Cid cried out and clutched the satchel ever more tightly as the Shadowfinger knocked him to the ground.
“Hey!” said Ryn, running forwards. “That’s not okay!”
When he reached them Vish’s elbow shot out into his face. Pain exploded in Ryn’s nose and he staggered back, putting his hand to it. He stared at the blood on his fingers.
The others ran to Cid’s aid too. Ryn blinked his surprise away and joined them.
More elbows, fists, feet flew, and Ryn took another two strikes to his arms. But eventually, between the four of them they managed to wrestle Vish off Cid and pin him to the ground by taking a limb each.
The Shadowfinger was a vicious and brutal fighter, but it seemed that when ganged up on by four people even he could be bested.
“Crazy scumsucker…” Sagar said as he held down one of Vish’s arms. The skin around one of the skypirate’s eyes was turning black. “Why shouldn’t we kill you right here and now for that?”
Click. Elrann had cocked her pistol as she held another of Vish’s arms down. “I’m thinking that might not be such a bad idea. There was no need for you to attack Pops here. Get it together, bountyhunterman. I’ve used this on you before, and I’m not afraid to use it again.”
Ryn noticed Elrann didn’t have any bruises on her. He looked over at Nuthea, holding down the opposite leg to Ryn. Neither did she.
Even in the middle of what had just happened Vish had been precise enough not to hit either of the women. But he had given Ryn a bloody nose and several bruises, and Sagar a black eye. Did he have some sort of code? Had part of him wanted to be subdued?
“It’s been a week now,” Vish growled at Cid as the old man stood and walked over. “It’s well past time. Give me some poppy.”
“I’ve told you,” said Cid. “You’ve got to space them out more if you want a chance of coming off it. It’s that or stopping completely all at once, but that could kill you unless I manage the process with other medicines.”
“I’ve told you! I don’t want to stop. The craving is too much. I want the poppy, old man. GIVE ME MY POPPY!”
Vish strained and for a moment Ryn worried he might overpower them, but they managed to keep him down.
Elrann pressed the barrel of her pistol to Vish’s temple. “I mean it, bountyhunterman. Calm it down.”
Vish shut his eyes and went still. He seemed to have been defeated in body and spirit.
“I know it’s hard,” said Cid. “I’m sure it’s the hardest thing in the world, or one of them. But if you stop, young man, in time the craving will go away, and future cravings will diminish in intensity, and you will awaken to other parts of your life.”
“It won’t,” said Vish in a small, sad voice, eyes still shut. “They won’t. I won’t. I’m too far in, old man. The damage is done. Please, just let me have my poppy.” Please? Ryn had never heard the Shadowfinger speak like this.
“It will,” said Cid. “They will. You will. Trust me.”
Vish was quiet a long moment. Ryn shared quizzical glances with the others. Had he gone to sleep? Given up? Was he gathering his strength to try to overpower them again?
Eventually, Vish said, very quietly, “How do you know?”
“I told you,” said Cid. “I’ve seen others do it. You’re not the first to be addicted to poppy and come off it. You have to trust me. Trust the experience of others.”
“It won’t work for me. Please, just give me my poppy.”
“Listen. I can see that you’re very upset by this, and it has been quite a long time since your last hit. I would have liked to start spacing them out more and earlier than this, but I can see that you’re going to need some more persuading until you decide that you’re ready to do that. But if I give you a poppy seed right now, you’re going to be useless to us and we won’t be able to keep going unless we carry you.”
“That’s why I asked you for it now!” Vish opened his eyes and scowled. “The boy there had gone off for a sulk, and who knew how long it would be until he came back and we could keep moving?”
Ryn felt himself bristle.
“True, but he’s back now. Hello, by the way.” Cid nodded at Ryn. “So I’ll make you a deal. Keep walking with us for now, and when we stop to rest for the night, I’ll give you your poppy then. Alright?”
Vish shut his eyes again.
“Alright,” he said, very deliberately and quietly.
“Good. Well done. You can let him up now, folks. I believe him.”
Slowly, cautiously, they let go of the Shadowfinger and allowed him to stand, eyeing him closely as they did. With some reluctance, Elrann put the safety mechanism on her pistol back on and stowed it in its holster on her belt.