Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Because I’d feel feverish and I’d sneeze. Every time he’s started to lose control, I’ve felt sick as a result. “What Aspect do you think it was that left here and came after us?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
Frustrating. “But it is plague? Truly?”
“Usually it’s not,” Kalos says in a sour voice. “Usually it’s just bad meat, or someone with a sore they won’t stop picking at. This time it truly is plague, though, due to my Aspect’s interfering.”
“They mistake sores for plague?” I’m shocked.
“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, little martyr, but the peasants aren’t exactly scrambling over each other to educate themselves.”
I don’t take offense at his tone. It just makes me sad, instead. “Doesn’t it bother you that they blame you for everything when it’s not even your fault? Maybe you could educate them on medicine, and your reputation would improve.”
The god gives me a flat, green-eyed stare as if I’ve said the most ignorant thing possible. “Do you think I care?”
“I do.”
He turns to look at me, faint surprise on his jaded features.
“I care what others think of you,” I continue. “You’re a good person with a bad job, not a bad person. So yes, I do care what people think of you. I want them to think the best.”
Like I do.
I can’t say the words aloud, but I think them. Hard.
He blinks at me, unmoved. “Do you truly wish to visit a temple?”
A change of subject? Unsurprising. “It might be useful to check out the city. Get the lay of things. Figure out what our options are.”
The truth is, I don’t know what to do now that we’re here. I’d thought of Balsingra as some sort of safe haven. That we’d be able to blend in, get a decent room at some quiet inn, and just hide out for a while. Obviously, that was too much to ask for. I should have known that plague would be everywhere, left in his wake. I should have known that I wouldn’t feel safe or settled, because being here doesn’t solve anything. We walk past one temple with grand steps and a statue of someone I don’t recognize. I glance at Kalos, but he doesn’t bat an eye at the sight of it. Not one of his enemies, then.
“You have any ideas?” I ask him, fingering the straps of the supply pack, now back in its spot upon my back.
He glances over, pausing in his tracks. Dingle’s leash is still wrapped around his hand, and the goat bleats a protest. “Ideas about what?”
“What we do now.” I glance around, but even the temples feel empty.
They also feel wildly conspicuous, like if we walk inside one, someone’s going to point a finger, shriek “Aha!” and pounce upon us. Temples might be something we need to avoid in the future.
“You’re the one in charge,” he says, tone bored. “You lead and I shall follow.”
I turn and look at the empty streets, wondering if it’s my imagination or if it feels as if someone is following us. Probably just paranoia, considering we’ve guiltily crept out of two cities now. “This feels like a bad idea, that’s all.”
“This was the only idea we had,” Kalos points out.
“I know, but it still feels like a bad one.” I cross my arms over my chest, hugging my cloak tight. “I didn’t think about the plague. I didn’t realize he’d spread sickness all over everyone in his wake. Do you think we’ve been doing that, too? In more places than just the festival?”
Kalos shrugs, and I’m reminded that he doesn’t care. It’s my job to make him care. Actually, no, my job is to keep Apathy alive. No one said anything about caring, though that feels wrong somehow.
I’m also suspecting that we’ve been pollinating plague dust wherever we go, like shitty pixies. We’re a problem. I don’t want to go around making innocent people sick, so we need to figure out the supply issue and find one place and stay there. “I didn’t think about sickness,” I admit to him. “The more we wander about the countryside, the more we could harm people.”
“Who cares?”
“Me, Mr. Apathy.” I nudge him with my arm. “And I’m the one that makes plans, remember?”
He sighs heavily.
I glance around at the deserted streets. “Okay, new plan. We’ll find a tavern or someplace where we can spread out the map and pick someplace new to go. Someplace preferably remote and deserted.”
“We could get a room somewhere,” Kalos comments. “In fact, we should get a room. You can bathe me.”
Bathe him? When I look over at my companion to see if I’ve heard him correctly, he doesn’t meet my gaze. He just continues to study the streets around us as if they’re fascinating. “You want a bath?”
“I do.”
“Right now?”
He shrugs. “Unless you want to go see my temple first.”