Page 122 of Guiding Desire

“I do not mind it,” the Hound said, rubbing something on Loquin’s neck. “I am a Hound in their tongue, and I like fucking.”

“You are an idiot,” Rose said, then looked at Orrey. “The Vashana—those Hounds back there to you—followed your people. Well, not you, but those of your people who attacked you. The Vashana wanted to attack them, take the grain in their trucks, but then the people with the grain attacked this place, your group.” He snorted. “And to think we were just here hoping for some medicine.”

“Medicine would have been good, but I have told you; I know how to cure many things,” Anandas said.

“Yeah, yeah. Look, Guardian pet, we should move. The Vashana travel fast in the forest, and I cannot trap them forever. You have a name, ma?”

“Vashana…yeah. I mean, Orrey. I’m Orrey. Pleased to meet you.”

Both of them looked at Orrey, eyebrows raised.

“Pleased, ma?” Anandas asked.

“It’s a polite thing,” Rose said. “He’s not a fighter. Come, we need to hurry.”

AnandasandRosewerecarrying Loquin between them, his feet dragging. Orrey was behind them. He couldn’t say whether he was being led somewhere or whether they were going in circles. The forest was thick, difficult to travel, though it parted in front of them thanks to Rose’s power.

The longer they walked, the more things Orrey saw, bugs and small birds, a butterfly with pink and purple wings and a caterpillar as yellow as Anandas’s eyes. A bird the size of one of Orrey’s knuckles came close, wings blurring with speed as it paused in midair, its jewel eyes looking at Orrey before flitting away.

Orrey was about to demand to be told where they were being taken when ahead, the greenery parted once more and finally, finally showed a destination.

It was not a house in the sense that Orrey understood houses, but round and dome-like. It had windows, some with wooden shutters, some with glass. It wasn’t big either, maybe two or three times the size of Senlas’s kitchen.

A bench sat in front of it, and the ground around the house had been cleared. What grew there Orrey recognized as edible. A head topped with tufted horns poked up from between some of the vegetable plants. The horn cat gave them all one look, then vanished under the leaves again.

“We bring him inside. His fever should break by this evening or early into the night,” Anandas said.

“He’s running a fever?” Orrey asked.

“Yes. From the poison. He will heal. The wind element is good for healing.”

“Hah?”

Rose looked over his shoulder. “Trust the healing arts. Anandas knows what he does.”

Anandas opened the door. It was made of wood, and finely made at that, a contrast to this shabby home that Orrey couldn’t reconcile.

Inside the building, it wasn’t quite as dark as Orrey had thought, there being more windows in the back. There was also a skylight, though it was open and set into the ceiling above what looked like a place to make a bonfire judging by the ashes and the char on the rocks surrounding it. Next to the fire, metal pots and pans sat, along with other cookery items. The entire place was one single room.

“Hold him. I get bedding,” Anandas said and let go of Loquin.

The Hound turned and came at Orrey, who went for his gun on instinct.

Anandas stopped, showed his palms. “No harm. The extra bedding is behind you. You step aside, ma?”

“S-sure.”

Orrey moved and watched the Hound open a wooden chest, yet another thing that was made with attention and care, the sides adorned with intricate carvings. The chest’s hinges moved soundlessly.

Anandas got out bedding like the kind they’d used at school when the whole cohort had spent the night there for storytelling and group building. It was odd to see something so familiar here in a place that was entirely strange.

The Hound gave Orrey a look, then said something to Rose in a language Orrey had never heard, a harsh one with lifts and trills.That’s Hound language. I never knew they had a language at all.

Rose sighed. “You. Orrey. Come. Leave him to treat his patient. You want to sit down, ma? We walked for a long time. You should drink something.”

“Yeah…do you even have clean water here? There are tablets to clean it, back at the vehicle.”

Rose sighed. “The water is good. The food is good. The company sometimes less so.”