39. Jasmine

Jasmine"s heart had nearly jumped out of her chest when the soldier had bumped into Aru, her breath catching in her throat as she waited for the inevitable shout of alarm.

That hadn"t happened, though.

Aru had spoken some words in Chinese that she hadn"t understood, but it didn"t matter what he"d said. It was how he"d made them sound as if he were a ghost. The poor soldier had nearly peed in his pants, his body trembling as he stumbled away in a jerky and uncoordinated scramble.

As they pressed on, moving deeper into the heart of the base, Jasmine lifted her scrying stick, her fingers clutching the smooth, polished wood with trepidation.

Would it work despite the shrouding?

Would the energy expelled to maintain the shroud interfere with the energy guiding her scrying?

She held the stick aloft, but the shroud was all-encompassing, and she couldn"t see the stick the same way she couldn"t see her hand or the sleeve of her jacket. Still, she could feel the wood in her hand and sense the subtle vibrations that ran through its length.

In a sudden flash of inspiration, she remembered that the shroud did not affect the gods. Only she and other humans and immortals couldn"t see through the gods" mind manipulation. If Negal could see where the stick was pointing, he could indicate the correct direction for the others.

Holding the stick in front of his eyes, she tapped his shoulder with her other hand and then pointed at the stick.

He tapped her thigh to let her know that he understood, and as he changed directions, she hoped it was because he was going where the stick was pointing.

Passing through the base, they emerged on its other side and started down the slope, the shroud still concealing their presence from the guards watching the area from the towers.

By the time they reached the bottom of the mountain, the sun had begun to set, the sky darkening to a deep velvety blue as the first stars appeared overhead. The wind had also picked up, whipping at their clothing and stinging their faces.

Jasmine could feel the cold seeping into her bones, the chilly night air cutting through her multiple layers of clothing.

They went around the base of the mountain and crossed into another ravine that was not in the line of sight of the soldiers at the base.

As the gods dropped the shroud, Jasmine let out a relieved breath. "Can I talk now?" she whispered in Negal"s ear.

"Yes, but quietly."

Aru found a shallow cave with a narrow fissure in the rock face that offered some small measure of shelter from the wind and the elements. It was not much, just a little more than a crack in the mountainside, but it would have to do.

As Negal crouched, Dagor helped Jasmine out of the harness and set her down, leaning against the rock face.

"Thank you." She smiled at him and then turned to Negal. "Thank you for carrying me."

"No problem."

As the gods set about making camp, spreading out sleeping bags, and erecting a small tent for Jasmine, the pressure in Jasmine"s bladder became impossible to ignore. However, asking one of the gods to carry her somewhere so she could relieve herself was embarrassing.

Her leg was feeling better, though, so maybe she could push up to her one good foot and use the rock as a crutch?

She started to rise slowly, and at first, none of them paid her any attention, but then Negal turned around to look at her and frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I need to do something privately."

Understanding flashing in his eyes, he nodded. "I"ll carry you to a spot and leave you to do your thing."

Aru shook his head. "Stay close by. There are dangerous predators in this area."

"Like what?" Dagor asked.

"Leopards, wolves, bears," Aru said.

Jasmine shivered. They hadn"t seen any animals during their trek, and she hadn"t thought about them being present in the area, but after Aru"s warning, she didn"t want Negal to be more than a few feet away from her, no matter how embarrassing it would be to know that he could hear her pee.

"I"ll stay downwind," Negal said as he swung Jasmine into his arms.

He carried her several dozen feet to a rocky outcropping that offered some small measure of privacy, leaned her against the rock, and helped her find a stable and secure position. "I"ll be on the other side. Call me when you are done."

"Thank you." She was glad it was dark, and he couldn"t see her reddening cheeks.

Fumbling with her clothing, her fingers clumsy and awkward in the cold, she managed to push her pants down and crouch supported on one foot while leaning her butt against the rock. She just hoped no ants or other bugs on the surface would find purchase on her naked bottom.

Annoyingly, nothing happened because she knew that Negal could hear her. It was so deathly quiet all around, and with every passing second, the pressure in her bladder was growing, the need becoming unbearable.

"Don"t be stupid," Jasmine whispered to herself. "What are you going to do? Hold it in for one more day?"

Maybe Negal had heard her or was bored, but he started whistling quietly. The melody was soothing and relaxing, but most importantly, it provided a small measure of privacy by drowning out the sound of her release.

When she was done, she used a wipe to clean up, pull up her pants, and zipped them up.

It was official. She hated camping and swore never to do so voluntarily again. She just wasn"t the outdoorsy type.

After Negal helped her back to the camp, he set her down in front of the small tent the gods had erected for her. "Don"t go to sleep yet," he said. "You need to eat first."

Jasmine was more tired than she was hungry, and she also imagined that the gods would like to talk among themselves in their language, which they didn"t do when she was around, but Negal was right about food being important. If she didn"t give her body what it needed to heal itself, her recovery would take longer than necessary.

Eating cold rations out of a can was just as distasteful as she"d expected, but since making a fire was not an option given the proximity to the base, there wasn"t much that could be done about that. The gods didn"t seem to mind, though, wolfing down the cold stew and washing it down with water from their canteens.

When they were done, Jasmine felt bad about being unable to help clean up, but the gods didn"t need her to do anything. They seemed proficient in outdoor living and handled everything efficiently and gracefully.

"Thank you for taking care of me," she said when it was time to retire to her tent. "I"m sorry about being so useless."

Negal smiled. "You are not useless. You are the most important person on this mission. Without you, we wouldn"t know where to look."

"He"s right," Aru said. "Good night, Jasmine. After a good rest, everything will seem better tomorrow."

She hoped that didn"t mean he or one of the others would bite her again. Then, on second thought, why not?

If she weren"t aware of the bite, it wouldn"t make her uncomfortable or feel disloyal to Edgar, and she would heal faster.

"Good night," Dagor said.

"Good night, guys." She crawled into her tent and zipped up the opening.

Jasmine was too tired to ask why they hadn"t put up their tents and only erected one for her. Her limbs were heavy with exhaustion, and as she lay inside the sleeping bag, she let out a soft, contented sigh and closed her eyes.