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Scents of Exile

Book 2 of The Fragrant Trilogy

© 2024 by J. L. Guyer

Chapter One

Home. “I’m home, mother,” Dana called out as she rushed to one of the many glass cages lining the walls. She pulled out a Kindroot, it didn’t matter which one, and took it to the back of the musty cave, barely noticing the scent of her collection of perfumes and ointments. Coming to the skinnier passageways, Dana took the path to the left and then the right. The passage went quite a long way until it opened up to a small room. In the middle stood a stone island. A pale young woman with long black hair lay beneath a cage of amber glass.

Dana hurried to the woman’s side and lifted the glass. “I’m home, mother,” she said again. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to wait much longer before you can leave this cold stone behind.”

The woman didn’t respond, not even to Dana’s touch. Even after all this time, it hurt. Dana focused on breathing until she had composed herself. Then she placed the Kindroot on the woman’s body, willing its aroma to flow into her mother. The glow around her mother brightened. Dana lifted the slumping Kindroot and replaced the glass, then went back to the front of the cave. She put the Kindroot back in its cage and straightened up.

Breathing in her perfumed scents, Dana refreshed her aching muscles and calmed her nerves. It was good to be back. None of this trying to control armies while on the road and with limited resources. She had her whole cave stocked with anything she could possibly want. Not to mention the essential ingredients she brought home from the coast.

Dana moved to her shelves and began emptying her travel bag. She pulled out a vial and showed it to Manzanita in his glass cage. “Do you know what this is?”

He ignored her. He didn’t even shake one leaf at her. Dana turned to look at the rest of her collection of Kindroots. Thankfully, she hadn’t killed the volunteer this time. He would recover and look like the rest that lined the cave walls on either side. Only a hundred were still alive. She hadn’t meant to kill the others, but it didn’t matter, so long as she had all the rest together, her plan would work.

She still beat herself up for overlooking the baby Kindroot, but it was too late when she discovered her mistake. No matter what she tried, he continually evaded her. But not this time. Dana walked back through the waterfall to where her horvelina stood grazing on a nearby bush. He still carried her new glass cage on his back, the most important invention she acquired from the puny sea village. Once she had discovered that glass could contain scents from blowing away in the wind, she immediately got more glass to preserve her mother in. Then, the more she used glass, she realized it also prevented magic users from using their magic. That gave her an enormous advantage over her enemies.

She turned to carry it back inside but froze. She sniffed the air again, turning to look further down the river. The scent floating up to her was quite remarkable and not just because it came from her favorite student, but it was unlike any aroma she’d smelled before. He was a miracle, though he didn’t know it yet.

“Prince Lucas! I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” Dana lowered the glass to the ground and stepped around her horvelina so she could greet him properly.

The young prince was dressed in style, as always. He smiled at her as he walked. “My father was going to come and let you know their progress, but I convinced him to let me come instead.”

Dana reached out and took his extended hand, pulling him in closer. They smelifed one another, sniffing each other’s right cheek, then the left.

“I’m glad you came. I was unloading my supplies from my trip to the coast. Here. Carry this in for me, would you?” Dana walked back to the glass cage and lifted it off the ground. The prince stepped forward and took it from her, disappearing behind the waterfall. She loved he didn’t balk at her commands, but just obeyed. She knew how difficult that was for most royals.

Dana turned to her horvelina with its long tusks and snout face. She reached up and grabbed the reins off his smooth, strong back and led him up and around the top of the waterfall. A stone building lay nestled between a few pines. The river rushed by only a few meters away. “There you go. You’re home.” She removed the saddle and reins using her mind and the smells of pine nuts to unbuckle and levitate them off the beast’s back, something she couldn’t do with glass since it was unaffected by magic.

Then she turned and went back down to join the prince. She reached out to his mind before she made it to the bottom of the hill. “Have you been practicing, like I taught you?”

His voice was clear inside her mind. “Yes. I particularly enjoyed mixing the lemon with the sweet chocolate scent.”

“Did it work?”

Lucas hesitated in his reply. “I’m not really sure. I think so. Least ways, I couldn’t work any more magic until the smell abated.”

“Good,” Dana spoke out loud, now that she stood next to the prince at the back of the cave. “I’ll send you with a bottle of the blend, a present for our exiled princess.”

“Wait. That’s what it does? It prevents you from working magic? That’s awesome!” Prince Lucas grinned. “That should help quite a bit, in case she isn’t cooperating.”

“I’m counting on it. You should know that even though she has surrendered, she is still trying to retain some control over things.”

“Of course she is.” Prince Lucas nodded. “Father said she negotiated the lives of her councilors as part of the surrender.”

“Yes, well, that is what I expected. This one seems to be more noble than the others, with the exception of her mother. It’s pathetic really. From my brief encounters with her and what I’ve heard, she’ll do anything to save one person’s life if she can, even if it means she might lose.” Dana thought about that brief battle of the minds over Ithol. While she had wanted to back off and let the girl think she was winning, the girl had been more powerful than Dana had expected. It cost her dearly in resources.

“Do you think she really handed over the Kindroot?” the prince asked.

“No. But that is why your job is to get close to her. He surely won’t be far from her. I suspect what she handed Bannon is a fake, but no worries. With her in our grasp, Blackthorn will be home with his family soon.”

The prince turned to leave. “My father is expecting me for the evening meal.”

“Before you go,” Dana plucked a bottle off the shelf, smelled it to make sure it was the correct blend, and handed it to the prince, “please, try to keep your father under control. We wouldn’t want him to kill our princess before we’ve got what we want.”

“Don’t worry about him. I know how to curb his anger.” The prince bowed one more time and departed.

Dana stood near the back of the cave as he left, her parted dress shimmering whenever she shifted into the torchlight. Her dark hair flowed the length of her long back. And she remembered another man who made promises to her before he broke them. Lucas wouldn’t let her down. She had her own plans to ensure it. She hated to admit it, but she was exactly like the princess: willing to do anything to save one person’s life.

To be continued…

Look for Scents of Exile wherever you get your books, coming October 25, 2024!

P.S. The eBook of Scents of War, book one in the Fragrant Trilogy, is now only $2.99! Buy a copy here!