Chapter 15 #5
Beyond that was the kingdom of Rothstern, set high on the white cliffs, overlooking both the Cartlanian and Forken seas, the sandstone fortress city fondly known as The Beacon by sailors all around, as it was often the first point of land made visible by those who ventured into the unknown waters where the sea beasts roamed.
Right led to most other kingdoms, depending on which roads you took from there, the north and eastern parts of the empire full of foreign wonders which I was unlikely to ever set my eyes upon.
The entire world spread away from me as I looked towards the horizon, but in my gut, I knew that wasn’t where we were headed.
I called upon the knowledge Magdor’s magical pill had gifted me, my instincts tugging me in the direction of the cave where the treasure and that coin she wanted so badly were hidden.
It felt as though I'd trodden this path before.
And I didn't like the idea that her poison still trickled through my veins, infecting my thoughts that way.
The desert rolled away ahead of us, the road swallowed by the golden sand where great dunes rose like mountains in the distance, an amber sea shifting under the pressure of the wind.
“Where now, mate?” Drake asked, his eyes sparking with excitement like he lived for this kind of insanity, and I couldn’t deny I liked that about him.
I pointed at the desert and the gang frowned uneasily, grumbles and curses breaking out instantly.
“I ain't walkin' out there. That desert holds nothin' but death,” one of them said gruffly.
“Quit your bitching, Jadar,” Drake bit at him. “The treasure isn't going to be easy to get, is it? Otherwise, anyone could have found it already.”
Jadar grimaced and the scars on his face twisted menacingly.
My gaze landed on a row of camels behind a tradesman, their reins tethered to a line of fencing.
“Anyone got any coin?” I asked the group.
Jadar pulled out one fat kuru and I rolled my eyes.
“That's enough for a camel’s arsehole, anyone else?” I asked and Drake shrugged before looking to the others.
Between the seven of them they produced a couple of worthless earrings, a broken pocket watch, a piece of desert glass and a pile of lint.
“Great,” I muttered, waving it away as they tried to hand it to me.
Drake dropped his hand to his hip and lifted a sword – wait, that was my fucking sword.
“Hey,” I snarled, moving closer to take it from him.
He grinned, twisting the precious scimitar in his hand and cutting it through the air as if he owned it.
He moved like a man well used to wielding a blade, though it was clear to me he hadn’t had any formal training.
I doubted it mattered though. He was light on his feet and had the confidence of a man who had wetted a blade more than once, so I was sure he was more than competent with it.
“You really are a thief,” he commented, his tone praising as if I’d done something to impress him.
I clenched my jaw as my stomach knotted at the accusation. “That sword is the property of the emperor and I intend to return it to him.”
“Sure you do, thief,” he mocked, tossing it to me in a move clearly designed to make me fumble, but my reflexes were sharp and my hand snapped out to catch it with ease. “Or you can buy us a few camels with it.”
I stroked the hilt as I reattached it to my hip, securing it tighter this time as I turned to face the animals. “I'm not parting with this. It's owed to the emperor.”
No harm in me using it in the meantime though...
“Why do you give a shit about the emperor?” Drake hissed. “His laws got you locked up in a dungeon. You would have died just 'cause you looked at his pretty daughter for five seconds.”
“You've seen the princess?” Jadar gasped then the others shifted towards me with a hopeful lust in their eyes that built a fierce wall of defence in my chest.
“What did she look like?” asked the bald one who had half an ear missing.
“Tell us,” the stocky one demanded, licking his blackened teeth eagerly.
I clamped my lips together, my hand on the hilt of the sword as they stepped even closer, but I could see they wouldn’t let this drop now that Drake had told them about it.
So I decided to offer them lies, just like I had my torturer because I would never give up even a scrap of detail on the perfection of her.
“She's beautiful, of course. Raven hair...eyes the colour of the night sky, lips like two butterfly wings balancing delicately on her face.”
Jadar shivered, releasing a groan and rubbing a hand over his crotch like a fucking animal.
A violent protectiveness rose in me and my hand snapped out, latching around his throat and squeezing tight.
“Do not dare touch yourself over the princess, or I will cut your cock off and feed it to your friend with the pornographic eyebrows.” I jerked my chin at the man beside him who was breathing heavily over the princess, making anger ripple all across my body.
A possessive need rose like a roaring flame in my chest and I put it down to my duty to her as I considered gutting all of them here and now.
Jadar paled at the image I’d painted in his mind, but his friends closed in around me and a twisted confidence filled his eyes again. “Oh yeah? Well maybe it’s you who’ll be fed my cock when I’ve got you on your knees begging for mercy.”
“ Yeah ,” Porno-brows said with a sneer, then looked at his friend. “Wait – what?”
“Go, go, go!” Drake's voice suddenly called to me.
I released Jadar, turning and spotting the tradesman on the ground with a bloody nose as Drake dragged the group of camels towards us. They grunted their reluctance as he forced them to follow him, and I shook my head at the shameful act as he handed me a set of reins.
“Wait a second,” I growled as the rest of the gang mounted their camels.
“No time to be a law-abiding citizen, Cassius!” Drake barked at me, climbing up onto one of the beasts. “Besides, that tradesman just told me he sold his daughter to a flesh trader this morning. So he deserves a little bad karma.”
“Truly?” I asked, feeling a little better about this act as I hauled myself onto the back of the camel beside me.
“No, not really,” Drake said, laughing as my lips parted in outrage. “Could be true though, couldn’t it? You have to admit that guy looked like an arsehole.”
I shook my head in disgust at him, but he just reached over and slapped my camel on the rump with a cry of, “Yah!” spurring it into a run before I could voice any further protests.
The others had to ride together between the remaining three animals, and Drake and I easily took the lead as our two steeds galloped onto the Lyrian sand and raced up the nearest dune.
Adrenaline crashed through my limbs and despite myself, I couldn’t help but revel in the freedom of the wind in my hair and the sun beating down on my skin.
I should have been a dead man already and yet here I was, racing into the unknown with a mission to cast a blow at the bitch empress spurring me on.
Cries of anger followed us from the camel vendor, but we didn't look back. Drake threw me a wild look, grinning broadly as his hood fell down and the wind danced through his onyx hair as we hurried on, a laugh tumbling from my throat before I could stop it.
This didn't just feel good. It felt like freedom, and I was starting to think I liked the taste of it.
* * *
We rode on through the day, leaving the city far behind until all that surrounded us was sand.
The sun hung like a giant orb above us, the heat unrelenting and sweat glistening against our skin as we battled the temperature with every passing moment.
Since my endurance training out in the desert, I’d sworn that I’d never venture out onto the cursed sand again after coming damn close to death from the heat and exposure alone.
This place was its own stunning version of hell, and we were the fools for walking right into it.
But unlike the last time, I didn’t feel lost, unsure of my way or even fearful of taking a step in any direction in case it was the wrong one.
The burning sense of knowledge that the empress had lodged inside my brain made that impossible.
I could no sooner falter from this path than I could summon a storm into existence.
And I just had to hold onto the belief that once we reached our destination, this perilous journey would be well worth it.
Jadar produced a gallon of water from his bag, and we passed it between us regularly, though it was running low already and I had been purposefully missed out a few times.
I didn't much like sharing saliva with Drake’s hygiene-free pals and they clearly felt the same way about me, but it was that or die of thirst before I made it to the cave, and Drake ensured it was handed to me often enough that I didn’t get dizzy from the heat.
It seemed as though a lot of my standards were already being forced to slip, and I hadn’t even been out of the palace for a week yet. What kind of creature would I become if I was forced to endure a month in the company of these men?
By Osaria, I swear I can taste their unbrushed teeth on my tongue.
Magdor's magic guided me like the path was etched into my mind and I hoped I was right in believing that we wouldn’t be left adrift in the desert dunes for too much longer.
We’d reach the Red Pass soon enough and finally get a little shade for a while, though the rumours of the beasts that lurked there set me on edge.