CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ALYSSUM
Iwas quite certain death had graced my bedchamber.
Not just the death of the hearth, no doubt responsible for the slight chill nipping at my cheeks, but also of some creature whose sole purpose in existing was to perfume the air with its putrid, all-consuming stench. I groaned beneath the weight of it.
The noxious wind that beckoned me from sleep was cradled in familiarity. Damp wood, moss, and a rather fragrant bushel of moon mint.
Perhaps the window—
I could not complete the thought, for the deep slumber that had enthralled me lay heavy over my senses. So I remained still, groggy and unsure, attempting to relieve my body of the exhaustion that persisted.
Whatever I lay on swayed with creaking movement.
There was bedding beneath me, of that I was vaguely aware, and a thick blanket atop warding off most of the cold.
Between the temperature and the woodland smells barely detectable beneath the fading odor of decay, I had the distinct impression that I was not, in fact, within my bedchamber.
I had to be outside. But why? Why would I be sleeping outside?
I searched my thoughts as sensation slowly returned to my limbs.
The most recent memory I could summon was Vayen’s warm hands cupping my frozen cheeks, and the way she had guided my breaths.
Her narrowed pupils, and the emerald green pooling around her irises seeping into a startling silver, rimmed by a deep grey—they had steadied me then, and as my heart regained its ability to quicken its beat, I prayed they would steady me now.
With great effort, I managed to peel my eyes open, but the blurry display before me left something to be desired. I attempted to shift my weight so that I might wipe the sleep from my face when the chilling realization that I could not move much at all clawed through my body.
“No,” I muttered as my vision began to focus.
In that moment, there were very few facts available to me.
I seemed to be lying within a small wooden cart.
I was in a forest, but whether or not it was Grenythwood evaded me, as the mammoth trunks I’d become accustomed to were now replaced with the comparatively narrow trees I recognized as ironbark.
And, most startlingly, my wrists and ankles were bound beneath the blanket.
I blinked furiously as the foul smell returned, flipping my stomach in its wake.
With great effort, I craned my neck towards the front of the cart, only to be greeted by the largest horse’s ass I’d ever laid eyes on.
A light grey coat, and a pale tail swishing restlessly from above—much too far above.
My face contorted in sheer terror as I tried to pull away from the enormous creature, only to realize my bound hands were secured to the cart itself somehow; I couldn’t even lift my head enough to see who commanded the beast.
As a downpour of fear spilled into me, the remnants of languidity lifted from my senses and I found the strength to part my lips, inhale deeply, and release the most piercing scream my lungs were capable of emitting.
The horse—if you could even call it that—did not startle as I imagined it would, but instead offered only a deep, unimpressed snort. It ceased its trot, however, and for that I was grateful. Perhaps, if I screamed as loud and as long as I possibly could, someone nearby might—
A warm hand clamped down on my mouth, dampening the noise that tore through my throat.
I tried to wrench free of their grasp, but even without the formidable strength of the arm that now held me tightly from the edge of the cart, I had very little range of motion available to me.
So I stilled, my nostrils flaring with each shallow breath, attempting to twist my head and get a look at whoever it was that dared lay hands on me.
Don’t be a Hollow. Please, don’t be a Hollow.
“You frightened Rummy,” Vayen’s unamused voice sounded in my ear.
No. I had just been thinking of Vayen to calm myself. It was a trick of the mind—my faculties were still diminished from the slumber that had consumed me.
“Are you quite finished?” she said plainly.
My heart all but plummeted through the ground as my captor’s identity was confirmed. With an indented brow and frustrated tears blurring my eyes, I nodded, still huffing breath over her palm.
As if unsure that I really would cease my scream, Vayen removed her hand from my mouth one digit at a time. The moment I was able to yank my head free from her grasp, I did.
She trudged through the mud, making her way to the other side of the cart.
She had exchanged her leather vest for an olive linen shirt that hung loosely over her form, billowing out slightly where it tucked into black pants.
Her dark curls swept the tops of those angular eyebrows, no longer damp from the morning dew, and she seemed to have bathed away evidence of the blood pit since I saw her last.
I expected Vayen to speak first—to explain herself—but instead she rested her forearms on the lip of the cart. It was a weathered contraption of dark, aged wood. Most of its contents, including myself, were draped with a thick brown blanket, as though she were concealing valuables from passersby.
I still couldn’t sit up properly due to my bindings, but I could make out the trees at the foot of the cart.
I was impressed I’d accurately identified the ironbarks through the blur.
I was less impressed that even though my vision had sharpened, I was no closer to identifying our location, for we were on a wide, unremarkable path winding through the wood with no landmarks in sight.
How long had I been asleep for? When had I even fallen asleep? I would need the answers to determine how much longer I would be in possession of my memories before she dragged me across the Threshold, for there was no doubt in my mind that was our immediate destination.
My gaze snapped back to Vayen’s, subsequently narrowing with fury at the relaxed way she studied my face. If she had no intention of speaking, I would once again be the one to disrupt the silence.
“Untie me,” I commanded.
“No.”
My neck already ached with the effort it took to hold it at this angle, but I resisted the urge to plant my head back on the pillow. There was not one scrap of decorum available to me, yet I found myself raising my chin and smoothing my brow in a weak attempt to retain a modicum of my dignity.
“I… I demand you untie me at once!”
“And I demand you never scream like that again. I’m not sure I’ll regain full hearing.” Vayen tugged dramatically on an earlobe.
“You are a wretched, awful, despicable—!”
The beast hitched to the cart released a snort before pawing at the mud with one of its front hooves.
I clamped my eyes shut against the movement, prohibiting the squeal that threatened to loose from my clenched teeth.
“Please,” I begged, terror pitching my voice. “Please untie me!”
But Vayen did not move to release me. Instead, her lips quirked with amusement as she watched me struggle against my bindings. “You’re more afraid of Rummy than of me, aren’t you?”
“If by Rummy you mean that monstrosity, then yes!”
“He’s harmless,” Vayen said, scoffing. Her attention turned to the beast, her features softening as a result. “Substantially more harmless than I am, it would seem. You’d do well to end up on his good side.”
“I don’t care to be on his good side,” I croaked, still unable to summon enough courage to peer up at the creature. “Or any of his sides.”
“If you don’t make nice, he’ll keep releasing his gases on you. He’s got a nervous stomach and your sleep moaning didn’t help matters in the least.”
“Stars above,” I cried. That’s what that atrocious smell was? I blinked hard to dissuade the tears prickling there.
“Why are you so concerned with Rummy? Surely you’ve noticed you’re tied up in the back of a traveling cart. I’d think that might rank a bit higher on your undoubtedly lengthy list of priorities.” Vayen retrieved a leather flask from her belt and took a quick swig, her eyes never leaving mine.
I could no longer control the waver in my voice as I spoke. “If… if you m-must know, I have a very slight fear of h-horses.”
Vayen stared at me blankly, as if she were waiting for me to finish a joke. When I held her gaze, my lips downturned and chin trembling, she whistled out an exhale.
“A royal afraid of horses. Not sure I’ve heard that one before,” she mused, as though we were gossiping unfavorably about someone else.
“Ha, ha,” I forced out humorlessly. “I don’t know how the rest of you aren’t more afraid of them. Large animals as a whole are unpredictable and frightening!”
The laugh that escaped Vayen was too immediate for her to silence, though she did duck her head in what appeared to be a good-natured attempt to not aim it directly at my face.
“Now that you’ve had your fun,” I began, pout growing, “can you please release my bindings?”
“I already told you, no.”
“But I can’t even think when I’m this close to—”
“To Rummy?”
“Yes, to Rummy,” I said with the most placating tone I could manage. “Please! You don’t have to release me entirely, but I should at least be able to sit up of my own accord.”
Vayen inhaled deeply, her eyes locked on my own. She seemed lost in thought as she considered my proposal.
A gentle wind swept through the trees, playing with Vayen’s curls and the pale strands of hair framing my face.
Hoping to make note of the sun’s position, my gaze flitted upwards, but I could not locate its white-hot spokes amongst the dreary blanket of clouds.
At least I saw sky filtering through the spiderweb of branches above—the tree’s canopy was much more forgiving here than in the village.