Chapter 32 #2
“I’ll come with you,” I answered firmly.
“Good,” he said, his voice suddenly cold, like some new emotional turmoil had him in its grip again.
Before I could question what rogue feeling had taken hold of the Fury now, a familiar voice made my head snap up.
“Oh bother,” Galomp lamented. “Please, I don’t want to sleep in there. I do not. No, no.”
A loud thump sounded below us and I heard someone scrambling around on the floor in the shack.
“Your traitor bitch isn’t here to protect you now,” a man laughed beyond the doorway. “Make camp in there or I’ll tie you to a tree and let you sleep with the forest creatures.”
The sound of their footfalls padded away and I reached for the hatch, meaning to yank it open but Kaiser grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t be a fool,” he snarled.
“He’s my friend,” I hissed back. “He can help us.”
“You trust him implicitly?”
I paused, realising that yes, I did. Somewhere along the line I’d come to trust Galomp with my whole heart and honestly, what choice did we even have now? We needed help and there wasn’t anyone better to offer it.
I tugged the hatch open, gazing down at my friend on the floor, finding him looking up at me from his back.
“Miss Everest?” he rasped and I extended our silencing shield around him fast.
“Yes, Galomp. It’s me. Will you help us get out of here?” I asked, desperation laced to every one of those words. I trusted him, I really did. I would have thrown people to the wolves to get a taste of glory, but Galomp wasn’t like me. Not even close.
Galomp threw a cautious glance toward the open doorway then nodded several times. “Oh boy, an adventure. A secret. Yes, indeed. I will help you, my friend.”
Ransom appeared behind him, wielding a saucepan and swinging it for Galomp’s head.
“No!” I gasped, casting ice over Ransom’s arm and freezing it into stillness so he couldn’t land the blow.
“He’s going to rat us out,” Ransom barked at me.
“Oh, you are here,” Galomp said, turning to Ransom with a frown. “I do not like you. No I do not. Not at all.”
“Well the sentiment’s shared,” Ransom sneered.
“He’s our chance of getting out of here,” I tossed at Ransom. “Be nice to him or we’ll leave your ass behind.”
My half-brother pursed his lips, looking like he definitely wanted to hurl abuse back at me, but somehow he managed to stay silent.
“Galomp, can you cause a distraction?” I implored. “Give us a chance to run.”
Galomp nodded several times. “Oh boy, yes indeed I can. Give me five minutes that is all I will need. Yes it is.” He bustled out of the shack, seeming excited as hell and I hoped to the stars he realised what this meant for him if he got caught.
I didn’t want to get him in trouble and I’d do anything I could to protect him, but we were star damned desperate here.
I cast an ice ladder beneath me and hurried down it, moaning in relief at being able to move my limbs again.
Kaiser followed me down and shot Ransom a cold look. “Done shitting?”
“Yes and I hid it under a flower pot in that little room over there if you must know,” Ransom said, pointing to the rotting door that led into the only other part of this shack as if that was something to gloat about.
“Just focus,” I demanded, moving into the shadows beside the doorway and listening for Galomp. “Kaiser, is Calcifiend close?”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m directing him to Galomp now. Ah he’s… okay, fuck, get ready to run.”
A commotion sounded outside, the sound of many horses neighing then the wild thundering of hooves. Shouts sounded as some sort of chaos broke out.
“The warriors around the shack are moving,” Kaiser said, moving right beside me next to the door. “Ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven–”
“Where will we go?” Ransom demanded in alarm.
“Just follow me,” Kaiser snarled. “Three, two – go!” His hand latched around mine without warning and he dragged me out of the shack with Ransom chasing us.
Galomp was running towards us, the reins of three horses grasped in his hands including his horse Lalakin, my father’s black war horse Karkinos and Ransom’s beautiful white stallion Bay.
Behind them a herd of Cascadian horses had been untethered and were running, bucking and rearing up in fright from the swarm of ice flies that Galomp must have cast around them.
The warriors were all rushing in to try and calm them down, leaving us unnoticed as we raced for freedom.
I grabbed Karkinos’s reins, leaping onto his back as Ransom climbed onto Bay.
“Get away, vile Fury!” Galomp cried as Kaiser lunged for his mare and my friend elbowed him aside and climbed up himself. “I am coming! Ride Miss Everest! Leave this fire cretin to his fate!”
“No,” I refused in shock. He couldn’t be a part of this. He couldn’t become a runaway because of me.
“I am coming and that is that,” he said simply and there was no time to argue as a shout went up from a warrior close by as he spotted us.
Fuck.
I met Kaiser’s gaze, having no chance to explain anything to Galomp as I offered the Fury my hand and he grabbed it, hauling himself up onto Karkinos’s back behind me.
His arms banded around my waist as I kicked Karkinos into a gallop and led the charge downhill beyond the shack, leaving the village behind us as we followed the treeline to the flooded valley below.
Ransom and Galomp’s horses weren’t quite as fast as Karkinos and they raced to keep up as we took the lead.
Another bellow carried from the village and I saw a man pointing at us from the hilltop. “The traitors are escaping down the northern slope!” He amplified his voice with magic and I cursed, willing Karkinos to go even faster.
We made it to the water’s edge below and I froze it with a wave of my good hand, thickening the ice as we charged across it toward a forest on the other side of the valley.
Galomp and Ransom bolted after us but they were still ten paces behind and a cry of horror left my lips as two giant whips of water snared them both around their waists and yanked them clean off their horses.
“No!” I screamed, meaning to turn Karkinos back but Kaiser snatched the reins from my hands and kicked Karkinos hard in the sides.
I sent my Void out behind us, reaching for the warriors who were sprinting down the hill toward Galomp and Ransom, reeling them in. I managed to cut off their magic but it was too late as ten warriors fell on my brother and my friend. A scream left me, my fear for them palpable.
I was sure they were about to die, but it was a mercy when I spotted them being dragged away up the hill just as we met the other side of the flood and were swallowed by the trees. Lalakin and Bay continued running after us, bolting into the woods with us.
“We have to go back,” I demanded.
“Forget them,” Kaiser commanded.
“I’ll die before I leave them.” I turned my head to meet his gaze and his eyes flared with the red gleam of his Fury.
“You are the only thing that matters!” he yelled back.
“Fuck you. I’ll Void you and leave you here to rot if you try and stop me from going back for them,” I swore.
Galomp didn’t deserve this. He shouldn’t have been wrapped up in my shit.
He was in trouble because of me, and I’d be damned if I’d leave Ransom to his fate too after he’d given up everything to follow me.
Kaiser’s jaw ticked as he considered that then he grunted in agreement, realising he had no choice. “Fine, but we find a refuge to hide the horses first and make a proper plan. Then we’ll return.”
“We might not have much time. They’ll execute them,” I said in terror and I had no doubt the Fury could feel every drop of my fear.
“They’ll torture them beforehand. I’ve spied on your kind long enough to know that,” Kaiser said grimly. “We have hours, maybe days. I’ll send Calcifiend to watch over them.”
I nodded, relenting to the fact that we needed a plan. And with the Sayer Dragon watching them, we’d find a way to return. Because I would not leave them behind.