Chapter Sixteen #2
His little innocent act was the most pathetic thing I’d seen. He was trying to get me to admit to having the shard, but I wasn’t going to take his bait.
I couldn’t tell if he knew that I was onto him, or if he thought I really was that dumb. Either way, I was on the top of his suspect list, and the guise of protecting Gladewood was slipping fast.
“Take some if you’d like,” I offered the other soldiers. “We’ve had our fill, and I suppose I could spare a few bulbs for the King’s Hands.”
“Really?” Petyr, the jovial elf with the short blond hair, perked up and slid from his saddle.
“Hand Petyr!” Nuro snapped. “That is not what we are here for.”
“But it’s firevyrn, Sir,” Petyr protested as he looked down at the juicy-looking fruits. “How many people can say they’ve tried a fruit extinct for hundreds of years?”
“Apparently, the entire population of Gladewood,” the Commander grumbled. “Get back on your horse. We’re not here for handouts.”
“Consider it a peace offering,” I corrected. “We’ve clearly got off on the wrong foot, and I don’t want you to see me as your enemy.”
“I don’t know what to see you as, Noah Dawson,” Nuro sneered. “That remains to be seen.”
Well, screw me, I guess.
“I’d quite like to try it,” Aila mumbled with a defeated pout.
“I can get you some later,” I whispered into her ear, which made the half-elf straighten her spine.
Nuro watched the encounter with a scowl, but eventually he jerked his horse’s reins and steered her back toward the house.
I felt my throat constrict and my heart drop into my ass, yet again, but I was pretty powerless sitting on the back of Aila’s horse.
“Where are you going now?” I demanded.
“Search the entire farm thoroughly!” Nuro ordered in an authoritative voice that left no room for argument. “I want every single inch of this place picked apart.”
“What the hell are you looking for?” I shouted. “If you’re here to protect Gladewood, why are you so concerned with my farm?”
Nuro didn’t even bother to answer me. His men spread out across my fields and galloped across them, unbothered by the chunks of crop the hooves kicked up.
Aila kept me close behind Nuro as he made his way back toward my house, and I could only pray he didn’t get the bright idea to look inside.
“Don’t ignore me, Nuro!” I shouted again. “You brought your entire squad out here and left the town you’ve been tasked to protect unprotected!”
“It’s nothing to be concerned about, Noah,” Aila tried to reassure me as she glanced over her shoulder. “It’s just the orders we’ve been given. We have to check everywhere for Shaar.”
“You know that’s bullshit,” I snapped. “All of you do.”
When we finally made it in front of my house again, Iro, the half-elf from Tei’Lorran, had disembarked from his horse and was heading straight for the porch.
Ellyn shot up from her seat with her book clutched to her chest, and she quickly moved to block the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” my wife asked in an uncharacteristically snappy tone.
“Inside,” Iro said in a soft voice. “Forgive me, my lady, but we must search everywhere.”
“Not our home,” Ellyn said with a stomp of her foot before she looked over at me.
“We have nothing to hide,” I said as I slid off Aila’s horse and stormed over to where Iro was advancing.
“Noah, wait!” Aila cried out as she slid down, too, and gripped my bicep. “Stop.”
“Don’t,” I growled as I tugged my arm out of her grip.
It was a little harsh, but I wasn’t going to let her stop me from protecting my home and the shard just because she had a pretty face.
Aila took a step back in surprise, but then her features hardened, and she took a predatory step forward.
“Aila, don’t try it,” I warned her with a pointed finger. “You are not going inside of my house.”
“And why might that be, Noah?” Nuro asked in a bored voice, still sitting atop his horse like some kind of smug lord.
“Because that’s my private property,” I hissed. “More private than my goddamn crop fields.”
“Privacy is out of the question now, I’m afraid,” the Commander said. “People’s lives are at stake.”
“There is nothing in my home that is a danger to Gladewood,” I growled. “You know it, and so do I. So, why don’t you say what you’re really looking for, Nuro?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Noah,” the sniveling human dismissed.
“Liar,” I snapped as I stormed toward the front door, only for Nuro to draw his blade and slash it down in front of me.
I halted and stared down at the blade in shock. Had he seriously just drawn on me?
My venomous glare trailed up from the golden, shimmering blade and to the bastard holding it in his grip. Nuro’s face was a mask of cold nothingness. He didn’t even blink as he kept his steeled gaze on me, as if he was waiting for me to lash out.
“You’re insane,” I said through gritted teeth. “You come onto my farm and then draw your sword on me?”
“I am the King’s Hand,” the Commander said with a casual shrug. “I can do what I like.”
The nerve this guy had was like nothing I’d ever seen before. But what could I actually do? If I defied him, I defied the king, and then I’d have an entire army of golden assholes pissing in my Corn Flakes.
The shard was in the house, but I had to silently pray that it got the memo to get the hell out of there, somehow, without the other soldiers seeing it.
Because I was at a loss, and even though I was arguably one of the most powerful people in Mystica right now in terms of magic, there was nothing I could do to stop what was about to happen.
“Iro, move,” Nuro ordered without taking his eyes-- or sword-- off me.
“God damn it,” I hissed as I stepped around Nuro’s barrier and rushed toward the house.
“Noah, stop!” Aila called out, but I ignored her protests.
If they were going to find the shard, I needed to be there to see it. Maybe I could bullshit my way out of it. Maybe I could put on my best drama performance since ‘Oklahoma’ in high school.
I charged into the house behind Iro without another thought. I heard Nuro jump down from his horse with a harsh jingle of metal. Ellyn followed me inside, too, and wrapped her hand around my bicep.