Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TYNAN
“Oh my God! I can’t believe it.” Victor covered his mouth with a fist trying to hold in his laugh.
“Will you shut up?” Frid fidgeted with the handcuff that was still attached to my wrist.
I almost succeeded in breaking the headboard but the stubborn piece of metal only bent in several places, leaving me attached to it.
I could not turn because of the handcuff, I could not take it off, I was a sitting duck.
Pathetic fool, an idiot who got himself into this by not thinking straight.
Even more so, because even the mere memory of the way she lowered her body above me still turned me on.
My blood boiled inside my veins like never before.
I gritted my teeth, hating myself for being so weak.
I spent so much time blaming Frid for letting Alina escape, only to show everyone, myself included, that I was not any better.
“What’s going on here?” Sol entered the room and I almost growled in frustration.
“I don’t know how to put it,” Victor’s voice shook and I narrowed my eyes.
“Where’s the girl?” Sol looked around the room, then his eyes landed on my face.
“She escaped.” I clenched my teeth.
“How did she manage to handcuff you?” Solomon asked, and I could feel the warm blood rushing to my face.
“Well . . .” Victor raised his eyebrows.
“No way.” Sol peered back at me.
“Can you both be quiet?” Frid snapped.
“Where did she get them?” Sol asked. I closed my eyes, swearing under my breath. “Where could she go? There’s no place to go.” Sol rubbed his forehead.
“Finally.” Frid pulled and the metal separated, releasing me.
I got up, putting on my jacket.
“She could not have gotten too far,” Solomon said, but I was already by the door.
Footsteps sounded behind me as I flew down two sets of stairs to the hall below.
“Ty?” Frid called, but I ignored her.
When I opened the front door, the sun was just beginning to appear on the horizon.
“How will we find her?” Victor asked.
My mind was racing as I passed the buildings in the city that was still asleep.
I had to find her no matter what. Somewhere deep inside of me, another worry I had not known before, took refuge.
I wanted her to be safe, and this revelation surprised me.
I scowled. I did not need this, and I did not want to find out what it meant, I just wanted to get her back.
“Where are we going?” Frid grabbed the sleeve of my jacket.
I paused, meeting her gaze. Instead of answering, I nodded toward the temple. The girl was silent for a moment, then her eyebrows furrowed.
Without waiting any longer, I banged on the decorated wooden door. As usual for the adepts of the four holy houses, there were four dragons, holding the sun. The image represented the four founding spirits that had brought all dragons together, uniting the kingdom around the sacred one.
I clenched my jaw and banged even harder.
A moment later, the door opened a tiny crack and a tall man wearing a fluffy bathrobe peeked through the gap. His long fingers slid down the edge of the door frame. When his watery eyes met my gaze, panic showed on his face.
“I suppose you already know why I’m here,” I growled.
“You can’t just come in here,” the seer responded but I could hear no confidence behind his words.
Instead of answering, I kicked the door all the way open. The tall man stepped aside, before the door could hit him, and I walked in.
“Tell me what I want to know and I will leave.” I looked around the cozy hall with tiny pictures of flowers and plants in ceramic pots.
“This is an intrusion,” he whispered.
Frid stood in the doorway, her eyes bounced from me to the man in the bathrobe.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Do you think this demonstration of brutal force will entice me –”
I grabbed the lapels of his robe pressing him against the wall and yelled in his face, “Speak!”
“She wants to go to The Fall,” he said in a hurried tone.
“I already know that.”
“She doesn’t know it, but she’s heading straight to the sacred temples,” he continued. “Those lands are forbidden to enter.”
I released my hold and was going to leave, but the seer caught my sleeve.
“You don’t know how important she is,” he murmured. I only looked at him. “You have to protect her with your life.”
“Do you want to say anything else?” I narrowed my eyes.
The man adjusted his clothes, adding nothing.
I walked past Frid, who remained in the doorway.
Without communicating anything to others, I ran up the stairs of the tavern to get to my room and attached all of my knives and secured a pouch filled with water.
Without further delay, I entered the dining hall.
My friends were already there. No one was speaking, and I was glad that I did not have to explain anything.
Visiting the seer who admitted us into the city was the obvious solution that I came up with when I spent those long hours handcuffed to my bed.
Once the seer attached his mind to a person, he could track them, and it did not matter how much time had passed.
I stepped to the front of the dining hall and requested the sleepy blond to prepare four bags of food for the long road, she nodded disappearing into the kitchen.
“Why would she go to the sacred lands?” Sol asked.
“She thinks it’s the shortest way to the border,” I responded.
“But it’s suicidal,” Frid said.
It was suicidal, but Alina did not know that.
She was not from here. She had no idea that the wastelands were saturated with crawlers, as well as other monsters that were not seen anywhere else.
That the temples were forbidden to everyone.
She had never heard the stories of the travelers who got lost and were never seen again.
I clenched my jaw, hating every moment we had to wait for our provisions.
“Are you sure about this?” Sol touched my shoulder.
I stopped and looked at my friends.
“This is my mistake. You don’t have to follow me,” I said.
“No way! You’re not going alone,” Frid said.
Solomon shook his head, attaching a water pouch to his belt.
“Damn it!” Victor frowned.
I stood for a moment, watching them.
“It’s too dangerous,” I said.
“Wouldn’t want it any other way.” Victor muttered.
I gave him a hard look and nodded.