Chapter 69
My torn, bloody, crusted outfit is my first concern. The scattering of Ellyarian guards around the town is another. The village isn’t very big as it is. It’s a small border village just inside Ellyar’s lines, simply named Ellyar West.
But I was right—luck is on my side. Or it’s just another accomplishment that I brought about myself, according to Kezra—who, as it turns out, is full of shit.
After walking along the wall for a bit, Kezra informs me she’s found a rickety gate that’s unguarded. The wall here is old crumbling stone and doesn’t seem all that tall or secure. It would be so easy to send a couple terra elementals to update it.
In contrast to that, just inside the gate at the edge of town are rows of stables that look like they were very recently built.
You’d think such a commodity would be more heavily guarded, but, alas, they’re completely empty—besides the wide selection of horses.
I wonder if it was put here when they upped the Ellyarian army presence across the continent.
I choose an all-black one simply because it’s the closest to me, not wanting to waste a single moment here. I mount the horse in my crusty dress that’s starting to smell, and I ride for the open wilds.
~
My first order of business as soon as I make it a safe distance away from town is to find a cluster of trees.
Once I accomplish that, I tie the horse—who has turned out to be very-well trained—to the tree.
Then I strip naked and thoroughly rinse my torn shirt, pants, and undergarments with hot water, followed by my hair and the rest of my body.
My magic feels like it’s getting stronger again, which is another bit of good news.
As I stand, naked and vulnerable, waiting for my clothes to dry in the wind on a tree branch, Kezra eyes me.
“Can I help you?” I ask her.
“No?” She says it like a question. As if she’s confused.
“Well stop staring at my breasts.”
“My apologies. They’re just… fascinating.”
I nearly choke on a laugh. “Don’t you have the same thing?”
“Yes. But yours are so much larger. It’s—”
“Fascinating,” I finish for her.
“Precisely.”
She flashes them one last glance with a smirk on her face as I try to cover them better with my arms. “You’re a strange one,” I say with a smile.
“It’s working.”
“What is?”
“My attempts to distract your mind with humor and nonsense so you don’t spiral into a pit of oblivion which you may never come out from.”
“Oh.”
She flashes me a tight-lipped smile, as if she didn’t just drop that revelation on me, causing all of the bloodshed and death and… Rhydra’s lifeless eyes to come flashing back into my head.
I cover my mouth, fall to the grass on my knees, my feet tucked under my naked self. Tears sting my eyes as I stare at the ground. My mind is on that battlefield though. Full of death and agony.
I cover my face with both hands and take a few deep breaths.
I can do this. I just have to make it to the meeting point, and then we can continue our mission.
“Oh my…” I nearly yell.
“What is it? That is not a complete thought!” she says, matching my excitement even though she’s in the dark.
I drop my hands along with my jaw, focusing on her. “We did it. We have everything. As soon as we meet back with Raef and Daegan, we can reunite all of the relics and reverse the damn curse!”
“Yes… that is what you went to the castle for… is it not?” Confusion sparkles across her face. Literally.
“Yes, but… we were so busy getting out of there, it hadn’t sunk in yet. We didn’t have a chance to celebrate! We’ve nearly done it!”
“Yes. Let’s just hope those two buffoons don’t mess up this rendezvous.”
Despair overpowers me again as Rhydra’s face enters my head. We were so close. She almost made it to the end. And we couldn’t have done it without her, without Meela, without Gaethri… A tear slips out, falling slowly down my cheek.
“Rhydra would be honored to go in sacrifice of this.”
I nod slowly, staring at the ground.
“Well,” she chirps when I don’t answer for a while. “We should really get going. Think you can tolerate wearing some damp clothes, princess?”
I stand, feeling oddly empowered. We’re not near any trails.
No one civil is going to catch us out here.
If anything, it will be another strange beast we have to kill.
So I put on my thin undergarments—a bralette and a thin piece of material that’s my underwear—then hang the rest off the back of the horse, secured to some straps. They can finish drying as we ride.
“Ready,” I say with a grin, standing tall as I face her.
She looks—dare I say—proud.
I climb on the horse in just my undergarments and order the horse into motion. My loose, damp brown hair flies through the wind as I ride through the meadow nearly naked.