Chapter 3
Callum
I lead Clover back to the carriage that I arrived in, tucked away in the shade near the back of the overseer’s barracks.
My Hunters keeping guard straighten and salute as I walk up.
They’re all surreptitiously trying to sneak a glimpse at Clover, the woman we traveled almost a week to find.
Only my closest two friends, also fellow Hunters, know the purpose of this journey, and I’m sure rumors are already spreading amongst the rest of them about me picking up a random woman in the desert.
Ginna, my second-in-command, and one of the Hunters who knows the trip’s true purpose, is the first to speak.
“All set, sir?” She only adds that formality in front of the other Hunters and it sounds strange on her tongue.
I nod, and Ginna pulls open the carriage door for us in greeting, juxtaposing with her hand lightly resting on her sword. She is one of my oldest friends, having known each other since childhood, and I know she would go to any lengths to make sure that I was safe.
I nod my head towards Clover, who is still straight-backed, projecting an air of confidence. “This is Clo -” I start, but Clover immediately interrupts.
“Elia.” She sticks a hand out in greeting towards Ginna. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Ginna furrows her brows at me as she shakes Clover’s - Elia’s - hand. I could have sworn the overseer had called her Clover.
“Ginna. You’re coming back to the palace with us?” Ginna asks.
“It would seem that way.” Elia beams jovially at Ginna as if she met a new friend, and I can tell Ginna is a bit unsettled by it.
“So it does,” Ginna muses. “Well, it’s nice to meet you too, Elia.”
“Now that introductions are out of the way…” I gesture for Clover to climb into the carriage.
“We’re on a bit of a tight schedule,” Ginna throws an apologetic half-smile towards Elia.
“I’ve heard.” Elia rolls her eyes and climbs into the cabin, throwing me a scowl as she does.
She settles herself on the bench and scoots as close as she possibly can to the window.
Lucky for me, the windows don’t open, or I’d be afraid she would try and jump out.
I climb onto the opposite seat, and sit towards the middle, close enough to try and talk with her, but far enough away that our knees aren’t brushing, for her sake and for mine.
She doesn’t make any comment as the door shuts, and instead fixes her gaze on the view out the window. I focus on the shuffle outside as we prepare for our departure, and shortly after jostle in my seat as the carriage begins to move.
“You didn’t tell me your name wasn’t Clover.” My words come out more accusatory than I mean.
“You’ve never had a nickname before?” Elia arches a brow.
Being called Cal instead of Callum doesn’t really count as a nickname. The only real nicknames I had were pet names, and I try hard not to ever dwell on those again.
I sidestep her question. “The overseer didn’t mention your full name to me.”
She snorts. “Not surprised. He probably doesn’t even know it. He and the guards have called me Clover since my first week there.”
“How do you get Clover from Elia?” I notice she still doesn’t provide me with her full name.
She grips the bench with both her hands, leaning forwards slightly. “Luck.” She raises her eyebrows. “Isn’t that the reason you came for my help? The lucky girl finding all the relics in the Sand Traps?”
She isn’t entirely wrong, and I probably owe her an explanation. Silence fills the cabin as I try to put thoughts to words, struggling, as despite my careful seating arrangement, our knees brush at every movement of the carriage and erase any intelligible thought.
“Some members of the King’s council were talking about Labor Camp West in its entirety.
That location has provided the King with the most relics to date, so we came to investigate.
The overseer was the one who mentioned that you were the person single-handedly finding them all.
” I lick my lower lip, trying not to notice her eyes instinctively tracking the movement.
“Is that really all it was? Luck that made you find so many of them?”
“Like I told you earlier, I’ve been at the camp for ten years.
Of course I would find the most.” She flicks a piece of hair from her face.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on me finding whatever you’re on the hunt for.
I’ll do my best to help, but with the caveat that I’m not a miracle worker, nor would I consider myself lucky.
” Elia mutters that last part under her breath, so low that I almost miss it.
Now it is my turn to falter. The work camps were set up to be places where people could temporarily go for a job, food, and shelter until they saved enough to move on. They were never meant to be someone’s home for a year, never mind ten.
I want to question her further for details about her life, how she ended up staying there so long, why she didn’t leave, and about a dozen other questions, but I figure I shouldn’t press my luck given the day of events.
“Well, any insight is appreciated. You’re kind of our last resort.”
Her eyes go wide as something dawns on her. “You won’t send me back if I don’t find it, right? Either I find the relic, and go on my merry way, or I don’t find the relic, and I still go on my merry way?”
Elia still makes the camp sound like a prison, and I know I’m missing something. I don’t ask, content for the time being that she seems to be warming up to me, body engaged and life in her voice.
“Of course not. You won’t have to go back if you don’t want to. I’ll help you move to anywhere you want and make sure you’re properly safe and set up.”
“Thank you.” She sags in relief. “I hope your honor turns out to be worth something.”
I don’t respond. I’d already given her words, and something tells me that she’ll only respond to my actions from hereon out. I’ll have to show her that she can trust me.
“Can I ask what it is we’re searching for, exactly?
” Before I have a chance to respond, she continues.
“Wait – let me guess.” She taps her finger on the side of her jaw.
“A wine cup that constantly refills. A fountain that spews gold coins. Another once in a lifetime object that the King absolutely needs to have!” She shakes her head, rolling her eyes.
“Why don’t you announce it to the public and make every person go on the hunt for it like before? Oh, that’s right –” Elia stares at me pointedly, as if daring for me to challenge her. “That didn’t go well.”
Her earlier disdain towards me is starting to make sense.
She’s referring to the Golden Hunt – a kingdomwide treasure hunt that was announced almost eleven years ago.
King Corvin was trying to find an ancient chest that was rumored to be filled with rare relics, ones that held the Ancients’ most powerful abilities, as well as other valuables.
He and the Hunters had announced that if it was found, the finder could keep a percentage of the items, relics not included.
In theory, it seemed like a good idea.
The execution, not so much, as was the trend.
This announcement grew bigger than expected, and people left their jobs and families to go find the treasure chest. It also didn’t help that the existence of the chest that all these people were trying to find was never actually confirmed nor the items inside.
That information was told to the public after the fact, but it was ignored, people hellbent on finding the possibly-existing valuables.
The Hunt was called off about a year after it was announced.
We had determined that there were no solid leads discovered in that year, and the economy was in a decline due to the loss of workers.
Calling it off helped some, but a lot of people still searched until they couldn’t - either from lack of funds or from other, more unsavory reasons.
And while I understood the obsession that came with any hunt, these ordinary townsfolks continued to sacrifice their entire livelihoods based on that one announcement.
No, this time we had real evidence that the relic existed, and we wouldn’t make the same mistake of telling the public. Besides, there is more at stake here than just the King’s coffers.
“You can ask. And I’ll tell you as soon as we arrive back at the palace.”
“That secretive, huh?” She arches an eyebrow.
I press my lips together, not wanting to give much away.
Even though she agreed to help me, I’m not so na?ve to expect her sworn loyalty, especially after her side remark about the Hunt.
After all, she was bribed to help us. Plus, aside from Ginna, the rest of my Hunters on this trip don’t know about the relic we’re on the hunt for either, and I need to keep it that way until we reach the castle.
“Was that your boyfriend back there?” I try to switch topics, and that one is somehow at the front of my mind.
“Who?”
“The guard that couldn’t keep his eyes off you. The tall one with the beard?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I am merely trying to make friendly conversation.”
“And asking about past lovers is the topic you landed on?” She raises an eyebrow at me. She’s trying hard to stop the corner of her lips from tugging up.
“Okay, maybe not the best choice.” I grin for the first time in a while. “Not the worst choice, either.”
“I don’t want to know your worst choice.” Elia loses the battle and a grin breaks out across her face.
It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen.
“Then you should answer the midchoice.”
“You first.”
I should have seen that coming. Elia crosses her arms, waiting expectedly.
“I’m unattached. Have been for the last five or so years.”
That’s a safe enough answer. A truthful one that allows me not to linger on the last relationship I did have. The one that shattered my soul into a million pieces that I’m still slowly working to put back together.
“And lovers?”
I cough. “Are you always this blunt?”
“You asked me first!”
“I asked about a boyfriend, not everyone you slept with.”
“Same difference.” She lifts a shoulder. “I am merely trying to make friendly conversation,” Elia bats her eyes at me as she quotes me from earlier.
Another minute of silence, but it’s not awkward now.
“None,” I answer at last.
Her eyebrows disappear into her hairline. “None in five years?”
I shake my head.
“Wow. Someone must have been very special to you.”
He was. But I don’t say that out loud.
“Soren wasn’t my boyfriend. The guard, I mean. He was… someone there, I guess.”
“Did you love him?” The words slip from my mouth before I can stop them.
Elia chokes. “Definitely not. He was a guard first, and a warm body second.”
“Is he the one who hit you?”
I had seen the slight red on her face earlier when we first met, but had wrongly mistaken it for a blush. Later when we were walking to the carriages I noticed there was a slight swelling to her right cheek as well.
My hands tighten at my sides, twitching, thinking of someone willingly hurting this woman in front of me. If I had noticed it for what it was earlier, the guard would’ve died right then and there by my hand. Luckily for him, the swelling has gone down and is barely noticeable now.
“Like I said, he was a guard first.” Sadness clouds her eyes, and I immediately regret asking. The mood grows somber in the carriage and the conversation ends.