Chapter 16 #2
Control. That was what he enjoyed. Having the control of my torment.
“Why do you all sleep in a tent together?” I asked, still shocked to have had been in a den of them. Inches away from me while I slept, and I had absolutely no idea.
“Why not?” He appeared genuinely confused.
“I don’t know, privacy?”
Erik’s lips tugged up at the side as if I said something funny and he was trying not to laugh.
“It’s safer when we are all together. Plus, the thin fabric of the tents doesn’t do much to hinder what we hear or smell.
It’s practically useless for privacy. The only thing the tent is good for is shelter from the elements. ”
Sleeping all together like a pack of wild animals.
“Why did they all wake at the same time and stare at me as if I was their dinner?”
“Your heart rate spiked. Adrenaline and fear moved through you. Your alarm at the situation was like an alarm to us. They looked at you because you were the thing to wake them, and they were searching for any sign of threat.” He laughed.
“They certainly were not looking at you as if you were their dinner.”
I swallowed the unease and wondered what the difference would have been when they looked upon their dinner.
Erik rose to his feet, offering his hand. “C’mon, let’s head out so they can dismantle the tent.”
His palm was warm as my fingers brushed against it before he closed his hand around mine. Erik pulled me up with ease and led me outside. The other Lysians were busy readying the horses while I made myself useful by folding some blankets.
“Here.” Kole held out a cup as I finished folding the last blanket. “I’ll take that.” He held out his other hand for the quilt. We exchanged a cup for a blanket. A soothing warmth seeped into my fingers. The aroma of lemon and ginger drifted from the liquid.
“You made me tea?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise.
“To settle your nerves,” Kole answered, turning to continue packing up.
I couldn’t help but smile, for he took the time to make it for me.
I attempted to get Kole to drink tea with me at times.
He always refused. I even once made a brew very similar to the one I now held.
I relished drinking it while he frowned, making a comment of how it tasted like dirty water, and he had no idea how I could stomach it.
This act, him making me a cup, I could not help but wonder if I was finally bridging the distance between us. Was he finally taking a small liking to me?
I downed the tea and welcomed its warmth. Sadly, the moment ended too soon and again, we were on the move.
My body ached when we mounted the horses. The single night’s rest was far from enough. Tight muscles groaned as we began the journey. A sharp discomfort eventually subsided into a dull nagging that remained no matter how I shifted my weight or changed my posture.
The day dragged on as we set a good pace across the lands, making camp one more night before our scheduled arrival in my home city. The Lysians traveled remarkably quick, making the journey at least half a day quicker than Bavadrins would have.
With a frown, I understood how lazy we had become.
After the Sparrow Archers were removed from the city, the Dunes Clan to the south then vanished along with their conjuring gifts.
Our military was in poor form compared to the Lysians who seemed put together as if they were training for war this entire time.
Eventually, familiar grasslands surrounded us. We approached my home painfully slow. Were I riding on my own then I would have sent the horse sprinting, but they did not give me that opportunity. Erik kept the pace unfalteringly steady.
It was a challenge to keep from moving in anticipation. A mixture of excitement and uncertainty pulled at me. The feelings mixed with the discomfort of the unknown. What would greet us on the other side of the city’s gate? All I had to go by were the promises Erik made.
Erik halted the horse, the other Lysians following his lead without question. I glanced over my shoulder at him to find his gaze focused on something in the distance. Turning, I followed his line of sight till I saw the thing holding his attention.
A wolf crouched in the grass, its ears and eyes directed towards us. Though I knew it to be gray, it somehow blended into the dry grass surrounding it.
“Shay.” Her name was a whisper on my lips, yet she recognized it. The wolf rose from her crouch, standing straight, amber eyes not straying from mine. She was one of Willis’s, and now that she knew I was coming home, so did he.
I turned to Erik, who watched the wolf, brows drawn.
“She is one of ours,” I said to him. “She will not harm us or get in our way. Please, leave her be.”
“One of yours?”
“Yes. We have a few domesticated wolves, primarily used for hunting.”
“Fine, as long as she does not come any closer,” Erik said, finally moving his horse forward. As we continued, his gaze periodically fell to the side, looking at the wolf running parallel to us. Not once did she get closer while accompanying us all the way to the gates.
The city looked whole from the outside. The protective wall still stood.
A dark cloud of smoke did not hover over it.
Yet a strange, ominous feeling surrounded it.
As if the city held its breath, afraid to exhale in case it all came tumbling down.
It felt oddly still with a stale air encompassing it.
We paused outside of the entrance, waiting to be let in. The wooden gate opened, now controlled by Lysians, and we entered what used to be the stronghold of the Bavadrins.
Normally upon arriving, one caught the sounds of life: children playing, friends laughing, and elders lecturing. None of those things were present. It was eerily quiet.
“Would you like to go on foot from here?” Erik asked gently.
“Please,” I answered, eager to be free to move around.
A moment later, we were strolling down the path that cut down the heart of the capitol.
Whispers rumbled from the edge of the street, but above that, the strange silence persisted.
It broke my heart. How frightened everyone must have been when the city was overtaken by the Lysians and their Leader Superior ripped away from them.
Even if Fraser was a terrible leader, he was someone they would have turned to at a time of need and they no longer could.
“Can you hear what they are saying?” I looked at Erik. Surely his Lysian ears could make out some of the distant whispers.
“They are confused and scared. They don’t know why you are with us. Some thought you died in the battle,” he answered with a slight frown, as if he may have heard more, but did not wish to share it.
“Where are the Bavadrin warriors kept?” I asked, not seeing any of them when normally there were many stationed around the walls of the city.
“They could stay in their homes as long as they didn’t cause trouble,” he answered while monitoring the surroundings. Even though the Lysians now controlled the city, he remained very much alert, watching for potential threats.
“And if they caused trouble?”
“Then they were gathered and put into cells.”
Cells? For how long and how many had that happened to?
“Ariana!” a familiar voice yelled out, drawing the attention of our entire Lysian party.
Breath left me in a whoosh of relief. I had not realized how frightened I had been for the safety of those I cared most for.
It was as if I locked away those emotions while I was gone, only for them to be released now.
Though I thought of them, I realized those worries were only a shallow scratch of the full force stirring deep within.
It was Edda. She was okay.
That realization nearly crippled me. I could have fallen to the ground and wept, but I didn’t. To fall apart and show such blatant weakness would not serve me well. The need to remain strong for my people and the Lysians who imprisoned my city kept me upright.
Edda stepped out into the open, heading straight for us. Lysians reacted in unison, shifting into a protective stance. They prepared to keep her at a distance, primed to use force if necessary.
“No, please let her pass.” I turned to Erik, who searched my face for something before finally nodding. Instantly, the Lysians around us relaxed, stepping away to allow for a path for Edda while keeping a wary eye on her. Old age and small stature did not mean she was harmless, and they knew that.
Edda and I moved towards each other, and I couldn’t help but throw my arms around her. She held me in an iron grip, and it felt as though the two of us exhaled in relief together. Tears lined my eyes as I released her.
“I am so glad you’re okay,” I said to her.
Edda huffed, waving a hand in the air as if trying to wave off my needless words. “I told you I would be fine, and that you would return.”
By the Spirit, why did she speak like that out loud in such a company? Did she want the Lysians to know she was a Seer? It was not a secret I wished for them to know, for I did not know what they would do with her then.
“You look well, considering,” she stated while fearlessly making a pointed glance at those surrounding us. “Have you returned for good?”
“Just visiting. We brought food.” I answered. Looping an arm through hers, I led her past the Lysians to Erik.
“Edda, this is Erik, King of the Lysians.” I then turned to him. “This is Edda. She often gave insight and advice to the Leader Superior.” I would try to play her off as simply an old, wise, and witty woman.
“Not that he ever listened,” she muttered to herself before smiling at Erik.
“Well, you are handsome for your breed. You always had quite the powerful physique but now seeing you up close there is clearly more there.” She alluded to the last time he was in the city when Fraser had him strung up and whipped.
My fingers gripped her arm, burrowing into her flesh as a plea to stop speaking.
If she felt an ounce of discomfort, then she showed none of it.
A tight smile found its way to Erik’s lips.
“Egh, that is, unless you expose those barbaric teeth of yours,” Edda stated without care of potential reprimand.
Kole coughed to either suppress a laugh or pure shock at how someone was speaking to his King. Erik’s smile evaporated into a thin line. Edda was testing his patience, and we hadn’t even made it halfway into the city yet.
“Edda!” I looked at her in surprise.
She carried on as if nothing happened. Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved a small burlap bag, beads clinging against one another as she held it out to me. “I have collected these stones over the years for you. It brings me great joy to finally gift them to you.”
My eyes would have bulged, but by the grace of the Spirit, I mastered myself. What did she think she was doing? It did not appear she was trying to hide what she was at all.
“What are they for?” Erik asked before I could even respond.
Edda’s dark gaze turned to the King, void of apprehension. “They are for her to wear in her hair when the ritual will be performed, marking her as our Leader Superior.”
Blood instantly drained from my face. She was basically announcing that she was a Seer.
“How did you know she would be chosen next to lead the Bavadrins?” he asked.
“How did you know?” she asked him in return without missing a beat.
“I didn’t.” His stare bore into her, and she met it full force.
“Yet in your short few interactions with her, you knew enough to consider the possibility, so much so that you took her when your army attacked.” Edda then smiled.
“I have known Ariana since she was but a child. You don’t have to be a Seer to know she should be the next to lead.
” I nearly choked on air and Edda turned to me.
“Or am I wrong? Were you marked by blood when your father was killed?”
Erik’s sapphire gaze narrowed, though he waited for me to answer the question.
“I was,” I confirmed.
Edda smiled. “Well.” She held out the satchel with stones once more. “Then these are for you.”
I took them, not knowing how to remedy her lack of caution regarding hiding what she was. “Thank you.” The words were a mumble.
Edda turned to Erik once more. “I would like to go with Ariana when she leaves with you to head back to your lands. She will need help to prepare for the ceremony to ascend, and I am now the closest thing to family she has left. It would be wise to allow her to have my guidance as she takes on this new role.”
Erik’s sapphire eyes narrowed even further. He looked at Edda from head to toe.
“That will be fine,” he finally said in agreement.
I nearly sighed in relief.