Chapter 1 #2
She shook it off and focused. The tattoo beneath her tattered sleeve glowed a soft blue that bathed the wagon as though they were floating in the open ocean.
Finley reached for her magic and felt for the presence of water nearby.
A bucket in the front where the driver sat, but that wasn’t helpful.
A few miles away was a pond, maybe a small lake.
Better, but still not all that helpful. It would probably knock her out sooner, but she stretched her senses even farther.
A few rivers. After a little more stretching and sensing, there seemed to be a decent-sized lake about a day’s walk to the west, and then in the other direction even farther she got a whiff of another lake.
If she guessed correctly, she was still in the kingdom of Cresin between the Illia and Sabryl Lakes.
Not ideal by any means. They were too far away for her to sense where the crew on The Mystic was.
Without Finley’s magic, they wouldn’t be able to dive underwater and travel through rivers and lakes, so they were likely out in the Cedrya Sea.
She couldn’t decide if it was better or worse if they stayed close to shore or ventured into open water.
On the one hand, if they were near shore she could get to them more easily once she found her way out of this mess.
On the other… they would be safer in open water.
At least she was still in Cresin and could get to the Paravian Mountains sooner.
Finley forced her eyes open once again and the glow of the tattoo faded away until it was nothing more than blue ink on her skin.
The world swayed around her a tad and she steadied herself against the wagon wall.
Even though she’d just been sleeping, the brawl with Rafe and the use of magic was already wearing her out.
Using magic always activated the sleeping curse, but it was getting worse every day.
“Not much of a view, I agree,” Rafe said in a bored tone.
“I’m trying to figure out where we are,” Finley snapped and tried to suppress a yawn. “And we’re in Cresin still, if you wanted to know.”
“I could have told you that.” A slick smile spread across his face, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was such a cocky smart ass.
“Do you know where in Cresin, murderer?”
“On our way to prison,” he answered, bored once again and flopped an arm over his eyes.
He had no clue where they were, and she at least had an idea.
If needed, she could get him to help her escape, then ditch him the moment she had the chance, and he wouldn’t know where to go.
His wolf sense might give him some help, but if she could get to a body of water before he had a sense of place, it wouldn’t be a problem. If she could stay awake that long.
The whole wagon was made of wood, which was easy enough to work with.
She still felt drained from her sleep, so her magic would be tired.
But with the help of the small bucket by the driver, she could muster up enough to disintegrate the wood to make a small hole and they’d be able to slip out.
Or she could escape and leave Rafe to rot. Either way.
Finley knelt on the floor, hovered her palms over the wooden planks, and closed her eyes.
Oh no. It felt far too good to do that. Why was she already so tired?
These spells were getting closer together each day, which meant she had to get to the mountains as soon as possible. There wasn’t time to waste in prison.
She blinked a few times to wake herself up then resumed the position to summon her water magic. A steady stream was all she needed. Easy enough. Her tattoo glowed again, but when she aimed her magic toward the floor, the small spurts of water she’d managed to summon splashed back at her.
“Gah! Come on, you’re not that tired,” she muttered.
“The wagon wards off our magic,” Rafe said from his side. He didn’t bother to lift his arm or look at her. “If you’d asked, I would have told you that.”
Finley narrowed her eyes at him and the glow of her tattoo vanished. “You just wanted to make me look like a fool.”
“Gotta find my entertainment somehow.”
Damn him to Stula’s realm.
She stifled a yawn and the world grew fuzzy around the edges. The soft sound of rolling waves sang in her ears the temptation of sleep started to woo her again. Maybe this past day-long nap hadn’t been enough. Which wasn’t a good sign.
Something must have caught Rafe’s attention because he finally moved his arm and propped himself up to look at her. “Are you falling asleep again? What did they do to you?”
Finley wanted to snap back at him that they didn’t do anything to her.
It was Amelia and her bitch of a mother who had done this.
Amelia for convincing her to join in on her schemes back in Oxare, and Mariah for placing the curse in the first place.
But all that she could muster was a sound almost like a growland she sank back into the hay.
It came on fast this time, and Finley couldn’t hold her head up any longer. She lowered herself onto the hay as Rafe chuckled. But she managed to offer him a foul hand gesture before closing her eyes.
“How ladylike.”
Her respite was short lived. No sooner than she’d dozed off, something cold and wet was splashed onto her.
Water.
Wonderous, glorious water. Finley gasped and sputtered, but her body came alive with the lovely sensation of being wet and her magic swam through her veins.
“Get up, ya lazy pile of shit,” a deep voice growled at her. A burly man with a subtle odor of mold and rotten eggs loomed above, blocking the tiny bits of sun that streamed through the wagon. “Get up I said!”
Finley snarled back at him and stretched her arms over her head. Of course, someone foul had to go and ruin things for her. “Pipe down, I’m getting up.”
A set of iron cuffs clicked around her wrists before she had the chance to lower them again. They were attached to a long chain linking her to Rafe, who wore a blank look on his face, accepting their fate.
The wagon driver leaned forward toward Finley then pulled her to her feet, his nose almost touching hers.
He mustn’t have washed in days for dirt and grime hung onto his scruff like survivors of a shipwreck grasping the wreckage and there was a slight green tinge to his skin.
His foul breath assaulted her nostrils, and she grimaced as he spoke.
There was something off about this man, but with the glare of the sun she couldn’t figure out what.
“That’ll earn you a beating once you’re inside with a mouth like that.”
“You’ll kill all the plant life within miles with breath like that.”
The blow to her face hit Finley before she saw it coming, and she staggered back a few paces. Her cheek pulsed with pain, but she refused to give him — or Rafe — the satisfaction of seeing it hurt her. There would be a bruise there the next day, she was sure.
With a tug that almost yanked her arms out of her sockets, she was led out of the wagon with Rafe close behind.
“Do you have to aggravate him like that?” Rafe asked in a whisper. His breath was hot against her neck, but it was better than this ogre yelling in her face.
“He woke me up.” She wanted to be awake again so she could go find Ai, but not because someone forced her into a prison cell with this wolf.
“You’ve had enough sleep. Besides, I don’t think?—”
Finley nudged him back with her elbow even though she knew he was right. He had no idea why he was, nor would she ever tell him. She’d been sleeping for too long and too often. “Mind your business, wolf,” she spat over her shoulder.
“Stop yer flirting and get movin’!”