Chapter 22 Escape
ESCAPE
I’m vaguely aware of the sound of voices and rumbling thunder, but the pain consumes me.
I black out again.
When I finally come around, I blink hard.
My eyes are leaden, and they struggle to stay open.
My head pounds, but I’m not as weak as one should be from the amount of blood I lost. My ribs are wrapped in linen, and I’ve sunken down into a very soft bed covered in thick pelts.
I don’t recognize this room. I sit up quickly and hiss at the tug of skin on my injured side.
The room is cozy, with wood paneling on the walls and ceiling.
Thick, blue, velvet curtains are drawn closed, obscuring my ability to tell what time of day it is.
The crackle of wood in the stone fireplace draws my attention to the wall on my right, and that’s when I see Lachlan sprawled in a high-back, cushioned chair.
His neck is tilted at an uncomfortable angle, and his face is scrunched deeply in worry even while he sleeps. My eyes sting, and I swallow hard to push past the lump forming down my throat.
My audible attempts at swallowing rouse him from sleep. His eyes find mine, and his face radiates pure, unadulterated relief at seeing me alive.
My heart stutters at his unexpected joy.
He must’ve put in an astonishing amount of work to keep me on this side of the ground.
“How long was I out?” I croak.
My mouth is dry, and my throat burns when I try to push out the words. He stands abruptly, crossing the room to the water ewer in the corner, pouring me a glass before sitting on the side of the bed and handing it to me.
“Just a day.” He sighs, staring at me like a blind man, seeing for the first time.
The elation in his gaze causes my heart to gallop in my chest. I gulp down the water. The coldness soothes the burning in my throat and the warmth blooming in my chest.
“Where are we?” I glance around the room.
“Someplace safe.”
His hand rests atop mine, and he absently traces circles on the back of my hand. The tattooed wings stretch down from his neck to his wrist, rippling around his forearm at the movement.
I nod, relief coursing through me as I ease back onto the pillows. Lachlan takes the glass from my hand, sets it on the side table, and then begins fluffing the pillows behind my back. I try to smother the smirk that blooms at the gesture, mother hen.
He takes a moment before looking back at me. “Can ye tell me what happened? Do ye remember anything?”
Images of Odessa and Julius as they decide to attack me flicker through my mind. But it’s not fear that taints my memories with an unnatural shade of crimson; it’s rage.
I swallow down the venom bubbling up. “I was supposed to practice two-on-one maneuvers with Julius and Odessa. It was going fine until I started seeing things before they happened. My body started shimmering with golden light, and Odessa said it was my power manifesting and asked what I could do.” Lachlan goes rigid.
“Julius said something about how they can’t let that happen, and then they started attacking me.
” I shudder at the memories. “They were going to kill me. Odessa managed to get me disarmed, and they bragged—” My voice cracks.
“They bragged that they killed my parents.” Anger collides with my sorrow to create an unholy storm of emotions threatening to spill over. “I was disarmed and enraged. I had no other options, so I reached for the—” I stop speaking abruptly and begin urgently looking around the room.
Lachlan stands and pulls the ax from behind the chair.
“Ye pulled the ax,” he says softly, wonder and pride in his gaze as he looks at me.
I sink back onto the bed. “I prayed to Odin to help me avenge my parents, and pulled the ax from the tree. Odessa fled for reinforcements, and then Julius attacked. I used the ax to block his blow, and it rebounded from the hilt so forcefully it knocked him to the ground, and then he fled.” I finish telling him, leaving out the part where I chose to run to him.
But he reads my mind.
“Then ye ran to me,” he finishes, grinning broadly at me.
I pout, crossing my arms over my chest before mumbling, “I didn’t really have any other options.”
He snorts, but the fabric underneath my crossed arms catches my attention. I pull at the cropped cotton tank that exposes my midriff and the wrapped linen around my torso that’s holding my wound together.
“Who changed me?” I ask, looking up at Lachlan.
His ears redden, and he rubs a hand on the back of his neck. “We, uh, couldn’t get to your wound with your leathers on.”
“We?” I shriek.
He raises his palms in a placating gesture. “Mathilda and I!” he quickly responds. “Look, I said we should get your consent first,” he begins, but the door swings open, and Mathilda walks in.
“But I told him you were actively bleeding out and unconscious, so we weren’t getting you to wake up before your body pieced itself back together,” she says as she crosses her arms over her chest and levels him with an annoyed look.
“What’re you doing here?” My voice cracks at seeing her here, alive and well. She huffs before sitting on the bed at my side and stroking her hand down my unbound hair.
“I couldn’t stay behind with those murderers while my future queen was fighting for her life with this tosser,” she says, as she jerks her thumb towards Lachlan. He rolls his eyes, but a smile quirks his lips.
Commotion outside the open door draws our attention. “Who else is here?”
Mathilda chuckles. “The usual suspects.” She ticks off her fingers. “Tane is in the kitchen, Evander is guarding the front, Mina, the back. Oh, and Elowen is on the roof. She showed up late since she had to grab a pack full of supplies that hero over here forgot to grab.”
She sticks her tongue out at Lachlan.
Amusement swells at the affection between them. I have friends. Amazing friends who are willing to risk their lives for me.
Tane shoulders his way into the room with a plate of food. “Oi, glad to see you’re alive,” he says. “Hungry?”
My smile stretches the split on my lip, and it burns, but it doesn’t deter me the slightest bit as I smile even wider, “You’re my new favorite person,” I tell him and reach out gently for the plate. It’s piled with cold meat, cheeses, and lingonberries.
Tane waggles his brows at Mathilda as he passes. “See, someone likes me.” She huffs at him but doesn’t respond. I begin stuffing my face with food, and the three of them watch me intently.
I pause with a portion of cheese in my mouth. “Uh, what’s up?”
Lachlan clears his throat. “You’re the queen. Ye give the orders.”
I glance around at them, realizing they are, in fact, waiting for me to tell them what to do. I swallow the piece of cheese before sitting up straighter. “I’m gonna need all of you to help with that, because I didn’t really know what was happening until they tried to kill me.”
Mathilda raises her hand. “I’ll go first!” I giggle but nod for her to go ahead.
“They’ve been actively trying to keep us from preparing for the Great War by shutting down the training grounds, closing weapon shops, and not allowing the citizens and children to be taught the signs of the approaching war.”
Tane interjects, “And they’ve been blatantly ignoring the warning signs that have happened.” We all nod in agreement.
Mathilda continues, “So I think our first course of action is to start preparing for war and trying to find a way to get you back on your throne.” I take a breath, knowing that was the obvious direction she was heading in, but for some reason, I did not want to admit it to myself.
“To prepare for war and take the throne, we’re going to need a lot more people,” I voice aloud.
The three of them share a look before Lachlan steps up.
“About that.” He pauses as if he’s not sure how to continue.
“There have been quite a few people who have disagreed with the way Odessa had started doing things.” He grimaces a bit.
“Most have relocated to Olundy to continue training there.” The name of the island tugs at me.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I ask to understand his reluctance.
“Aye, it is.” He nods with the words. “But they don’t really, uh, like ye,” he finishes before holding his breath and waiting for my reaction.
“They don’t like me?” I screech. The wound on my ribs pulls.
“It’s not that they don’t like you.” Mathilda glares at Lachlan. “They just don’t know you,” she offers. “You weren’t raised here, and they kinda didn’t know you even existed.”
“Yeah, once they meet you, they’ll see that you’re not so bad,” Tane adds.
Mathilda whips her head to him and mouths, “Not so bad?”
But he only shrugs, a look of innocence on his face.
“Great, I guess I’ll deal with that when we get there, but first, we need someone to stay here and recruit more people to our side,” I order. Lachlan recoils in surprise, but pride radiates from Mathilda, and Tane dips his chin.
“More people?” Lachlan asks. “Ye don’t even ken how many people we already ha’ there.”
I bite my lip and wince at the pain. “Yes, but if my memory serves correctly, only one council member has been absent from meetings. We need to get more of the councilors on our side to recruit from their districts if we really want to change public opinion so I can take back my throne without too much bloodshed.” I look around at the three of them.
“So, who would be the most inconspicuous?”
Without skipping a beat, they answer in unison, “Elowen.”
Chuckling, I say, “Ok, we get Elowen to stay here and recruit warriors to our side and help them get to Olundy—which is where, by the way?”
Tane replies, “It’s two islands over. We could fly there, but with your wounds and even with the healing tonic, we run the risk of your side opening up again mid-flight. It’d be safer to take a boat.” Mathilda bobs her head in agreement, her eyes darkening as she gazes at him.
“Fine. When do we leave?”
“Now,” they agree again in unison.