Chapter 13
Alora
Surprisingly, I slept and wasn’t met with nightmares or any dreams in general. Instead I had the kind of sleep that makes you feel disoriented when you wake.
The others obviously completed packing up camp while I was asleep as the horses are all saddled and loaded, even Dahla.
I stretch my limbs and immediately wince. The soreness from both my escape and our ensuing travel has settled in my thighs, making me stiff. What I wouldn’t do to sit and soak in the warm pools of Rivers End.
The faint scent of cooked meat has my stomach growling. It’s reassuring that it no longer feels full of lead.
Scrubbing my eyes with my fists, I try to dispel the fatigue. I’ll have a chance to rest when we arrive at Rivers Edge, roughly an additional seven days’ ride from our current location.
I try and force myself to get moving, but my body disagrees, even if I am lying on this scratchy heap of a blanket.
Groaning, I roll to my back, blood returning to the arm I must have slept on. The phantom needles have me squeezing my hand into a fist and releasing.
Lees saunters over to me, an eyebrow quirked. “I’m shocked the princess slept this long on a mere bedroll.”
It’s not lost on me that she’s already trying to ease the tension she’s anticipating me to be experiencing.
“Well, to be honest I’m not sure exactly how long I actually slept for. But I’m also surprised. How long have you been waiting…” a yawn seizes me before I can finish asking.
“Not terribly long. Enough time for the guys to catch a hare and roast it, though, so maybe longer than you intended.”
“It smells delicious.” The growling of my stomach only confirms my statement.
I sit up and begin to pack up my bedroll, tightening the belt around the fabric.
Caym makes his way over to me, charred hare in hand. Gods bless this man.
He grabs the bedroll from me in trade for the roasted meat.
I greedily rip off a bite that’s much too big for my mouth and happily choke it down before doing it again.
I’m sure it tastes great but between the poor food options from the dungeon and our nonstop ride yesterday, I’m starving and hardly notice between mouthfuls.
The imagination does great things. I can almost believe I’m eating this paired with some buttery rolls that flake with each layer. The greens that would be dished as a side, cooked with garlic and salt, make the imaginary dinner delectable.
I finish my meat and then flick the bone over my shoulder onto the wooded floor. Kina quickly caws, claiming the remains. She pecks at them ruthlessly.
“What are we doing with our captive?” Caym watches me, waiting for me to take the lead.
“I hadn’t thought that far, truthfully. I figured it would be a good way to piss off the king by taking his executioner, he can’t very well make public displays with The Devourer missing..” I smile falsely as I wipe my face onto my already pitiful sleeve.
“You’re not cute when you do that, you know.” His brows furrow together and I swear his nose lifts higher into the air.
His teasing is brotherly, familiar so it’s only fair that I quip right back. “You’re not cute ever, I’m not sure why Lees hasn’t come to her senses just yet.”
He clutches his chest, face grimacing.
“You’re feeling better I see.” It’s more of a question than a statement, but I don’t risk digging up more emotions from their watery grave.
His eyes roll as he lowers his arms. His expression turns serious as he shifts from foot to foot. “Really, what are we going to do with him? We can’t risk him memorizing the way into Rivers End.”
I look away from Caym and roll my lip between my teeth.
Things are more complicated than I’d originally considered when we traipsed with our captive through the forest yesterday.
There were more things that could go wrong.
We have the Devourer. He’s important to the king and his companions would come for him—risking The Nightmare finding us is something I won’t willingly do, not for Caym’s sake.
“I’m aware,” I whisper, “we still have a few days before it gets to that. I guess we can continue to have you lead him until I can decide what exactly my plans for him include.”
I glance at the man in question. The Devourer just sits, still chained to the same tree he was bound to when I fell asleep.
His disheveled appearance makes him appear more beastly. I’m sure he’s seen better days, but I’d be a liar if I admitted it didn’t make at least a little part of me warm and fuzzy knowing he’s suffering.
Looking back to Caym, I continue, “Well get him up, give him scraps, and let’s get going.”
It doesn’t take long before we’re loaded up and on our horses again, making our way along the dry bank this time as we’re miles from Astoria and hopefully far from any trackers.
My mind races through the events from the last couple days.
Hesitantly I shout back to Caym. “Did we destroy the culling band storage? Even though we ended up being captured?”
He sighs in disbelief. “Yes, they’re gone now.
I guess once we didn’t come back, Naveen and his men arrived and saw you being hauled off and waited in the underbrush until you were long gone.
The Nightmare had left me to writhe, locked in my subconscious.
I’m sure it’s not often people with fractured minds from his grasp are able to return to sanity. ”
He stops for a moment, his eyes focused on something faraway. I let the silence carry until Caym starts talking again.
“Shockingly it wasn’t that hard to meld them once we brought them back to the village, Jessamine oversaw that. She was ready to level the realm when she’d heard you’d been taken so it was a good distraction for her, continuing on with your work.”
Relief flows through my veins. That’s a huge step in the scheme of things, knowing we just dissolved one of the biggest iron manacles stores in the kingdom. I’m grateful for Jessamine’s swift action as well, especially knowing how hard it is for her to be still.
Caym kicks his horse, urging it to start onward again. “Really though, there weren’t as many as we thought.”
“Well, we got rid of them and that’s all that matters.” I face forward, watching Merinda clear the trail in front of us.
We continue on like this, small talk exchanged past the moons’ rise. This feels normal, like we’ve won something we didn’t anticipate.
I’ve only glanced at our prisoner a few times, his lips still pursed, focused straight ahead, ignoring me and everyone else.
I wonder what he’s thinking about.
Caym asks about my time spent away from him and how I got through it.
I tell him the truth, mostly. But I do leave out that Rion tried to rape and kill me and how The Nightmare stood there callously.
I can’t break Caym any more than he already has, so I’ll do as I’ve always done and throw this messy revelation somewhere it can’t fester as much.
“So what about the plans about where you two will be staying since we have a long ride ahead of us.”
The question is out of nowhere, my thoughts bouncing around in my head untethered due to my growing restlessness. Caym looks as if I’ve just thrown something at his face.
“I’m leaving that up to Leeson, I’ve learned to not poke that beast with her. If she’s happy, then I’m happy.”
My lip curves up and I feel momentarily lighter. “Ahhh, I see. She’s already got you trained. What a good little soldier.”
He picks up something from his pack and throws it at me. A packet of cloth nails me in the head and his roar of laughter has everyone joining him. How I’ve missed this, the comradery, the community.
Caym and I continued like this until well past midmorning. It was a relief to know that though he’d been harmed too from The Nightmare, we still could find solace in our sibling—like bond.
The Devourer never says a word, as if he’s taken a vow of silence. I’d almost prefer it, but something nags at me that he isn’t even upset or fighting his capture.
He’s been the perfect captive, getting up when he falls, never complaining. Just resolute, solemn even. I expected something different from someone who has been doted on by the king. It’s concerning like he knows we’re walking into a trap.
Dahla continues on, though I begin to notice her head hanging lower as the distance traveled increases.
“I think we should take a rest here, because I need to pee and my ass is numb.”
Relief seems to pull Lees’ smile out.
“I’d like that, my legs would do well with some stretching.” Her airy voice hoovers in the wind.
Utters of agreement follow suit. I look upward into the break in the canopy and search the stars. Clouds form, covering the moons that would otherwise serve as a beacon.
A silver flame in the star scattered sky shoots across the visible patch between the trees crowns.
It glints like a jewel and I can’t help but think back on when I laid in the heather with my parents, watching the balls of light plummet to their demise, wishing childish things on them. How na?ve I was then.
A voice cracks through the pleasant memory. “What do you wish for?” Merinda asks nonchalantly, her gaze also locked on the trailing light.
I stare into the deep blue pools of her eyes.
She looks at me expectantly now, and it almost makes me feel bad for what I answer.
“I don’t wish anymore. ” I turn from her, leaving her there.
I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just that if I let these memories pry out, I’ll combust as if I was a star too, flickering until I burn out.
Making my way back to Dahla, her snout to the soft grass she greedily rips at, I notice he is as focused as I was looking at the star, but he isn’t staring at the sky, he’s looking right at me—through me.
Ignoring the way my skin seems to pebble with his blatant stare, I walk to Dahla and flip my saddlebag’s open.
“So, Devourer, how is this night’s stroll going for you? Is it what you anticipated?” I ask him, not bothering to look up from my saddlebag.