My eyes flutter, a haze briefing me before a burst of brightness, making me turn away.
I blink, using my arm to shield my face from the light. Everything turns into focus; the smell of smoke and fire, yet everything white and cold around me; falling around me. I stand up, taking a step, the snow below crunching in protest.
I look ahead, bringing my arm down towards the light. A tree, luminescent in it’s own right; the trunk a mossy green, nature’s beauty in the leaves of many colors, wisping around in long glowing strands, just barely brushing the underbrush below. There is no snow surrounding the tree.
I take another step, my breath released in a puff as I head towards it. The sun shines brightly against the neutrality of the sky above; the color of smoke. The closer I walk towards it, the snow falls lighter and lighter.
I reach the brim of the tree, the ground a sharp circle separated from the snow. As I take a step, exhaustion overwhelms me and I stumble, landing on my hands and knees, yet something compels me to keep moving.
I push my left hand out, a stinging as I bring it up. A red leaf fits where the gash should be, in perfect shape with my hand and creases. At the oddity, everything around me seems to change and I am pulled to the tree, standing position.
Small whispers range around me, the audible of it foreign, yet familiar. I can’t understand, almost as if it is deliberate, but the compulsion to touch, overwhelms my rationality. I bring up my injured hand, setting it closer to the trunk, two golden leaves falling below, as I am mere inches away.
Before I can touch it, a sharp pain stings my face and I stumble back. Another sting and my head whips to the side at these invisible attackers.
“No!” I shout, flailing my arms at these invisible enemies.
“Mal!” a shout brings me back, my eyes shooting open as I launch forward on the floor. “You need to get up!”
I look over and recognize my familiar redheaded friend, Carz leaning over me, his hand held out. I reach to his and he pulls me up, leaving my side in a flash and throws my pack at me.
“We need to leave.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, worry building.
“Jarvis is here. You were tossing and whispering gibberish in your sleep. It woke me and I heard him and his men.”
“How do we leave if he is out there?” Lena asks, her cape draped around her and her shoes already fitted.
“I don’t think you will wanna stick around for him either. Can’t trust the barkeeper enough not to tell a pirate.” Carz says grudgingly.
I slip on my boots and my own cape as Carz does the same. I don’t skip a beat to the window before I take a peek outside, opening it just a crack. I watch as a whizz of light and smoke skim behind a corner, some shouting near the Inn.
“They have torches, Carz. We’re going to have to sneak out, then make a run for it.”
He nods and we all regroup by our door. I crack it open and peek out, closing it quickly when I hear a “Shh!” coming from the end of the hall.
I put a finger to my lips and they nod as I keep my attention beyond the door, listening and watching for their movements outside the keyhole. I feel sweat dabble at my brow, a headache forming.
I see a blurred man point in a direction, the man going the opposite direction towards the divide in the hallway. “Let’s move! Quiet!”
We single file out of our room, Carz at the back, shutting the door. I take brisk steps at the front, a couple paces ahead of the other two so I can see and respond to our ahead surroundings. I make it to the divider, the men on opposite ends to my sides, slowly opening the doors at the end of the hall, completely oblivious to us. I stride ahead, out of their sight and motion for Lena, then Carz.
I motion for them to stay behind me as I begin the descend downstairs. The floorboards creek under protest against our weight, but I make a hurried motion towards them as I peer into the hearth of the main space. As empty as a ghost yard.
We rush towards the front door, but as I try to crack it open, the force continues from beyond my touch, the door springing wide open. A goon of Jarvis’s squad stands before me, looming down at the three of us.
“Boss! Boss, they’re here-” he begins, but I make an uppercut, clanking teeth together in a sickening crunch. Despite his size, he stumbles back, holding his face to stop the bleeding, cursing under his breath as he tries to regain his composure.
“Upstairs!” I grab Lena’s hand and double up on the stairs, Carz quick at our heals, nearly making the princess trip in the process.
As I reach the top, I hear them before they come into view. I bring my elbow up and as I round the corner into view, I make contact, jabbing up with a crunch to the goon’s nose. He falls backward, the second one coming at me with a shiv.
Carz, pulls me a step back, just out of the range that might have connected with my side, before he returns the favor to the attacker.
“Thanks!”
A sly smile splays on his lips, his eyes full of emotion, almost showing “Saving your ass again”, as he ends in a nod.
Lena surprises me by running ahead, shouting, “Hurry!” without looking back to see if we would follow.
She barges through the door, swinging it open and pushes the window slide open, dashing through the space, a brief clack as she makes contact with the shingles. “Come on!”
We follow after her, nearly loosing my footing at the initial touch. “Lend me down!”
I look to Carson and he nods, careful to bring her down as gently as he could without losing haste. Next I help Carz, gripping his forearm as I hold his weight with mine before he slings a leg over the edge, turning to position himself to be lowered down and make a drop.
As I am about to drop him, his eyes widen and I hear shifting behind me. I look back and see the goon from below, blocking the view behind him as the goon with the now broken nose, makes his way out of the window. I look down at Carz he begins to shake his head, “No, Mal, wait-”
And I drop him.
He lands with a thud and I barely have enough to spin around and block as the man tries to kick me off. I loose balance and cling to a loosened shingle, several clunks of them falling down at the sudden weight.
“You stupid kid...”
“Who says I’m a kid?” I say, trying to make my way up, only managing to bring one knee before he attempts another kick.
I evade him and before he pulls back, I grab his foot with both my hands, just barely noticing the sting from my wrapped palm. I brace, keeping balance as I twist his leg, making him lose his as he starts to tumble, shingles flying before he disappears over the ledge.
I huff, the brawly man, trying to make his way through the window. I take my opportunity and slide down, as I reach for the end of the ledge, my foot looses below me and I try to scramble for anything, anything to grab onto as I jerk against the uneven shingles.
I slow as I reach the end of the ledge, but the momentum still too much to hold my grip on the edge. I glance down, the man below trying to sit up as I swing, falling onto him instead of the ground. I heard a loud grunt and troubled coughing as I roll off the man, trying to gather my bearings.
I feel hands on me instantly, Carz and Lena peering down at me and rasping to hurry as I am pulled to my feet. I ache with each step, but manage to keep pace, holding in my grunting as best I can through the bruises I know are forming.
We rush out the hill and duck to a brush of the trees and shrubs, looking back at where we had narrowly escaped. The men regroup near there, eight of them in total, not counting the two we took down. Jarvis was yet to be seen.
“Mal, you ok?” Lena asks, voice shaky.
I nod. “Yeah.”
Carson does a half ass inspection before directing his gaze back towards the inn. Some of them spreading out while others continued to search in that area. “Mal, we have to go. We need to make a run for it past the city posts and find a way out into the country.”
I nod, dreading the possible and most likely probability that we might be walking the whole way to Cherrwarden. It was over a two week stretch of near continuous walk with minimal rest. Carz stands and helps me up, Lena grasping my free arm to hold me steady. The after affect of the fall still shook in my legs and the headache has become more of a pounding than a doll ache.
We begin to make our way outwards, glancing back every few seconds to make sure we aren’t being followed. All of us begin to pick up speed, my body tingling, my heart thudding faster and faster as we race to the edge of the small port city connecting to the much larger city residing the palace of Valantis. We keep at a run, our breathes becoming labored as we near the posts at the edge of the port city. The end visible into view, we pass the last of the houses and head straight between a wide open area between the large gate for Valantis to our right and a guards post on our left.
As we make our way only a few yards to the end, a tall, muscular figure emerges, his scarred arms crossed, cocked with a smug grin. “Jarvis.” we all say in unison.
He chuckles, shaking his head as if in disbelief. After a few seconds he collects himself and looks back at us. “I knew you three would reside in town. After rowing all the way from just past Shadow’s Edge to Valantis’s port city, Verxus.”
“What gave you the hint that we would be in that inn?” Carz asks, glaring straight at Jarvis.
“Honestly, it was easy. You docked my stolen rower into some thick brush. Rookie move, boys. I figured you would at least do better to hide that.”
I put a hand to my face, shaking my head. He starts, “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Lesson learned, right? That is not to steal from me and pay up what you owe.”
“What exactly could we owe you?! We did you job and we didn’t even owe you then!” Carz shouts, throwing his hand out in anger.
“You owe me a job. Those trade routes are null and void now that Kasardis is no more.”
I feel Lena tense beside me. I chance a glance at her, some guilt rising, nearly surprising me. What am I guilty for? Carz and I didn’t mean to burn down the palace. We were defending ourselves... but we also left Lena an orphan. She wasn’t anymore different from us. Maybe the fact we all have been suppressing that conversation. I attempted it last night, but we needed a night to let lose. Those few hours saved us from what would have been near insanity.
“Jarvis, please.” Lena tries, looking up at him with determination. She takes a cautious step forward, standing up straight, before continuing. “We have been through enough. I lost my queendom, my home, my... my mother. My people are left without a queen and these two,” she gestures back at us, “have helped kept me alive. Their... ways of doing so could be a bit touched up on, but nobody has ever shown more courage and sacrifice than these two.”
Jarvis lifts an eyebrow, listening to every word of hers. She continues, “I’m asking you, knowing you have some grace in you still. You go back and offer a more free option to those orphans back in Rosse, right? You liberated those kids from a terrible fate. Please, allow us to pass, unharmed.”
“Ugh...” Carz rolls his eyes before slapping his face into his palm. I look to Jarvis. He stares at the princess, accessing her and seeming to be in deep thought. He sets his arms down and strides steadily over to her. She tenses up, and looks up towards his looming stance, scrunching her brows in determined confidence.
“As much as it is nice to hear a princess beg, to feel humility, I do not have the so called ‘grace’ you speak of. The fate is offer those orphans can be just as terrible. You saw what happened to those two your boys took down.” he puts a meaty hand on her shoulder, Lena tensing at the sudden touch.
“The answer is no, Princess. Brownie points for coming up with a better resolution than your mother had, though.”
Smack!
I barely register what has happened before Jarvis’s red face turns back towards the princess, his mouth wide open, his eyes staring at her as she, “Hmphs!” and turns on her heel, retreating back by Carson and I. A red welt begins forming on Jarvis’s cheek and a sinister chuckle resonates within him as his head goes back.
Carz and I ready ourselves, I glace back when the sound of kicked dirt catches my attention. We are surrounded.
“Mal...” Carz keeps his face forward, but darts his eyes towards me, sweat forming at his brow. Lena stares straight ahead, her proud pose making the corner of my mouth twitch up, not able to stop myself from half smiling.
“You three...” he steadies himself and nods for his goons to begin closing in. “You three are really something. ’specially you, Princess.”
I look to Carz and he nods. I wrap my good hand in Lena’s, catching her by surprise at her expression and I shout, “Scatter!”
Carson and I both burst in the direction closest to us, him taking the left and me towards the right. I head towards the Valantis city gate, Lena in hand, confusing the guards briefly before half of them stride towards us and the other in the opposite towards Carz.
“Mal!” Lena shouts. I head into the opened gate, ignoring the guard, who then ducks out of the way with the guards nearly knocking him over. We keep running, going in and out of alleys, jumping over small obstacles.
“Mal, we can’t leave Carz!”
I ignore her protests and keep running, paying attention to what lie ahead and also the tallest building. The palace. I run through the streets, diving through the late night crowds, murmuring small apologies as I shove people out of our way.
“Mal!”
“Hurry!” I shout, cutting away from the palace and head toward the next biggest building.
“Mal,” she rasps, “we lost them!”
I begin to slow, my face damp, my breathing hard and labored. I fast walk, keeping a tight grip on Lena and glancing back every new turn I make, coming to the building. I stop outside of it and lean over, coughing and almost sure I am about to throw up but grumble as nothing comes out.
“Are you ok? You’re dry heaving.” she says, gasping at the sudden breath to saver.
“We need to go inside.”
She raises a brow and I takes a few breathes before trying to straighten myself. She comes and takes hold of my arm and I stand, straight up, my head towards the sky for a few more breathes. My body aches and I feel sluggish. My head is pounding, we lost separated from Carson and we have no Dreuge or anything else to barter with for lodging other than the one ring left in sash, hoping to refrain from using until buying passage to Cherrwarden if we are lucky.
“Mal!” Lena snaps, blotting out the sky above and grabbing my attention. “What are we doing?”
I huff lightly, holding my side where a nice bruise was sure to be forming if not already. “Inside.”
“Are you kidding?” she throws her arms out, raising her voice and scrunching her nose and brows before stating, “We can’t up and leave Carson!”
“We aren’t.”
“How do you figure that?! They are off chasing him and we are going to cozy up in a lodging?!”
“Cozy up?” I ask, surprised. I raise a brow and a faint smile splays on my lips. Amused at her words, it fades sharply when she speaks.
“N-not that kind of cozy!” her face reddens and she crosses her arms, holding onto her elbows. I laugh at her modesty, but grunt as soon as a sharp pain spikes through my leg.
“Ha, serves you right!” we smile briefly and I chuckle. After a few seconds I answer her.
“We have had to do this before in the past. We always meet up at the tallest building. If twelve hours pass without notice, then we go hunting.”
Her lips form a grim line, but I put a hand to her shoulder, briefly remembering what happened to Jarvis for showing the same gesture. I smile to myself, proud of the confidence she displayed, but state instead, “Rest first, then worry.”
She nods and I lead my way in. She follows and we come into a wooden counter, absent of anyone nearby.
“Hello?” Lena asks aloud, but silence follows.
I shrug, it not being unusual at this time of night. I put a finger to my lips and climb the stairs, wincing at the ache in my legs as we climb two stories, landing on the third. We walk the short hallway, a door to my left and one to my right. I listen in on right side for any noise beyond the door.
I turn up and shake my head to Lena, standing up and heading to the left side. I listen at the door and nod back at her, all clear.
I slowly creak the door open and peer inside, hearing and seeing nothing. I open the door fully, the sconces in the hallway against the stone walls illuminating a wider width inside. Nothing.
We walk in and I close the door behind us, sighing in deep relief. She does the same and face firsts into the cotton sheets.
“My turn for the bed.” I say, walking over stiffly. I take the side closest towards the door, letting myself, my muscles, my mind relax.
I hear shallow steps follow around the bed. After a minute of silence, I open my eyes and face Lena, standing with her face averted towards the ground, her hands mindlessly fumbling with themselves.
“Lena?” I ask.
“Yes?” she asks, looking up at me and briefing eye contact.
“You can lay here, if you want.” I pause before adding with a smug, “If you aren’t afraid of a street rat.”
She rolls her eyes and sits, looking at me. “Is that really ok?”
“Well, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. It has always been your choice.”
She stays still, contemplating. “We can put a pillow between us if that makes you feel better? I promise, I will probably fall asleep before anything handsy could even be attempted.” I chuckle and she reddens, punching my shoulder.
“Ow!”
“Vulgarity will get you nowhere.” she crosses her arms and sets a pillow between us. I smile and close my eyes. Tonight was long and weary, sleep is a bliss I am more than happy to indulge.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
