Flora

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Flora Page 26

by Kendal M Lyon


  She kept her gaze forward, not daring to think of where Lord Reynald was behind her, though she could hear the voice of the young guard coming from somewhere.

  "Ow," Flora said as her hand slid against something sharp, cutting her palm open. It was the sword, and Flora wrapped her fist around the handle, dragging it through the mud with her. It felt like ages until she could get her feet back under her and run back into the gardens.

  What is Family

  Perry found her soon after as the rain slowed to a trickle, the wind slowed to a breeze, and the ground became steady beneath them. "What happened?" Perry asked, holding her shoulders as thunder still rumbled in the distantce.

  Flora's mouth opened and closed but she could get nothing to come out and Perry soon guided her by her shoulder and she found herself once again in a tunnel, but this one could be mistaken for nothing but a sewer.

  She could hear her own teeth grinding as Flora crawled behind Perry through the muck. Her pants becoming slippery, coated in so many things she did not even want to think about as they left Thren and the castle behind. How could she have left Thren behind? If Lord Reynald survived and he knew what Flora was...there was no hope for Thren.

  She could still turn around, she thought, her fingers squeezing the blade of her sword. She could find another way. Maybe live in the tunnels. Eventually, someone might lower the guard around Thren and she would be able to find a way. If he was still alive by then.

  They came out of the sewer tunnel along the river of the upper terrace, beside a dozen other tunnels that looked the exact same. Water roared as the falling water hit the river. Flora barely had time to take in her surroundings, when two arms surrounded her, squeezing her tight, ignoring the grime she was in, followed by Lorcel's familiar face.

  Flora smiled and squeezed him back, burying her head under his chin. She breathed in the familiar oak smell as she felt him stroking her hair. Flora blinked back her relieved tears as her guts clenched. She felt like she hadn't even thought about Roanan and Lorcel for so long. Her only worries had been Thren and Dawson.

  "Are you..." Flora started.

  "We are fine. Roanan is fine. Better now," Lorcel said, releasing her from his grip. Grabbing her hand and dragging her along down a small patch that switched back down the terrace. Perry matched step with him.

  "We need better cover than this," Perry said with a sigh, his hand running down the moss covered stone.

  "Where will we go? Guards were swarming all over Harriets still when I last checked in, the place was destroyed," said Lorcel

  "I know someone who has a wagon, it will take us out of the city," Perry said. "But its on the bottom level."

  Lorcel glanced at Flora with his lips smacked together before nodding to Perry. "Good, lets go."

  "Out of the city?" Flora asked. Perry nodded his head.

  "Where did you stash Dawson?" Perry said, turning away from them.

  "Nearly had to chain the bastard to a rock to stop him from heading to Harriet's. He is down a level," Lorcel said not far behind Perry, still dragging Flora by the hand, pulling her arm from her socket.

  Dawson looked ready to murder Lorcel by the time they found him, in a brotherly way at least. Lorcel had literally tied him up. Dawson was undoing the last ropes as they came on, cursing Lorcel with more and more determination the closer they got. Flora had to rub the feeling back into her palms as Lorcel finally released her hand to help Dawson up, as he escaped the rope. He barely stood on his own two feet as pale as he was.

  "Good thing we got here when we did," said Lorcel.

  "It takes so much more to keep me down," Dawson said as he thumped Lorcel hard on the back, which nearly made both Dawson and Lorcel fall over, and looked at their group, nodding at Flora. "Where is Thren?" He asked.

  Flora looked at Perry crossing her arms as hateful fury rose inside the dark hollow of her heart.

  "Plans have...changed," Lorcel said when Perry didn't answer, looking between Flora and Perry.

  "Everyone in there is on high alert. I am sure the city will be on high alert in no time. We need to get out of here before the sun rises and then figure it out," Perry said, finally composing himself.

  "We can't just leave him in there," Dawson said, looking at Flora for help.

  "It would be death for sure if we got him out now. For both him and us," Lorcel said quietly to Flora's shock. She could hear her jaw drop. "Lets at least get you both healed, and have a better plan to get him out."

  "Nah we can get this, how many are around him," Dawson asked, blanching at Perry's answer.

  "But Lord Reynald might be dead," Flora said, causing the group to go quiet. Moments ticked past as the group looked between each other.

  "How?" Perry asked.

  "I threw him off a roof," Flora said quietly as Lorcel dropped his arms over her. Flora's arms were limp at her side, the blade's dip nearly dragging on the ground.

  "So our chances are better than," Dawson said, limping back towards the path along the rock face.

  Perry ran his hands across his chin and screamed into his palm. Before Flora could tell what he was doing he was behind Dawson, with his knife flipped in his hand, bashing him across the back of the head, while Dawson fell unconscious to the ground.

  "Dawson," Flora screamed as she lunged for Perry only to be held back by Lorcel. Her scream echoed through the empty night. Drowned out only by a crash of distant thunder.

  "Whoa," Lorcel said as the ground heaved and landed on top of her pinning her down. Lorcel quickly rolled off her and picked her up, holding her firmly upright.

  Perry turned to her. "We will get him back, but we have to get out of here, and we are wasting too much time."

  Flora spat in his face, but the guilt was rising up so high in Flora's throat she thought she would puke.

  "But he is our brother—" she said as none of the others made to move back to the castle, "my brother."

  Perry turned his back on her to pick Dawson up before heading down into the city streets, grunting as he settled Dawson over his shoulders. Lorcel reached back for Flora who had frozen, looking back up at the castle that loomed over them. He dragged her slowly down with the rest of them. His grip so hard that Flora felt like she could do nothing but follow.

  They had to dodge around a few terrace gates in order to get to Perry's cart. Once even dropping Dawson over a wall, but otherwise using the back passages for criminals. Guards were thick along the streets so they moved slowly and they had not dared take to the roofs with Dawson unconscious, unable to jump between the gaps.

  Flora helped Dawson through a hole into the back of the small cart before crawling in herself. She reached back to help Perry in but he stepped back. "I should ride in the front," he said. "It'll make it easier to get out of here—there are guards along the outer wall that I know. I'll take your sword though—there isn't room back there."

  "We are actually leaving the city?" Flora asked, her face pale as she gave up the bloody weapon.

  "We have to get out," Perry said. "There are safer places outside.

  "But our home—" Flora said, thinking of the city she grew up in. Where her family had made some sort of a semblance of a life. "We don't even know what's out there anymore."

  "It has never really been home, Flora," Perry said, cocking his head before turning away from them. "Any place beyond that wall will be safer than being in this city within the reach of Lord Reynald and his men," he finished walking away.

  "But Lord Reynald could be dead," Flora said to his back as he walked to the front of the cart beside a driver she didn't recognize as Lorcel pulled himself into the cart as well. There was barely enough room for all of them as Lorcel covered them with the tarps on the cart, finally pulling a crate to block the hole the had entered the wagon in. Entombing them in darkness so thick Flora could not see her own hand.

  "Ow!" growled a waking Dawson in the dark as Flora accidentally pressed into one of his wounds.

  "Sorry," Flora
whispered back as she pressed herself away, ducking her head along the shallow roof and onto her back. Giving him as much room as she could while stretching out to stop a kink from forming in her neck. She put about a foot between her and Dawson, hearing snores pick up from him when she pressed herself right into Lorcel. Before she could apologize again for running into him as well Lorcel's arm snaked around her waist and pressed her into him, squeezing her tight to his body.

  "There is enough room, if you just let go I can squeeze next—" said Flora.

  "Just—stay," Lorcel whispered into her ear, his lips grazing her skin as Flora's eyes widened.

  Epilogue

  Listening to Dawson's slow snores next to her, Flora had to bite her lip to stop her from asking Lorcel about the many questions floating around in her mind. She wouldn't bring this up in from of Dawson, she couldn't. He had enough to think about right now, and she didn't know if she wanted him...involved. Flora let herself rest her own hands along his, as the way he was wrapped around her there was nowhere else to place them.

  She could feel the muscles of his forearms flexed around her, constantly reaffirming that she was still there. Flora tried not to think of his soft breath that was warming the back of her neck. That hand that was repeatedly stroking her side.

  The heat inside the cart was stifling, but it was still freedom, no matter how hot. Lorcel must have been cooking as well. Every time the cart rolled to a lurching stop her body kept pressing tight into Lorcel. However that was better than rolling onto Dawson. Every slope down the terraces had them rolling as they neared the exit to the city. Finally the slopes became less steep and the sounds of the city drifted away when the cart stopped. A sliver of light came into their hideaway as the tarp was lifted.

  The box was also moved and Flora peered at an unfamiliar male face, the cart driver she thought, but not for long as Perry pushed the man out of the way and reached in to give a hand to help them out. Lorcel gently pushed her to the front, letting her go first. They left Dawson snoring in the box, he had all the room he needed now, and he needed the rest.

  Flora stretched out her arms and looked around. The path they had taken looked more like a deer trail, not one of the well-worn roads of the countryside that could be seen from the city. They were not alone on this road though. The unmistakable look of worn clothing and well-used weapons marked the bandits for what they were. Both men and women, surrounded by similar carts to their own, all pointed as if headed towards to mountains. The horses that guided them grazing off in a distance. The male who had first stuck his face into the wagon had one of his arms draped over Perry's shoulder in greeting. A group of other bandits were walking up to them, grins on their face in recognition to both Perry and Lorcel. It was mostly men and children with a handful of women. Children were constantly hopping in and out of the backs of the carts, many chasing each other with sticks. Some of the men were laughing, some were sitting so still Flora wasn't sure they were alive, and they would watch the children run up and down past them.

  Flora's stomach turned as she realized she did not know her brothers, any of her brothers. Flora held her sides as she tried to calmly walk away from the group of bandits into the surrounding woods. The fresh air making her nostrils tingle as her breathing grew rapid as she thought of the past day. She didn't want to deal with the attention of others currently. Especially not another group of strangers.

  She leaned against a large tree as she watched Perry mingle with the bandits. She heard the joyous laughter as they came to greet him. He was interacting so—intimately. So many hugs, even lifting a young child into the air that came running at him with a wooden sword in hand.

  Lorcel was enthusiastically hugged by one of the women, a hug he returned smiling. Flora hugged her own arms to her body. She didn't know what to make of Lorcel. That and the fact she thought the woman had a resemblance to Perry. It wasn't long before Lorcel made his exit, disappearing behind one of the wagons and out of sight.

  Flora was noting all of the people in the clearing, memorizing their details the way she had when it came to robbing her targets that had been assigned to her. Noting a glimmer of jewels here, a rusty weapon or a sharp one. The swagger of a man who knew his weapons, and the same swagger of a man who did not. Though her fingers tingled with the idea, she knew she would not steal from them. It would only cause more trouble than she already had.

  A crack of a tree branch behind her had her bristling. Lorcel had come behind her.

  "You have to know what I want to ask," Flora said, looking at the crowd in front of her and waiting.

  "I didn't think that you wanted people to follow me here, so I—I went around," he paused gulping. "There are some people out there that are excited to meet you," he said.

  "Like your woman friend?" Flora asked, finally looking at him. Why she asked she didn't know.

  "Like her yes," Lorcel replied his eyes wide with nerves. "She is Perry's family."

  He watched Flora silently. "She is j—" he started but Flora interrupted him.

  "How long have you known these people?" She asked.

  Lorcel breathed out. "Perry brought Roanan and me here after you guys were captured. He didn't think it was safe to remain in the city all this time."

  "So you know about Perry?" Flora asked.

  "He told me his story, from the beginning. It wasn't his—" Lorcel started.

  "I want to hear it from his lips," Flora interrupted again. "Tell me something else."

  "Okay fine, I will let him tell you," Lorcel said, "but he is on our side."

  "I'll decide if he is on my side for myself."

  Lorcel crossed his arms. "There isn't much else I can tell you, I don't want to get the story wrong," Lorcel replied "It is for your own safety"

  "Wrong? Everything I seem to think is wrong. So I don't imagine how people telling me anything could make it worse. I thought I knew Perry, I thought he was my brother. I thought I was brought to the castle for some reason of Lord Reynald's, but turns out the person I was supposed to get close to already knew about it, knew about everything, knew about elementals—" Flora drifted while Lorcel's eyes opened wide in shock.

  "Elemental—" he whispered.

  "And I thought my brothers would get Thren out!" She said sharply cutting Lorcel off. "I thought I knew you. Turns out I didn't."

  Lorcel leaned back against the tree as he took that in.

  There was a long pause between the two of them.

  "Why couldn't you tell me about it?" Flora said, her voice cracking. The stress of the day catching up with her, she could feel the tears starting in her eyes. "Before?"

  Lorcel saw the tears starting, but Flora moved away as he made to move closer. Her back pressing against her own tree that she had hidden behind. "I thought I'd have time, I didn't know you were going to be gone that night. Just the night before you were taken by the guards without us though, I wanted to tell you, but then the job—"

  Flora blinked her eyes quickly, fighting back the tears that wanted to escape.

  "Why are you crying?" Lorcel asked softly, his one hand nearly reaching out to her.

  Flora shook her head. "I just—" she started and had to clear her throat. She wasn't sure what to say. So much had happened since she had last seen him. So much was happening.

  "Why now though?" Flora asked.

  "Cause I thought you were gone and I didn't know how I was going to get you back. If you were ever going to get back," Lorcel replied. "If it wasn't for what Perry was telling me—"

  Flora went on high alert and anger flashed. "What was Perry telling you?"

  Lorcel's cheeks went red. "The elementals—"

  "You knew before?" Flora made to push by him.

  Lorcel stopped her from going anywhere and pressed her up against the tree, her hair snagging along the bark. He was carefully grasping her arms while leaving a foot of space between the two of them.

  "It doesn't change anything," he said.

  "It changes ever
ything," Flora said, watching him flinch back.

  "Lorcel—" Flora said, but he had regained his composure. He dropped her arms and walked back into the many branches of the wood. Leaving her alone in the evening mist, nothing for company but a small beetle that crawled along her foot. After a few moments catching her breath she pushed her hair over her shoulder and headed back to the wagon site.

  Flora stayed at the edges of the trees to watch again, trying to calm herself. Understand everything. Flora wasn't sure what to make of Perry's bandits. Lorcel was as far as he could be now and Dawson was awake, barely though. His eyes shuttered open and closed as he perched on the end of his wagon with his legs hanging over the end. Looking around him and Flora looked with him.

  Movement caught Flora's eye past the camp. Green eyes matched hers. Flora's fingers slowly went for her knife, but the black wolf that was watching her so keenly sat down. Hidden by brush from the wagon trail below, in full view of her. It cocked its head as it watched her.

  It couldn't be. Flora thought as she made to walk towards the wolf.

  "Flora, time to go," Perry shouted, causing her to pause and look down. He waved at her. Flora looked back at the wolf before it bowed its head to her and stood. Walking back into the woods. Flora knelt down, her hand reaching into her boot. Her fingers wandered along the side until she found the pocket watch she had shoved inside it. She pulled it out and looked at the time. The sun had only just risen, according to the clock in the face. She smiled softly and tucked the pocket watch back into her boot. Thinking about wolves.

  Walking down to the wagons she saw that some of them had rumbled on along the path. There were only two left that hadn't really started to move out. Perry's and one other. Lorcel was seated on the front of that one, beside that bandit woman again.

  "You can ride up front with me," Perry said as he watched Flora get closer. Flora didn't see how she had a choice, as she could see Dawson's feet sticking out of the end of the hiding hole, plugging it up so she couldn't get past, snores echoing once again. She hopped up beside Perry, leaving a large gap between the two of them. Within moments the wagons were rumbling along.

 

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