I shrugged. "Then we will starve to death and die.”
"Not very motivating," Aster grumbled.
I took off at a walk. I turned my head and smiled at him. In truth, I was glad I was out here with Aster. He could keep the winds away at night if need be. Allow us to have a fire without too much notice since he could disperse the smoke at a lower level among the trees. Also, the fact it's him by my side.
"At least we don't have to worry about Elise. If last night was all to capture us, she should be fine. Or at least back at the academy."
"There is that, I suppose,” Aster said as he followed.
I unsheathed my sword and made small cuts into the trees. If we got lost, I’d like to at least know if we had been there before.
We continued our walk into the evening but from the looks of it, we were no closer off this damn mountain. I had been looking out for the cuts I had made but hadn’t come across any.
"We should rest here," I suggested.
Aster waved me off. I could tell he wasn't used to physical activity from his panting and bending over at his knees.
I led him to a sizeable log. There was a small stream nearby but too small for any fish to swim down. "You sit down. Drink. I’ll get wood and make our fire." I went out and hacked down small enough branches that wouldn't take me hours to cut with a sword. I found more than enough and dropped them back off at our small resting area. I went back out and stepped very softly, but there was nothing. No food to catch. I doubt I would catch it anyway, considering how dark it already was. "I guess tonight we feed on conversations."
I made my way back again and Aster was leaned up against the tree with the fire started. Just as I hoped, he was dispersing the smoke for us.
"What now?"
"Now we rest in turns. I’ll take first watch of four hours." I would have recommended every two but waking up, again and again, was hard on the body. The wind died down, but it was still cold. I stood up and walked over to Aster. I sat down next to him and got as close as I could.
"If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you in your sleep," he warned.
"Would you rather be cold all night?" My brow raised as I stretched my feet out to the fire.
"No, I'm just saying don't tell anyone. I have an image to maintain."
"Ha. What image?"
"I'm sure there is one of me out there."
I smiled. "Aster, can I tell you a secret?" Me being a woman came to mind, but that wasn’t the secret I was going to tell.
"Only if I can hold it against you later."
"Fair enough." I remained silent. My mouth opened several times but I couldn’t seem to form the words.
"Well, spit it out."
"I'm scared," I whispered.
"Of?"
Everything. "What if I don't live through my awakening?"
"That would never happen."
"You heard what Jovanni said. Most awaken at eighteen cycles, but here I am powerless." That, and a woman will never awaken, I will never be equal.
"Jovanni is an ass hat. Trust me."
"Why don't you like him?" I asked.
He was silent for a long time. "I guess I know firsthand how cruel he can be. My father made a bad trade deal with the crown. They sent Jovanni to investigate."
The tremble in his voice gave away that this story wouldn’t end well. "Long story short, he was found guilty. He was whipped for the errors he committed by Jovanni's hands."
I sat up straighter. "Your scars..."
"One and the same. His first born was also to be punished to prevent further mistakes down the road. He didn't hesitate at all. I agreed to the terms and we were whipped right there in our house. Blood still stains the floor from where we passed out."
I covered my mouth. "Great gods above, I'm sorry."
"Why? You didn't do it." He assured me.
"I shouldn't have pried. I'm sorry." I swallowed hiding back the tears that threatened to wet my eyes.
"No, I meant to tell you. It was just never a good time." Aster stared into the fire.
"I know how that feels." I looked downward.
"Oh, is there something you want to tell me?"
So much.
I opened my mouth. "I have... a secret..."
"And that is?" He looked at me.
My mouth went dry. I can’t.
"There is this girl back home." Raina flashed into my mind as an excuse. "Her name is Raina. I'm in love with her but never told her. There was so much I wanted to tell her. She was my only friend. She deserved to know everything."
"So, that’s why you didn't want to take the bet in the bar."
I half smiled. "Right."
"Well, you aren't dead you know. Soon you will be able to see your family and tell her. Never too late." He bopped me on the head. "Problem solved. You are welcome."
I laughed. "Go to sleep. I’ll wake you in a few."
"As you command, seven."
The next day we were walking and keeping our eyes out for some type of food. That’s when a tower came into view just above the tree line.
"Look!" Aster ran next to me and beheld the same sight I did. We were close to the castle. I knew they couldn’t have dropped us that far away from the city. We started off at an excited jog. We stopped at a small cliff and looked again.
"Yep, no doubt about it. The castle." Aster said.
"Now that we are closer, those hunter parties might become a problem." Aster looked around in a circle.
I looked into the distance but the trees covered everything. "Come on. Let’s go, and stay sharp." I said.
"As you command," Aster replied.
I pushed him to get a move on but I grabbed his shoulder to stop him in instead. He looked to my wide eyes.
There it was. My ears weren’t deceiving me.
Another rock fell.
Aster nodded and slowly turned. I backed away and took cover behind a nearby tree. Aster also followed suit and hid not to be exposed on top the small cliff. Another rock fell. I crouched low and listened.
"Where are they? They were just here." Aster whispered.
"Straight ahead," I mouthed to Aster before taking another step. They were getting closer. I slowly took out my sword.
"Wait! Did you hear that?" Shit, my sword made too much noise. Aster gave me a flat stare.
"Wait! Don't!" the girl yelled. She couldn't see us but she was alerting us to her presence. Her footfalls became closer and louder.
"We aren't hunters." She announced.
"That’s what a hunter would say!" Aster said.
I stared at him. "What?" He just smiled.
"Hunters carry restraints. We have none!" I slowly moved out from behind the tree and walked toward a small girl and a young man.
"How do you know they have restraints?" I asked with my sword at the ready.
"Because we outran a hunter." The man said. His hair had signs of age but he wasn’t that much taller than Aster.
"And you decided to follow us?" I said before I searched the area for any more signs of life. Hopefully, we weren’t compromised as well.
"We thought we would be better off with the strongest mage and seven in the school." The young girl said. Her brown hair fell to the middle of her back and freckles covered her face.
Aster puffed out his chest. "Hear that? Strongest mage."
"Everyone stop!" Immediately everyone crouched, going silent. We weren’t alone.
I closed my eyes. Another rock shifted from the direction we came. They were coming down the same way the man and girl did. "Run. Now," I whispered.
Aster and I waved them forward, then took up the rear, which was good, because I didn't trust these two at all.
We ran and ran.
Every so often we would stop and still hear the same footfalls. By the erratic pacing of the noise they made I could tell there was more than one. We weren't going to outrun them. Not with four of us. I came to a clearing and we stopped. The other two went to their kne
es, panting.
"We can’t keep this up. We have to leave them," Aster whispered into my ear. But I couldn't.
"I'm sorry, Aster. We fight."
He threw his arms up in the air. "Of course, we do..." He mumbled.
Freckles and the man with grey hair looked to me. “Let’s get back into the forest and prepare for them.” I directed them.
"Prepare for whom?" A voice echoed from around us.
"I don't know, John. Who could they possibly be talking about?"
"Well, Detrick. I think they are talking about us."
Detrick. One of Tye's friends.
A wall of fire shot up around us. Aster acted as if it was second nature and dispersed the fire away. The biggest threat now was him setting the forest around us on fire.
Aster grimaced. "Sorry."
I didn't care, as long as the fire wasn't surrounding us.
Detrick and the man named John came out of hiding, swinging red restraints.
"Well, look at this. Number two and his slave." Detrick taunted. "Make this easy for us. Just put ‘em on."
The fire was closing in again, but the middle-aged man we met cast a spell and it started to rain, putting out the flames.
"Well, that’s unfortunate for you, John. A water user." Detrick said.
John didn't respond.
I drew my sword while they continued to chat.
"Look, guys. Let’s get this over with. I'm famished," I said.
Detrick smiled. "As you wish."
He turned the color of dull silver. "Let’s see if that sword works now."
That was going to be difficult.
Detrick ran towards me and threw the restraints at my face. I dodged but in turn took an iron fist to the face. I fell to the ground with starry vision. One hit and I was already on the ground. I crawled around, unsure of which direction I was going.
"Noah!" Aster screamed.
My feet were lifted off the ground then my arms and body. A strong wind pushed me upward causing my vision to waver more. Seconds later, I was floating in mid-air. Aster controlled the winds and brought me next to him. "Stay down. It’s okay. We have this."
My vision slowly returned. I was too late, the burley John was already wrapping the red hand irons on the young girl. She was crying, trying to get out of them.
I stood up and held my sword. "Gods, he rocked me." I shook my head.
"Yea, your face agrees with your statement," Aster confirmed.
Wind still blew toward Detrick but he was slowly walking forward in his Iron form. Detrick was now in between us and the middle-aged man. Detrick smiled at us and he returned to normal. He was sent flying into the back of the man causing him to fall. John rushed in and slapped the irons on him as the man and Detrick wrestled.
"We have to run!" Aster screamed.
I was already turning to follow. But a fire broke out, cutting off my escape route. Leaving time for Detrick to catch up with Aster and I. He turned back to silver as I tried to bring my sword down on him.
The ricochet sent me flying back. Aster tried to kick him away, but Detrick just smiled and caught his ankle. Detrick looked at me. Aster was casting as much as he could, causing my hair to whip around my eyes. I could hardly catch my breath but Detrick didn’t let go of Aster’s leg.
Detrick simply closed his fist and crushed Aster’s ankle along with it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Bell
The crunch of Aster’s bones reverberated in my ears, only to soon be drowned out by his screams.
How could I possibly get out of this situation? I could leave Aster and run. I could stay and fight and more than likely lose. I had an idea, but there was about one percent chance that it would work.
I let out a deep breath. Calm yourself. Channel out Aster's screams. I had to get close to John for this to work. I’ll wait, letting them trap me in tighter and tighter, and then, I’ll strike.
"Nowhere to run, seven," Detrick said as he threw Aster’s foot to the ground. John ran up and slapped the red irons on his hands.
"Just go!" Aster screamed.
John kicked him in the face.
I gripped my sword tighter. Just as I had thought, walls of flame kept me from running.
"Space is running out, seven," John tried to intimidate me.
"Name is Noah. And there is always a way out." I took off at a sprint, trying to create a small box with all three of us in it. I cut left as the wall erupted again.
"Yes, keep running!" John called out.
Another wall erupted and I dashed left again. I dropped my sword to have better control of my turning. Another wall of fire erupted and caused me to take another left turn. The small area with the three of us was slowly becoming smaller, and Detrick was turning with me. He was waiting for his opportunity to pounce on me. He couldn't catch me in his iron form but he was too scared to come out of it. Another left. Another wall.
"Easy, John. It’s getting hot in here." I smiled and continued running despite being drenched in sweat. Just two walls of fire. I kept running, one down.
"John, that’s enough."
No, not yet.
I got behind them and ran, enclosing us all in in a five-yard box.
"You were saying?" John asked as he wiped his head.
Both were tired. John from casting magic, Detrick’s form was superheating. But that wasn't my plan. My plan was lying on the ground in front of John. The red enchanted restraints. I stopped breathing heavy. I was so tired, but it wasn't over yet. It was getting harder to breathe as smoke filled the air.
While John was still taunting me, I ran right for him. He stumbled backward, leaving me an opportunity to grab for the links, but I couldn’t. Not yet. John was pushed out of the way by Detrick, sending him farther back and Detrick stepped in front of me. I kept running and screamed. He did the same but I stopped and smiled as I slid to his left. I took off the irons hanging from Johns belt and stood right back up in front of him. "Hi."
The flames died. John was now in irons and I only had to deal with Detrick. I turned around and with my back to John, he put the links around my throat trying to choke me.
I had made a mistake.
Detrick slammed his fists into my stomach. I coughed up spittle from the impact. I couldn't afford another hit like that. I jumped and double kicked Detrick. I landed back on John and elbowed him in the stomach. His grip loosened and I slipped out. I kicked him in the face, only to be tackled by Detrick. His iron body landed right on top of me.
He laughed. "I caught you."
"I'm afraid not." My gaze flew to Aster, who threw me the pair of restraints I’d lost. I slapped one around his left wrist.
"No!" He hid his other behind his back where I couldn't reach. I yanked as hard as I could, he screamed and turned over trying to ease the pain. I got up and placed my foot on his neck.
He gurgled. "Wait. Stop." His other hand clawed at my foot. His eyelids fluttered, and after that he was finished. I had made him pass out. The iron form disappeared and I connected the restraint to his hand. I fell on my backside and looked to Aster, who was also seated.
"My ankle hurts," he said.
I couldn't help but laugh.
"Laughing at my pain, I see." Aster moaned.
"Better yours than mine." I stood up and grabbed my sword. I went over to Aster and took off the large, red studded irons. "Well, what now?"
"Now you go. I can’t travel with this." I went back to Detrick and cut off some leather straps from his armor. I put thick tree branches on either side of his foot and put the leather straps on the top first. "This is going to hurt."
"What—" I yanked down while he was distracted. "Not ag—" I yanked again on the bottom straps I had put in place and tied both off. He caught his breath before I made him stand.
I helped him up and looked around. "Where are the other two?"
"I told them to run. They followed my expert advice. I am the strongest mage, after all." Aster said confidently
.
"Gods, I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"
"No. Never." I helped him put an arm over my shoulder and we left John and Detrick to themselves. Hopefully, they couldn’t free each other.
* * *
Lumo and Lumos illuminated the sky. It had been two days since we had eaten. We were low on water and I could feel myself getting weaker as the hours went on. Our camp was just outside the castle walls, since we had lost the cover of the trees. We had been patrolling for hours for a way in, beside the main castle gate. Finally we came up to a small hole in between the walls of the castle.
“Here!” I told Aster.
“Ahh, thank Lumos.” Aster blew a kiss to the sky.
“Let’s enter now. That way when morning comes, we are already here.” I suggested.
“Agreed.” Aster said.
I climbed in first, making sure there were no surprises awaiting us on the other side.
It looked clear.
"Come on," I told Aster.
He did his best to get through the small hole, but I had to pull him the rest of the way. I helped him back up and started to walk at his pace. There was some laundry hanging. I looked through it, but nothing was worth taking. We moved down a street that ran next to the main road. Aster started groaning more the farther we went.
"Almost there." I put his arm around my shoulder.
"Shouldn't tell lies." We kept walking but I needed a break from carrying his weight as well. We came to an alley and we sat along a wall. Empty kegs lined the opposite wall letting us sit behind them and cover our view from the street.
"I'm pretty sure I'm sitting in piss," I said.
"That’s what the smell is." We both laughed from exhaustion. "You know we both aren't going to make it." Aster said tilting his head up.
"Oh ye of little faith. Trust your strongest seven."
"Weakest you mean."
"I keep winning, don’t I?"
"With my help, I might add." Aster reminded me.
I smiled and elbowed him. "Every great hero has a noble steed."
"Did you really just call me a horse?"
"Come on, steed. Let’s see what we are dealing with." I picked him back up and we left the alley. We shuffled our way down the main streets, gaining looks from the drunkards and other passerbys. I just gave a faint smile and kept carrying Aster.
The Prisoner of Fate Page 9
