Seeing is Believing

by Sasha L. Miller

  "I'll forgive you, seeing as you hadn't met me yet," Reid offered graciously, passing Ty a bit of dried meat. Ty ignored that comment, shifting in an attempt to relieve some of his aches. It was to no avail, and Ty thought it would take weeks of nothing but hot, soothing baths and no riding before he stopped aching.

  "How bad are the bruises?" Reid asked casually, taking a loud bite of his apple. Ty just shrugged, taking a smaller, quieter chunk out of his own apple.

  "Do we need to slow down?" Reid asked, thankfully not anything but matter-of-fact.

  "No," Ty dismissed immediately. If the group of guardsmen pursuing them had gotten so close twice, they couldn't afford to dawdle because Ty ached. Besides which, Ty didn't really think they could go much slower. The horse obviously needed a good rest before it would be any good, and carrying the both of them wasn't helping.

  "Good," Reid declared, smugly approving. Ty rolled his eyes, applying himself to his food. The sooner he finished eating, the sooner he could go to bed and not have to move for a few hours.

  "You didn't think you'd be rescued?" Reid asked thoughtfully, after too short a silence. "Don't you have a family?"

  "They're dead," Ty said shortly, giving Reid a disparaging look.

  "And no friends? No lover?" Reid pressed, stressing the word 'lover' like saying no would be tragic.

  "No," Ty snapped, tossing his apple core towards the horse. "Not that it's any of your business."

  "Poor thing," Reid cooed. "No wonder you're so unhappy."

  "You're a jackass," Ty retorted, irritated all over again that he infallibly rose to Reid's bait. Heartily sick of always being on the defensive, Ty opened his mouth and demanded, "Is that how you go that scar? You were an ass to the wrong person?"

  Reid's smile slipped from his face and Ty instantly regretted opening his mouth and stooping to Reid's tricks.

  "No. I go this scar rescuing another stupid mage like you," Reid replied, falling short of the mocking tone his words usually had.

  "I am not stupid." Ty's face heated and his fingers started to tingle, itching with the urge to reach out and throttle Reid. It was a sobering impulse—the anger drained away immediately and Ty stared at Reid, aghast.

  Reid scoffed, the familiar smirk twisting his lips. "So you didn't do something stupid like not take your suppressant or try to take out a supply depot of the drug? I doubt you were in prison for the view."

  "I was in prison—" Ty began woodenly before cutting himself off, shaking his head a little. "I wasn't in prison because of magic."

  Reid's mouth twisted in a frown, the smirk disappearing, and Ty stood up abruptly, wincing at the sudden movement.

  "Here." Ty handed the rest of the dried meat back to Reid. "Eat it or put it back. I'm going to sleep."

  Reid surprisingly didn't say anything, just nodded. He didn't say anything as Ty limped across the clearing to the bedding either. Ty collapsed down to the pallet painfully, ignoring that Reid would probably be joining him shortly. He didn't care. He just wanted to sleep and forget the conversation with Reid had ever happened.

  *~*~*

  Ty woke up suddenly, jerking away from the sword point at his throat with stiff muscles. Reid muttered something sleepily from behind him, but he didn't move and Ty felt a brief flash of annoyance that Reid was apparently sleeping through their capture.

  "Stand up," the guardsman directed. "Slowly."

  Ty nodded and the sword was retracted a few inches to give him breathing room. Pushing Reid's arm away a bit violently—Reid didn't even stir at that—Ty carefully stood up. He nearly toppled over when he put weight on his left leg, and Ty hoped that if it came to running that he could actually run.

  "Kinsly, tie his wrists," the guardsman ordered, and Ty followed his gaze to see two more guardsmen waiting a short distance away. A fourth was stationed by their worn-out horse, and Ty hoped like hell that Reid had a backup plan.

  Kinsly wasn't at all gentle, yanking Ty a few stumbling steps away from the pallet where Reid was still fast asleep. He bound Ty's wrists tightly together, the rope biting into his abused skin painfully. He held onto Ty's arm when he was done, jostling Ty a bit as the lead guardsman attempted to wake Reid.

  He was nudging unsuccessfully at Reid's shoulder with the toe of his boot, as though Reid were something unpleasant he didn't actually want to touch. Reid moved abruptly, stretching with a wide, dramatic yawn.

  "Yes, yes, get up and get your hands tied," he muttered. Ty stifled an inappropriate smile at the look on the guardsman's face. Reid sat up slowly, staring up at the guardsman balefully.

  "This is still better than the wakeup I got yesterday," Reid told the man earnestly. "Ty apparently doesn't like to cuddle."

  Ty scowled, his face heating. It figured that even in enemy hands Reid wouldn't lay off.

  "Get up," the guardsman ordered, his sword moving menacingly closer. Reid sighed loudly before getting slowly to his feet. "Jensen, his hands and a suppressant."

  Reid made a face, but let his wrists be bound—Jensen the guard wasn't as rough with Reid as Kinsly the guard had been with Ty, he noted sourly.

  Then Jensen pulled out a clear vial filled with something liquid and shimmering.

  "Is this really necessary?" Reid asked mildly, jerking away from Jensen's grip. "I have no energy left."

  "Take it or I'll put a matching scar on your face," the lead guardsman threatened, hefting his sword.

  Reid laughed mockingly, lifting an eyebrow challengingly. "You couldn't if you tried."

  The guardsman nodded to Jensen, who immediately backhanded Reid. Ty winced and Kinsly's grip on his arm tightened in response.

  "You hit harder than he does, Ty," Reid reported cheerfully. Ty stared at him in disbelief. Reid's smart comments weren't limited to Ty, it seemed, though how Reid could find the courage to so openly mouth off to the guardsmen who could just as easily kill him as drag him back to the city was beyond Ty.

  Reid let Jensen feed him the suppressant though, shuddering visibly as he swallowed it. Ty didn't envy him the taste, vividly remembering the bitter, biting taste that had tainted every meal.

  "Where's your queen bee?" Reid asked, letting Jensen pull him over to where Kinsly stood with Ty.

  "Quiet," Jensen spoke up, giving Reid a bit of a shake. Reid paid him no mind, something Ty could've told the man. Telling Reid to shut up never worked.

  "Too high and mighty to lower herself by coming out to get us herself?" Reid asked mockingly and Jensen hit Reid again.

  "Stay quiet or I'll gag you," Jensen said darkly. Ty blinked, wondering for a second why he hadn't thought of that. Not that Reid would've let Ty gag him. Ty sighed, wondering if he'd hit his head when he'd been thrown from the horse yesterday.

  "Yes, sir," Reid acknowledged with a smirk. He really did enjoy getting a rise out of people, Ty decided, gritting his teeth as Kinsly shoved him forward. The fourth guardsman was packing up their things and loading up the horse as they headed for the path leading into the woods.

  The guardsmen didn't have horses with them, so their main camp had to be somewhere nearby. Kinsly pulled him into the trees, his grip not slacking once as Ty limped along as best he could manage. He didn't bother to mask how difficult moving was. Reid actually stayed quiet too, something Ty wasn't sure whether to be thankful for or worried about.

  *~*~*

  The guardsmen's main camp was situated in a large clearing about an hour's walk away. Well, an hour at Ty's pace. He had little doubt that it had taken them a lot less time to get to his and Reid's camp than it took for them. Reid had earned three more blows on the walk, but Ty had taken his example to heart and kept quiet.

  There were five horses tethered with long leads to a clump of trees near the edge of a wide stream. A burned out campfire was centered in the large clearing, the ground around it dry, hard-packed dirt. The rest of the clearing was covered in soft grass and sprouting mushrooms.

  There were also two small tents set up, and no sign of the
mage. Probably inside one of the tents, Ty decided, the less ragged looking one. Perhaps she'd worn herself out finding them, or doing a teleport like Reid had done—that would explain how they'd gotten so close without Reid panicking.

  Not that Ty thought Reid would panic over much. The bastard was still smart mouthed and cheerful even with his lip bleeding and his cheek bruised.

  Kinsly shoved him across the clearing, pushing him towards the streambed. At the treeline, a pair of shackles lay at the end of a long chain that was wrapped around a thick tree twice. Ty didn't bother to fight, just let Kinsly secure the manacles around his wrists. He untied Ty's hands after, kicking the knotted rope out of reach and forcing Ty to sit down with a well-placed shove.

  Reid was shackled next to him, and Ty wondered how they'd gotten so close and had time to make such extensive preparations without Reid noticing that they were that close.

  Except Reid was just as tired as Ty, so perhaps he'd missed something. Or he hadn't wanted to waste using his magic on finding out where the King's Mage and her entourage were when he could be using it to mask them.

  "I hate the taste of suppressant," Reid said after a moment, smiling cheerfully at Jensen, who was standing watch a few feet away. "It leaves such a bitter aftertaste. You definitely won't want to kiss me now."

  It took a moment for Reid's words to actually sink in—Ty had been watching the lead guardsman duck into one of the tents and had only been paying cursory attention to Reid. Ty turned, a sharp retort on his lips, but the look on Reid's face made the words die before they were given voice.

  "Unless of course, they dosed you too. Then you'll taste just as bad," Reid said thoughtfully, his eyes never leaving Ty's.

  "They didn't," Ty said, rolling his eyes. "Not that I'd kiss you anyway."

  "You hurt my feelings." Reid smirked, but his expression was a little lighter, which hopefully meant he did have a plan and Ty not being dosed with suppressant factored in somehow.

  Not that Ty had any idea how that helped—he was still under suppressant from the twice-a-day dosing they fed him at prison.

  "Try not to get too angry at whatever she says to you," Reid spoke up again after a moment. "You don't strike me as the type to get angry if they start beating you, at least."

  "What?" Ty asked, frowning because that didn't make sense. Why would the King's Mage want to make him angry?

  "If they haven't dosed you when you're this close to having the drug wear off, she wants your energy," Reid disclosed in a low voice, a smile still on his face as Jensen stared at him suspiciously. The guard didn't move though, and Ty tried to make sense of what Reid was telling him. "Anger wears through the suppressant faster."

  Ty cursed under his breath, jerking his gaze away—if anger wore off the suppressant faster… and Reid had been going out of his way to antagonize him since they'd popped out of Ty's cell and into the woods—he'd been doing it on purpose.

  "Oh, that's calm," Reid drawled, and Ty turned to glare at him, unimpressed.

  "You're an ass," Ty snapped, twisting in his chains to try to maneuver his arms into a position that wasn't twisting them so awkwardly behind his back.

  "You're not the first to say so," Reid replied cheerfully. "Hopefully won't be the last."

  "What did you mean, she'll want my energy?" Ty asked, changing the subject. Jensen was looking even crankier as they continued to talk, and Ty hoped he just stayed cranky and didn't move Reid across the camp—Ty wanted better answers.

  Reid abruptly sobered, glancing across the camp to where the tents were set up. "They weren't this close last night. She must have expended a lot of energy to catch up, and since I'm depleted, you're the best source."

  "Oh," Ty muttered. "She can't get it while I'm suppressed?"

  "No, so she'll try to make you angry," Reid explained, smirking at him briefly. "Which is really easy to do."

  "Do you think, if I asked nicely, our guard would smack you again?" Ty asked as sweetly as he could. Reid just snickered, and Ty was distracted as the head guardsman reemerged from the tent he'd entered.

  "You don't want her to take your energy. It's painful," Reid cautioned as the King's Mage made her appearance. Ty glanced worriedly at Reid, but Reid was watching the mage grimly. Ty hoped that Reid was fiercely angry on the inside and hiding it well.

  The King's Mage was short and slender, her brown hair highlighted with streaks of blonde. She was dressed neatly in trim riding clothes and looked completely unrumpled as she made her way across the clearing. Her face was would've been pretty except for the dissatisfied slant to her mouth and that her nose was a few sizes too small for her face.

  She stopped in front of them, the lead guardsman slightly behind her. Ty met her eyes complacently, focusing on keeping calm and composed. Reid snorted contemptuously beside him, breaking his concentration—and the mage's.

  "They sent a little girl?" Reid asked, and the mage's attention shifted.

  "Hardly a little girl," she said menacingly. "I remember you, even if you don't remember me. One of Westin's pets that got away. He'll be pleased to see you again."

  Ty stared, disconcerted as the color drained from Reid's face.

  "He'll be happy to see he left a mark on you too," she said, stepping close and peering at Reid's face curiously. "That must have hurt for ages."

  "You'd be Ytha, then," Reid said after a second. "I've seen Isalee and Chale, both of them were far to experienced to let me run around in the woods for days before capturing me."

  Ytha laughed, straightening up. "Perhaps I was just playing with you."

  "That would be crediting you with far too much intelligence," Reid mused, and a flicker of annoyance crossed the mage's face. Ty didn't move, squirreling away as much as he could to demand answers out of Reid later. "No, you got lucky that Ty isn't easy to crack so I couldn't use him myself."

  "Like you would actually take from another mage. The Vasijile don't like that—they'd kick you out," Ytha declared. "But enough of your distractions. Jensen, gag him."

  "Yes, ma'am," Jensen acknowledged, pulling a long strip of cloth from one of the pockets on his uniform.

  "Good luck," Reid said cheerfully, giving Ty a wink but submitting to Jensen. The guard stuffed a wad of the cloth in Reid's mouth before wrapping the length around his head and tying it tightly.

  "Now you, Tyrone Cloud, are most interesting," Ytha began, turning away from Reid when she was sure he was securely gagged. Ty nearly flinched—she'd used his stepfather's name, not his.

  "Cloud isn't my name," Ty couldn't keep from saying. He would never take that man's name. Ytha laughed, clearly pleased at the reaction. Hopefully Reid didn't know that name either, though Ty didn't think it mattered. If she'd started in with Cloud, there was little doubt she'd air the entire thing. Then Reid could focus on his own escape and leave him here to rot.

  "That poor man. He married your mother after that horrible scandal that got your father killed, gave you a fortune and a name worth taking, and what do you do? Not only do you refuse to be known by it, but you kill the man," Ytha said mournfully, shaking her head.

  Reid made some sort of noise behind the gag and fell over, his chains rattling. Ty just stared at her, not bothering to say anything—there was nothing to say, even if she didn't have it quite right. But she wasn't looking for anything other than anger out of him, so trying to explain wouldn't do any good.

  "I hear you barely waited until your mother was in the ground," Ytha spoke up after a moment, her voice deceptively gentle as she leaned closer. "That she'd barely been buried an hour before you gutted him with the same dagger used in the wedding ceremony."

  Ty couldn't help but laugh at that, darkly amused despite the twist in his stomach thinking about it. That was a nice little fantastical touch, even if it had been a kitchen knife and to the neck—nothing so slow as a gut wound, because—and he remembered thinking it clearly at the time—he couldn't risk the bastard surviving.

  "I think you've been liste
ning to your maids' gossip too much," Ty said, watching Ytha's face twist in frustration briefly. Reid hadn't straightened up, still slumped over next to Ty, but Ty couldn't bring himself to look. He didn't want to see Reid's expression.

  "What would your mother say?" Ytha inquired sweetly, and Ty did flinch at that. Looking away, he stared blankly at the tops of Jensen's scuffed boots.

  "My mother is dead, lady," Ty said slowly, his shoulders slumping a little. "She doesn't have anything to say anymore."

  "Surely she'd be disappointed, if she'd lived," Ytha continued carelessly, straightening up. "She loved Lord Cloud, after all. She'd probably hate you. Though curious, her death so close to Cloud's—perhaps you had a hand in that, as well?"

  Ty didn't say anything, staying quiet despite the expectant air. He could deny it easily—it had been sickness that had killed her, but Ty's quiet antagonism with Hatcher Cloud had only grown worse the longer she'd stayed bedridden. It hadn't helped, and quite possibly the stress of dealing with the tension between them had hastened her decline.

  Reid was shuffling around next to him, probably sitting up, but Ty kept his gaze focused on nothing in particular. He was beginning to regret following Reid out of his prison cell. There at least he didn't have anyone digging at old wounds or trying to steal his magic or antagonizing him every minute of the day.

  At least Reid he'd seemed more honest about it, and ruder—Ytha was grasping at straws she didn't fully understand. Her blundering words hurt, but not in any way that would get her anything from him. Ty sighed, tilting his head up to regard Ytha wearily.

  "Are you finished yet?" He asked, leaning against the tree he was shackled to. It was decidedly less comfortable than sitting up straight, but Ty didn't really care, almost relishing the discomfort his twisted arms were giving him.

  "For now, I suppose," Ytha granted graciously, dusting off the front of her shirt. "We'll have to chat more later, Tyrone."

  Ty bit his lip to keep from replying with a disparaging comment. Obviously he'd been spending too much time around Reid—not that he expected that to be a problem now that he'd been outed as a murderous killing machine, responsible for the deaths of both his mother and his stepfather.