Chapter 3

• “She’s coming around.”
• I rolled, my stomach clenching violently. I breathed through it, wondering what they’d given me to make me feel this ill. Beaten and bruised was bad, but apparently making me throw up was allowed. The guards were standing a few feet away looking around. It was starting to get dark. I’d either lost track of how long I’d been in that room, or I’d been knocked out a long time.
• “Remind me again why we have to walk up.” Blondie asked the one with his nose bandaged up.
• “Something about wards and only royals can port in..” His voice was so nasal, I almost laughed.
• My face was throbbing, reminding me of the blows I’d taken in the last few days. Neither man bothered to look at me, so I took that opportunity to look around. I didn’t see a car, so that left out that option of escape. All I could see were trees and grass. Run long enough in any direction and eventually you’d find a road. It could be worse, I could still be in a room with no windows.
• When I went to move my arm to push me up, the clank of a chain reminded me why they’d been trying to get hold of me in that room. I was shackled. So much for running. Getting away from them was going to be a challenge. I flexed my foot to confirm there was a cuff around my ankle too. This was going to be a workout without being able to kick. I owed blondie for the dart, and I always paid people what they were due.
• Pushing myself up, I sat there and waited for the light headedness to subside. “Can I get a drink? What the hell did you shoot me with?”
• Blondie turned and smirked at me. “Just enough to get those on without you getting another shot in.” He motioned to the cuffs on my arms.
• I held up my hands. “Take them off and I’ll let you get the first shot in.”
• He snorted, “I have nothing against sparring with women, but you take it to the extreme.”
• I glared at him. “Gee, I don’t know why.”
• “Give her a drink so we can get going.” He turned and looked around again.
• The one with the busted nose came over and set a bottle of water a few feet away from me, then backed up.
• It was hard not to smirk, but I knew I needed to play it cool and try not to offend their delicate feelings until I figured out where we were. Getting to my knees, I picked up the bottle and checked the seal before opening it. Thirsty or not I wasn’t going to drink something they’d tampered with. Taking a few sips, I looked around. I still couldn’t see anything different. “So, is this like recess? Just out for some air?” That’s when I noticed they were wearing swords on their hips. What. The. Hell. I couldn’t even process why they’d need those. The weapons didn’t scare me, I’d been around enough of them that the fear of them wasn’t for that reason. The why they had them concerned me though.
• Blondie grinned, “Lots of exercise.”
• I touched my lip, feeling how swollen it was. “I’m good there, the last few days with you guys have taken care of that.”
• “We need to get started.” Nasal mumbled.
• I looked the direction he pointed, then down to my feet. “Don’t suppose you stopped to consider how hard it’s going to be to walk in long grass with chains dragging.”
• They both looked at my feet.
• I shrugged, “it’s going to be slow going.”
• “Twenty minutes until we reach the road.” Blondie said. “You’ll just have to deal with it.” He motioned for me to start moving.
• I had to take short steps, so the chain didn’t trip me up. Every few feet I had to stop and pull the grass out of the chain. “So where are we going?” I asked tossing the handful of grass to the side.
• “Up there.”
• I turned to see where he was pointing. In the low light all I could make out was a mountain and what may have been a road winding up it. “Seriously? On foot?”
• He smirked. “Unless you can fly.”
• I scowled at him and looked back at the mountain. I had to get away from them before we reached that. Running down a mountain, chained, wasn’t something I wanted to do. Blowing out a breath, I started walking again.
• “Stop.” He touched my shoulder.
• I froze, debating on using my elbow on his face, but doubted he was going to squat down so I could reach it. They were both looking away from me, swords drawn. I listened, and squinted, trying to see what had them so spooked.
• Crouching down, blondie pointed and the other one nodded and started to move in that direction quietly.
• I looked again and could make out two people on horses. Where the hell were we? I didn’t know who they were, but if these guys didn’t want to be seen by them, that meant I wanted to be. Reaching down slowly, I grabbed the chain between my feet, so I could turn without getting hung up. This might be my only chance. Adjusting my footing, I paused when blondie glanced at me over his shoulder.
• “Stand there quietly and I’ll take those off,” he motioned to my feet, “after we deal with these two. They’ll drop you in the cells and forget about you.” He whispered.
• That made me pause. So far, I’d been abducted, locked in a room, drugged and shackled and the two on the horses were worse? Something my mentor said popped into my head, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I hope he was right.
• I nodded, so blondie would look away from me again.
• He gave me a brief look before turning to watch the other guard moving slowly through the grass.