“I can’t do it!”
“Last warning: jump, or I’m pulling the rope. Your choice.”
Gaiane sniffed and her eyes narrowed among the tears.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
Straightening her back--she was taller than Leo had thought at first glance--the princess crouched with unnerving grace and sat on the edge of the rock. Her gown rolled up her shins, revealing a collection of scratches, bruises and a slender foot. Its sole was swollen, and among the dirt was an angry, red bulge.
Leo smothered the unwanted surge of pity and focused on why she was here, with this whiner, under the rain.
Now this plague of a kid gets off both the boulder and her high horse and we go right back to her blasted palace. Good riddance and thank you very much.
It was hard to be empathetic with someone whose mere sight reminded her the awful feeling of smoke in her lungs, her father’s burned arm, the utter sense of loss and despair. Leo hardened her heart and pulled the rope. The princess was shaking, unsteadily perched on the rock, half on the foothold, half still uncertain how to move.
“I’m counting to ten, then…”
“Oh, so you can count? That’s a surprise!”
That was it. What little kindness Leo had felt vanished.
She yanked the rope and pulled Gaiane down. The princess screamed and then let out a soft oomph! when she landed on her back in the wet grass.
“I warned you,” Leo said coldly. “But no, you had to make it all harder than it already is. Well guess what? You had it coming. And you’re impressing no one with your… your…”
Gaiane was on her back, writhing around like a white, long legged bug. There was another round of tears, threats and ‘How dare you’s’, but eventually she calmed enough to get on her knees.
Leo’s patience was wearing thin. The day was still young, the sky the palest shade of grey, but they were wasting enough time already. She grabbed Gaiane by her sleeve and pulled her up.
“There you go. Now hurry, it’ll take us days to get there.”
Gaiane didn’t resist. She stumbled at Leo’s side and shot her a terrified look.
For Leo, a negligible one. She marched on, stomping her feet.
“You have no right whatsoever to treat me this way. I’m a princess, the most powerful mage ever existed!”
“You don’t say…”
“And… And I won’t tolerate being dragged along like… like some heifer!”
Leo turned with her eyebrows arched.
“Heifer? Do you even know what that word means? Shut up and move--and anyway, you seem pretty useless for a mage.”
Gaiane limped and wrinkled her nose. A flash of earnest concern passed on her face, but before Leo could overthink it, the girl lowered her head and followed her in silence.
This blessing lasted for the next hour or so. Gaiane was painfully slow, but as long as she didn’t complain, Leo was determined to ignore her.
Days to get to the Zafirian border, she counted in her mind. At this pace, how many more villages could’ve fallen under the Asares’ brutality?
Maybe I should consider Tarini. There’s a garrison there, and…
“Who are you?”
Gaiane’s voice snatched her from her calculations. Leo stiffened and looked at her.
“None of your business.”
“It definitely is! In the first ten minutes of our meeting you tried to kill me not once, but twice, and I’ve read about mercenaries selling young maidens to the market, so…”
* * *
“I’m… I’m not a mercenary! Are you serious? That’s offensive!”
“Then answer me!”
“How about no?”
“Where are we going?”
Leo stopped and spread her arms.
“To the royal palace. Now shut that trap!”
If possible, Gaiane’s pale skin went even whiter. Her eyes widened, and her mouth didn’t tremble. It hung open for a second, then she violently shook her head.
“N-No… please, please no! You can’t take me there!”
Leo pushed her away and resumed their march.
“Watch me.”
“I escaped the palace!”
“I don’t care.”
Gaiane trotted to her side.
“Listen, I mean it. You can’t! I… I don’t think they’ll kill me, but horrible things will happen to me if…”
Leo’s patience was officially over. She grabbed Gaiane by the frayed front of her bodice and pulled her closer until their noses were almost touching.
“Horrible things? You know nothing of horrible things!” She yelled, shaking the princess. “Define horrible, would you? Is it ‘oh no they’ll put me in detention and lock me in the highest tower for a month’? Because for me it’s losing my mother to your damned army when I was a child, and now finding my house burned down after your… your bloody soldiers destroyed it to find you!”
She shoved Gaiane back and gulped back tears.
The princess opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, producing no sound. Two pink dots bloomed on her cheekbones.
“I… I didn’t…”
“Right. You didn’t.”
Leo turned her back on her and cried in silence as they walked. By noon, she’d calmed enough to realize that Gaiane’s faltering steps were slowing down.
She didn’t care if the princess was tired. For a short distance she tried to force Gaiane forward with nervous grunts and pulls, but eventually they needed to stop.
The princess was sobbing under her breath, and in the silence, Leo could hear her pleas. Bitten off words, begging and desperate; when Leo checked on her, pity elbowed her again.
She found no heart to yell at her again. Now that she took the time to watch her closely, she saw how thin Gaiane was, covered in small wounds, dirty and exhausted…
While it was true that the girl was behind her mother’s death and the loss of her home, it was pointless to push her beyond her limits. Leo tied the rope to her belt and checked their surroundings.
They’d walked West for hours, zig-zagging whenever the ground went too steep or wet to be safe for passage. Now the sky was fading to a pale blue among the clouds, and the trees dripped with water. By a patch of birches, the moss was thick enough to look soft and comfortable.
“Sit. It’s lunchtime,” she said, pointing at the green cushion.
Gaiane didn’t protest, thank the Spirits, the Mother and everyone in between. She moaned in gratitude and fell to her knees, curling up in a shivering bundle despite the warm air. When she dropped her hands in her lap, Leo discreetly checked on her knot work: no swelling, no redness, and the rope was still holding. Good job: nobody wanted a dead, sick or crippled princess.
From her bag, Leo pulled a strip of dried meat and threw it to Gaiane. The princess stared at her in utter shock.
She’s probably worse than I thought. Some food will help a little, I hope.
She took a second one for herself and chewed it for a moment, but Gaiane’s scrutiny was unsetting.
“Eat. You look dead.”
“What’s this?” she asked, poking at the dark red stripe.
“Jerky.”
“I never heard of it.”
“Dried meat, princess. Beef, I think, but…”
Gaiane let out a gasp and backed away, her supposed meal falling from her lap.
“I’m not eating that!”
Leo cocked an eyebrow.
“Sorry about that, your majesty. Next time I’ll make you a feast of honey cakes or glazed mutton or whatever it is your folk eat…”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” The princess brushed her skirt to remove some invisible remains of dried meat. “This was alive. And… And I really can’t eat it, that poor creature deserved better than to become my lunch, it’s unfair!”
Leo almost rolled her eyes again. She swallowed and took the discarded food from the ground.
&nb
sp; “Fine,” she said, putting Gaiane’s ration back into her bag. “Then starve.”
Gaiane locked herself in an outraged silence, and Leo thanked her in her mind for that. At least she got to finish her meal without the constant company of her nagging.
When she’d wiped her fingers on the wet moss, she took her flask and offered it to Gaiane.
“Would you drink this at least? It’s no mulled wine, I warn you, so try not to spit it all around.”
Gaiane took the flask with a snort and sniffed it, but despite her grimace she took a long sip.
“Ugh, that’s disgusting…”
“And here we go again. Shut up, I beg you. Shut. Up.” Leo snatched the flask from her hands and closed it with a curt gesture, standing up and walking away from that disgrace of a burden. Gaiane rose, too, and pressed her lips in a furious line.
Leo frowned. While the girl was taller than her, the outraged glimmer in her eyes made looked like a very angry doll. Not remotely intimidating.
“I won’t tolerate such lack of respect!”
“You will, and be glad I haven’t gagged you yet.”
“I was just trying to say that your water tastes foul, but I can find something better! Here, look,” and she crouched again, placing her tied hands on the ground.
Once more, she closed her eyes in concentration, and once more, nothing happened. Gaiane lifted on Leo such a wounded, lost look that it was almost heartbreaking.
“I really… I can’t understand, I’ve been doing this since I was a little girl, it’s easy! Anyone could do it, you only need to summon some water from the groundwater layer, and then…”
The rest of her explanation was lost in the buzzing of Leo’s frustration. She couldn’t look at Gaiane, not while the shame of years wasted on that book to no avail weighed her down. She never even understood what was the process to find water, let alone summon a single droplet. And now that spoiled princess spoke of the spell as if it was some kind of joke, so easy it was a child’s play.
Disappointment made her voice hard.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never been much for magic, and what little I had is gone.” She pointed at her clear forehead, practicing her old lies.
Gaiane emerged from her academic ramblings to blink at her.
“Oh… I see. That’s why you weren’t chosen to serve at the royal palace, isn’t it? I’m so sorry for you…”
Leo gasped.
“Sorry? Why would you be?”
The girl folded her legs under her and cocked her head.
“Well, isn’t that what every kid in Epidalio wants? They get to see the greatness of Zafiria, to be part of its magnificence, and only the best are chosen to…”
“I can’t believe someone can be that daft…” She slapped her forehead and ran her hand down her face.
“I’m not daft!” The princess said in disbelief. “This is how things goes, it is known!”
“No, it’s not! Your folks take my folks when they’re as young as ten or twelve, and then they put them to work! In quarries, in the fields, anywhere their magic could prove useful. And when they’re done? When there’s not a single drop of power left in them? They send them back, but they’re too worn out to survive, or to plow their land anymore!”
Gaiane’s eyes widened.
“Stop lying to me, you’re horrible! Why would my people do such a thing?”
“To preserve your precious power, that’s why!” Leo grabbed the rope and moved along. “Enough talking. We’re leaving.”
Leo was determined not to indulge in those pointless conversations anymore. Deaf to Gaiane’s requests for more explanations first, and to her whimpers and reprimands later, she kept her pace up until the late afternoon. By then, even her trained legs started to feel the weight of the last terrible days.
Before she could decide it, she found she’d got almost as slow as her prisoner.
I can keep up some more. Then, maybe, this ridiculous princess will fall asleep and give me a break.
But when she glanced at Gaiane, hunched over her hands and with her shoulders shaking lightly, she felt something was wrong.
You had it all, everything I’d give my life for: a family, all the food you could want, a mother and I suppose a father, too. You’re a mage, you studied and practiced your craft since you were only a child. Why did you run away?
She climbed over a fallen log, and Gaiane rolled over it unceremoniously, falling on her face with a grunt and a sputtering sound.
… and for your escape, I lost everything. I hate you so much.
Still, she couldn’t drag her on her belly to the palace.
“Up,” Leo said flatly. Gaiane lifted her head, but only the bright pink tip of her nose peeked from the curtain of her hair.
“I won’t take another step if you don’t…”
“A-ha. I make the rules here, remember?” and she wiggled the rope. But she gave in, eventually: she helped Gaiane to her feet more gently than she’d intended; she was really tired, after all, and it was all she could do.
Despite her contempt, she felt a grain of resentful respect for that girl: whiny and naive as she was, the princess was stubborn enough to insist on questioning.
“And I demand you tell me your name!”
“Try asking me nicely next time.”
The sun was setting, and she was done with walking, talking and thinking. She spotted a shallow cave nearby and guided Gaiane there without another word. She knew the place, and if memory served her well the nearest village was half a day on foot from there.
But exhausted as she was, and with Gaiane hanging on? No way they could get there before collapsing.
The sky was fading to orange and purple among the dark branches of the trees. It wasn’t cold yet, but a subtle chill slithered in the air. The cave was hard to see for anyone who didn’t know it was there in the first place, with the clearing in front of it half swallowed by the bushes. Leo kicked some to make room and freed a small space by the dark rocks. Lichens grew in flat patches of pale blue and rust, and here and there a soft tuft of moss emerged.
Leo rubbed her toes on the ground and removed some of the dead leaves, showing the dark ground beneath. Soft enough to dig a fireplace and be comfortable, not too moist as to make the night unbearable.
“We’re camping here,” she said. She dragged Gaiane to the entrance of the cave, ignoring the princess’ protests when her gown got caught in some brambles, and dropped her there. “It’s dry enough, and I don’t fancy the idea of fishing you out of the mud, should it rain again.”
Gaiane stumbled and gave her torn shirt one quick, desperate look. Still, she shivered and sat down with a nod, swatting away the low branch of a hazelnut tree..
“Will you… set up a fire?” she asked in a whisper, and Leo shrugged.
“Why are you asking?”
“Fire… keeps the wolves away.” A tiny voice, frail as that of a child.
Leo placed the rope at her belt again and crouched. The ground was soft when she dug a shallow hole to host their fire, and with some more effort she found a handful of rocks to circle the pit. At the entrance of the cave there was some grass, decently dry thanks to the protection of the jutting stone. She picked a handful and placed it in the fire pit, adding some equally dry twigs picked from under the bushes.
During the whole process, Gaiane didn’t say a word, but Leo could feel her eyes watching attentively. By the time she was done with the fuse, the woods were bathed in the deep indigo and grey of the sunset, and the spark from her flint shone bright in the long shadows. Once, twice—the spark wouldn’t catch.
Yet, she insisted, deaf to Gaiane’s worried grumbles and bitten-off questions of concern. At last, a tiny line of smoke rose from the straw, announcing the first shy little flame. Still crouching, Leo ignited the fire with larger pieces of wood, breaking a light branch over her knee and sticking it into the pit. When the flames rose high enough to warm her hands, she sat bac
k with a satisfied grunt, and for a while she focused on feeding the fire until she was sure it wouldn’t go off and leave them in the dark.
By the time she’d managed to turn it into a proper bonfire it was entirely dark, and Gaiane was staring in silence at the flames. Too tired to comment? Impressed?
Sulking, probably.
She took some more meat, but when a low grumble and no complaints came from the princess, Leo sighed and picked an apple from her stocks, too.
She dropped it in Gaiane’s lap, startling her. Her big eyes fluttered open; they looked black in the shadows, and the flames reflected in golden sparkles in them.
“Eat it. You’re useless if you can’t walk,” Leo cut it short before attacking her supper.
Hunger was not something kings, queens and princesses were familiar with, and Gaiane devoured her portion with loud enthusiasm. Her slurping noises, and the way she licked her palms and fingertips, made Leo smile. A smile that vanished the moment Gaiane looked at her.
“Thank you,” the princess said with a bow of her head.
Leo turned her back on her and added some more wood on the fire. Despite the dampness it was strong enough to last through the night, and she had to admit she wasn’t that anxious to meet a pack of wolves, too.
A soft snoring came from behind her. Gaiane was sleeping with her head thrown back against the rocks and her mouth open.
Leo grinned again, and then yawned.
When she lay down by the fire, though, she couldn’t sleep.
Chapter 9
The first night with the Asares soldiers went by without any significant news. Their makeshift camp was nothing but a fire pit at the feet of a slope, with just enough room to lay down bedrolls and let the horses rest.
Everyone was too exhausted to speak, let alone to build a camp any more elaborate; Evandro tended to his burned palms with makeshift bandages made from rags, and soon sleep claimed him. He was the last to lay down to rest, except for a sentry sent into the thick of the woods.
For a while he waited and listened, his stomach churning with concern about the guards surrounding him and Ampelio’s destiny. Ampelio was fit to run, at least, and one would’ve hoped the kid was smart enough to put some distance between him and the guards.
The Other Side of Magic Page 13