by E. A. James
She opened her mouth to argue once more, but there was rationality in his words. Her pride withering, she closed her mouth and huffed through her nose.
They made the mistake of entering another village—Kallal Village, a place made out of reds and pinks more than any other color, though a few aspects of lavender were painted into some of the shops’ framework.
Apparently, news traveled speedily in the Kingdom of Sasawa.
“You’re the Mad Duchess of Asawiss!” a human boy said, running up to her the moment she and Adrik entered Kallal. He grinned up at her. “My mama says you fell off the mountain. Did you? Did it hurt?”
She fought against the glare that threatened to appear. “No.”
“It didn’t hurt?! Amazing!” He ran back in the direction he had come from, toward a small cone-shaped house. “Mama, she can’t get hurt!”
Adrik, gods bless him, said nothing about this, though his gaze twinkled with self-righteous amusement.
They hadn’t reached the village square when two human men grabbed her and threw her against the slanted wall of a nearby building.
“The Mad Duchess and her Gargan bodyguard,” one of them said, chuckling humorlessly as Leonie dusted herself off. “It’s hard enough to spread the word of Mathsus without heretics like you tainting the cause.”
She stepped up to him, her eyes narrowed and her mouth open—ready to preach that the Trilinity religion had three gods to worship, not only Mathsus. But then Adrik grabbed both men by their calves and threw them unceremoniously to the other side of the road.
They crashed on top of a large pile of garbage, in between two unkempt households.
Leonie swallowed back a giggle, her lips spreading wide on their own accord.
“Let’s go,” Adrik said, pressing his large hand against her back and guiding her down the road.
“Thanks,” she said. “I guess Gargan strength does come in handy from time to time.”
He smirked, gently pushing her as he quickened his pace.
They stayed in the forests after that, walking on the outskirts of the villages. And with Adrik’s large size, it was easy for Leonie to crouch beside him and hide from potential onlookers.
Olnorma darkened, the stark white moon casting ghostly light over the dense forest. A chilled wind caressed the foliage every so often, but for the most part, the air was still and the temperature was tolerable.
“We should camp,” Adrik said, interrupting her as she spoke of the time her younger sister broke her finger.
“Sleepy?” she asked with a smirk.
“Of course. Aren’t you?”
Her eyelids felt too weighted, her eyes aching. “I’m too excited to be sleepy.”
“Be that as it may, we should rest before continuing onward.”
“If you insist.” She suppressed a yawn and kneeled, her pack falling to the ground. As she looked through it for her blankets and pillow, she noticed Adrik simply plumped beside her and leaned back against a tree. She furrowed her brow. “You don’t have any supplies?”
He blinked. Then he motioned at himself.
“Well then why didn’t you buy anything at any of the shops?”
“I don’t need anything, except food. And I did buy that before eating it.” He stretched, rubbing his shoulders against the tree and closing his eyes. “I don’t require as much as humans do to survive. Though truly, humans don’t require their sleeping comforters.”
“Our blankets?”
“Precisely.”
She took out her blankets and laid them on the ground. “I suppose that makes life easier then.”
He said nothing.
She placed her pillow on the ground, and then she rested upon her makeshift bed. Her eyelids drooped, though curiosity spiked within her. She turned to Adrik. “I wonder if my family sent anyone after me.”
Adrik didn’t open his eyes.
She faced the sky, blocked by several tree branches and pine needles. Guilt rose within her and clawed into her heart and stomach. She shifted. “I hope they understand. I never wanted to go against them and hurt anyone. I just…this was just something I couldn’t ignore. Not that I’ve ever been able to ignore much.”
Adrik exhaled slowly.
“Asawiss is really like one big family of friends, you know? We all rely on each other to survive. Some are gatherers, some are wood-cutters, some are hunters, some are builders—everyone has a role that matters. I love it, but sometimes…okay, a lot of the time, I wanted to see something more. There’s more to life than just one culture.” She placed her hands over her stomach, churning and twisting. “I thought my first journey out of the kingdom would be as Asawiss’s first ambassador. For it to be a holy calling that compels…” She sighed. “I hope my family doesn’t think I’m crazy, at least, even if they don’t believe me.” She glanced at Adrik.
His eyes were still closed.
She rolled her eyes, though a smile graced her lips. “You know, you’re the quiet and blunt type. And those aren’t bad things to be. I’m sorry if I’ve been making your life difficult, but I do appreciate that you came along with me.” Her heart warmed, easing her tension. She closed her eyes. “It’s nice to have at least one person wanting to help me.”
She didn’t see it when Adrik peeked open one of his eyes.
CHAPTER FIVE
A growl rumbled through the air, ghosting over her face in a taut, warm wind that smelled of rot and fish.
Leonie, half-asleep, turned away and cringed with disgust.
The second growl had her snapping her eyes open.
She rolled away just as two enormous paws smashed against her blankets, a roar bellowing above them.
She scrambled to her feet—dirt and torn leaves falling off her—before dashing to the side as the bear charged at her. It smashed its paws against the ground and then turned to her.
“Adrik!” She rolled out of the bear’s way again, kicking off one tree to propel her forward and away from her attacker. “Adrik! I need help!”
The bear snarled, slowing as it circled her. Its beady eyes locked with hers, ferocity a suffocating aura around the beast.
Her heart, lodged at the base of her throat, hammered. “Adrik.” She glanced at where he had been sleeping, only to discover that area vacant.
The bear crouched, prepared to leap.
Adrik crashed into it. Their large bodies tumbled over the ground, the bear’s claws slashing out while Adrik kept his arms around the animal.
Leonie went rigid, eyes blowing wide and heart stuttering. And then she remembered the bow in her pack.
The bear snarled and Adrik grunted as they fought.
She ran to her pack. She had just dug out the bow and two arrows when abrupt silence fell upon the forest.
She snapped her attention back. “Adrik?” she breathed, her chest icing over.
Adrik and the bear lay limp on the forest floor. Suddenly, Adrik grunted, sliding a part of himself from beneath the bear before rising and dusting the dirt off himself.
Leonie dropped her weapons, a shaky sigh bursting out of her mouth. “Thank the gods.” She glanced at the bear, still unmoving. “Is it dead?”
“Yes,” Adrik huffed. “I snapped its neck.”
She blinked owlishly at him—at his large hands. “Wow. Alright then.” Shaking herself out of her stunned state, she searched through her pack again, this time for her daggers. “We must skin it and package the meat. No life should be lost in vain, not even a predator’s.”
“Sentimental reasoning, but it has a practical nature to it.”
She snorted, smiling. “I’m glad you approve.” She pulled out two sharp daggers, gleaming beneath the scattered sunshine that shone through the trees. “Now, hold the bear up for me, will you? This is going to take a while.”
Adrik nodded.
The bear meat was gamey but filling, leaving the shops of scattered villages obsolete for their vital need of food. Thus, they continued on solely through fore
sts until they crossed the border into the Kingdom of Sallimor, a much drier place covered mostly in sand. Where she and Adrik walked now, however, was covered with some tall yellow grass and a few dead bushes.
Leonie glanced around, twirling slowly as she did so. Unease sank in her bones.
Adrik sighed. “What are you doing now?”
“Where is the border patrol?”
“The Kingdom of Sallimor doesn’t care about its borders. All guards surround the royal family, nothing else.”
“Really?” She faced forward again. “Well, then what about Sasawa’s border patrol?”
“We have one guard stationed at the Southeast post. No one from Sallimor ever ventures to Sasawa though.”
“That can’t be true.”
“Virtually, it is.”
“Is that what they teach you in the military? It doesn’t sound accurate.”
He shook his head and shrugged. “It’s just something I noticed when I first came to Sasawa.”
“From Maylorn.”
He gave her a disapproving frown, his forehead wrinkling a little. “From Sallimor. Maylorn isn’t next to Sasawa.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know that! I meant you left home to come to Sasawa.”
“Oh. Yes.”
“Why?”
“It was…” His frown deepened, gaze scattering about as he thought. “Different. No sand, not a lot of Gargans. I appreciated it.”
“You wanted to be away from your own people?”
He tensed, not looking at her. He remained quiet for the next few moments, each step as rigid as the previous one.
Puzzling, she thought as she observed him. Guilt tried to flare up within her—she had clearly opened an old wound—but confusion kept all other emotions back. Leonie scratched her jaw, her mind trying to reach certain conclusions. When it couldn’t, she gently said, “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to insult you. I just…I just don’t understand. People usually want to be near their own. It’s an instinct, I think.”
He scoffed. “Instinct? If that is so, then I was born without it. A defect, perhaps.”
Her heart ached. “What? You’re not a defect!”
Adrik grunted; his facial muscles stiff and eyes blank.
“You’re not,” she repeated. “I’m being sincere. I never meant to imply—I mean of course, you’re not a defect. Why would you ever say such a thing?”
He took a deep breath, his muscles relaxing and his eyelids lowering. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I…I grew up in a family that was very…strict in their ways of thinking. I was different from them, so to them that made me limited.”
Defective. She winced, her chest feeling as if it had been cracked open. She tightened her grip on her pack and blinked hard. Before all of this, she had believed her family had loved and accepted every aspect of her. Now…well, at least the former was true.
She inhaled shakily, the ache in her torso burning a little hotter. “They’re foolish for thinking that way.”
He chuckled. “That so?”
“Yes.”
“Funny, I thought you would agree with them. We haven’t always seen eye to eye.”
“That doesn’t make you defective.” She glared at the yellow grass—becoming sparser and sparser the further they traveled. “People can be different from one another without being defective.” She spat to the side. “What a horrible thing to make someone feel.”
“Everyone thinks that way, you know,” he said, lips quirking upward. “We all think we’re a little better than others.”
“Well, that isn’t right.”
“Perhaps.” His smile widened. “Though that comment in itself argues that one way of thinking is defective.”
She stopped, head hurting and frustration flailing inside her.
Adrik stopped and looked back at her. He was still smiling—no, grinning at this point.
Amusement bubbled up her aching torso, and she shook her head. “Why does this make you so happy?”
“Hap—?” His lips twitched, his eyes widening before he frowned. Then he cleared his throat and continued forward. “We should really keep moving.”
“You’re keeping another secret from me?” She hurried after him, her arm grazing his. “What is it?”
“It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you.”
“Yes, it would. It would just be a shared secret. Those exist.”
His lips quirked upward again. “Ah. Be that as it may, I prefer to keep this one to myself.”
She pouted goofily. “You’re no fun.” When he didn’t respond right away, she bumped into his firm arm again.
His smile widened just a bit more.
CHAPTER SIX
Sand in her boots, Leonie approached the first Sallimor village. Adrik strode beside her, his steps languid and indifferent to the sandy terrain. Leonie couldn’t help but glance at him with envy each time her own steps wavered.
One of these times, he caught her. “Why are you looking at me?”
She stared at his feet and pouted. “No reason.”
He opened his mouth, but his flickering gaze caught sight of something in the distant—and he abruptly faced forward.
A group of people, all well dressed, hurriedly marched out of the village and toward them. They looked like their hopped from one foot to the other, spears pointed skyward.
Leonie stopped and squinted. “That’s not because of us, is it?”
Adrik stopped, too, inhaling deeply. “We should run.”
“What? No, this looks important.”
“It looks dangerous.” He reached for her.
She ducked away and walked closer to those who marched toward them. Their uniforms were a dark blue, the large symbol on their chest a shiny white. “That looks like the royal guard, does it not?”
Adrik sucked in a breath. “It does, but I still don’t like this.”
They remained where they were until the guards finally arrived, their spears swung downward and aimed at Leonie’s chest.
Leonie shot up her hands and cringed. “Okay, maybe you were right.”
Adrik sighed, raising his hands, as well.
“Mad Duchess of Asawiss,” the guard in the center said. “You’re under arrest in order to protect the royal family from your blasphemy.”
“From my what?” She shook her head, her beating too wildly for humor to blossom. “Look, I—I only want to prevent a war. I don’t mean anyone any harm.”
Adrik took a step forward, a little in front of her. “How did you know she was the Mad Duchess?”
She clenched her teeth.
The center guard said, “We received word of her travels and impending arrival in our land. Her threats will not stand here.”
She paled. “I’m not threatening anyone!”
The center guard drew his sword and raised it close to her chin—and, subsequently, closer to Adrik’s hip. “Nor will you ever.”
Adrik grabbed the blade and squeezed, the metal shuddering within his tight grasp.
The guards’ eyes widened.
The center guard tugged at his sword, but it barely budged. He bared his teeth as fear swirled in his eyes. “Resisting arrest is also punishable. We merely intend to arrest the Mad Duchess, not her companion, but if you persist—” He growled as he pulled even harder.
Leonie slowly stepped around Adrik, her elbow tapping his upper arm. “Let go. I’m willing to go with them peacefully.”
Adrik kept his narrowed eyes on the center guard. “It isn’t right for them to do so.”
“They’re just scared. If the royals are willing to hear me out, then maybe they’ll understand.”
“They’ll lock you up for your madness.”
Discomfort crawled over her skin, she wasn’t sure how many more times she could stand being called mad. “Well, yes, possibly. But if that occurs, I can reach out to my family, and they can find a way to return me home without any violence.” She pointedly lowered her gaze to the sword in Adrik’s h
and. “No one has to get hurt. Or humiliated.” She cocked an eyebrow at the guards.
Adrik’s glare deepened.
She bumped her elbow against him again.
He exhaled slowly through his flared nostrils. “Fine.” He released the sword. “But I shall be arrested with you.”