As Lyneah gracefully swathed a scarf around her nose and mouth, Tobias said, “But I-I-I don't have a scarf.”
“Then y-y-y-you can use your shirt,” Kieran replied, which resulted in him being punched in the back by Lyneah. But he wasn't fazed by her fist—in fact, he laughed.
“How long will the journey take?” asked Lyneah as she chewed on her lower lip. When she thought about crossing the desert, her emotions were a mix of excitement and apprehension.
“Two hours, give or take. The desert is almost seventy miles wide, but we can reach a speed of roughly forty miles an hour. We'll arrive in Dovyr before you know it!” Kieran turned a crank, which raised the hovercraft a few more inches from the ground. “And now... I'd brace myself if I was you.”
Lyneah squealed when the hovercraft suddenly charged forward. It seemed to reach its top speed from the moment it took off. As they sped toward the desert, she gripped both sides of the craft, squeezing until her knuckles were bright white.
“Are you al-al-alright?” Tobias asked her.
“Oh, I'll be fine!” Lyneah lied. In truth, she had never been more unnerved by anything in her entire life. She must have really been determined to find Rory McCray. “I will say I'm glad to have these goggles. I can see the grains of sand blowing over them.”
“If you didn't have the goggles, you'd probably be blind by the end of the ride,” Kieran barked at her over his shoulder. “And I'd rather not have a blind princess on my conscience.”
The hovercraft suddenly made a sharp turn, which made Lyneah yelp loudly. Tobias tried to give her an encouraging pat on the shoulder, but she swatted away his hand. She was the only female sandwiched between two men, and she refused to look like the weak one.
As it happened, she wasn't the weakest one. After barely five minutes in the hovercraft, Tobias was gripping his gurgling stomach. “Errrgh... urp!”
When she heard the unmistakable sound of Tobias choking back vomit, Lyneah leaned forward in her seat with a squeal. “Oh please don't cast up your accounts on me, Tobey! If I have to wash vomit from my hair, I won't be very happy!”
“Sorry...” Tobias groaned an apology as he leaned over the side of the hovercraft. “If I hurl, I'll try not to hurl in your direction, Your Highness.”
“And you'd better not hurl on my craft, either,” Kieran said as he tossed a bag over his shoulder. Lyneah caught it, then passed it to Tobey. “If you have to vomit somewhere, vomit into that bag.”
Tobias tore open the bag and practically stuffed his head inside it. Nothing foul emerged from his throat, not even when his stomach churned violently. Nevertheless, he kept his head in the bag, moaning all the while.
“Poor Tobey,” Lyneah turned around, flashing a pitiful pout as she stared at him. “He's so sick, and yet we're both being insensitive.”
“I'm not insensitive. Quite the opposite,” Kieran claimed. “If he was forced to clean puke from the hovercraft, that would be a waste of his time... and I don't want to waste the boy's time, you see. That makes me rather sensitive, really.”
After awhile, Tobias' stomach started to settle, as did Lyneah's nerves. In fact, the princess was starting to enjoy the passing scenery—although there wasn't much to see. Everywhere she looked, there was sand: brown, yellow, dry and hot.
“Is that a snake over there?” Tobias pointed to a spot in the distance.
Lyneah peered at him over her shoulder. “What? Where?” She was dying to see something out of the ordinary.
“Oh. W-w-we already passed it,” he reported with a shrug. “Sorry.”
Lyneah shook her head and turned away from him, sighing heavily.
Roughly thirty minutes into their journey, they hear a loud pop, followed by the sound of a sputtering engine.
“Don't worry about that!” Kieran shouted before either of his passengers could voice their concerns. “That happens from time to time. It's not a big deal. It's not a big deal at all, actually.”
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the hovercraft whistled to a halt. They sat in stunned silence for several seconds before Lyneah poked him in the back and said, “Not a big deal, is it?”
Kieran tried to restart the hovercraft a few times, but the engine was well and truly dead. “Mmmmaybe it's not such a big deal? It's too soon to panic, at least.” He kept trying to blow off her concerns as he leapt from the craft and went to check the engine. “Maybe I can fix it.”
“This is what I paid you for?” Lyneah shrieked, springing from the craft after him. “I paid you to get me halfway through the desert and then break down?”
“We're not quite halfway, actually,” Kieran was quick to correct her.
“Who cares! That's irrelevant! The fact of the matter is, I paid you a lot of money to get me part of the way through the desert!”
“Don't start sobbing yet, love. As I said, I'm going to attempt to fix it.” Kieran grabbed a wrench from the craft and tried to squeeze beneath the vehicle. “It it bothers you so much, I can give you a bit of a refund.”
“A refund?” Lyneah threw up her arms in frustration. When she turned her attention to Tobey, her head was shaking with disbelief. “Does he realize how pointless a refund would be if we died in the desert?”
“M-M-Maybe it's too soon to say we're dying, Your Highness,” Tobias tried to reassure her. He finally climbed out of the hovercraft, which wasn't as easy as his companions made it look. He was relieved when he landed on his feet instead of his face. “I'm sure we'll get to our d-destination eventually.”
As Lyneah paced around, her boots crunched against the bed of sand. “I don't believe this!” she hissed. “I don't believe I trusted you to get us across the desert in a broken-down old vessel like this! I'm usually so cautious. I should have known better!”
Ignoring the princess' rant, Tobias squatted beside Kieran and asked, “I-Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You can get the princess to be quiet,” he answered with a snort. “Her whining isn't going to make me work any faster.”
Tobey dug through his bag and pulled out a bottle of water. He walked a few paces away from the hovercraft, sat down, and motioned for the princess to join him. “Lyneah!” he called to her. “Is it alright to call you Lyneah?”
“Sure,” she answered with a shrug. “Correct form of address is really the least of my concerns right now.”
“W-Why don't you sit with me for a bit?” When she joined him on his cushion of sand, he offered her the bottle of water. “Here. You deserve this more than me.”
Though she took it from his hand, her brow was pinched with concern. “Are you certain you want to give this to me?”
Tobias smiled and nodded. “Of course.”
“I'm glad at least one of us was prepared,” Lyneah said as she twisted off the bottle's cap. “I assumed we would be out of the desert in less than two hours... and now I know I was foolish to make such an assumption.”
The hovercraft suddenly made a buzzing noise, which sounded somewhat promising. Kieran sat up and stared at the craft, waiting for it to come to life. But when the buzzing noise ceased, and the engine returned to death, he banged on the front of the craft with his wrench and returned to his impossible task.
“I'm glad you came,” Lyneah whispered to Tobey as she took a sip from the bottle. “I'm sorry you're stuck in the desert with me, but I really wouldn't want to be alone right now.” She tried to offer the drink to Tobey, but he politely declined.
“W-well you wouldn't have been alone. Not entirely,” Tobias quietly replied. “You would've been with Kieran.”
“True. But I daresay you are far more pleasant company than he is.” She sneered in the direction of their bumbling mechanic. “Besides, I had to pay for his assistance. You came willingly, which says a lot about the sort of person you are.”
“I can't really offer much assistance, though,” a blushing Tobey replied.
“Nonsense! Just having your company means a lot.”
; Kieran decided to take a break from tinkering. When he sat up, every inch of his face was dripping with perspiration. After wiping his sweat with a scarf, he pulled a silver flask from his pocket, unscrewed its cap, and took a sip.
“What are you drinking?” Tobias was quick to ask him.
“Whiskey. Would you like some?”
“N-n-no. And I wouldn't drink that if I was you. We're stuck in a d-d-desert. Alcohol will only dehydrate you faster.”
“Boy, it's because we're stuck in a desert that I have to drink this,” Kieran said with a snort. “If I'm going to die out here, I might as well die happy.”
“See?” Lyneah shrieked as the panic immediately returned to her eyes. “We are going to die out here! He doesn't know what he's dong. We've no hope!”
Tobias attempted to redirect her thoughts with a change of subject. “So why did you flee the castle by yourself, Ly-Lyneah?”
His plan worked, because she immediately focused on her answer. “Well... I didn't know who I could trust. If I told anyone what I was planning to do... if I told anyone I wanted to overthrow the queen... how was I to know they wouldn't run to her and tell her the truth? I wasn't even sure I could trust my own boyfriend. He's a knight, and a fiercely loyal one at that. To be quite honest, I didn't trust him to choose love over duty.”
Tobias' eyebrows shot up. “You have a b-boyfriend?”
“Yes. Roderick. When I realized I didn't trust him to keep my secrets, it was a deeply depressing day.” Lyneah took another sip from her bottle and sighed. “Without trust, love feels hollow. Honestly, Tobey, I trust you more than I trust Roderick, and I barely know you.” She caught Kieran gazing in their direction, which made her wonder if he was eavesdropping.
“Is there a reason you don't trust R-Roderick?”
“No. It's just... I mean... I'm talking about overthrowing the queen. If they're worth anything, not too many knights would take kindly to that.”
When he saw her taking another swig from Tobey's bottle, Kieran shouted, “You better make that water last, girl! We might be stuck here awhile.”
Unfortunately, she didn't heed his advice. They were broken down for barely an hour before the water was gone. When she realized there was only a trickle left in the bottom of the bottle, she turned to Tobey and frowned. “I'm sorry...” she whispered, hoping Kieran wouldn't hear. “I didn't mean to drink it so quickly.”
“It's alright.” Tobias pried the empty bottle from her hand and rose to his feet.
“Oh no! Where are you going? Are you angry with me?”
“Not angry. I was just thinking... I'm pretty sure we passed a patch of water a little while ago. I thought I could go exp-p-plore, and if I find anything, I'll fill the water bottle and report back.”
“But--”
Lyneah started to protest, but Kieran interrupted. “Let the boy go. He can make himself useful. For once.”
“Oh, like you're so useful!” Lyneah hissed at the mercenary. Her voice softened considerably when she asked Tobey, “Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, it's fine. I'm sure I'll be alright! Besides, someone should probably stay here and keep an eye on Kieran.” Tobias smiled and waved before he started off in the direction of the supposed water.
“Good. He's gone,” Kieran said as soon as Tobias was out of range. “With any luck, I'll have the hovercraft fixed before he gets back and we can give him the slip.”
“As if I'd let you do that!” Lyneah retorted. She kept her eyes on Tobias as long as she could, until he climbed an immense sand dune and disappeared from view.
On the other side of the hill, Tobias picked up a long stick and dragged it behind him, carving a line through the sand as he walked. When it was time to return, the line would show him how to get back to the hovercraft. He was really rather proud of himself for thinking of such a thing.
However, the water was further away than he remembered—or perhaps it seemed like a shorter distance in the hovercraft. After a few minutes of searching, Tobias struggled to slog through the sea of sand. He removed his shoes and tried to walk barefoot, but the sand burned his toes. With a sigh, he hopped back into his shoes and trudged onward.
Some time later, he reached the oasis. It was just a small pond, flanked by two towering palm trees. When the crystal blue water came into view, Tobias sprinted toward it. He dropped to his knees beside the pool, cupped his hands, and voraciously scooped handfuls of water through his dry, thirsty lips. He didn't even think about filling the bottle until he'd had all the water his stomach could handle.
“Someone's in our special place, boys,” a rough, male voice suddenly spoke. “You know I don't like folks being in my special place.”
Tobias wiped his hands on his shirt and turned around slowly. There were three men standing behind him, all of them similarly dressed in broad-brimmed hats and khaki cloaks.
“Ah, but he's a pretty one, he is,” another man spoke. “He looks like a boy angel, fallen from heaven. I think we should treat him nice.”
“Oh, we'll treat him nice alright.” The first man spoke again, cracking his knuckles as he took a step in Tobias' direction. “What's your name, boy?”
Tobey was too stunned to speak. He just kept watching the three men with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
“What's yer name?” the man repeated his question. “You got a name, doncha?”
“To-To-To-To...” Tobias winced. He was so anxious about the three strangers that he couldn't get the word out.
“Toe Toe Toe?” One of the cloaked men clapped his cronies on the back and roared with laughter. “That seems like an odd name to me, son.”
“Tobias!” When the name finally flew from his lips, he practically shouted it. “My name's Tobias.”
“Well, Tobias...” The man in front jiggled the buckle of his belt as he swaggered closer to Tobey. “You're about the prettiest thing we've seen in a long time. The prettiest thing by far, I'd say. Do you know what that means?”
“N-n-no,” Tobias croaked his answer. “No, sir.”
“It means we're going to have a bit of fun with you.” The leader checked the faces of his friends, who were nodding in unison. “I'd prefer a pretty lady, of course, but I'll make do with what we got.”
Two of the men advanced on him before Tobias could spring to his feet. They shoved him down to the ground, pressing his face into the sand. When he felt the grains enter his mouth, Tobey sputtered.
“H-Help!” he cried, hoping he wasn't too far away for his two companions to hear him. “Help!”
“Ain't no one gonna help you out here, pretty boy...” The leader was unbuckling his belt as he stepped behind the screaming Tobias. “There's no one around for miles. You get that, right?”
Tobias tried to struggle, but the two men held him down. When he felt one of them fumbling with the top of his breeches, he groaned loudly. The other man crushed his face to the ground again, practically choking Tobias with sand.
“I can't wait to see that pretty little bum of yours,” the leader said as he dropped to his knees behind Tobias. “I bet it's real nice and small and tight and--”
The speaker was interrupted by the piercing sound of gunfire. As the shot echoed, Tobias' attacker fell face-first into the sand, right next to him. The two other men released him, which gave Tobias a chance to roll on his back and see what was happening. Princess Lyneah was standing a short distance away, gripping her gun in her hand.
“Neither of you move!” Lyneah commanded them. “If I see either of you move an inch, you'll join your friend in the sand!”
But they didn't listen. When she saw one of them reach for the gun at his hip, Lyneah fired. But her aim was off, and the shot hit him in the shoulder. He tried to fire back at her, but she was too fast—she dove behind one of the palm trees. It provided meager cover, but it was enough to shield her from the incoming bullet.
Both attackers abandoned Tobias in pursuit of Lyneah, which gave him a chance to act. Tobey grabbed hi
s stick and swatted one of the men in the back of the legs, tripping him up. When the man landed on the ground, he whirled around and punched Tobias squarely in the jaw.
With one of the men distracted, Lyneah popped out of cover and took aim again. This time, her aim was good. The bullet hit her attacker the center of the chest, and he toppled to the ground in front of her. She only had one more to deal with, but the situation had turned in his favor. The thug had somehow gotten behind Tobias and was using him as a shield. As his knife pressed against Tobias' neck, he growled, “I should just kill your friend right now!”
“No, please!” Lyneah pleaded with him from behind the palm tree. “Please, don't! Whatever you do, don't hurt him!”
“Oh, would you rather I kill you instead?” The man turned to spit, then pressed his knife a bit harder. Tobey grunted when he felt a trickle of blood scurrying down his neck. “After what you did to me mates, I should just kill the both of youse! I should just--”
A sudden shotgun blast put an immediate end to the ruffian's threat. The man's head exploded in a crimson burst of flesh and gore. Lyneah screamed when she heard the blast. When she peeked around the palm tree and saw Kieran standing with a shotgun, she felt her rapid heartbeat subside a bit.
“Look what happens when I let the two of you wander off without me!” Kieran exclaimed. “Even with a gun, the princess can't defend herself!”
“I was doing a swell job defending myself, actually! I killed two men before you arrived!” When she finished railing at Kieran, Lyneah rushed over to Tobias and flung herself on the ground beside him. “Are you alright?” She cradled his face between her palms and lightly stroked his cheeks. “Are you hurt? You're bleeding!”
“I'm a-a-al-alright,” Tobias assured her, wincing at his horrible stutter.
“But... your neck!” Lyneah whimpered when she saw the narrow trickle of blood along his clavicle. “He cut your neck! That awful bastard!”
A Lost Princess (Belles & Bullets Book 2) Page 5