Madison just shrugged and looked to Shayna instead. If anyone should have known what Erin was capable of, it was Shayna. She had spent more time with her sister than either of the two men present, although it was likely questionable how much of it was unconscious in a hospital bed from one fight or another. Shayna just shrugged as well and turned her attention to her own plate of food.
Although he hated to waste the extra time, he felt like everyone had earned a well-deserved rest, even if it was only momentary. Erin had immediately set about healing their injuries, starting with Shayna, who seemed to be in the most danger, and then moved on to Warren and finally Madison. He had to admit that she did a great credit to her profession. Burke had mentioned before they left that she had a natural talent for healing, and he was apt to agree with that it now that he had experienced it firsthand on separate occasions. She worked quickly and efficiently with none of the pompous flash or show that he had originally imagined would accompany the art. He admittedly had limited experience with magic, and he had been on the receiving end of it all, but most of his time was spent dodging massive balls of fire or having something frozen. It was a nice change of pace to see someone working as steadily and confidently as a well-trained doctor.
Once he had been healed up, Madison had rummaged through the campsite until he found the provisions that they had brought with them. He had been initially afraid that they would be all be stored away in magic trunks like his own, so he almost didn’t look at all, but then he realized that the bandits would have had to eat as well—and they wouldn’t bother missing anything that Madison took anytime soon. In the end, he found the leftovers from what looked like last night’s meal. It was a rich, hearty stew filled with carrots and potatoes and some type of meat—which Madison wasn’t going to question—and he had set it over the fire to warm.
No one questioned the fact that they were sitting down and eating a meal amongst the dead. The campsite was a stark reminder of the violence that had just occurred, but watching Erin walk amongst them while she worked was proof enough that they had been successful. He also suspected that each of them was so hungry that they didn’t care. They were as covered in dirt and mud and blood as everything else was, so it wasn’t like they had sensibilities to maintain.
“So, where do we go from here?” Warren asked, looking up from his food at Madison.
“Where else?” Madison answered rhetorically. “The information about Erin was good, so we have to assume the same about Alyanna and Lord Fox. They were both supposed to be taken to the larger camp down east, right? We can only hope that we arrive in time to stop them from shipping Aly off to the goddess or whoever it is that is expecting her.”
“And Lord Fox?” Warren asked, pressing the topic.
Madison knew exactly what he was asking: If Alyanna is already gone, do they try to recapture Lord Fox or go after her? His gut told him to chase Alyanna. The dragon had basically told him that she was the key to figuring out what memories the witch had stolen from him and possibly recovering them. That meant that she was central to figuring out exactly why he was in this world and any clues that might get him home again. There was also the lingering feeling of her soft lips pressed up against him that he couldn’t ignore every time he thought about her that he couldn’t ignore. Still, he knew that leaving Lord Fox in the hands of Ryder or the goddess or whomever it was that was pulling the strings on this whole operation was dangerous. The fact was that Madison might never be able to catch up with Alyanna, and he might never be able to rescue her even if he somehow got to her before she reached the goddess. If that was the case, he was going to have to deal with the ramifications of what it meant to be stuck in this world without a lifeline for a lot longer than he hoped.
He hated to broach the topic with either of the girls around, though he knew that he was going to have to sooner or later, but he also doubted whether or not he had Burke to fall back on now as well. He had never really thought of the Guardian as someone whom he was going to become dependent on, but having someone of that caliber as a closer relation and source of help wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Further, Burke had also promised to tell Madison about the history of his tattoo and what it meant along with teaching him a few tricks, especially one pertaining to how to use the magic eyes that kept a watch on everything at K’yer Utane.
Eventually, Madison just shrugged again. He wasn’t sure what answer he could actually give that would satisfy Warren, and he wasn’t sure what decision he would make if he was pressed. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly, playing around in his stew with his spoon for a moment. “Gut says Alyanna is more important, especially if Fox is killed. He could be manipulated if he’s alive, but they seem to think that she’s important as well. Even if they try to use him, she’s the heir. That makes her more important, right? Even if we have to dethrone him, we can do that as long as we have her.”
Warren raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, “You’re already plotting the overthrow of a lord? Maybe they weren’t too wrong about you after all.”
Madison barked a laugh. “Yeah, busted. You caught me. Secretly plotting the overthrow of both K’yer Utane and Stargrave. I plan on marching the combined armies east after that and waging war on the kingdoms there and whoever was stupid enough to start the damned thing to begin with. Stargrave is the purse; K’yer Utane is the muscle. See how well those two work together? After that, well, I guess I’ll crown myself emperor and then kick back and watch it all burn.”
All three heads swiveled to look at him, and Warren’s mouth hung slightly agape, his spoon hanging suspended halfway to his mouth.
“What?” Madison asked defensively. “You’re kidding me. I’m not serious!”
Warren let out a breath and shook his head.
“What did he mean about you betraying everyone?” Shayna asked quietly. Her gaze was fixed on the soup in front of her, and she didn’t look up at him like she normally did as she asked the question. “What did he mean about you killing those innocent people?”
Madison’s face twisted into a scowl. He had suspected that this line of questioning would come up eventually, but he would have preferred that it come later rather than now. He had enough to focus on already without reliving old memories and defending himself against completely-outrageous, trumped-up, bogus charges, and he had to be careful what he told them as well. He still didn’t fully trust anyone with the fact that he had been transported here from another world by an angry, vindictive witch who claimed she was punishing him for crimes he didn’t remember committing, and there was a whole litany of unanswered questions about his past and his missing memories that he couldn’t even begin to provide answer to. It was hard at this point to separate one from the other, but he knew he had to try.
“Well,” he began carefully, “they aren’t completely lying. I was actually on a ship with Janos at one point, and it seems I might actually be linked to him somehow. These pirates and Garin really do seem to believe I stole Janos’ treasure, and I guess that’s why they’re all after me. I didn’t, by the way.” He hastily added that last part when he saw the concern and doubt start to grow in Shayna’s eyes. “I honestly don’t know what the so-called treasure is, but I can honestly say that I’d like to find it as well. And, well, as for the ‘innocent’ merchants traveling to market . . . I think what they were referring to was the group of slavers who captured me right after I washed up on shore. I killed at least half a dozen of them escaping, and that’s that. They were transporting me to some town for sale, so I guess they really were merchants in a way, but they were far from innocent. Warren found me half-dead after that and brought me to K’yer Utane. There wasn’t anything malicious in any of it: it was just me trying to stay alive the entire time. That’s the way its been every day, actually. Put one foot in front of the other, soldier on, and do what you have to in order to see tomorrow. Pretty simple, really.”
Shayna nodded as he finished his explanation, but there was still a little bit
of doubt in her eyes, and she looked down again. She shook her head and looked up a moment later, clearly having remembered something that made her feel relieved. “Burke trusted you,” she said confidently. “You wouldn’t be here if he didn’t. Besides, you still owe me! I don’t care if you’re guilty or not. You don’t get to go dying or be taken captive until I say so!”
Madison couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden shift in her demeanor, and apparently, neither could Warren.
“You about finished over there?” he called out to Erin. She had spent a fair amount of time tending to the comatose, more than she had on healing the three of them, and Madison was beginning to wonder if it was due to some type of regret or guilt that she felt. She was responsible for rendering them that way, no matter how justly deserved it had been, and she likely wanted to make sure that she hadn’t done any lasting harm.
She turned and nodded to him, though she still looked apprehensive.
“We’re just going to leave them?” Warren asked.
“Sure. Why not?” Madison asked in reply. He appreciated the fact that everyone had unanimously seemed to accept him as the de facto leader, but he didn’t like having to explain every little action or decision he made. “They would have done worse to us, and I doubt that any harm will be done to them. Any idea how long they’ll be out?” he asked.
Erin shrugged and held up two fingers, then three, then two again.
“So, two or three days most likely,” he said, summarizing what he had seen on her hands. “They should be fine in that time. We can drag them into one of the tents before we leave if it would make you feel any better. I know that they were just following orders, but they sure caused us a massive headache.”
“Following orders,” Warren repeated quietly, shaking his head in disbelief. “I know I heard it, but I still can’t believe it. There has to be something else going on here that we don’t know about.”
Madison stood up without answering, ladled himself out another bowl of stew, and then went around adding some to everyone else’s bowls while he was up. He wanted to avoid the conversation leading back to Burke and the things Gregory had said about the Guardian for as long as he could, so he completely ignored Warren’s statement. “How is everyone feeling?” he asked instead when he had finished and sat back down. “I know you two had a sleepless night, but do you think you can keep going for a few more hours? I don’t want to press on for the rest of the day, but we need to cover as much ground as we can while there’s daylight. I think we can make it back down to the lower tier before night, and I don’t want to risk walking up on a random group of slavers or bandits after dark just because we couldn’t see where we were going. I know you two can see a good way in the dark, but we’re not so fortunate.”
“I’m good for a while longer,” Warren answered before tucking into his newly-replenished food.
Shayna and Erin both nodded their agreement as well, so that settled it.
-----
Madison dragged the bodies into the tent as he had promised and even went the extra mile by taking the time to tie up the tent flap just in case some random wild animal decided to come and investigate. He had absolutely no idea what type of coyotes or wolves or whatever might roam through the forests, though he doubted that he would find very many this high up, and he wasn’t sure what type of mythical creature might be lurking around the corner, but he knew for certain that there would at least be carrion-eating birds drawn to the battle sight. He really didn’t care one way or another if a bird happened to take a few bites out of the pudgy redhead that had caused him so many annoyances, but he would have hated seeing Rae be punished when she was likely only following orders. There was also the problem of Erin’s conscience. She had spent a great deal of time tending to them and making sure that they were alright, and he would have hated seeing that go to waste.
Also true to his word, the group departed almost immediately after that small chore was taken care of. Winding his way down the narrow switchbacks was a lot easier and faster than it had been going up, mostly because he didn’t have to take his time or worry about whether or not someone was going to spot him during the night, but the narrow walkway still gave him some slight pause. He was fairly confident now that he could clearly see where he was going, but that didn’t stop him from nervously glancing down over the edge from time to time.
The sun peeked over the horizon at some point during their descent, although the beauty of its sunrise was hidden behind the dark clouds that still hung in the sky. The day dawned cold and dreary as a result, and Madison couldn’t help but think that it was the perfect day to spend inside, in bed, and with a good book. He chuckled wryly to himself at that thought, shaking his head at how ironic it was. He hadn’t had a day off in so long that he wasn’t even sure what he would do with one, but he was almost certain that no one in this world had ever spent an entire day in bed lounging around with nothing better to do than read books and relax. If he was ever going to have such a luxury again, he was going to have to survive long enough to learn to read the weird cipher that passed for a language in this world and the time to do it.
Warren took up his former position in the lead of the group, and Madison naturally moved back to cover the rear. He had no doubts that any one of them would have been able to hold their own if they were attacked from behind, but he was determined to do everything he could to keep the group together now that they had finally started to recover everyone. He didn’t really expect to run into any other people, but he wasn’t going to rule out the possibility either. The small group from K’yer Utane had seemed fairly confident that Madison was going to come for Erin, so much so, in fact, that Gregory basically admitted to using her as bait to lure him in, yet no one had considered the fact that the small trio would be able to make it into the camp and break her out without getting caught in the process. That meant it was unlikely that anyone else would be looking for them as they made their escape, but there was still the unanswered question of why they had chosen to come up this high to begin with.
Despite not knowing what else might be up here, he knew that the higher elevations were safer than the ones lower down and closer to the large encampment they were headed for. Warren hadn’t used his running skill yet since it took a fair bit out of him to maintain it, so they were only traveling at a normal pace and not the super speed that they had used before. Everyone was tired, and Madison didn’t want to push them beyond their limit, so he had had decided to wait and save it as an ace in the hole just in case they needed to escape a sticky situation once they were farther down.
Luckily, the terrain was fairly flat and even, and the going was easy, so he didn’t have to put too much thought into watching where he stepped. As such, he had a bit of time to piece together what must have happened the preceding day, and although no one had spelled it out for him, he had come up with a fairly confident guess.
The moment the trap had been sprung on him, Madison had been baffled by how it was even possible. And, with the onset of the fight, he hadn’t been able to dedicate any time to thinking about it until now. The black-clad swordsman had likely fled from the first battle intentionally so that he could warn the others about Madison and his crew making their way there. They had to have known that Madison was going to attack, but Gregory had been genuinely surprised and outraged when he found out what happened to Nicholas. It was likely that some sort of magical security system had been set up to automatically wake up everyone in the camp the moment he entered Erin’s tent. The lookouts he had killed would have been the first line of defense, but one that was ultimately unneeded. That would explain why he hadn’t heard all the movement it would have taken to get that many people into position so quickly, as well—assuming, of course, that magic could muffle sound. It was the only explanation that he could come up with that satisfied every strange occurrence.
The group traveled without taking more than a single short break until around midday when they approached the point
where the highest tier of the terrace lost elevation and rapidly became the middle tier. They were fundamentally circling around the mountain as they went, and little by little, steadily heading downhill. There were two major points, however—three including the one they had already scaled—where the ground turned into an extremely steep grade and sloped down for several hundred feet at a time. Those swift changes in elevation served as the unofficial markers between the massive terraces, and they were likely the most dangerous areas that they would have to traverse until they made it to the enemy encampment. This one, in particular, had Madison worried.
The forest thinned out as they approached it until it disappeared completely at the edge of the steep hill, leaving nothing but barren, rocky soil that was dotted with little other than large boulders and deep wash ways that had eroded away the mountain. All forms of dirt and plants and anything that wasn’t solid rock had been washed away, leaving nothing but a barren field of hulking, big rocks precariously clinging to the steep grade. A long, winding trail had been hewn into the stone, but it was effectively little more than a pathway that wound its way back and forth through the field with little direction and absolutely nowhere to take cover if someone decided to attack—and that was exactly what had Madison so worried. Anyone watching below would have a clear view of exactly where they were, and anyone with half a brain and a bow would have a field day using them as target practice.
Madison would have rather waited until night to make the trip down under the cover of darkness, but seeing as it wasn’t even noon yet, that was completely out of the question. He had promised to let them take a break and rest—a rest that they had duly earned and needed—but he wanted to be within scouting range of the other encampment by at least nightfall. That was likely the only chance they were going to have to get any type of recon, and he couldn’t spoil his chances of catching Alyanna before she was shipped out by wasting yet another day waiting. If that was going to happen, they were going to have to press forward.
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