Chapter 52:
Chained Again
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. The periodic noise irritates me. Its endless, repeating every few seconds – knock, knock, knock. Each one bounces around my skull, making it ache.
I’m exhausted, but the noise won’t let me sleep. The knocking only aggravates the pain, causing more and more discomfort. What’s going on?
I jerk upright and am met with blinding morning sunlight. My hand snaps to my eyes. My headache screams, and I let out a pained groan.
“Move slowly,” a voice says. Trevus. A hand strokes my back. He’s here. What happened?
I squint, blocking the sun with my arm. My vision slowly adjusts. Trevus sits close. He’s concerned. We’re in a wagon covered by a white tarp, leaving only the rear open. The wheels knock on each rotation.
I was hit. I was in the boss’s den – last night. He was going to hurt me. I used my connection but failed to escape. They struck my head. I reach up to feel it.
“Careful,” Trevus says.
There’s a painful bruise on the top left side, but it isn’t bleeding.
My wrist is pulled back with a metal clink – the sound of a chain going taut. I’m chained! My body lurches backwards, and my headache roars. Trevus wraps his arms around my frame, keeping me steady. “Slowly,” he says.
I relax in his hold. He’s right. I shouldn’t move too much. My eyes follow the metal links from my left wrist to the wagon entrance. It’s attached to the wooden frame with a hefty iron fitting.
Trevus keeps his arms around me. After my encounter with the boss, it’s not a surprise that I’ve been chained. Waking to a frightening situation after being knocked out threw me off balance.
Trevus senses that my muscles have relaxed, and he releases his hold, leaning back against the wagon frame but keeping his eyes on me.
His wrist is chained to the right side of the wagon. They must have caught him after I was unconscious – perhaps even holding my body hostage.
I peer out the back of the wagon into the bright sun. Soldiers stretch back further than I can see, all dressed in black jolcans that cover from shoulders to knees, and all heavily armed. We’re in the middle of an army on the move.
This can’t be the force of a local crime boss. We’ve been passed along to someone much more powerful.
While many men are mounted tall on horses, far more walk on foot. Trevus and I are their prisoners, yet we ride in the back of the wagon as opposed to being pulled in a train.
“Steady?” Trevus asks.
“Y-” my voice cracks, my throat burning dry. I nod to avoid speaking again.
Trevus looks to the soldier walking beside the wagon. “Footman,” he calls, grabbing the man’s attention. He looks in his mid-twenties, well-built with shoulder-length black hair. “My companion requires water.”
The soldier’s expression hardens. “I’m not authorized to answer to you.”
“And to whom do you answer?” Trevus asks.
The soldier’s lips make a thin line. He’s not engaging.
Instead of asking a second time, Trevus poses a new question – “Is your lord merciful?” He must be concerned for our future.
“No.” The soldier answers without even looking our way.
“Your lord does not tolerate mistakes?”
“Never.”
Trevus eyes the javelins on the soldier’s hip. “Have your weapons already pierced a heart, or shall this campaign be your first taste?”
The soldier draws one from its sheath, brandishing the sharp metal tip in the sunlight. It’s like the ones the boss’s goons pointed at me last night. I nudge deeper into the wagon, but Trevus doesn’t flinch. “This’ll be the first,” the soldier says.
“You are eager to experience war?” Trevus asks.
“I look forward to proving my bravery in a great battle.”
“‘Tis not battle that shall require your bravery.”
The man pauses for a moment. “It’s not?” Trevus has his attention.
“I have served on campaign,” Trevus says. “Real war is weeks crawling through enemy territory, supported only by a thin, fragile supply line back to your country. When that is cut, then shall your bravery be tested.”
“Surely hunting parties would suffice?” the soldier asks.
Trevus’s eyes sweep across the army. “With a thousand mouths, an entire forest shall be stripped bare of game long before all are satisfied. Even so, sustenance is the easier logistic to bare without, as its absence takes a week to weaken men.”
“The easier one?”
“Dehydration is what devours lives. One misread star, one inaccurate map, one misguided directive, and an entire army shall collapse in three days. I have witnessed it.”
“You have?” The soldier’s eyes widen.
“‘Tis a grisly fate. A heroic warrior shall appear fine in the morning, but then be fraught with seizures by afternoon.”
“Seizures?” Venturing on campaign is more than the battle glory the soldier had imagined.
“It begins with convulsions. The eyes roll back, then froth escapes the mouth. ‘Tis a vicious killer. Once symptoms show, recovery is impossible.”
The soldier doesn’t answer, but his gaze remains fixed on Trevus.
“Ponder for a moment, have you yet to witness my companion drink throughout this journey? Are you aware of the duration she has already spent in captivity?”
The soldier pushes his lips together.
“Your lord must have paid over a thousand gold pieces for our acquisition. What mercy shall he offer after you cost him a lifetime’s wages?”
The soldier’s eyes snap to me, worry written across his face.
“Show a salted ounce of competence and retrieve the water,” Trevus growls the last few words, nearly raising his voice. The soldier’s thoughtless defiance has been irritating him, and he’s not holding back anymore.
The soldier hurries off without a word, quickly disappearing from sight.
I smile at Trevus, and he offers one in return.
“Who has us?” I whisper, careful not to strain my voice.
“Ceramayans don’t bear crests,” Trevus says. “‘Tis difficult to surmise. Inferring from the number of troops, ‘tis an individual of great renown.”
“Headed?” I whisper, saving my words.
“West,” Trevus says.
I stiffen. Versillia is to the west, and a vengeful king eagerly awaits my arrival.
“Do not fear. Your julite necklace is still upon your shoulders, and we alone harbor knowledge of the remaining stash.”
That’s a point in our favor, but I worry Tytius’s thirst for vengeance may be so great that he abandons the julite for the sake of my death.
Trevus retrieves Asarus’s map from his pocket. “Versillia is not the only country to the west.”
I lean in, following Trevus’s finger. We crossed the Merk while I was unconscious. The Mephian-Versillian border is also to the west. Are we being delivered to the Council of Six? Could we really be that lucky?
The soldier returns with a waterskin in hand. Trevus twists off the cork and passes it to me. I take large gulps. The cool liquid soothes the fire in my throat.
“Was your conversation last night of value?” Trevus asks.
I nod, still sipping the water. “Asarus is traveling to my home village, south of Ephesus.”
Trevus rubs his chin. “He seeks you out. We should not disappoint.”
I smile again.
Author’s Note:
Are they lucky enough to be handed over the Six?
No update this week?
I doubt it
Oh Trevus is asking Jade… oof I misunderstood that and thought Jade was asking Trevus about a convo he had with someone and was confused
That would be lucky and the people of Mephia would gladly go along with such a plan right… especially considering Jade is the seventh. Not sure how they would feel about Trevus though
But at the same time it makes no sense considering the conversation that Trevus just had with the guard. Unless this is a group separate to the people of Mephia like a mercenary group…
Wait conversation? Oh he was talking with someone…
Mephia, but why would she be taken there? Unless the six have paid for them to be taken to them?
But if he kills you Trevus would never admit the location… I don’t see him being one to break down and admit information under torture
So he can’t kill them… not without the location of the other jewels being lost forever (outside of being found by accident)
Boom! Nat 20!
Omg he’s really playing it up lol
Dude is an expert at this aye… love it
I love that Jade is just watching and not really saying or doing anything during this lol
And now the point of why he was discussing it.
Do you want her to have a seizure, though really he’s kinda overstating the risk of it. The solders he saw have them may have already had epilepsy. Sure anyone can have a seizure but it typically requires a head injury if for someone to be at more risk for them if they weren’t born with the condition.
The condition runs in my family so I know a bit about it. They are terrifying to see and extremely dangerous…
I can’t tell of this is intimation or something else but he’s rolling high lol
Yes electrolyte imbalances lead to seizures. That and without enough liquid the brain auctually can’t function… Seizures are very dangerous as well.
Yeah, this is cool. He’s trying to convince the guy to let them go and he auctually seems to be getting in his head
In tough terrain it takes longer to travel too, especially on land unknown to those traveling it or unused to that kind of terrain.
It’s the reason empires never really expand past the same geographic region as they originate from. That and barriers like mountains or large rivers that impede travel.
Trevus has been to war, or at least knows war isn’t glorious for anyone but the one in charge of the winning side…
War is an argument between old men fought by young men
Interesting… sounds like it morning the question is, was she out for more that 24h+ or just til morning.
The Murk was a 3ish day walk/ride from Versailles I think. So she could have possibly been out for say 28ish hours
He’s figuring out where this man stands and how long he’s been a solider hmm
From a prince to a captive aye… the situation sure has changed a lot over the course of this story for you aye Trevus
Shit
Oh, how long was she out…
Was he captured too?
I don’t think so
soon cute 😍
wow all of that to make him bring water 🤣
tis was only last night, felt like longer had passed lol
He angy
Boy scaring him with pure honesty lmao
welp, you’re going to get your answer though girly