Chapter 15:
Men of Violence
Our horses have slowed to a walk. It’s been hours since we escaped the Cerillis army, and from the pace we’re moving, it’s clear that the threat has passed. Trevus still rides beside me, but I refuse to look at him. Perhaps he’s concerned I will take off now that I have control of Becky.
“Jade, you appear uneasy,” Trevus says. Has he forgotten before the blood on his blade has even dried?
“Are those men dead?” I ask.
“The one with an injured leg – ‘tis unlikely. The one for which my sword pierced his shoulder, ‘tis yet to be discovered.”
“Did you aim for his shoulder with the hope to spare his life?”
“I targeted
him
.”
“So you intended to kill him?”
Giddius and Marcellus turn back to watch us.
“I intended to stop him,” Trevus says. “The health of my opponent was not a priority during battle.”
“Of course it wasn’t,” I spit. “Why would the life of a man who fought under your own banner mean anything to you.”
“’Tis not that I wished him dead but that I wished to live. You may strive to avoid combat, but that is your virtue, not my own. To find those whom I love, I must leave such naïve principles at the city gate. And if you wish to survive in the world beyond your tower, you must do the same.”
If I’d known running away with him would have led to those men being stabbed, I would have just surrendered at the trading post. “I made a regrettable choice,” I say.
With my chin on my knees, I follow the orange flames dancing in circles. The campfire keeps the cold night air away.
A bowl of soup blocks my view. It’s Trevus again. I choose not to see it.
“Loathing shall not fill your belly,” he says. “Eat, Jade.”
My stomach agrees with him, and the tomato soup has a pleasant scent. He’s a talented cook. I take the bowl with my bare hands.
Trevus sits beside me. He’s persistent. Why does he care so much about what I think of him?
“Do share – what is worth shedding blood?” he asks.
I take a sip of my soup. Mehlia’s memory haunts me whenever death is near. “I’m not sure anything is,” I say.
“If one is threatened, surely ‘tis just to save one’s own life at the expense of the aggressor’s?”
“I haven’t forgotten your conversation with Giddius in Antiock,” I say. “You knew that these men would pursue our party. You could have chosen never to go, and then we wouldn’t be wondering if that horseman is being buried.”
“If one’s family is threatened, is it not just for one to take blood in their defense?”
Tytius is a king. Is his life truly in danger? “How long has your father been a prisoner of Mephia?” I ask.
“Nearly a decade,” Trevus says.
“Then who’s to say he wouldn’t live a decade more?”
“Death shall take his soul in days if I do not reach him,” Trevus says.
In only days? I wait for him to say more.
“The cavalry we encountered today were only the Scout Unit. Hundreds more footmen follow. They march to Nepolis with the intent to rescue King Tytius.”
“Then why are we here? You said there are hundreds of them?” I’d like more than anything to end this whole mission without having to step into that castle.
“Versillia’s highborn court demands the return of King Tytius to throne. My uncle, Regent Evecius, must commit to a rescue or lose the court’s favor – a fate which would lead to a treason charge and execution.”
“So Tytius will be rescued?”
“No. ‘Tis all a plot. King Tytius is set to die during the rescue. Evecius shall appear as if he did all in his power, and he shall humbly shed the title of regent for that of king, with the populace and highborn court won over.”
“Don’t Versillian soldiers swear an oath to King Tytius? How could they kill him?”
“They shall not,” Trevus says. “Their mere presence shall lead to his death. I scoured Evecius’s letter archives and discovered a threat from the Mephian Council of Six. If any attempt was made to reclaim the king without ransom, they have instructed Lord Reger to take his life. The moment the Versillian army begins the siege on Nepolis, Lord Reger shall begin Tytius’s execution – a task for which he is known to take great joy.”
Now I see why he brought me. Dressed as Sorceress Ametha, I can get Trevus and his party inside the castle without alerting Lord Reger and his soldiers. A subtle infiltration is Trevus’s only hope of reaching his father.
Marcellus and Giddius have nothing to add. They’ve known since the beginning.
I take another sip of my soup. It must be hard for Trevus to sleep with the potential death of his father lingering on his mind.
The four of us huddle around the fire. Marcellus and Giddius are typically eager to rest as soon as they can, but tonight they’ve yet to even relax. Evecius’s army spooked them more than it did me. I’m used to being at the mercy of soldiers. Being moved from one set of guards to another is not unthinkable.
“A group so large should not have matched our pace,” Giddius says.
Trevus tugs at the tear in his shirt from the thug who grabbed me this morning. “They must have left the capital sooner than I had foreseen,” he says.
“I urged you to abandon our unit at Lystra and fetch the Mephian girl a day sooner. Your refusal led us into today’s encounter,” Giddius says.
“Delaying our unit’s report of our disappearance appeared necessary at the time, hence my decision.”
“You should have yielded to my judgment,” Giddius says.
“Raising past mistakes as such is of no benefit to us now. ‘Tis my venture on which you agreed to set forth, and as such I shall decide the manner in which we conduct it.”
Giddius only appears more agitated. After being scolded by Giddius myself, I appreciate Trevus telling him to cut it out.
“Captain, there are more pressing matters to discuss,” Marcellus says. He has everyone’s attention. “Why did you not signal your counterattack in the forest? I was eager to introduce them to the bite of my axe.”
Trevus smiles. “’Tis precisely why I did not ask you to engage. Given the chance, you would decapitate a man, and Jade would never cease admonishing you for it. I have done you a service.”
This earns a laugh from Marcellus. Trevus isn’t wrong. “I cannot fault you there,” Marcellus says. “Though by the looks of your oban, Nomier rode beside you.”
Trevus pokes his hand through the hole in his shirt, and his fingers pop out by his shoulder. There are two holes? One is from the thug at the trading post. The other must have been from the horsemen that nearly caught me when I fell behind. Trevus really did come close to death.
“Give me your shirt,” I say. It’s my fault that he got those cuts. I should fix them.
All three of them look in surprise. I hold out my hand, indicating for Trevus to hand it over
“Girly appears to have a
particular
fascination with you, Captain,” Marcellus says.
Trevus smirks. “Jade’s eyes did not wander far when I washed in our room at Cidon.”
He did notice. My cheeks flush pink. “Don’t flatter yourself.” I keep my voice firm to hide my embarrassment. “Unless you have sorcery which can seal holes by poking your hand through them, hand it over.”
Trevus smiles and unbuttons his shirt. He arches his back to show off his chest upon handing it to me.
I roll my eyes, but there’s an urge deep inside to look. With his short dark hair, square stubbled jaw and broad frame, he is certainly a handsome man – maybe the most handsome I have seen? Though him freeing me from the prison tower may be skewing my perception. If the others see me taking any interest, I’ll never hear the end of it.
I hold out my hand again. “Marcellus, your carving knife.”
Still amused, Marcellus passes me his knife by the very tip of the handle. My hands have been uncovered since the pursuit.
I pick out a stick from the firewood and slice off a splinter. With a few more swipes of the knife, I have a thin needle with a thread groove in the middle.
Upon finding the bottom of Trevus’s shirt, I dig out a donor thread with the knife.
“You have done similar before?” Trevus asks. Bringing the blade to his only shirt has made him uneasy.
“I need thread to repair the holes. You won’t miss a single strand from the hem,” I say.
After freeing a line from his shirt, I loop it around the groove on my needle and begin sewing the holes closed.
“You are fast,” Trevus says. His initial uncertainty has disappeared after witnessing my proficiency with the makeshift tool.
“I’ve had a lot of practice.” In the tower there was an abundance of time to sew and weave the discarded scraps that were provided as a poor excuse for clothing.
Upon receiving his shirt back, he tests the strength of the patched holes with a tug. They hold firm. “Astounding. I can hardly perceive the imperfection.” He pulls the shirt over his large shoulders and buttons it up again, hiding his chest. I should have taken my time sewing.
“Consider it thanks for punching that stupid man in the face,” I say.
Trevus smiles. “You are most welcome.”
😂
😂
I love that he takes the time to talk to her and hear her thoughts and feelings.
They’ve come so far – I’m happy for her – that she doesn’t have to wear the sleeves I mean. And they don’t feel so skeptical of her either… it’s come a long way
I love that she’s standing up for what she believes in though…
our we having a lovers spat while being a captive… this girl needs to pick a goal and stick with it 😂
🥰
@rileysingToday is Monday, I wanted to remind you🫡🫡
@rileysing When I read a story, my emotions go, I come to the next chapter, I comment, but then when I calm down, I feel embarrassed.☺🤭
God, I think that by the end of the story, these two people will be the most attractive couple that I have ever read about. They are so cute.
How do you think she survived in the tower? Probably had to repair everything they allowed her to have.
She has a name.
she has her own personal gordon ramsay
I liked this chapter
Aw
She truly knows nothing of human nature and the occasional mutiny and treason
he has a lot of patience then, explaining to her the necessity of blood shed while trying to save a life
do they even still have the gloves anymore? lol
They’d had of been stabbed anyway, one way or another, no use blaming yourself for something that is easily a fact of such a volatile situation
@CleoIsnotmyname 😁😁
sameee
It is very clear that I was waiting for the update, right?🙃🙃
I want to say before reading my review that I am sure it is great and my heart rate is going up again.