The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry) (15 page)

“Go along with what?” she squeaked.

There was no time to elaborate. The guard was too close. “Don’t move,” he commanded. His eyelids were drooping and he held a frown. His horse whinnied, whipping its head back and forth before coming to a stop.

“What is it?” I asked, widening my eyes in an attempt to show innocent reluctance at being stopped.

The man blinked twice and looked at us. He said nothing, only scrunched his face in thought. A hand came up to scratch his cheek and wipe his nose. Then he drew the sword on his belt and pointed it at me.

“What’s your name?”

“Evon, sir,” I answered with a meek voice. “Is…is there a problem?”

His eyes inspected my belt. Most of it was covered by my buttoned shirt. I’d made sure my wand was concealed the moment we got on the horse. He turned his focus to Lisanda, leaning in.

“Do you know this young man?” the guard asked her.

“I do,” she said. “I wouldn’t share a saddle with some stranger.”

The guard sat back, a bit surprised. “Would you mind lowering your hood?” he asked her.

“I don’t see the point in that.” Lisanda folded her arms. “We’re very busy. What is this all about?” Her tone was mostly confident, yet with a hint of humility so as not to anger the man. She even managed to hide her accent of nobility. I was impressed.

The guard’s brow furrowed. He scratched his cheek again. “We’re looking for Jek Trayden and Lady Lisanda Takary,” he told us. “Have you seen them?”

“No,” I answered quickly, perhaps too quickly.

His eyes darted to me. “You mind showing me your belt?” He waved his sword around my midsection.

“I don’t understand this,” Lisanda interjected. “Do you think I’m the Princess or something?”

“You look like her, and he certainly matches the description I got of Jek Trayden.” His voice was loud and defensive, seemingly frustrated.

I faked a smile. “Rayleen, he thinks you’re a princess and I’m the Sartious mage.”

“I wish.” Lisanda’s tone was playful. She even gave a smile. “If I was a Takary, wouldn’t I just say so?”

“You may be scared that I can’t protect you,” the guard answered with one eye on me. “But I can.” He tightened his grip around the handle of his sword. “If you’re indeed Lisanda, just say so and you’ll be safe.”

The man had courage. He’d obviously never met me before, though. I prepared myself by gathering some Bastial Energy while I studied Lisanda’s face. Was she going to risk it all on this inebriated guard?

She tilted her head as if complimented. “I’m Rayleen, but that’s very nice of you to mistake me for a princess. We’ll be leaving now, if you don’t mind.”

The guard kept still for two slow breaths, giving us each one last look. Then he nodded and sped off on his horse.

“Smart choice,” I told Lisanda.

“I keep proving my promise is genuine. How will you do the same?”

“When three days are up, you’ll see.” I gave a light heel tap to our horse to start us south again.

“No,” she answered firmly, putting her hands around my stomach again. “You need to do something for me earlier than that so I know I can trust you.”

“You’re going to have a bath, a bed, and a meal at the farm like I promised.”

“I mean, before we get out of the city.” Her voice grew louder. “If I’m going to help you get past guards, I need to
know
you’ll stay true to your word.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked with a grave hesitance.

“I want you to answer a question honestly.”

“Easy. I’ve been nothing but honest with you.”

She was silent for a few breaths. Compared to her usual quick retorts, I figured this meant she actually was taking time to think of an example of when I’d lied to her. I couldn’t think of one, so I highly doubted she could.

“Do you have any dream dust left?”

My stomach flipped. Had she seen inside my pockets? Did she already know I didn’t? There was still the leather pouch of crackers Goreng gave me. She might’ve seen that and thought it was the dream dust. I couldn’t risk lying, though. We were finally making progress.

“No, I don’t.”

Again she was silent. I waited for her to respond, to give me some sort of sign as to whether or not she would trust me now. Instead, she simply kept her hands around me and fidgeted in the saddle.

Finally I spoke. “Well?”

“I believe you.”

“Good.”

“I’m hungry.”

I sighed. “So am I.”

Chapter 15: Barrier

A hope-crushing sight was ahead of us.

There were four ways out of The Nest: east, west, north, and south. A wall surrounding the entire city was built during the Bastial Steel War. With Goldram winning that war, the undamaged wall still stood. It had only four openings, one for each side.

I shook my head in disbelief when we came to the south exit, not because of what I saw, but because I hadn’t expected it. How could I not have? I wondered if it was the lack of sleep, maybe the poor diet in the recent days with Harwin and now with Lisanda. Of course, they would be watching each exit.

Usually, the south exit wasn’t covered by more than a drunken guard, who was there just to keep up appearances. But this time I counted eight men.

There was a line of people so long you’d think they were giving away food. All were leaving, not one person waiting to come into the city. Probably from news about the war, I figured.

It made me worry about Harwin. I hoped he was safe. I wondered what was happening with his father, the King of Zav, whether or not he’d agreed to move his advancing men back and sign the treaty.

“What’s happening ahead?” Lisanda pointed at the line and the guards.

“All of that’s for you,” I explained. “The guards are stopping everyone coming out of the city. They’re looking for you.”

“Then they’re looking for you as well,” she retorted. “The one who kidnapped me.”

I steered the horse into a secluded space among the trees and thick bushes. We were out of sight, giving me time to plan. I still couldn’t believe I didn’t expect this. Maybe Lisanda had been distracting me more than I’d realized.

“Did you recognize any of them?” I asked, dismounting from the horse. If she did, they surely would recognize her.

“They were too far away to tell.” I offered her my hand to help her down, but she didn’t take it.

“I need your cooperation, especially now. I’m not going to let you go without a fight.” I tried to keep my voice plain, but I felt a dire tone pushing through that I couldn’t fully hide. As hesitant as I was to deliver a warning to Lisanda, for it didn’t help with our trust issues, I felt it was necessary. “That makes injury likely for us, the people in line, the guards, and our horse if we’re discovered. Then word will reach the rest of the guards that we went through this exit, which means we can’t stay at the farm for even a night, which means no bath, no meal, no bed. The only way to avoid that is to get by without them realizing it.”

In that moment, her brown eyes had a hint of gold, like her skin. The sun was coming in low, casting long shadows everywhere it didn’t touch directly. But her face sat right beneath a beam, glowing as she nodded.

It was going to be difficult to disguise a face like hers, but I had an idea.

First, I had to convince her of my plan, which she definitely wasn’t going to like. Bastial hell, I didn’t like it, either.

“Now I have an idea, and it’s not going to sound like a reasonable request, but if you just forget your pride for a moment you’ll see that it’s the only way.”

Her eyes narrowed cautiously. “I don’t like where this is headed.”

“I need you to promise something first,” I said.

Her jaw dropped. “Another promise?”

I raised my palms at her. “It’s very simple. You just have to agree to something.”

She lowered her head and looked at me from the tops of her eyes, her voice skeptical. “What is it?”

“That you’ll consider this plan wholeheartedly. Then if you can’t come up with anything that we agree is better, you’ll do it. A simple agreement. Will you promise that?”

I raised my hand in the air for her to shake.

It had seemed natural while I was negotiating, but waiting for her to agree felt strange. I figured it was because I’d taken her against her will and dragged her around the city, but now here I was trying to make deals, talking to her as if she was just as involved in this as I was.

I was about to pull back my hand, but then she extended hers. We hesitantly wrapped our fingers around each other’s. It wasn’t the first time I’d touched her hand, but it was the first time I’d noticed how soft it was.

I felt a lift of strength with our hands grasping so tightly. Our eyes locked, and I imagined she felt the same thing. I smiled unintentionally.

She tore her hand away and slapped me with it. I was so shocked she probably could’ve gotten away, for it would’ve been too long for my wits to return for me to catch up to her.

“I told you not to fall in love with me.” She was the Princess again, with her stern eyes and turned-up nose. Her low voice was thick with contempt.

I was dumbfounded, holding my cheek. “Your idea of love must be far different than mine.”

“I can see it in your eyes.” She pointed at me like a dog. “Stop it.”

“You need to stop worrying about that,” I told her. “It’s not going to happen.”

“Good.”

“Are you ready to hear the plan now or are you going to slap me again if I look at you as I speak?” I spoke rhetorically, my voice heavy with scorn. “Bastial hell, all I did was shake your hand.” My cheek stung. It was quite a slap.

“What is it? What’s your stupid plan?”

I took a step back from her, waiting for her face to relax before I spoke.

“By now, all the guards have a description of me, and they probably even know what I was wearing last. Could be the same for you.” I kept an eye on her right hand resting at her side. “So, we’ll change clothes.”

“I would love to, but this filthy tunic is all you gave me.” She folded her arms. “I don’t see you with any spare clothes, either.”

“That’s why we’re changing clothes with each other.”

Her eyes squeezed nearly shut, like she was looking at a bright light. “You’re serious?”

“I’ve been serious with you so far, and I’m just as serious now.”

“If this is to make sure I don’t run, it’s not necessary. The threat of being gagged, bound, and dirty for the rest of our time is enough. Don’t make me wear boy’s clothing, especially…” She gestured in my direction, keeping her eyes tight as if it pained her to look. “Those pants and shirt. They’re ugly and probably covered with your sweat.”

“This is only to get past the guards, nothing else. We’ll change back as soon as we’re in the clear.”

She shook her head, her hair dancing with it. “No.” She brushed away a few strands that had come across her eyes. “I’m not changing in front of you, and I’m certainly not wearing…” She looked me up and down and grimaced. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Then come up with something better,” I replied.

She looked away from me, her eyes falling to the ground, then to the trees around us, then to the horse. She walked over to pet him, eventually sighing with defeat.

After the better part of an hour, we finally were done. Changing was quick, but convincing her to come out from behind a tree had taken the rest of the time.

I’d undressed first, leaving my underwear on, and given her my clothes. I’d kept my wand and the pouch of Goreng’s crackers.

Before I brought my clothes to her behind the tree, Lisanda eyed the cuts on my chest with a worrisome look. Most were healed or in the process of healing. Though, some bruises were fresh, especially those around my recent claw wound.

She’d thrown her green and gray tunic to me after removing it with the tree between us, and we’d each changed.

When I finally convinced her to come out, there were two things I had to check that could ruin my plan. One was that my bandana, as large as it was, wouldn’t conceal her hair completely. I saw she’d done well to stuff most of her hair in it, but some strands were still loose. She let me stuff them in the bandana for her and tighten the knot to reduce the awkward bulge it had created.

The second issue also had to do with awkward bulges. She was supposed to be a man, but she was far too thin to get away with having breasts. My brown buttoned shirt was very loose on her, as it was extremely large for her small body, but her breasts were ample, pushing out the loose fabric into a round shape.

A mixture of nervousness and raw lust fluttered through my heart as I tried not to stare. I took a slow breath, knowing I needed to figure out how to bring up the topic politely, if that even was possible.

I let her complain as I thought about how to word it. “You’d better hope they don’t recognize us,” she said. “If I’m seen in this,” she ran her hands up and down, “I could never live down the shame.”