CHAPTER NINETEEN

I glanced around in all directions. He couldn’t have left me, right? Maybe he just went to hunt for something to eat, even though our packs were filled with food. But that would be very foolish, since we were only a few hours outside of Monuvia and their scouts could already be on our tail if Nevaria wasn’t true to her word

And Elias was definitely no fool.

Trying to settle my panic, I stood up and searched for his tracks. My breathing was heavy, and my heart was aching. I scanned the forest floor for his boot prints, but found nothing in my vicinity. He was so careful about covering his tracks, and I was no expert tracker. I probably wouldn’t find a thing. But I kept searching anyway.

Too afraid to backtrack, I continued in the way we were originally heading. I searched high and low for any sign of Elias. I wanted to call out his name, but again feared that any nearby scouts would hear me. While Nevaria was a princess, and in turn a woman of honor, she also despised me. I wouldn’t exactly put it past her to go back on her word if it meant it would bring me down.

I searched and searched, zigzagging through the forest to find where Elias had gone. An hour passed. Then two. My heart grew heavier and I found it hard to breathe.

He left me. He left me.

The realization repeated in my head like a curse. Oh gods, what was I going to do now?

“Think, Aura. Think,” I whispered to myself, clutching my chest.

Then I remembered what I had in my pack. I bent down and rummaged through it, pulling out the mysterious book from Rimor Library. I flipped to the pages that contained the map. After locating Monuvia, I found a generalized location of where I thought I was, east of the kingdom. Even further east was Sprath, and northeast of that was Zolmara. I knew I certainly didn’t want to go through Sprath. Elias had explained weeks ago that we would need to go through the Shadow Peak Mountains, which were located northwest of Sprath. So going north was the most viable option.

With a heavy heart, I continued walking, slowly coming to terms with the fact that Elias was gone. I had never felt so alone, and my anxiety was higher than ever. Every small noise I heard caused my heart to flutter. I would whirl around, wondering if it was Elias or an enemy. But it would just be the trees settling, or a small animal scurrying by.

As I walked, I replayed the prior night’s conversation in my head. Gods, I was so stupid . I should not have told him how I felt. Not until this was all over. The rejection at the inn should have been the foolproof sign that he didn’t return any feelings for me. But then the things he had done for me. The things he had said.

Always.

You owe me nothing. Not ever .

I can’t imagine I’d abandon you now.

But that’s exactly what he did. Fuck, I was so stupid. So, so stupid.

Of course he wouldn’t want to be with me. I’m a traumatized princess whose father is the most powerful king in the Four Kingdoms. That’s a considerable burden. I wasn’t even sure why Elias agreed to work with me in the first place. The money wasn’t worth it. But he did agree, and now he clearly regretted it. Then I started to grow feelings, and just like that, the deal was off.

While deep in thought, I lost my footing on a rock and tumbled forward, practically faceplanting into the mud. I cursed at myself, then pulled myself up. I looked down at the human-shaped indent that was now in the mud. Great. If I didn’t cover it up, I was sure to be found. I knelt down and began flattening the mud with my hands, trying to make it look as natural as possible. A few feet away, I picked up a large stone that was on top of another, and placed it in the mud to further hide any indication that someone had fallen there. It would have to do.

I looked down at myself and the mud that now coated my hands, burrowed under my fingernails, and stuck to my hair. I needed to rinse off. A bath would have been nice. I didn’t get to take advantage of the bath houses in Monuvia during my short stay, so I hadn’t felt clean in days. Maybe finding somewhere to bathe would not just rinse off the mud, but my sorrows and my anxiety as well. It was worth a shot.

I opened the book again to look at the map, and noted a fairly large lake not too far from where I thought I was located. I started to head in that direction.

Within an hour, I found it. The lake was smaller than it appeared on the map. Perhaps in the hundreds of years since the book was written, it had started to dry up. But it was still there, albeit small, and I could still use it to wash myself .

I looked around, ensuring no one was in the area. Satisfied that I was alone, I grabbed a bar of soap out of my pack, as well as a pair of clean clothes. I hid my pack, bow, and arrows under a bush about twenty feet away just in case, but decided to keep my knife close, should I need it. I walked over and laid the clothes out on a large rock and placed the knife next to them. I stripped down to nothing but the necklace Trybe gave me. I tried to unclasp the gold chain, but it was incredibly stiff and wouldn’t budge under my fingers. After a minute or two, I gave up and just made my way to the lake with it on.

The water was cold, shocking my senses at first. I continued in anyway, until the water was up to my waist. After a few minutes, my body became used to the cold water, and my breath steadied. I took the soap and started scrubbing the mud from my arms and hands. I noted that the large gash on my left forearm was healing nicely, although it was still very noticeable. I could tell at that point that it was going to become a scar. I wondered if I could use that against Horus when I returned home.

You can’t leave the castle today, Princess , he would say. And I would counter with Remember when you sliced my arm open? I laughed to myself. I knew guilt-tripping someone was an awful thing to do, but I wondered if Horus would even falter.

Probably not.

But would he still need to keep me from leaving the castle anymore? Would things be different when I returned? Would I still be the princess who was locked away?

No. I wouldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t be that person anymore, my father be damned.

When my upper body appeared clean, I began scrubbing my face. Once satisfied, I moved onto the muddy, tangled mess that was my hair. I dunked my whole body under the water until all I could hear or feel was the lake. When I emerged, my hair was completely drenched, ready to wash. I began scrubbing the bar of soap onto my hair, trying to clean the grease, grime, and mud. I washed, rinsed, washed, rinsed, dunking my head under the surface again and again until I finally felt clean.

The whole process took probably fifteen minutes, but it was worth every second. I did feel a little better, mentally and physically. It’s funny how cleansing your physical body can provide some sort of mental clarity as well. I had a newfound hope that I could finish this journey on my own. Without Elias.

Elias . Even thinking his name had my heart shattering. Would I ever see him again?

I took one more dunk under the water as if I could wash that thought away like I had done with the dirt on my body.

Feeling refreshed, I swam back to the shore. I exited the lake, the warm air already heating my cold, naked body. I walked quickly to my pile of clothes, feeling exposed. I began putting the fresh clothes on, my wet skin making it a little difficult. After a small struggle, I was finally dressed, and finished the ensemble by putting on my boots. I then went to grab my belt, and my heart stopped for a moment. The belt was there, but my mother’s dagger was missing, the sheath empty. I looked around the ground frantically, thinking it must have fallen.

“Looking for this?” a male voice spoke from the tree line. My eyes darted in the voice’s direction, and I saw a man I didn’t recognize step out from behind a tree, twirling my unsheathed dagger in his hand. The man was not wearing Monuvian gear. In fact, he looked dirty. Layers of dirt were smudged on his face and in his scruffy facial hair. His greasy hair was tied back, revealing a heavily receding hairline. His nose was crooked, like it had been broken and never healed right. He smiled a grotesque smile, his teeth so filthy and dark, they almost appeared black.

I froze, watching the stranger inspect my knife in his hand. Then he looked at me, seemingly inspecting my body just as thoroughly. That feeling I had of being exposed came back tenfold, even with my clothes on.

“Give me my knife back, and I’ll be on my way,” I hissed, feeling in my bones that this man was nothing but trouble.

He let out a laugh that made me cringe. “You’re lucky I even let you put your clothes back on. Watching you was…most pleasurable.” A bit of bile rose to my throat. “What is an exquisite beauty like you doing out here all alone?”

“I’m not alone,” I said quickly. “I’m with a group. They’ll be searching for me if I don’t head back soon,” I lied through my teeth. The man began walking towards me. “Don’t come any closer,” I warned. He laughed again, until his laugh turned into a gurgled cough.

“Your friends aren’t going to find you,” he hissed. He said the word ‘friends’ like he knew I was lying. I stood my ground, ready to fight.

“Give me my knife back, and I won’t have to hurt you,” I threatened, my eyes narrowing, and my fists raising.

“Hurt me?” he snickered devilishly. “You think a puny girl like you can hurt a man like me?”

“You don’t want to find out,” I taunted, a smirk appearing on my face. “You’re not much of a man anyway.” I watched his eyes fill with rage at the insult.

“Shut up, whore,” the man shrieked. In a moment, he was rushing towards me, his arms splayed out like he was going to tackle me. I stepped out of the way at the precise moment, and kicked my foot out, causing the man to trip on my ankle and fall flat onto the stony shore of the river.

“You have one more chance to give my knife back,” I boomed at the fallen man. “And then maybe I’ll let you walk away with what little dignity you have left. ”

The man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Without saying a word, he reached out to grab my wrist with his free hand. I tried to twist out of his grasp, but he squeezed so tightly, I could already feel the bruising. Remembering my recent rounds of training with Elias, I used my free arm and brought my elbow down on the man’s forearm with great force. He screamed as I heard a crack when my elbow made contact. He pulled his arm away in agony, and I used the moment to grab my knife from his other hand. He let go of it quickly, and began holding his now likely broken arm.

“You fucking bitch,” he spat. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

He stood up and began to launch himself towards me, but I shot my knife up. He stopped immediately, the blade pointing directly at his throat, only inches from slicing it.

“Tsk, tsk,” I clicked, waving the knife back and forth. “You’ve already lost this fight. It does not have to end in death.”

The man snarled, then spat at my feet. Then I watched as a grin unexpectedly reached the corners of his mouth, his black teeth starting to peek through. “Your fate will be worse than death, little bitch. I promise you that.”

My eyes narrowed and I noticed the man’s gaze briefly dart behind me, then back at me. I quickly glanced over my shoulder, and for a split-second saw two large men behind me, one of them with a huge rock in hand, before it smashed against my temple.

Then everything went black.

As I nodded in and out of consciousness, I felt my boots being dragged against the earth. My head was pounding. I must have been so engrossed in my first successful fight, that I didn’t even hear the other men come up on me. I attempted to open my eyes, but the task seemed impossible. So instead, I tried to focus on what I could feel and hear.

“Are we almost there?” a burly voice complained. The voice of the person dragging me, I deduced.

“Shut the fuck up, you idiot,” the familiar voice of the man at the lake hissed back. “It’s right around the corner.”

“I can’t wait to get my hands on those breasts,” a third, unfamiliar voice chimed in. Then I heard a whack noise, like a slap against skin.

“Fuck off, Remi. No one touches her until the boss sees her.”

I heard Remi whimper. “But look at her,” he squealed. “She’s the most beautiful one yet. I can’t resist.” I heard another slap, and what sounded like Remi falling to the ground. “Ow, Vick!” he whimpered.

“The fuck did I just say?!” Vick shrieked. I presumed he was the leader of this disgraceful trio. “Nobody fucking touches her before we take her to Markus.”

“My arms is gettin’ tired from draggin’ her,” the burly voice spoke again.

“Ripp, you giant fucking oaf. I said we’re almost there, now shut the fuck up.”

Ripp let out a huff in reply.

Trying to focus on their voices proved a difficult task, and I slipped into unconsciousness again. The next thing I knew, I was being shoved onto the ground. I groaned and my eyes blinked open slowly.

“Well good morning, little whore,” Vick mocked. “What’s that you said about me losing the fight?” I could hear a smile in his tone.

I blinked a few times more, the haze over my vision fading. I saw Vick standing above me while his two lackeys stood a few feet back. Vick’s arm was wrapped up in a makeshift sling, confirming that I very well may have broken it.

We appeared to be in some sort of tent. I noted a small sleeping corner, with filthy blankets. I attempted to reach up and touch the side of my head where a splitting pain was emanating, but found that my hands were tied behind my back. I peered down at my shoulder and saw a small pool of blood, assuming it was from the gaping wound in my temple.

“Ripp got you good!” Remi shouted excitedly from where he stood.

I furrowed my brow and looked back at Vick. “All I can conclude is that you would have lost the fight if your two sidekicks didn’t show up to save you. How fitting.” I slowly sat up, and watched as Vick’s face began to turn red. “Maybe if you untie me, they can watch me break your other arm.”

“You know…” he began, a sinister tone in his words. “I wasn’t going to let any of us have our way with you. But with a smart-ass mouth like that, I think you deserve to be punished.”

He reached down and grabbed my throat with his uninjured arm, then started ripping at my shirt with his other, unbothered by the pain it must have brought him. I tried to wriggle from his grasp, but was saved when Ripp and Remi pulled their leader off of me.

“No, Vick! Remember what you said!” Remi shouted. “Markus will kill us all if you do anything before he sees her.”

Vick stopped squirming in their grasp. “We may not be able to fuck her, but there’s no rule against beating her.” He walked back over and kicked me in the ribs, completely knocking the wind out of me. I gasped, writhing from the pain.

“Easy, Vick. Markus ain’t gonna like if she’s not in one piece,” Ripp stated. Ripp was the largest of the three. Probably the largest man I had ever seen. He would tower over even Elias or Horus easily, which was saying a lot.

“Shut up,” Vick barked, and I was surprised to see Ripp shrink back, seeing as Vick was half his size. Vick bent down and grabbed a fist full of my hair, yanking it backward. I winced as my head shot back. “ One more word out of you, and the three of us will fuck you before we kill you.”

“Vick…” Ripp started.

“Shut. The fuck. Up. What Markus doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

I looked over and saw Remi smile and rub his hands together enthusiastically.

“Who’s Markus?” I said as Vick loosened his grip on my hair.

Vick glared at me. “None of your fucking business. Yet.” The corners of his mouth turned upward in a menacing smile.

“Once he knows about you, he’ll probably take you all to himself,” Remi said as he licked his lips, eyeing me with lust. “Wish I could get a taste first,” he whispered. I cringed.

I sat there, wondering who could be worse than these guys, and how this Markus person was involved. It seemed I really shouldn’t stick around to find out. While the three men snickered to each other and made crude comments about my body, I looked around. In the corner of the tent, on top of the blankets, was a small bag lying on its side. As I inspected it, I noted the hilt of a dagger peeking out. My mother’s dagger. I would recognize the elegant detail of it anywhere.

If I could get to my knife, I could have a chance. Vick certainly wasn’t a good fighter, and while Ripp was very large, he didn’t seem very smart. Neither did Remi.

But how was I going to get my hands free? I began to try to wiggle them out of their restraints, but they were bound tightly with a thick rope that was digging into my wrists. I would have to find a way to cut it, or somehow try to convince them to untie me. The latter seemed impossible, since Vick was out for my blood, and the other two followed his every word.

Just then, Vick’s voice had my attention turning back to them. “We’re four days out from Markus’s camp, and she’s the only woman we’ve captured in weeks.” My brows rose as my eyes widened. I hadn’t heard anything about women disappearing in the woods. “He let us screw the last one after he didn’t want her, remember?”

Remi grinned. “I hope he lets us do it again.” He glanced sideways at me, looking right between my legs. “But she’s awfully pretty. I bet he’ll take her for himself.”

I shivered, and found myself scooching backwards. They noted the movement, and Vick stepped towards me.

“Don’t even think about trying to escape,” he hissed at me. “There’s nowhere for you to go.”

I glared at him. “Fuck you,” I cursed. Then before I knew it, the back of Vick’s fist of his non-broken arm was flying towards my temple, smashing me in the same wound from earlier, and causing me to black out once more.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I awoke, but the sun appeared to be slowly starting to set. I groaned. My arms were numb and my wrists burned from being tied so tightly, and my head ached immensely. But something else felt off. I felt like I was floating. I looked down and saw that I was hanging by my arms from a large tree limb, my feet inches off the ground and my ankles bound together. While unconscious, they must have tied me to the tree. I hoped that’s all they did to me.

I looked around, and only saw Vick, standing at the center of what I was now noticing was some sort of basecamp for them. There were two other small tents within the camp, presumably belonging to Remi and Ripp. In the center of the camp, Vick was sorting through a large pile of items like weapons, bags, clothing, and jewelry. These idiot were bandits, I discovered. Vick appeared to be inspecting their loot before placing it in a larger tote. I looked down, happy to see that my necklace from Trybe was still around my neck.

The necklace ! Didn’t Trybe say if I was in trouble, I could use it? But what did that even mean? I closed my eyes, trying to think back to what she had said. Then I remembered, she told me to hold it in my hand and think of something that made me feel safe. Would that even do anything? It seemed so silly, but I was desperate. It may be my only hope now, except that my hands were tied to a branch above my head, so I couldn’t hold the stone in my hand like she instructed. I stared down at the necklace, trying to figure out another way.

“I couldn’t get the damn thing off of you.” I looked up, and saw Vick staring at me. “That gold chain must be indestructible.” He walked over then stopped right in front of me, eyes still on the necklace. “It’s ugly as shit anyway, you can keep it.”

“Please untie me,” I begged with the most innocent voice I could muster. “I won’t run.”

A wicked smile reached his face. “See what happens when you insult me?” he mused. “I tied you up real tight. Now your body is on display for my viewing pleasure.”

Bile rose to my throat as his hand caressed my cheek. I tried to pull away, but was at the mercy of my restraints.

Vick peered around for a moment as he lowered his hand. “Now that those two fools are making their rounds, we finally have a moment alone together.”

My eyes widened, noting the malicious smile on his face. “Please,” I said, unable to hide the tremble in my voice.

“Shut up,” he snapped. He grabbed me by the hair again. “This will only take a minute.”

“Markus will kill you,” I reminded him while trying to pull away, although I still had no idea who Markus was, or what his plans were with me .

“I said, shut up,” Vick barked, before letting go of my hair so his hand could make its way towards my belt. Without hesitation, I brought my legs up with force and kicked him in the stomach, which was no easy task since they were tied together. I was glad my uncle taught me the importance of core strength.

Vick stumbled backward and fell to the ground, coughing hard. “I knew I should have tied your ankles to the fucking tree,” he screeched. He got up and ran towards me, but I threw another kick at him, this time landing at his shoulder. He screamed in rage, and pulled a knife from his pocket. My knife. He must have taken it out of the bag to add to the loot pile.

He held it to my throat. “One more fucking move like that, and I’ll kill you with your own knife, you hear me?”

I responded by spitting in his face. That maybe wasn’t the best move, because Vick jabbed the blunt end of my knife into my temple, and my body went limp yet again. I wasn’t completely unconscious, but almost there. I felt him grab my feet and tie them to the base of the tree. I tried to fight it, but my body wasn’t connecting with my thoughts as darkness began to pull me under.

When he was finished, he stood in front of me, his black teeth peering at me through his wicked grin. With his uninjured arm, he began using my knife to cut open my blouse. I didn’t have much left in me physically, but I wasn’t going to give up.

With his face right in front of mine, I used all of my remaining energy to headbutt him square in his crooked nose. Pain shot through the wound in my head as Vick jumped back, shrieking and dropping my knife. He cupped his nose in his hands as blood gushed from one of his nostrils and spilled through his fingers. “You fucking bitch !” he shrieked.

He stepped forward and grabbed me by the throat, getting his own blood all over me. My head throbbed from the impact with his nose, and my eyes began to roll back as he blocked my airway with his grasp. I felt myself shifting into unconsciousness again, my lungs craving air. I wasn’t sure I would ever wake up, thinking Vick was about to kill me with his bare hands. Or if he didn’t kill me, would I wake up after he had his way with me? I wasn’t sure which was worse. And in that moment, I had never felt so scared.

Seconds from blacking out, one last thought came to mind. Possibly the last thing I would think of before I died.

Elias , I silently begged. Elias, please help me .

It was a desperate, useless plea.

As Vick threw curse words at me and squeezed his slippery, bloody hand around my neck, a loud howl thundered through the trees, causing birds to fly off in every direction.

“What the fuck was that?” Vick muttered to himself, and he let go of me. Just then, we both heard blood curdling screams coming from the forest. It sounded like Ripp. His screams were masked by the sounds of growling and snarling, like a predator ripping apart its prey.

“Oh gods!” we heard Remi shout in the distance. “No, no, no! Help me, Vick!”

I faded in and out of consciousness, trying to hold on and decipher what was going on. My vision darkened around the outside, and a haze of blurriness blocked everything else.

“What the fuck?” Vick spat again. He bent down and grabbed my knife from the ground and started backing away from the noises. Then more bone-chilling screams interrupted, this time from Remi.

I tried to blink the blurriness from my vision but it only got worse. Then my ears began ringing as the sounds around me became muffled. The figure of Vick was now just a blob, and I could barely make out his distorted silhouette running in the opposite direction of his friends’ screams, like the coward he was .

But he wouldn’t make it far. I closed my eyes before the sounds of his muffled shrieks made me reopen them, and I saw another dark figure at least three times his size jump on top of him. His screams continued, and I thought I heard a yelping sound. Then within seconds, the screaming stopped.

My eyes fluttered as I tried everything in my power not to go unconscious. It seemed Vick and his crew were torn to shreds by a giant beast, and I was next. The large black blob got bigger and bigger as it headed towards me. My heart pounded in my ears, the only sound I could hear as I fought for consciousness. Through my distorted vision, I briefly made out two glowing yellow eyes, and a startled breath caught in my throat. I blinked a few times in quick succession, then watched as the blob transformed from a giant black mass to a humanoid shape.

“Aura!”

The sound was so muffled, so muted, but I knew his voice anywhere.

Elias.

“Gods, what have they done to you?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and reopened them, the blurry haze subsiding for just a moment. I saw Elias standing in front of me, cupping my face in his hands.

He then quickly bent down, and I felt the rope fall off my feet. Then I watched him reach up, and I felt the tension of the rope around my wrists go limp. Elias caught me in his arms before I could crash to the ground.

“I’m sorry, Aura. I’m so sorry,” he said as he cradled me in his arms. He reached up and gently brushed my hair out of my face. “I’m so sorry,” he repeated, his voice fading. Then, everything went black.