7. They Found Us

Chapter 7

They Found Us

They found us.

Not that I was all that surprised. Nylian had made a smart point. If they wanted to get paid for their rescue efforts, they had to find us.

While I didn't feel great about abandoning them to the ogres, I wasn't up for rescuing our rescuers following our disastrous first encounter with those smelly giants.

With Nylian leading the way through the woods, we ran until my legs would no longer carry me. And then the asshole made me run some more. I didn't know or care where we finally ended up. The sky was shifting from midnight black to slate gray when Nylian called a halt to our escape. He wouldn't even let us build another fire to keep warm.

My mind shut down as Nylian cuddled against me, his longer body spooning mine while we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks. It was cold out, but I wasn't in danger of freezing to death. I opened my mouth to tell him to give me some space, yet the words never left my tongue. I passed out, which wasn't the best idea, since I likely had a concussion from all the trees I'd rammed with my head that day.

All too soon, there were voices arguing around me. The only good thing was that they were familiar voices. The ogres hadn't returned to harass us some more. My thoughts were foggy, my body ached, and my head throbbed. Not the best way to return to consciousness.

And the worst of it was, I was still in the forest with an elf. I was not in my bed or even on my couch, where I'd pass out after writing well into the night.

"Coffee…" I groaned and tried to roll over, pulling my cloak up over my face. It was too early to greet the day, particularly when I was already outside where the sun could get at me. I wanted my tiny apartment loaded with books, pillows, and coffee. God, I missed my coffeemaker!

"Who's coffee?" Nylian's voice sneaked past my weak defenses to slip into my ear.

I shot up and pointed a finger at him, my voice trembling. "That isn't funny!"

There was no way I would ever create a world that didn't include coffee. Nope. Never. I don't care how medieval or fantastically different it was supposed to be. It was that thing that bound all the worlds together. Not love, sex, or even death. Coffee was eternal, and I was ready to curse Nylian in the worst way for even insinuating that coffee didn't exist.

"Wow, he isn't a morning person, is he?" I knew that voice, too. My hand fell to my hip, and I glanced over to find the crazy woman and the wizard sitting on the other side of a low fire that was now between us. The woman grinned at me, not looking as if she had suffered any damage from the ogres.

Part of me wanted to know what the hell had happened with the ogres and that bright light, but the bigger part of me wanted to return to sleep. I wasn't ready to face this world or the elf or any other craziness that might wait for me. Sleeping also meant that I wasn't in danger of running into any more trees. My head couldn't take the punishment.

So that was what I did. I lay back on the ground and pulled my cloak over my head, intending to pretend these people weren't here until I fell asleep. Maybe this was all a long, painful nightmare. When I woke up next time, I'd be in my bed and that whole thing with the coin and falling off the bridge would never have happened.

"He simply needs to eat something." Nylian's hand squeezed my shoulder and gave it a shake.

"Go away," I grumbled.

"We need to get moving soon. If you don't eat, I'll leave you behind." Considering how he'd shown no qualms about leaving our rescuers behind, I had little doubt that Nylian would be happy to abandon my ass, too.

Groaning, I shoved upright and started to toss my cloak off me, but stopped the moment I noticed that I'd been covered in my cloak and Nylian's. When had he…

Nope. Just fucking nope . There was no way in hell I was going to think about any nice things the elf did for me. I didn't have the brain capacity for it right now, and it would make me feel guilty about getting us caught by the ogres…and maybe guilty about plunging his life into hell by writing about the murder of his brother.

Without looking at the elf on my left, I plucked his cloak out of the tangle and handed it over to him before climbing to my feet. I stretched and grunted at the morass of aches and knots that filled my body.

"That's a hell of a bruise you got," the woman commented.

"What?" I turned toward her to find her grinning and pointing at the middle of her forehead.

My hand reached up to touch the spot on my forehead, forcing out a curse as fresh pain coursed through my head. I had a fucking knot in the center of my forehead from hitting a tree. Of course. That was great.

"Ignore her. Sit. Eat," Nylian admonished while holding up something that appeared to be a biscuit.

"Where did you get this?" I accepted the food and dropped onto the log next to him.

"I had a bit of flour left in my bag," the wizard admitted with a crooked grin. "It's not much, but it'll at least fill the hole in your stomach for a few hours."

I took a bite out of the biscuit and had to agree that it wasn't much. In fact, it was pretty damn bad. It was mostly flour with the slightest hint of some other spices that gave it a trace of savory flavor. I couldn't complain, since I had no food supplies and if Nylian had any, they'd been lost when the ogres had kidnapped us.

"Thanks," I said with the best smile I could manage while forcing down that knot of very dry dough.

"Okay, okay. All the niceties are out of the way. How about you stop ignoring me and we talk about our payment for rescuing you?" the woman snapped.

"Who are you? How did you even find us?" I asked.

"I'm Adeline Engleford, accomplished thief, occasional mercenary, and full-time badass. This is my younger brother, Jasper, who's studying to become a wizard." She paused and glared at the teenager on her right. "At least he was until he got kicked out of the Ashenvale Institute of the Arcane in Gushan."

"That wasn't my fault," Jasper muttered under his breath while hugging what had to be a thick grimoire to his chest.

Their bickering didn't matter because I was choking to death on the last bite of my breakfast. Nylian's hand landed on my back several times as I gasped for air. The last bits of the bread flew into the fire, and I coughed several more times to clear my throat.

Adeline Engleford?

Here? Now?

She was supposed to become one of Nylian's harem consorts. Except I hadn't planned on them running into each other until after he was leaving Galinaes. And I didn't recall her traveling with her younger brother.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," I rasped to get Nylian to stop hitting me. My body was sore enough as it was; I didn't need him adding to the bruises.

The elf shoved a flask under my nose and I accepted it, taking a sip of cool water. "What happened?" he inquired, one eyebrow raised at me.

"Nothing. Went down the wrong way. I'm fine."

It was all I could say. This wasn't the time to announce that he was supposed to fall in love with the woman and screw her brains out while they were on the run from the royal guards of Galinaes. That seemed tasteless. Particularly in front of Adeline's little brother.

Of course, this could be an excellent development. Maybe the story was trying to fix itself, since I'd messed things up and derailed Nylian from acquiring three other consorts. This time, I'd have the chance to stand back and enjoy the show. If I remembered correctly, Nylian and Adeline were supposed to have a rocky, adversarial love affair. She was brazen and stubborn, constantly locking horns with Nylian, who was accustomed to having his way. Yes, this was going to be very interesting to watch.

"As fun as this has been, Jasper and I need to get on our way. To do that, we need you to pay the three hundred and fifty gold pieces you owe us," Adeline stated. She thrust her hand out before her, palm up, and smiled tightly at us both.

"Uh…" I replied, my brain frantically bouncing between the fact that I wasn't carrying that kind of money and that they couldn't be allowed to leave now. If they left, there was no chance of Nylian and Adeline falling in love.

This was supposed to be a goddamn action-adventure, fantasy harem book, but that wouldn't happen if there was no goddamn harem. Nylian needed to get on the fucking ball. He was missing three consorts, and if he didn't get off his ass, he was going to lose a fourth.

"And as I told you earlier, I don't have that kind of money on me," Nylian said as he took the flask from me and screwed the lid on.

"What about him?" Adeline's hand moved from resting in front of Nylian to me.

"Why would you think that I have that kind of money on me?" I screeched. "I mean, I've got some coins. Not a lot. A few." As I spoke, my hand automatically went to the pouch on my hip while my heart sped up.

It wasn't so much that I was afraid of her grabbing all my money, but she couldn't get her hands on that weird dragon-and-raven coin. If that thing was magical and had gotten me here, it could still get me home. Yet that wouldn't happen if that rogue got her sticky fingers on it.

Nylian clapped a hand on my back. It slid up and wrapped around the nape of my neck, squeezing lightly. I got the point he was trying to make—shut up.

"We don't have the money right now . However, I'm sure we can get it from Lockhart's family," Nylian continued. I gasped to argue, but his fingers tightened on my neck, silencing me in an instant.

"Yeah," I agreed, my voice higher than normal. After clearing my throat, I tried again. "We can contact my family. They would have no problem covering the fee for saving my life. Look at my clothes. You can see I'm good for it. I—" A sudden squeeze on my neck cut off my words. Got it. Talking too much. I did that when I was nervous.

"Uh-huh," Adeline grunted, not sounding convinced at all. There was no blaming her for that. Nylian and I seemed shady as fuck.

"How about this? What if we hired you as an escort of sorts?"

"What?" Both Adeline and Nylian choked out that sharp demand. Finally, they were getting on the same page, and that was only the beginning of my evil plans.

Shifting on the log, I broke free of Nylian's grasp and leaned forward, resting my forearms on my knees. The fire had dwindled to a few smoldering embers, but the air was still warm enough to chase away the tendrils of cold hanging about as the sun continued to rise.

Now that I was awake and the sky was turning brighter, I took a second to check out our newest companions. Jasper was the typical gangly teenager with pale skin covered in a smattering of acne. The robes he was wearing appeared to be hand-me-downs from someone three times his size. I couldn't imagine the young man ever growing into them. He'd rolled up the sleeves several times just so he could reach things with his hands. Someone had patched the robes in two places, and the hem was dirty from their time on the road.

A huge sack was at his side, likely full of supplies for their travels and his spells. But the true treasure was the grimoire that now rested on his lap. The black leather book seemed to be well over a thousand pages thick and was bound by metal bands. A thick chain was attached to those bands, and it was looped over Jasper's slumped shoulders so no one could steal it.

If I recalled correctly, a grimoire was the collection of spells and notes from a lifetime of work of several wizards. It moved from master to apprentice again and again, which made it all the more puzzling. If the headmasters of the Institute of the Arcane kicked Jasper out, how the hell did he have a grimoire? No master would have handed such a thing over to a failed student.

No matter. It wasn't like I was planning to steal the thing from him. Magic was not something to fuck with. My current situation was proof of that.

Adeline appeared to be Jasper's opposite in every conceivable way. Where Jasper was nervous and withdrawn, Adeline was confident and blunt. Nothing held her back, which made her a little intimidating. Certainly the perfect match in some ways to a certain stubborn, spoiled prince.

She wore tight-fitting burgundy pants and a shirt with puffy sleeves tucked into a pair of leather gauntlets around her wrists. Her cloak was black and short, falling to her waist. She definitely didn't have the ragged and worn look of her brother, but more of a semi-wealthy entrepreneur. Her brown hair was paler than Jasper's and chopped into an asymmetrical bob that accented her sharp jaw.

"My friend and I are on our way north to Riverhold and the Penbrook Port there. We're planning to catch the ferry across to Galinaes," I said with what I hoped was a wide, reassuring smile.

"You're going to Ulmenor?" Jasper asked, wistful hope filling his words.

"Yes," I replied.

"No," Adeline and Nylian snapped, making my heart jump. They were similar. This was working perfectly.

"Excuse us for a second," Nylian continued. The bastard grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me to my feet as he rose. He led me a fair distance away from the fire but kept both the Engleford siblings in clear view. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded between clenched teeth.

I leaned in close so I could speak into his ear. That way Adeline couldn't hear what I was saying or read my lips. "I'm securing us protection on our way to the port. The ogres nearly killed us and we're now without horses, which means the trek to Riverhold is going to take even longer. I'm not a great fighter, and we can't rely on you alone to keep us alive while I try to remember shit. We need some help. Both of them seem handy in a struggle."

Nylian made a derisive sound, but he didn't offer any coherent arguments. I tried to take that as a good sign. "If you hire them, that woman is going to expect even more money. How are you planning to pay them?"

"I figured the money would come from the same magical pot that you've already offered them." I retreated enough to offer him a snide smile. When I only received a glare in return, I shrugged. "We'll figure it out when we get to Riverhold. Sounds like Jasper wants to reach Ulmenor, anyway. That could be incentive enough for Adeline to agree."

Nylian grunted. "The elf wizards in Ulmenor are renowned throughout the world. Just five minutes with one of them would advance the boy's skills by leaps and bounds."

I punched Nylian on the shoulder and laughed. "See. There you go. The little wizard will keep Adeline distracted, and we'll worry about the money nonsense later. I've got some on me now, and I'm sure we'll have something between the two of us to sell when we reach Riverhold."

"I'm very tempted to sell you," Nylian muttered. He didn't give me a chance to respond. The elf sighed. "We still have to figure out how we're getting into Ulmenor. Everyone entering the royal capital needs an invitation or some kind of specific pass to complete business." He pointed up at his face as he leaned in close to me. "Do you really think they're going to let me in?"

That was an excellent point. The elves of Galinaes and Wolfrest had an even longer history of hating each other than the animosity that existed between Wolfrest and Edros. They wouldn't welcome one of their enemies and allow him to stroll through the streets. This had been one of the many sticking points in my plot outline that had driven me crazy ahead of my bridge incident.

So, I took a page out of Georgie's book.

I wrapped my arm around Nylian's stiff shoulders and shook him. "One problem at a time. We'll worry about getting into Ulmenor later. Right now, we have to reach Riverhold alive. Jasper and Adeline are the key to that."

"You're not inviting Adeline because you're attracted to her, are you?"

I jumped away from Nylian and nearly stumbled over a rock in my haste. "No! Absolutely not!" That was not the impression I wanted him to get. Getting in between the hero and one of his true loves was a fucking death wish I did not have. I crossed over to Nylian and lowered my voice. "She's not my type, I swear. Besides, I'm pretty sure she'd rather kill me and search my clothes for valuables. If she's interested in anyone, I'm sure it's you."

The elf stared at me until I could feel heat creeping up to the tips of my ears. I couldn't even guess what he was thinking, but I suspected it wasn't anything good. He was going to ditch both me and the Engleford siblings the first chance he got, but we all needed to stick together. Adeline was going to be his first—well, first now instead of like the eighth—consort. They were going to fall in love. Plus, he needed me to help him uncover the truth about his brother's killer. I had to see this through, since I'd created this mess.

"Fine," Nylian ground out between clenched teeth. He turned on the balls of his feet and returned to the campfire. I barely held in a celebratory dance and made do with punching the sky in my mind as I hurried after him.

"So, will you come with us?" I asked Adeline the moment I sat on the fallen log.

"How much are you paying us to protect Your Highnesses ?" she inquired with an added sneer at the end.

"Five hundred for the rescue and the escort to Riverhold," Nylian answered before I could.

A sharp bark of laughter broke from Adeline's throat, and she shook her head at him. "Low balling, asshole. Not a fucking chance we're doing it for less than eight."

"Six."

I rolled my eyes and jumped to my feet, leaving Nylian and Adeline to argue over money. What did I care? She was going to fall in love with him, and the money was going to be moot in the end. I sat next to Jasper with a grin. "Last night, what was that giant flash of white light? How did you take out those ogres?"

The young man flushed and dropped his eyes to the grimoire in his lap. "Oh. That. The spell I'd been trying to cast didn't work at all. I thought I could turn them to stone for a few hours. That would give us plenty of time to escape, and it was likely they'd give up on us all together out of fear."

"Makes sense. What actually happened?"

Jasper's shoulders rose and his head lowered so that he became even smaller. "I shrank them."

"Really? By how much?"

"A lot. They were about the size of large squirrels when the light faded."

I fell off the log laughing, my brain filled with the image of those snarly, angry ogres running about the forest with their cudgels in the air as they chased after rabbits and battled groundhogs. Served them right after they'd considered eating us.

"Lockhart!"

I choked on the last of my chuckles and stared up at the elf, who was glaring at me. Why the hell was he so grumpy? Was he not a morning person, too?

"Are you done?" Nylian groused.

"I don't know. Are you and Adeline done with negotiations?" I shot at him.

"We're done. We've settled on seven hundred."

"Excellent." I hopped to my feet and dusted off the seat of my pants, for what little it was worth. The way things were looking, it was going to be a while before I saw anything like a hot bath and a clean change of clothes. "Let's get on the road." I pointed in the direction I thought was northeast, trying to appear confident and powerful.

Nylian sighed as he wrapped his fingers around my wrist and adjusted my point by forty-five degrees to my left. "It's a good thing you're not leading this group."

"Yep. I have no sense of direction," I admitted freely. Back home, I'd gotten lost in my local mall more than once. God help me in those big box stores.

"Why am I bringing you along at all?"

I smiled at the elf and patted him on the shoulder. "Remember, I'm the distraction. I'm the one always ready to get you out of trouble." I also hoped I wasn't the one getting him into trouble.