Darryn was in a deep sleep when suddenly cold water hit his face, waking him up abruptly. He sat up quickly, panting in surprise. He opened his eyes to see Audric looking at him, grinning, standing with him in one of the guest bedrooms of the castle.
“Rise and shine, Sir Darryn.”
Darryn glared at him, jumping out of the bed and starting to approach him, only to be quickly apprehended by two of Audric’s knights.
“I could kill you so easily for what you’ve done!!” Darryn bit out.
Audric laughed. “Not with those knights holding you, you can’t. Now, enough with the hostilities, Sir Darryn. You’re far too dignified for such things,” Audric paused, placing a set of Grumor’s knights’ apparel on the bed. “You will get dressed in the apparel and armor and will head to the training grounds to spar with my men. I believe you and your friend Aquila, will be worthy assets to have in my army.”
Darryn’s jaw clenched, fighting against the grip the knights had on his arms. “And if I refuse?”
Audric laughed yet again, shrugging. “Then your friends there kill you. Simple as that.”
Darryn let out a frustrated sigh, lowering his head. He knew he didn’t have a choice. If there was any hope of finding his friends again and getting them out of this situation, he had to follow orders.
Audric left the room and the knights watched Darryn as he changed into the apparel, before allowing them to lead him to the training grounds in Wimborne. When he got to the training grounds, he saw Aquila fighting one of their knights. He held his breath, watching her. The man was much larger than her small stature of 5′4. Yet, she fought even more skillfully than he did, easily dodging his advances.
Darryn’s gaze was torn away when he was faced with his own opponent. One of the generals threw him a sword and he caught it. He surveyed his opponent. The man was just as large as the one fighting Aquila, but Darryn knew he could easily fight him. The man swung his sword for Darryn’s head, as hard and as quickly as he could. Darryn narrowly dodged it, striking the man’s side. The man let out a growl, swinging around on him, a new fire in his eyes.
The man swung yet again for Darryn’s head and Darryn once again dodged easily, laughing slightly at the man’s predictable moves. Darryn aimed for the man’s chest, but was met swiftly with the man’s own sword, blocking him. Darryn pushed against the other sword as the man struggled to push him down. He grinned, removing his sword and stepping aside to make the man fall forward on his face. Darryn laughed but was cut short when the man jumped to his feet, swinging wildly at Darryn. Darryn fought to block all of the man’s frenzied advances, but at one point the man’s sword struck Darryn’s side, slicing through his fabric and piercing his skin. Darryn groaned and clutched his side, and the man took his moment of vulnerability to raise his sword, ready to come down on his head.
Darryn noticed the movement, jumping back as one of the generals grabbed the knight, pulling him away as the knight yelled and cursed at Darryn. Darryn shook his head, still clutching his bloody side.
“Freaking insane,” he muttered.
***
“Time to get up,” a gruff voice said, shaking Jesika’s shoulders.
Jesika groaned, opening her eyes. She jumped at the sight of a stranger standing over her. She sat up, looking at her surroundings. She was in some small, cozy, peasant home. She raked her hand through her hair, looking at the knight, realizing he was in the apparel of Grumor. She grimaced.
“Get dressed. I set out the clothes you are to wear on the bed. You will see your friend, Rowan, in the kitchen. Today you two will be working in the farmlands.”
Jesika nodded slowly, relief filling her heart at the mention of Rowan. So, he’s okay. Good. I hope that means Darryn and Aquila are okay too, Jesika thought.
The knight left the room, closing the door. Jesika stood and changed into the peasant apparel, pulling her hair up into a bun. She walked out of the room and when she saw Rowan sitting at the small kitchen table, her heart leapt at the sight of a familiar face. Impulsively, she ran to hug him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He squirmed in surprise a moment, but soon wrapped his own arms around her waist, giving her a gentle squeeze before letting her go.
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Jesika sat next to him and watched the knight move around the kitchen, settling a sandwich in front of Jesika and Rowan on the table.
“Eat. It’ll be the only time you get to today.”
Jesika frowned. “That sounds a bit ridiculous when you expect us to do hard labor all day.”
The knight grinned. “Sorry, Your Majesty, but you don’t give the orders anymore.”
Jesika’s fists clenched and she started to stand to attack him but was swiftly stopped by Rowan’s hand on her wrist, pulling her back down. He turned to her, shoving her sandwich in her mouth. She glared at him as she chewed.
“The less additional trouble we cause, the better,” Rowan said.
Jesika grumbled but continued to eat her sandwich.
Once they finished eating, the knight led them to the farmlands. The knight handed them both a hoe, instructing them to till the land. Jesika and Rowan got to work, working just a few feet from each other. Rowan suddenly froze in the middle of working, straightening, his face paling. He was staring at something behind Jesika. She frowned and turned. Her eyes caught sight of Aquila’s parents working, her mom trying to shield herself as a knight struck her with a whip. Jesika felt her heart pounding and she began to run forward to stop him, but once again, Rowan stopped her, gripping her wrists tightly. She turned on him, tears in her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing, Rowan?! They’re hurting Aquila’s mom!!”
He nodded. “I know, Jesika. I want to stop him too. But if we do it like this, it’ll only make things worse. We’re playing the long game, Jesika. We have to.”
Jesika sighed, closing her eyes, trying to get ahold of her emotions. Rowan gripped her shoulder tighter and she opened her eyes, looking at him. He pointed to a couple near Aquila’s parents.
“Those are my parents,” he said.
Jesika nodded slowly, understanding now what he had been staring at. Rowan went back to work, and Jesika followed suit.
It was an unusually sunny, warm day in Querencia. It didn’t help that there was a phoenix over their heads, flapping its wings to warm the area even more. After an hour of slaving away in the heat, Jesika felt like she was going to pass out from the pain. Her burns were irritated from being under the sun for so long, her body feeling feverish.
She grit her teeth through the pain, knowing she couldn’t stop. If she stopped, she would only be whipped, making her wounds worse. As the day went on though, there were no breaks, just as the guard had warned. They worked until the sun was setting, the sky going dark.
Jesika still felt the heat of a sunny summer day though. She stopped a moment, wiping her head and looking up. The Phoenix hadn’t stopped flapping its wings, but it looked like it was close to giving out. It was only a matter of time before it would come spiraling to the ground.
Jesika looked at the guard nearby to see he was already glaring at her. He came to her, the scowl deepening on his face.
“Who said you could stop?! Get back to work!”
Jesika scoffed, then pointed up at the phoenix. “That phoenix has been working all day long. It was okay when it had the sun to aid it, but now its nightfall. The phoenix has lost all of its energy. If you don’t let it stop for the night, it may never light the same. It needs to rest for the night...” Jesika paused, looking around at all her people slaving away. Her gaze met Rowan’s, where he had stopped to watch her, a concerned look in his eyes. She turned back to the guard.
“We all need and deserve a break. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say you can trust we will work much more efficiently tomorrow if we get a good night’s rest and some food and water. It’s only logical.”
The guard worked his jaw and Jesika could’ve sworn she saw the slightest bit of compassion in his eyes. “Fine. But it’s really not up to me. I’ll go talk to the person in charge. We’ll see what he says. Until then, get back to work.”
Jesika nodded, turning back to work more.
A little while later, there was a loud whistle, followed by a bellowing order. Guards came to Rowan and Jesika and the rest of the slaves, and they were escorted back to the peasant homes.
Jesika sighed in relief when they arrived back at theirs. The guards stood outside the doors, ready to stop them in case they attempted to escape. Rowan smiled at her as he went to grab them two glasses of water from the kitchen. He handed it to her and led her to the couch to rest.
She sipped the water, the first bit she had gotten to drink all day. She closed her eyes as the refreshing feeling went down her throat.
She opened her eyes to see Rowan glaring at her. Her eyes widened as she wiped some water from her lip.
“What?” she asked.
His glare turned to a concerned frown as he looked in her eyes. “Your burns look worse. They overworked you, in the sun and under that phoenix. It’s like they didn’t even care that you were covered in burns. You can’t keep working in the sun like that.”
Jesika rolled her eyes. “Thank you for the concern, but I’ll be fine.”
His eyebrows rose. “You mean to tell me you didn’t struggle once today?”
Jesika laid back, nudging his leg with her foot. “Obviously I did. But it’s nothing I can’t work through. Besides, what are you going to do about it? It’s not like we have any choice in the matter.”
Rowan groaned, clutching his head. “You’re not wrong. I feel so powerless. I don’t even know where Kronos is. Ever since I’ve gotten him, I could tell you without hesitation where he’s at and what he’s doing. Not knowing is driving me crazy.”
Jesika nodded. “I’m worried about Aquila and Darryn too. And who knows what happened to Chilly. I doubt Audric bothered to find someone to step in to take care of her.”
Rowan sighed and raked his hand through his hair, then looked at her. “We need to find a way to talk to Aquila or Darryn. Preferably both of them. Hopefully that way we can figure out a way to escape and get our beasts back.”
“Agreed,” Jesika said simply.
He stood, holding out his hand. “For now, we should rest up. Otherwise, we’re really not going to hold up tomorrow.”