Trynneia swayed from side to side, dangling from the wagon’s centerline. We’re on the move, she realized, waking from a nap she hadn’t meant to take. Nothing could have prevented it once Modius left her there. The inversion and the bloodflow restrictions coupled with her inability to move caused her to pass out.

A continuous low rumble surrounded her from the nearby stacked crates on either side of her. Each crate intermittently emitted a soft glow before fading from view. She couldn’t feel her hands or feet, and her neck ached from both trying to hold it up as well as her ultimate failure to remain awake, where her head had fallen back under its own weight.

She was alone.

She was terrified.

Ditan and Ylane’s whereabouts evaded her. Trynneia had no idea if they still lived or if they struggled in the same sort of captivity that bound her. She hoped they had gotten free, but knew from a practical standpoint that their fates were bound together. Each of them had something the Vigil wanted or needed, from Trynneia’s abilities, Ylane’s possible similar ones, and Ditan’s skill with the elements.

Here I am in solitary confinement. She didn’t want to remain there long. Something sloshed below her. Trynneia could just make out two barrels near the front, large and filled with an unknown liquid. Water, she hoped. Reserves for the desert journey. Each wagon must have spares.

How long have we been going already? Trynneia had no idea. It felt like the same day, but it had already been getting later in the afternoon. I hate having no control over things. The dimness in the wagon made it feel more likely that only a few hours had passed.

Voices arose outside, and the jouncing ground to a halt as the wagon stopped. She could hear the increase in activity. Settling in for the evening, perhaps? Trynneia tried to move her arms or feet, but between the numbness and the fiery ache she gave up.

She watched an aura approach, a gleaming silver-gray visible through the canvas. It seemed stronger than she recalled, more vivid. Someone dropped the gate and climbed in. Trynneia’s runes weakly shone, her low energy reflected in them.

“Your friend lives,” Gadis said as she worked to lower Trynneia from her suspension. “That’s all Modius would tell me.” The woman looked at her and shrugged before cutting the ropes from Trynneia’s wrists and ankles. “You’re not going to run away from me, are you?”

“I can’t feel anything,” Trynneia replied. “I’d be lucky to stand.”

“Sorry about that. Modius wanted you to cool off a bit.”

“I think I got the point.” Trynneia didn’t know why Gadis’ aura looked the way it did, but she felt safer than she had for a while now. She trusted few of the Sentinels, but her instincts told her she could trust Gadis.

For now.

“Here’s some food. It’s part of my rations but you can have it. I’m not that hungry.”

Trynneia eyed what she could in the dim light. Gadis gave her a roll of dry bread and some dried meat. To her it seemed a feast. “Thank you,” she said.

“Not a problem,” Gadis said, handing her a water flask. “Drink sparingly from this. We only have a few more stops to top them up.”

“How long have we been traveling?” Trynneia tried to establish some baseline for her captivity. Anything to keep her sanity.

“Just half a day, don’t worry about it. Not even that, really. We wanted to put some distance between ourselves and Lidoria.”

Afraid we might send someone after them, maybe? We’re just a bunch of farmers and tradesfolk. They wouldn’t - no, couldn’t - mount an attack on trained Sentinels of the Vigil. Regardless, we can’t have gone far.

“I see,” she replied. Trynneia struggled to put any of the food in her mouth. Gadis pitied her and fed her instead. “This isn’t the same food as earlier,” she pointed out between bites.

“Aye, girl. You should have eaten what we offered before. It went down better than this will.”

Trynneia agreed silently. Each bite drew what little moisture remained in her mouth and spirited it away. She gulped at the water when she could manage it. Slowly life returned to her hands and feet.

“Which friend?” Gadis hadn’t said. “Please, I want to know.”

“Friend? Oh, sorry. Both of them are fine. The three of you are confined to your own wagons.”

“Aren’t we taking up room from the rest of you?” Trynneia didn’t care whether they did or not. What mattered was learning every bit she could.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Most of us sleep under the wagons or in tents. It’s not a big deal to us,” Gadis admitted. “Though you’ve probably got it the nicest.”

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed spending my time hung from the ceiling.

-There are worse places to sleep.-

“Is mine at the rear?” She remembered Modius’ idle threat to leave her wagon behind if raided.

“You’re all near the front, actually. Modius likes to keep an eye on his prizes.”

Gadis’ candor surprised her. If they were close, she could be within shouting distance. They might be able to hear her, or she them. Ylane’s parting scream had only reinforced the dread of nearness and her inability to assist her friends.

“Thank you for showing me kindness. I know it’s not required of you.”

“We’re not all heartless assholes like Eilic. We just have a few bad apples.”

Where there’s one, there’s several.

-Most of them.-

“Even so.”

Gadis nodded. “Even so. Here,” she took off her riding cloak. “When he manhandled you I thought he was going to tear your whole outfit off. This will keep you warm.”

“What if he confiscates it?”

“I’m here to comfort you on his orders. Trust me, Modius wants you to have it.” It’s all an effort to control me. To lull me, she realized as she listened to Gadis.

Trynneia took it gratefully. Gadis’ remaining body heat left it warm as she wrapped it around herself. “How long does it take to get to Praxen?” She wanted to know what to expect.

“Should only be two weeks. It took us longer to get here because Modius wanted to go the long way around the desert. Now we plan to plow right through. He’s got orders from on high to get back as soon as possible. Nothing stops that man once he’s on the move.”

“You’ve been through before?”

“Once, a few cycles back. It makes all the difference being in a caravan though. Back then I was alone. Now we have the surety of supplies and shelter.”

Trynneia couldn’t quite imagine a desert. All her life she’d lived among the lush, fertile fields of farmland that surrounded Lidoria, and the lakes and ponds amidst them.

“How long until we get there?” She only had a vague idea, briefly implanted by her mother. Until the last week, neither Praxen nor the desert had ever been mentioned. Even visitors to Lidoria rarely came from that direction, and if they did had never spoken of them.

“A week or two, depending on weather. If we make excellent time that would be for the best. We should get through before the height of summer. If we don’t, it will go ill for us.”

“I see,” Trynneia replied, still trying to understand an inhospitable land, bereft of the meager offerings that sustained life. Gadis’ aura weakened, like the Sentinel herself feared to go.

“Don’t give away all the trade secrets,” Modius said from the rear of the wagon. “I sent you to get her down, not tell her everything.” In the gloom, Trynneia thought she saw Gadis blush from embarrassment. “Hello, Trynneia.” She couldn’t mistake his smile, however.

“Hrm,” she replied.

“Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. I can be hasty at times.”

“Apology not accepted.”

“Of course. Gadis here told you your friends were safe? Isn’t that enough?”

Trynneia drew the cape up around her, pulling it tight as if it provided defense. “She said something along those lines.” His aura glowed darker than Gadis’, purple and red shrouding him. Unlike her guard, she did not trust Modius.

“Eilic brought your goblin friend back safe and sound, I assure you. Our Red tended his wounds and he’s resting.”

“Why was he wounded if you say he was brought back safe?”

“He suffered some cuts and scrapes walking through the forest. To be expected when traveling nude.”

She had forgotten that he’d been stripped, same as she. Chet and Frant had provided her clothing, but Ditan had no one to do the same for him. Even so, it made her feel more sensitive to her torn outfit.

“If we’ve stopped for the night, I want to see him and Ylane.” She sounded braver than she felt.

“Again, you’re not in a position to bargain for that. But it’s not without good reason,” Modius replied.

“There’s never a good reason to keep me from my friends,” she said. “If you want me cooperative, you’ll let me decide whether they’re safe.”

Modius chuckled. “Bargaining with strength and conviction from confinement and with no leverage is a very weak ploy and you know I won’t fall for it.”

“Why do you taunt me with this knowledge?” She chafed, and her runes began to glow brighter with her indignance. “Let me see them.”

“That’s something I cannot do. Especially your goblin friend.” Trynneia winced as if he had slapped her. She’d never been close with Ylane, but having Ditan kept from her stung. “Not after how you’ve acted.”

“What must I do to see them then? You’re dangling the carrot. Where’s the stick?”

“Now you’re getting it. Perceptive. Just like your mother.”

“Leave Momma out of this.”

“She’s precisely why you’re in this predicament. You see, she left out a lot of things in little, far-flung Lidoria. As the Red, she was responsible for spreading Elerion’s word according to the Regency.”

“I fail to see how that matters. She did her job and served the Light.” Modius crouched before her while Gadis stood behind her. Trynneia felt trapped but refused to back down.

“When did you learn your friend was a shaman?”

Just a few days ago.

-Did you?-

“Ditan keeps to himself. He’s never harmed anyone,” she deflected.

“Your Magistrate begged to differ.” Trynneia wanted to wipe the smug grin off his face. “Tell me, girl. Why do you think you’re in the predicament you’re in? I’d like to hear you reason it out.”

It didn’t take her long. “The Regency is interested in me. I see that now. Ylane wouldn’t be here either if that weren’t the case.”

Modius nodded. “Very smart. This might go very well after all. There’s more to it than that of course. Two young women with Elerion’s marks, and a hedge shaman besides, all from the same town. What I’m able to tell you will make you question your mother’s faith.”

Trynneia doubted that. No one she knew trusted in the Light more than Rendrys, not even herself. “You have nothing to say that can change that.”

“Don’t be too sure of that just yet, young Trynneia.” Modius chuckled to himself. “The rest of the wagons are circling up. Let her out to walk and get her strength back. Perhaps later we’ll talk,” he said to Gadis.