Gravlor's Peak would take some time to reach, given that we were traveling by wagon. The first night was cold. I worried about Greystone, my horse, left in the town stables by herself. It was a public stable and it was well known that it was my horse – so someone would care for her... maybe. Unless they already knew I was good as dead.
They might steal her. That wouldn't be so bad if they were good to her. Then again, they might kill her – bad luck that she served the Master's whore.
Of course, Eric wasn't dead yet.
They wouldn't kill my horse while Eric still lived and breathed.
But, who knew how long that would last.
It was hard not to panic that night, as the dark and chill descended.
I wanted Eric to save me.
I'm an idiot, basically – so I couldn't help imagining him coming to my rescue, pulling me into his arms. I would say, breathlessly, "I didn't know," and he instinctively would understand that I meant that I hadn't known he wasn't the bad guy, and he would reply, "I forgive you," and kiss me... but...
I didn't want Eric to save me.
What if he came to Gravlor's Peak and was trapped? What if I was still gagged, and I never got to tell him? What if...
If he died...
If I died and never got to tell him... well, that would probably happen anyway. So I had to hope that he wouldn't come to save me, wouldn't even try, because if he never came then I could always imagine that though I hurt him – I hadn't killed him.
Ergh. That left me in the hands of Saymar though.
I looked over at Dartix sleeping off the rough day behind us.
Nope, this was no good.
Given the options, it looked like I was going to have to rescue myself. Had no idea how I was going to do it, but, given that I was a badass, I was sure I could figure out something.
Noon the next day came and went, and I had nothing. There wasn't anything in the back of the wagon that could help us. Once I had figured that out, I had figured I could wait and see what I had to work with when Bolthos came to feed us.
-Except he didn't.
This is when I started drifting in and out of naps. Dartix had slept most of the night, so I noticed now and again that he was playing the same game I had played the night before – looking for something to pick locks with, looking for something to pry apart chains. He kept trying to find some way to get some slack from the chains – but they were wrapped through the wagon so that the driver would notice any slack as well.
The day was hot as the night was cold, and sweat got in my eyes when I didn't keep them closed. Between the hunger and the heat, I thought I was having a dream, then a hallucination when I heard, "Dor!" whispered and hissed, before it was followed by swift kick.
I jostled myself to a full wake and looked at Dartix. His gag was missing. I tried to figure out what happened and he shook his head and whispered, "I ate it."
"You did not!" I tried to say through my gag. Impossible! But he just kicked me again, annoyed at how loud I was despite being incomprehensible.
"I did; you can too," he whispered.
First of all, I could not. Second of all, I'm pretty sure the gags were the least of our problems. He blinked at me. Then he stuck out his chin and nodded me toward him. "Scoot over here," he said.
Not bothering to question Dartix for a moment, I tried leaning toward him, only to fall back into my original spot. We were wrapped up like cocoons really, and the chains were too heavy on me to maneuver well. But, I did find with some creative shifting, I could get closer to him an inch at a time.
When we finally shoulder to shoulder, I was covered in sweat and looked at him expectantly – this better be good.
He lowered his face to my cheek and tried pulling the gag off with his teeth.
It was a good idea, so I tried to ignore the awkwardness of his tongue trying to pull the gag into his mouth, as it slathered against my skin.
But it wasn't working.
Eventually he nudged me to roll over. I tried, and didn't get very far. But he got low enough to work the gag's knot at the back of my head.
Finally it came off.
"Well, that was constructive," I whispered. "Now if you'll just chew through my chains."
He looked at me wide-eyed and scared. "Princess... I mean, Dor, I thought you knew magic words!"
I looked back at him.
Oh yeah.
I sort of did.
Eric had taught me a few.
Okay, okay, he had taught me more than a few magic words. Geez, we spent most days of the week just working out spells with magic words – and we'd been doing it for years. He quizzed me on that crap often enough; you'd think I'd be all powerful by now.
Except I wasn't.
I mean yeah, sometimes I'd pull off something spectacular.
One time, I think I was like 22, 23, Eric wanted me to learn how to make a clean water spring emerge from desert sands. Survival tool, he said. Why a badass like me would need a survival tool like that, I'm not sure. Last time I had been lost in the desert I drank my own blood and sweat when I got thirsty and was totally fine. –The ant poison chaser wasn't bad either. Sure, I was practically dead and not a little bit loopy for quite a while afterward, but what doesn't kill you, right?
Anyway, turns out Eric was thinking about practicality but I was thinking about taking on Nature itself and well, it's lucky Eric's such a good swimmer.
The palace was nearly destroyed.
The desert around it was basically a swamp for a few days.
And I had never felt so powerful!
But Eric was a little more careful about our projects after that.
