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I ripped my arm from Lavtan’s grip and turned to the king. “Will I miss a trial if I go and help?”
The king's eyes filled with a blend of thankfulness and pride. Cassius needed help and I could be the difference between him being saved or killed.
If he wasn’t already dead. My heart sank at the thought of him being gone, and the feeling of dread consumed me no matter how much I tried to stop it. I could feel my eyes shifting color under the overwhelming feelings I was having.
I barely knew the man, and I knew it was ridiculous, but I would not take no for an answer even if it came from the king. I had to go to Cassius.
“I will suspend the trials until you both are back.” Pausing for a long moment, he spoke again. “Thank you, Thea. You didn’t have to offer, but I’m so thankful you did.”
“Here.” One of the men handed me the reins of a black horse, and I recognized it as Cassius’. “His name is Onyx.”
“Do what you must to bring him back, Thea,” the king implored, tucking the Princess to his side.
I nodded and followed the group of men on horseback heading into the forest. My heart pounded with worry and panic. There was no denying the pull I had to Cassius from the moment I saw him, and he definitely acted the same at times. Maybe it was because he had been in my dreams for years that caused me to have an unhealthy attachment to him.
He was kind of my friend. A friend that devoured me like I was dinner, but a friend, nonetheless. I could be worried about a friend without it being more than that.
There were at least thirty guardsmen in our group. Not trusting them, I rode towards the front so I could keep a lookout for anything, calling on the habits I had built up in Exile to keep me safe. The bow and arrows I grabbed made me confident that I could take out any possible threats. My only concern was how Cassius and the rest of the men were.
We had been riding through the forest for quite some time when the leader slowed down. The forest ahead of us was so thick that the sunshine hardly penetrated the treetops. No animals could be heard, the temperature dropped, and the eerie feeling felt inescapable. Thank the Gods I had thought to grab my cloak when Verenna came to me. My body shivered with the temperature drop and I pulled my cloak tightly around me.
The horses could only make it through the trees in a singular line because the trail was small and overgrown with vines and plants.
My eyes scanned around us in the dark. There wasn't much to see through the thick trees. I wondered how much longer we would have to ride when suddenly the lead guardsman halted. He turned to us to say something but an arrow splitting his throat silenced whatever he was going to say.
The men instantly broke into battle formation at the attack. Jumping off the horse I disappeared into the thick woods.
As I took cover, men of different colored uniforms emerged from the woods and launched their attack on the Crimson guards. I couldn’t stay here and help them. I needed to find Cassius.
Dark blue flames caught my attention. The Wisp waited for me to come towards her before she moved. We snuck far around them battling and walked deeper into the forest where they had come from. It wasn’t long before we came to the clearing where more uniformed men were stationed. The light from a small lantern allowed me to see at least six of them, but I figured there could be more.
A tall man with dark skin stood off to the side laughing with another man. I tried to see what they found so funny, but the man was so big that he blocked my view. Silently, I crept in the darkness of the woods.
Once I skirted in the shadows towards the man, I saw them. Cassius and three others were tied up on the ground, alive thankfully. They sat in a circle with their backs together, their hands and ankles bound. The bonds looked like a barbed metal which I had not seen before, but likely powerful because Cassius wasn’t wielding his shadows. The Wisp floated near him, her color now black with anger. I couldn’t tell if they were alright, but there was blood on the white rags tied to their mouths.
“We need to be ready. The fighting has died down and they might be coming for them,” one of the guards standing opposite the meadow whispered.
“Let them come. They can’t cross the barrier we have,” the man with dark skin boasted.
He had a protection barrier around them. Shit.
I hoped that the same thing that allowed me to cross the boundary from Exile would allow me to pass through this one, too. I guess I was about to find out. I waited for a moment when they were distracted before making my move.
“Are you sure it will hold?” one of the men questioned.
“Of course. Besides we have the King’s Captain of the Guard, and we can negotiate a great deal for him. Or we can kill him,” he chuckled. “I haven’t quite decided what sounds better.”
My eyes shifted to Cassius and the guards. They all moved slightly, and a sigh of relief left me. Cassius's eyes looked around, stopping where I stood. Could he see me? He stared blankly, but he gave me no indication that he saw me.
The men stomping through the woods had me pausing to watch what these grey-uniformed guards would do. Most of the group I came with stood at the edge of the barrier with weapons drawn. I watched them step forward only to be stopped by an invisible shield. The men inside the barrier laughed.
“Pathetic,” one of them muttered.
“Let’s keep them waiting a little longer, shall we?”
This was my moment. To my great relief, crossing didn’t hurt like I thought it would. Cassius’s eyes immediately found mine and he shook his head no, but it was too late. I was here and I wasn’t leaving without him.
“Well, well, well, look at what we have here. How did you get through?” the man in control of the barrier asked.
