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However, I could tell Mad Dog didn’t entirely miss our silent exchange, so I reached for a diversion and turned to Darla with a full grin.
“How’d your talk with Oren go?”
I figured Darla had put me on the spot so many times that turnabout was only fair play. To her credit, instead of getting angry or flustered, she just sent me a rueful look.
“He got spooked, and I feel like an idiot. Nothing much has changed.”
Mad Dog looked between the two of us and, for a grown man, seemed far too interested. I guessed he still had a little bit of high school girl in him. I hadn’t ever gotten a formal education myself but was well aware of the gossipy, social hierarchy stereotype which came with such institutions.
“Wait a minute. Is there something brewing between you and straight lace?” he said gleefully. “That’s a pairing I didn’t envision.”
“No, nothing is happening besides embarrassment,” Darla said as honestly as ever. “Lots and lots of embarrassment.”
It looked like he wanted to ask more, but then we all caught Kai and Oren’s scent drifting toward us. If they were close enough for us to smell them, they were probably close enough to overhear if we kept talking, so we cut the conversation short.
Nevertheless, the awkwardness between Oren and Darla was nearly palpable as they approached. It shouldn’t have been so strangely cute, yet it was rather humanizing to see Darla be flustered by someone, and see the tight-laced second in command care about something other than duty. It reminded me of how a lot of people weren’t the caricatures I turned them into. Envisioning them as flat characters made it so much easier to isolate myself, but it wasn’t really the truth of the matter, either. Darla and Oren were complex people with feelings, flaws, and strange little quirks, who were neither good nor bad. They were justthem.
Was it strange this made me feel closer to my friends? I just had to hope the curse wasn’t egged on by a better understanding of my traveling companions.
“Hmm, is there anyone else in this party?” Mad Dog asked. He’d kept his tone even, but I could tell he was winding up to something.
“There will be a few other soldiers working as decoy and traveling in other vehicles, why?”
“Damn, just hoping there was someone I could have an awkward thing with. I’m beginning to feel like a fifth wheel.”
I rolled my eyes and joshed his arm, only for him to grip the limb and pretend to stagger from the force of the hit. Who would have thought the grizzled, intimidating warrior I’d met when first going on our relic hunt would turn out to be so affable? Like I said, complex people.
When no one really responded to the man’s jest, he let out a sigh. “Never mind, too late on that front,” he said before getting into our transport vehicle.
The rest of us followed without much fanfare. Although it was an express transport, meant for all sorts of off-road terrain, it was still going to take a bit more than two days to reach Merrik.
At least there was enough room in the vehicle for us not to be on top of each other. From what I knew, most cars sat four to five people maximum, but between our driver, our lookout, and the four of us, we easily exceeded that number. Still, military transport was apparently larger, as there were seats for five in the back, as well as two in the front.
It felt a bit like I’d been loaded into a nice little package to be delivered to the enemy, but I bit my tongue as our little caravan started to leave. The latest in mobile armor reinforced our ride, and it had multiple spells built in, from hex-repellent runes carved into the metal plates, to protection and fortune charms hidden into strategic spots, and even blessed oils and curse negation potions mixed in with the protective matte coat they’d painted the whole thing with.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, our vehicle started moving.
I scooted all the way to my seat and slid the small hatch out of the way, which revealed a window. It wasn’t exactly a spacious view, but I watched, fascinated, as we slowly moved through the fort gate, then onto the road beyond.
We were barely moving at a crawl at first, and I was beginning to seriously doubt the efficacy of our big tank-like vehicle, but as the minutes passed, we picked up speed until we were moving at quite a good clip. Not faster than a horse at a full gallop, but much smoother andconstant.It wasn’t like the transport would need to sleep, drink water, or even take a break to relieve itself.
MaybeI was beginning to understand why it was useful.
I watched the landscape go by through the window, incredibly grateful for its distraction. Between the tension between Oren and Darla, as well as the longing I could feel through my bond with Kai, the inside of the vehicle now seemed a whole lot smaller.
Honestly, Mad Dog should have been happy he was the fifth wheel. I wishedIwas, rather than being involved in this melodrama.
We rolled on just like that late into the night. Darla and Mad Dog occasionally erupted into small talk, but the conversations usually didn’t make it beyond ten minutes or so. I assumed we would keep going right into the next day, but sometime just before midnight, we rolled into a mid-sized town and parked by a moderately-sized but beautifully decorated building.
“What’s this?” I asked, possibly saying my first words in hours. Between worrying about my curse and marveling at the view, I’d been rather lost in my thoughts.
“Our lodgings for the night,” Kai said before he opened the sliding door on the side of the transport. “We won’t be herelong, but it’ll be good to have somewhere comfortable to rest our heads.”
I didn’t disagree but worried this was reckless between my curse and his royal status. Didn’t he need many, many more guards and to keep an incredibly low profile until we arrived in Merrik? What if word got out on his location? What if there were assassins? I got the impression he and his father weren’t exactly on the greatest of terms, so what would stop the king himself from conspiring against his son and heir?
Well, I supposed that part was really the only thing keeping Kai kicking. He was lucky he only had sisters and no brothers, otherwise he’d be out of the picture all together.
There was a possible future for him then if his father happened to like his middle sister’s husband as a puppet. It seemed like Kai’s whole survival was balanced on the love of the queen, and the king’s desire to keep a DeLune on the throne.
