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“This way.”
A clump of overgrown bushes hid a gate. Of course, it was locked, and it rattled when Aurelius pulled on it. Beyond it, a trail wound through rocks and over a little hill. Perhaps the King had a spot he enjoyed riding. Or did. It wouldn’t take long on a horse to ride around the outside of the grounds and toward the back, but he probably liked the little shortcut.
“Check for a key.” Aurelius felt around the stones on one side, as Jari shouldered his way through the damn bushes.
If the King had kept the key elsewhere, they were screwed. Jari could lead the horse up the steps to the wall, but there wasno way to get down on the other side. His fingers scraped over the stones as he struggled to find one that might be loose.
One jiggled, and he managed to pull it out. The key was rusty and looked like it had sat there for ages.
“Got it.” Jari pushed leaves and twigs out of his way and returned to the gate. The key stuck and resisted when he used it. What if the lock was too rusted inside, and the key broke? The lock turned, and he opened the gate.
“Thank Elira.”
As soon as they were outside, Jari closed the gate, reached through the metal bars, and used the key to lock it again just in case anybody tried to come that way. Why make it easy?
“Hurry.” Jari mounted Mercury and gave his hand to Aurelius who got up behind him.
More trails lay beyond the hill that must have been cleared and made better for riding some time ago. Jari still didn’t like the narrow spots and the rocky walls that rose. Soon, it leveled out and forked. One way led to another trail, and the other led downhill, past the city, and out into rocky but flat land.
Chapter Seven
Jari pushed the horse far into the night and apologized to him for the extra weight and work. Aurelius was quiet as he held onto Jari, and after a while, he shoved his hand into Jari’s salt-filled pocket which was probably easier than jamming it down in his own. If that helped to ease his head, Jari didn’t mind.
“We need to get you to the ocean,” he said that night when he figured they better stop. The poor horse needed a break.
The area was abandoned, and he wasn’t sure if soldiers would go looking too far. With the King dead and the mysterious gold everywhere inside, they might be afraid to search too hard. None of the guards who had come into the Hall could say who to look for either.
Aurelius kept his cheek against Jari’s back. “Is that going to work for long?”
“Maybe,” said Jari. “Where else would we find so much salt? It’ll be all around you and in the air, so that would be good.”
“All right, Jari.”
“You sound exhausted, and Mercury can’t go forever.”
“Going insane is tiring.” Aurelius lifted his head, and Jari slid down.
“You’re not insane.”
“I am. I don’t think the salt is going to keep me like this for long. It’s still worse than before even with it in the locket. I can feel it in my head.”
He would be all right. Jari would do anything to make sure, and he refused to think of worse possibilities or leave him. Aurelius slid down, and they didn’t have much choice but to sit on the ground. Jari had basic supplies in his pack, but no bedroll.
“How did you get in?”
Jari sighed as he passed him some chippy bean cakes. “I went to a second-hand shop and got clothes. I figured I’d try to get a job in the Castle to start with and see what I could figure out. If he kept you somewhere inside. Honestly, it was a poor plan, but I didn’t have a lot of options. I went to look at the notice boards and see if anything was posted, and I heard someone saying that the guards at the gate had fled and something was going on at the Castle. I went to the gate, and it was completely abandoned. The gold lawn to one side made it pretty obvious you had something to do with that.”
Aurelius drank water and ate some chippy bean cakes before he poured out everything: the trip, how the men had drugged him, dinner with King David, the garden, and everything after that.
Even what he’d seen after taking the rose. Nobody had violated him like before, but they’d done more damage. Jari was sure that what was left of Mammon was pretty deep into the Prince’s head, but he wasn’t alive or a soul in the typical sense. Aurelius wasn’tpossessedlike Jari had read about in tales even though that thing was sharing his mind and body. It was a way to continue living a half-life, and while it couldn’t directly control him like a puppet, the whispers would drive him to do things.
Aurelius lay back on the grass after Jari had put everything away in his pack. Mercury had eaten some oats and was cropping grass in the dark.
“Do you want to lean on the saddle?” asked Jari.
“No.”
Jari lay beside him in the grass. “So…it’s a Prince of Hell?”
