AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Prince Rakkur, we’ve just arrived. I can’t believe you’re bored already. You should be helping us by watching for any signs of an animal approaching, my dear.” He was speaking softly, but he was still chastising me. I heard a little snort come from Tariq’s direction and glared at him.
“It’s not funny,” I whispered into his ear.
“It’s a little funny,” he replied. He leaned over and got up closer to my ear. “The other guards are making bets on how long you’ll last. I’m giving it an hour.”
“You bet on me?”
He shrugged. “The other guards asked if I wanted to get in on it. Seemed like a friendly thing to do.”
I huffed at him and turned back to my game, stung by the disloyalty, I might add. An hour! What must he think of me?
An hour later, I was feeling miserable.
Not a single damn huckabuck or hickaback or whatever-the-huck it was that Edam called them had shown up, and I was freezing my ass off. I was stiff and sore from sitting on the damp wooden floor with my legs crossed, and I wondered for the millionth time how much longer it would be before I could go back to the palace. Worst of all, I was hungry, because I’d thrown up my first meal, and my stomach had started growling. I glanced over at Tariq and found him sitting quietly, not looking bored at all. Traitor.
When my stomach growled again, he put his hand up to hide his smile, but I saw it anyway.
It was around then that I heard Edam draw in a sharp breath and pull up his bow. It didn’t look like any kind of bow I’d ever seen, by the way—not that I’d seen that many, except in old books. But that was what he called it. It was some kind of mechanical thing, made of metal and only about thirty inches long. He fit an arrow of sorts into it and began to take aim at something below. He fired it like a gun, and the next thing I heard was a loud, pitiful cry from an animal. It was high-pitched and sharp. I moved quickly over to lean out and look down and saw a beautiful animal lying on its side, kicking its legs and clearly dying in agony. Bright blood covered its side and spilled out of its poor mouth. The nausea I’d been fighting since early that morning chose that moment to come up in my throat and remind me it was still there.
I stayed by the opening, just in case and that was when something whizzed by my face so close that I felt a slight sting as it brushed against my cheek. I heard someone cry out behind me in the little hut and then suddenly I was grabbed by Tariq and hauled down to the floor.
People started shouting and the guards were jumping on top of King Edam and crying out in alarm. As for me, I couldn’t see a thing, because I was being smushed into the floor and Tariq’s big body was covering me.
“What’s happening?” I tried to ask, but the scene was too loud and chaotic for anyone to hear me. Someone close by was whimpering in pain and Edam was being hustled out of the hut and down the ladder by his guards. As soon as they left, another of the guards was carried down the ladder too, his head lolling back on one man’s shoulder. I could see a bright red bloom of blood on his shirt front near his shoulder.
“W-what happened?”
“A Myr guard was shot with an arrow that came through the window. He’s not badly hurt, but he’s losing blood. They’re taking him back.”
“Is Kalen all right?”
“He’s fine. We’re all leaving.” Tariq got me down the ladder next, again going ahead of me and trying to cover my body with his as much as he could. I could tell he was uneasy and there was a lot of noise and confusion everywhere. I saw Kalen, who came toward me and hugged me.
“Are you all right?” he asked, looking alarmed, and I nodded.
“Good. The guards think we were deliberately attacked. Maybe an assassination attempt.”
“Couldn’t it have been another hunter in the woods?”
“Possibly, but no one is taking any chances.”
His guards came for him then and he waved to me as they put him on the back of a hover and took off at a fast speed. Meanwhile, Tariq was urging me toward a hover too and putting me on the back.
“I can drive it. I drove one on the way out here.”
“Rakkur, for once in your life, cooperate,” he practically snarled at me. “Stay close to my back and keep your head down.”
Then we were the ones flying through the forest behind the others, with several other hovers driven by guards coming along close behind us. I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head against his back, happy that he’d given me an excuse to get close to him. It could be one of my last chances, because now that Omak was coming, Tariq would probably be leaving soon.
The closeness and scent of him soothed something deep inside me, and I could almost have gone to sleep riding with him through those dark, cold woods. Almost, because it was still cold and damp, and I had a lingering bit of nausea that never seemed to go completely away.
We arrived at the palace to a scene of confusion. Medics were attending the injured guard and people were swarming around Kalen and Edam. I could see Mikol close to Kalen, bending over him solicitously. When we arrived, people began to swarm around us too, and I was taken quickly inside and up to my room. I held on tightly to Tariq’s hand, though and didn’t let go.
When we were finally alone, I sat down on the edge of my bed and sighed with relief. “What a fuss,” I said, giving a small laugh. “I still think it must have been another hunter in the woods with bad aim.”
He turned to me grimly. “It was no hunter. I think they were after you.”
“What? What do you mean?”
