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We stared, indignant and a little impressed, at the indentations in the canvas wall which marked her progress along the outside of the wagon towards its driver.
Ren blew out a breath. “Well,fuck. Wonder when she’ll be spotted?”
He didn’t have to wonder for long, for it was then that the surprised shouts began from the men around us.
“How the fuck did you-”
“Get the hell down from-”
“What in Dios’ name-”
“You little bitch, don’t even think about-”
There was a surprised shriek, several frightened whinnies, and the wagon lurched around us. My stomach flew up into my mouth as we fell backwards...and continued to fall, further than it should have been if the wagon had merely rolled onto its side.
I didn’t have breath enough to curse or call out Ren’s name, but the words flitted around my head along with the screams of someone outside. Man or horse, I didn’t know: it was just a high-pitched noise ofterrorthat vibrated through my skull, worsening my own panic as the world turned on its head over and over, something hard catching me in the shin, the temple, the back, and the chain jerking harshly against my wrist as we fell.
And then it all came to a halt.
The movement, the noise...but not the nausea, and I immediately retched, hoping to every one of the Five Blessed that I was the right way up and wouldn’t vomit over myself. It turned out I wasn’t – I was twisted with my knees above my head and my face in my arms – but it also became evident that not having eaten that terrible inn food had been an excellent idea, for nothing came up but bile. Both of my wrists hurt, and I could feel an unpleasant warmth on my forehead that told me I was bleeding.
But my first thought was for the man at my side...or wherever he’d found himself, and this time I prayed to anyone who would fucking listen that he hadn’t broken his neck in our fall.
“Ren,” I croaked, wrenching my head around to follow his faint groans. He was half splayed over me, half beneath me, and as he cracked an eye, I heaved out a breath of relief that cut off when he winced.
“Dorogoi?”
“My...shoulder,” he gasped out, his free hand clutching at the same spot he’d been pierced with the arrow. Blood was seeping through his clothing and I swore, torn between haste and care as I wriggled out from the tangle of limbs and wood we’d found ourselves in to reach for him. It was made more difficult by being unable to move my right hand very far, as I was afraid to pull on the chain that bound it to his injured left side.
My hands and knees plunged into something cold and I blinked, alarmed, to see moonlight reflecting off water. It was already a foot deep and more was gushing in through the canvas and the huge gashes torn in it.
Shit.
Ren was almost submerged where he lay on his back. He’d started to shiver, but the cold didn’t stop him from berating me when I tugged him upright to lean him against the now vertical floor of the wagon.
“Gently, asshole,” he growled, flinching as I peeled his shirt back to peer at his injury. The butcher’s stitches had torn, but the bleeding wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been that first time and the entrance wound on his back hadn’t re-opened. That was…as good as could be hoped for?
“Hold that there,” I ordered as I pressed a handful of cleanish – at least, not bloodied and still dry for now – shirt to the front of the prince’s shoulder, and his eyebrows shot up in mischievous delight at the command. Clearly, the fucker was fine.
“Yes, sir,” he mocked, but obediently held the cloth in place as I splashed around in the gloom to locate the chain between us. Dismayed, I traced each link as I had done before, only to find them still intact, the cuffs around our wrists as secure as ever.
I let out a noise of frustration and the dirty water began to rush in faster as if to demonstrate its eager agreement with the sentiment.
“Mathias?” Ren asked, his tone casual.
“Da?”
“You may not have noticed. I’m aware it’s hard to focus on anything other than me when you’re in my presence. But if youhaven’tnoticed, I feel it’s my responsible duty to inform you that we’re less than a minute from a painful and waterlogged death.”
I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes as I again yanked fruitlessly on the ring of metal hammered into the wooden bench below the surface of the water, my numb fingers slipping on the chain it was pinning down.
But snapping at him wouldn’t help. Engaging in our usual banter at least settled my mind somewhat as I desperately ran my hands across the surface of the bench where the wood had split slightly from the impact of our fall. “Painful? Have you drowned before?”
“I have not,” he said conversationally as I looked around in despair for something I could use to help us. “I imagine it would be a memorable experience.”
“I’d be happy to let that be the one experience you try alone,” I said, hissing out a breath as the cold rose to my thighs. Ren lifted his chin to keep his face out of the water.
“Oh! But there was that one time you attempted to drown me in the basin, remember? I’d feel a little cheated if my death wasn’t by something completely new.”
