Chapter 13
Freya's stomach was turning, and her heart was racing. She didn’t want the gorgon to die but if she made this deal there was no going back.
The fey giggled and turned her back. "Come and find me when you have made your mind up."
"Wait!" the word was out of her mouth before she had even thought about it. She couldn’t let Cade down. This is what leaders do, they make sacrifices for their people.
"I will..."
"NO!" Rowan threw himself forward and pulled on her arm to make her face him. His eyes were wide, and his lips were trembling. "You can't, who knows what they will ask of you. Is this creature really that important?" He lowered his voice for the last part, but the gorgon must have heard because she chuckled without humour.
Freya willed him to understand as she met his eyes. His hands were moist with sweat and she knew he was worried about her, but she had to do this. No matter what happened she would know she wasn’t supposed to be queen if she let someone else do this for her. She was the princess; she has to care for them.
"I will do it," Cade offered, huffing under the weight of the gorgon. His flushed cheeks looked even pinker in the sunlight.
Freya's heart clenched at the thought of him swearing himself to the fey. She shook her head; no way was that happening.
Rowan watched her with his lips pressed thin. Freya could tell he wanted to talk her out of it but there was no point. She had made up her mind.
He sighed and turned to face the fey. She was smirking and staring at them, clearly enjoying herself.
"I swear to fulfil this favour of yours if you help the gorgon," Rowan said quickly.
Freya's mouth went dry. He had taken her place. She hadn't had time to stop him. Her heart was racing. "No, don't listen to him." She pleaded with the fey.
The creature scanned Rowan head to toe and nodded. "The bargain is struck. Leave the monster with us."
"She is not a monster." Cade dragged her towards the tree. The gorgon cringed with each step.
Freya was numb. She stared at the side of Rowan's head, unwilling to believe that he had just done that. She wanted to reverse time so she wouldn't waste time thinking and speak before he did. He didn't look at her but instead turned his back on the group and mumbled something about finding a place to rest until they were ready to go.
Freya dashed after him. His words at the bandit camp about the value of her life were running on repeat in her head. Is that why he had done this? Because he thought she was worth more than him? Did he not see that in order to be a queen she needed to be able to take risks?
Catching up with him she yanked him to a stop and glared at him. "What was that?!"
Rowan shrugged. "Your highness, I needed to do my duty as your servant and assigned protector."
"Protector?"
"Yes. Your father, the king, asked me to make sure that nothing happened to you. I am to give my life for yours if it comes to that." Rowan wouldn't look into her eyes and he kept tracing lines in the grass with the toe of his shoe.
"That is so stupid." Freya shook her head. "I am trained to defend myself."
"From weapons yes but not from pacts that you don't understand."
Rage bubbled in her stomach and she clenched her fists. "I understand perfectly."
He opened his mouth as if about to say something but took a deep breath instead. He shut his eyes and took a minute of silence. When he opened them again he looked every part the polite servant with his paper-thin smile and vacant eyes. "You are right your highness. I apologize but what is done is done. The gorgon will be saved, and we can get back to finding the dragon before your sister does."
Freya clenched her jaw shut against the rage that wanted to explode out of her. He was her friend; didn’t he care how she felt or what she wanted? She didn't want to be angry with him but since when was he her father’s spy instead of her friend. They used to sneak out of the palace together and pick flowers from the royal garden. He had never listened to her father over her before.
***
Cade was sitting on the grass next to the gorgon. She had her eyes clenched shut as the fey milled about, chattering like birds.
Cade didn't like these strange creatures. They were frightening in that they always seemed to know something he didn't. Also, the way that they had spoken to Freya was not okay. They had been trying to bully her into making a deal without thinking. Even Axel had seemed scared of them and he faced down gorgons without blinking.
"Pretty boy, I suppose I should thank you," the gorgon hissed.
One of the fey came to her side and started to lift her shirt to get a look at the wound on her back. Her skin was pale, and the wound was weeping some kind of puss. The smell made Cade's stomach do flips. He lifted his hand to subtly cover his nose.
"Yea I suppose you should," he remarked while trying not to choke on the stench.
"Most people would have left me behind to die." Her voice was tight as the fey touched the wound. Cade stopped breathing when he saw them approaching with a small silver knife and a bowl full of weeds and flowers. They were muttering low words that he didn't understand.
"I don't like leaving people to die. It’s a terrible thing to do." Cade remembered all the times he and Elora had needed help and people had turned their backs on them. He always thought it didn't take much to help someone and who knows what you would get in return.
"I fear I may die anyway. This wound is deep."
"You will not die cursed one," the fey said, "We have struck a bargain so we cannot let that happen."
The fey turned her vibrant eyes on Cade. Her unblinking stare made him squirm.
"You might not want to see this, human."
Cade shook his head. "I am not going anywhere." He had taken her this far, he wouldn't ditch her now.
The gorgon laughed weakly. "If I survive this I will be sure to repay my debt to you."
The fey's eyes glistened and she licked her lips. "Would you like to bargain for something for him?" her friends came closer, like a pack of hyenas around a corpse.
Cade glared at them all. "No, we don't want to make a deal. Just hurry up and heal her." The fey sneered at him but soon focused on the gorgon again.
"When you survive this, we can talk about who owes who what," Cade said. He was so tired that his body was shaking, and he was freezing right down to his bones. His eyelids felt like they weighted as much as a house. He forced himself to stay awake.
"Such a sweet pretty boy." The gorgon let out long hiss of pain as the fey laid her on her stomach. The sunlight drew attention to the blood spilling down her back along with grey puss. Using the leaf of a tree the fey wiped her skin clean. Then she brought the knife to the stitches that Axel had put on the wound. Bile climbed up Cade's throat as he watched the fey drag the blade along the stitches, breaking the wound open. The gorgon screamed and even with her face shoved in the grass the sound was loud enough to hurt Cade's head. He was tempted to put his hands over his ears, but he would need to be able to hear her in case she needed him. Whenever he had been in pain when he was little Elora had never run away. He needed to be like her now for the gorgon. She didn't have anyone else.
The screaming continued as the fey made a paste out of the herbs in the bowl and shoved it into the open wound. The other fey continued to mutter, their voices blending into an otherworldly chant that made Cade dizzy and made the birds stop singing.
The grass leaned towards the sound and the tree stopped moving in the wind, stretching its branches towards he fey instead. The wind halted and the clouds came to a standstill. Cade found it hard to breath and the hairs on his arms stood up.
When the fey finally stopped chanting it was as if someone had pressed play on the world again. The wind resumed and the grass and trees were normal once again. Cade took a huge gulp of air and cleared the tears from his eyes. He hadn't even noticed when they had started watering. The gorgon was trembling, but she had stopped screeching and Cade was grateful for that. The fey was stroking her back, scraping excess paste off the outside of the wound. Once the wound was clean she turned to face Cade.
"Get some sleep human. You are sleepy. The gorgon will be fine now."
Cade didn't know if he believed her, but she was right that he needed to sleep. Being near the spell had only made him more tired. He rubbed his eyes and took a final look at the gorgon. She was sleeping and although she was shaking it was slowing down by the second. She had also stopped sweating.
Cade slowly got to his feet. He thought about thanking the fey but they weren't doing this for free. They would collect from Rowan at some point. Besides, he didn't particularly want to talk to them for longer than he had to. Striding up onto the nearest hill he scanned the grass and picked out where the others were camped. They were sitting in two groups of two, Freya and Rowan and his sister and Axel. Cade felt a tight pain in his chest when he saw their spirit animals at their sides. Often he could ignore them but from this distance it was all too clear that each animal was watching its owners back. Cade remembered when Thor had done the same for him. His chest ached more, and his legs began to shake. He swiped tears out of his eyes. He needed to pull himself together.
Swallowing the lump in his throat he made his way down the slope and went to Elora's side. She was leaned back in the grass, keeping an eye on Axel who was a few paces away. Cade looked between the two of them. The bandit king had found an apple and was breaking it in half, dropping one side down to Area who was standing on his hind legs next to him. His eyes swapped between the honey badger and Elora. Elora stared him down, frowning with her eyes narrowed in determination. Cade knew that she only looked at someone like that when she was proving a point. He would honestly prefer if she didn't look at the bandit at all. It was worrying how often they were throwing glances each other’s way. Elora might be trying to make sure he didn't so anything horrible, but Cade imagined that the bandit had other plans for his sister than simply keeping an eye on her.
Dropping onto the grass next to her Cade had to clear his throat to be noticed.
Elora glanced at him and furrowed her brow. "Cade you look exhausted."
"I feel it too."
"Get some sleep. I will keep an eye on you." she turned to face Axel again and he waved and smirked.
She rolled her eyes.
"You spend a lot of time keeping an eye on him," Cade remarked.
"Who knows what he would do if I didn't. We can't trust him."
Cade pulled up some grass, so he didn't have to look at his sister when he spoke. "Why is he here then? I mean you insisted on bringing him."
Elora shot him a stern look he knew well. "I insisted on bringing him because otherwise he would be hunting us. It is better to keep him where I can see him."
"Well you certainly spend enough time looking at him." Cade had meant to say it to himself, but he quickly realized that his voice hadn't been as low as he intended when his sister pinned him with a sour look. He pressed his lips together in case he was tempted to say something stupid again.
"You are the reason we are out here in the first place. I am making sure we are safe while we follow another of your leads, so I am sorry if that requires me watching a bandit. I think you will remember that I have seen one before."
Axel smirked over at Cade and Cade was very tempted to get up and punch him in the face. He might have if he didn't think that the bandit would hit him back much harder. Yes his sister had seen bandits before but none who showed this much of an interest.
***
Elora was woken by the screaming in the middle of the night. It was the kind of sound that made your legs shake with fear and your adrenaline kick up a notch. Her fingernails became sharp like claws without her thinking. She retracted her nails. She didn't want anyone to see her power yet. She had learnt from past experience that you should save your power for an emergency. If they didn't know what power she had then they couldn't prepare for it.
She sat up. Azura was next to her growling and glaring towards the sound. It was dark with a warm breeze brushing by. The stars and moon were clear in the sky with only the occasional wispy cloud floating by. The screaming continued without pause.
Elora searched for Cade, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Her heart sped up and her hands became clammy. Where was he? Was that him screaming? No, it was a woman's voice. She took a steadying breath and got to her feet. Between the sound of the woman's pain there were shouts. These voices were angry. Elora ran towards the sound. She came up the verge and was met with the sight of Cade squaring up to Axel. He must have gone mad; the bandit would kill him quicker than he could get a hit in. Elora came alongside him to break up the fight when she noticed that Axel had a sharpened branch in his hand, and it was stained with blood.
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