After galloping through the soft rolling grassland for a while Anaya eventually steered the horse onto the main road. She figured it was going to be faster that way, and they needed as much of a head start as possible before they could be pursued by other horse riders. Though she also knew they’d have to get off the road again at some point in an attempt to throw off the pursuers. If they just kept going, they’d likely get caught eventually. She sighed. Despite the hurry she slowed down and poked at Rue’s limp form with her finger.
“Hey. I don’t suppose you could manage sitting up?” The first response was a chuckle, and as Anaya brought the horse to a brief stop and inched back on the saddle, Rue got up and straddled the horse, looking around to see where they were. Anaya frowned as she ushered the horse to move again. “Please don’t tell me you could move just fine on your own all along?”
“And what if I could?” Another chuckle. Then Rue let out a long breath and positioned herself better, effectively almost being in Anaya’s lap, with the latter’s arms reaching around her due to holding the reins. Upon finding herself in this situation, Anaya was suddenly very glad that Rue couldn’t see her face.
“Well…” She cleared her throat, unsure what to say. “Maybe I’ll just make you walk,” she finally muttered.
“I see.” Anaya could hear the smile in her voice. Just what was so funny all the time? But as Rue continued her voice became at least a little more serious. “But no, I wasn’t pretending. Thank you. That kind of magic really takes a toll on your energy, and I’ve not eaten for a full day now. Well, I did get some ale in the jail, but…” Rue shrugged her slight shoulders. Ale. On an empty stomach.
“Please don’t tell me you’re drunk,” Anaya groaned. This would’ve only been the second execution during her time in the guard, but from what she’d heard it wasn’t uncommon at least in Illion to give prisoners about to be executed ale. It usually made them a little more docile, and less capable of causing problems. She wasn’t quite sure how sound that reasoning was. Its efficacy on Rue had certainly been… questionable.
“Tee-hee.”
After Rue had mentioned not having eaten, Anaya realized that that posed an actual problem, seeing as they had run off without any supplies whatsoever. A sword wasn’t exactly a hunting weapon either. Furthermore, any time they spent hunting or foraging meant more time that their better-equipped pursuers spent catching up. They couldn’t risk stopping at the roadside farms so close to the city, but at the same time they wouldn’t be able to reach the next town until the next day, regardless of whether they kept going east or turned to go north. Anaya was leaning toward the latter option. She figured that in the direction it was a shorter distance to the border of the kingdom, and so they could hopefully cross over without too much hassle. The Illion town guard obviously had no jurisdiction over there, and she’d heard that Ysserians were more favourable in their attitudes towards witches compared to Merrelians, so maybe they’d be more favourable toward their plight.
“So,” Anaya began after they’d slowed down a little to allow the horse some rest. Keeping the brown mare going was even more important at the moment than their own stomachs. “Just what in Kiraya’s name did you do for Nesbit to order such a hasty execution?” When Rue didn’t seem to be answering, she sighed. “I know you didn’t ask for my help, but all things considered I think you could tell me that much.”
“Huh?” Rue sounded groggy.
“Were you sleeping?” Anaya demanded incredulously.
“A jail isn’t exactly the most comfortable place to get sleep in,” the witch muttered.
“And horseback is?” Even now at slower speed it wasn’t exactly smooth going.
“Hmm… maybe your lap is?” Anaya was at a loss for words for a moment. She suddenly felt like going back to retrieve her executioner’s hood to hide her face, even if Rue couldn't see it as it was. Looking away from the witch leaning against her, she told herself that it was just the alcohol talking. Just what was this woman trying to do to her? Maybe the stories she’d heard of witches ‘bewitching’ people had some truth to them, after all. After a moment of silence, Anaya repeated her original question.
“The long and short of it is that he wanted to commission a poison from me, for whatever nefarious purposes. When I refused, he had me arrested and claimed I was trying to poison him.” She shrugged.
“I can see that being something he would do,” Anaya admitted. “Why did you even let them arrest you? Seems to me you should have been more than capable of escaping a few guards instead of getting put to jail.”
“Hmm. I was careless, went in unprepared. Got knocked out.”
“And just what would you have done if I hadn’t helped you?”
“Much the same as I did now.” Anaya scoffed.
“That is some confidence from someone who had to be carried away like a sack of potatoes.”
“Now you’re just making me hungry.”
“I will be hungry soon too. What are we going to do about that? I did not exactly have time to pack rations,” Anaya said, voicing her earlier thoughts.
“No need to worry, I’ll take care of it once we stop.”
“Somehow you telling me again not to worry does not fill me with confidence.”
“Hmmm… so why did you help me, anyway? Other than for the apparent cuteness of my little head.” Rue yawned and stretched out after asking the question, before leaning on Anaya again. Anaya thought about it for a while, all the while trying to keep her composure.
“Do you remember Eral Jorven?”
“Hmm… ah, Captain Jorven. I do, I do. Sad, what happened to him.”
“He was my father.”
“Oh… I see. Anaya.”
“What?” Anaya was slightly taken aback. She only now realized that she’d not introduced herself at any point. “You know about me?”
“I do. We’ve never met, but he talked about you fondly.”
“He did talk about you sometimes too. But… you look a lot younger than I would’ve expected.”
“He didn’t tell you? I was more or less a little girl when I found him at the wagon that one time.”
“What?” Anaya found that hard to believe, as she would’ve thought her father would’ve mentioned that. But at the same time, she didn’t see why Rue would lie about it. She shook her head. “Even if that is the case, it is not like you are such a big girl now either,” she muttered, but Rue just shrugged, yawning again. “All that aside, based on what he told me and what I know of Nesbit I was certain his accusation was nothing but a cartload of manure. And either way, I wanted nothing more to do with those… thugs. I tried to find proof they were behind my father’s death but could not. So, nothing keeping me there anymore anyway.”
“I see, I see. And what do you plan to do now?” Anaya relayed her earlier thoughts about Ysseria. “Oh? Making plans for the both of us?”
“If you have other, better plans… well, you are no longer a prisoner. Or at least I am not your jailor. Do what you want.”
“Someone sure is sour.”
“And someone sure is drunk,” Anaya muttered.
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