“Boy, did you travel with purse?”
Not much. Our parents had barely been able to afford the coin it had cost to lease the horses for the five-day journey as it was. Though the Academy was to provide a year of free room and board to each of its students, it still hadn’t been enough to offset the labor Alex and I had provided in the apothecary.
I cringed, thinking of how much we would be setting the family back when one of those horses was never returned.
“The purse w-was in the saddlebags.”
“Erwan, go find his horse,” Jared ordered. As the stodgy outlaw began to take off in the general direction of the mare, the swallow-faced criminal kicked my stomach. “Get up, boy. You are going to help make camp until the others return. If you remain on good behavior, my companions and I will let you go once we have passed the night. If you try to run or any sort of trickery, I will not hesitate to use the sword.”
I gingerly pulled myself up, trying not to let the man see how much it hurt to stand.
I refused to give him the satisfaction.
Hours later Erwan returned with my mare and a handful of logs. Shivering, I quickly obeyed Jared’s orders to fetch them and build up the fire. In my condition I hadn’t been able to gather more than a handful at a time, and so the flames we’d had hadn’t amounted to much. It may have been a summer night, but up in the mountains encased in pine, it was hard to tell.
As I slowly arranged the wood, I strained to catch the men’s conversation.
“Halseth? He still hasn’t…?”
“No. Either way, he and Carl should be back within the hour.”
“Do you think they caught the other?”
“I don’t see why not.” Jared spat at the ground, and his gaze fell to me. “You, boy, who was that friend you were traveling with?”
No. “J-just some boy, only met him this morn’,” I croaked, attempting the same baritone as before.
“You are lying.” Jared narrowed his eyes. “Tell me the truth. Is he another worthless brat like you, or does he have power?” His eyes gleamed over that last word. Power. Magic.
“I d-don’t believe so—”
Before I could finish the lie, the man grabbed my wrist and thrust my hand into the fire. I screamed out as the flames licked my skin.
Jared let go, dropping my wrist as quickly as he had snatched it.
Blinking back tears I cradled my hand, careful not to touch the skin. It had turned a nasty, glistening red. It burned, and even though it had only been under fire for seconds, it felt as if it hadn’t left.
“Well, well.”
I glanced up at the men, hate burning in my veins, and Jared shot me a secretive smile.
Panic struck my throat as I realized exactly what it meant.
He knew.
“Why don’t you go collect us some more wood, Erwan?” Jared’s eyes never left my face. “I would go myself, but someone’s got to watch the boy.”
Erwan shot Jared a confused look. “I just brought a whole lot of it-”
Jared snapped, “Just fetch us more wood, you dolt.”
As soon as the large man had retired from sight, the bandit turned to face me, hunger playing across his malevolent gaze. Shadows from the fire leaped and danced, making the narrow chin, the long blond tresses, every inch of the swallow-faced man all the more menacing.
“Who would have thought?” he sneered. “A girl. And here I said no trickery when you were intending to play us all along.”
I glanced around the site, desperate for an escape. If I ran now, would I make it far? I couldn’t fight in the condition I was in. I’d only tussled with local children, never a full-grown man. I might be able to wrestle a boy my brother’s size, but not someone a good foot taller and fifty pounds heavier.
Jared took a step closer, fingering the scabbard at his hip. “Now if you don’t put up a fuss, I might be willing to forgive you.”
Terror. Hate. Anger. Rage. The emotions all raced through me in a coursing panic. Bile filled my throat once more as sweat and fear drenched my skin. I tried to step back and tripped, both hands slamming the ground behind me. I cried out as the burned skin collided with hard earth, extreme pain and heat searing into my arm.
Jared leaped at me, flattening both wrists with his hands as his knees pinned my legs.
I will not scream.
The man bent low, breathing a foul, sour stench as he thrust his lips on mine. I threw my head forward and up, slamming it into his nose. Jared jerked back too late. There was a satisfying crunch and then the thick spray of blood.
“You insolent wench!” The man released my arm and struck my face, making me see nothing but black until my sight returned seconds later.
My face stung, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my hand as he dug his nails into the burn. Tears swarmed my vision, and I wished desperately I had found a way to access my magic. Like Alex.