Bow and Sparrow

CH 6

I woke up four days later, or that's what I was told when my eyes finally opened. I stared into darkness, uncertain of where I was and I wondered if it had all been a dream. I felt around, I was in a bed. Not the slavers' camp then. But it felt unfamiliar, not home either. I rolled over to reach for... I wasn't sure, maybe a candle, but a sudden pain spasmed down my back.

Wincing, I sat up and took a deep breath before reaching a hand behind my back. It was exposed to the cool air causing goosebumps to appear on my arms. My fingers felt along the raised welts across my back covered in something wet and sticky, a healing salve perhaps. I wiped my hand on the covers of the bed, noticing that they had been delicately wrapped with a thick band of fabric around the palms and wrists.

My eyes were slowly adjusting to the dark room, but I could still only make out the shapes of the furniture. The room looked small, the bed pushed against one wall. I untangled the covers from my legs and with a wince, swung them over the edge of the bed. I noticed that my ruined dress was gone, replaced by a pair of trousers and a tunic that was tied loosely in the back. I pushed the thought of someone undressing me while I was asleep out of my mind. That was the least of my worries.

"How is your back?"

A figure stepped from the darkness. I had mistaken it for a tall chest of drawers. The voice sounded vaguely familiar and I remembered it was the same one that had rescued me.

He stepped closer until I could make out just the outline of his face -a sharp jawline, a mop of messy dark hair, but nothing in particular stood out in the dark. I hadn't answered his question but the tilt of his head suggested an answer.

I lifted a shoulder in response and bit my lip to keep it from trembling. What was I meant to say? My back was in shreds. It wasn't fine.

"What's your name?" He asked. I could tell now from the way he spoke that he wasn't from Verdana. His syllables ran together and his vowels clipped too short. He was Rezantrian.

"Nori..." My mind raced. I couldn't hide my accent well enough. It would be obvious that I was Verdanan, and I didn't have time to think of an elaborate lie but I also couldn't speak the truth, lest they find out who I am. "Nori Hayward."

He nodded, satisfied with my answer. "Captain Rylan Fields, at your service." He gave a shallow bow.

Fields. Why did I know that name? I tried to remember but I couldn't place it. I had never met anyone by Fields that I could recall. Especially a Rezantrian.

"Where am I?"

Rylan leaned against a wooden support pole in the middle of the room. "An army camp outside of Kanver." My eyes widened. Kanver was not my ideal choice to have woken up in. With a rising population, It was easily one of the biggest cities in Rezantri and very, very far from Dast. "That surprises you?"

I tried to hide my panicked thoughts. "Just far from home is all."

He pushed off of the pole and strode towards me until he was only a few steps away. Even though he was almost close enough to touch, the shadows clung to his body like an old lover, keeping his face just out of reach. "And for what reason were you out in the woods with a nomad group?"

"Nomad group?" I scoffed, folding my hands in my lap but when I looked back up there was a burning heat in my chest. "They were slavers taking us to be sold like cattle!"

If Rylan was startled by my outburst, he did well to conceal it by raising a single eyebrow. "Us?"

Taylen! The others! I leapt to my feet, only to send the room spinning, and my knees, weak from pain and hunger, gave out beneath me. A pair of muscular arms circled me and gently sat me back on the edge of the bed. I gritted my teeth against my own helplessness.