Bow and Sparrow

CH 8

Rylan let me adjust for a couple days before his impatience got the better of him. My wounds were healing, we just had a nice meal, and after a lovely walk back to his cabin -I've avoided setting eyes on the training grounds again-, he ordered me to sit at the large table in his room. The papers had been cleared and packed neatly away on a shelf nearby. Rylan took the seat opposite me. I thought I knew what was coming.

"Talk."

I wasn't looking at him though. I was staring at the cot in the corner and something occurred to me, although I knew it wasn't what Rylan wanted to say. "Have you been sleeping in here?"

"Well, somebody took my bed." The corner of his mouth turned up the same moment my ears started burning. "But that's not what I meant."

"What do you want to talk about, then?"

Rylan let out a long sigh, clasping his hands together on the table. "Slavery has been outlawed for ages and yet, you claimed that you were taken by slave traders. Let's start there."

"Like I said before, there's not much to tell. They raided our town, took some people, and planned to sell us. You know the rest."

"What town are you from?"

I knew I had to tell him eventually. Especially if I wanted to go back to it, he had to know. I just prayed he wouldn't make any connections.

"Dast in Verdana. It's a small farming town. Not even on most maps."

"Dast, Dast." He repeated it several times before shaking his head. "Never heard of it."

"I told you it was small." I shrugged, relieved.

"Did the slavers say where they were from or where they were going?"

"The coast. They were taking us to the coast. That's all they said." I started to shake my head before I remembered something. "They spoke in a different language, too. Definitely not from around here."

"Did they mention where on the coast?" Rylan's voice was strained. Rezantri only owned a small amount of the coastal lands and I could tell he was worried that slavers were slipping by under their noses.

"If they did, I couldn't understand them."

"How long were you traveling with them?"

I thought back, but I couldn't remember. The days were starting to bleed into each other. "A few days, I think. We were in the woods the entire time; it all blurs together."

"What did happen the night we found you?"

It was quiet for a long time but then I spoke, softly at first with my eyes trained on my hands gathered in my lap. "When I found out what they were planning, I had to do something. It almost worked." If it had, I would be back home and in the loving arms of my family. Instead... I stared somewhere over his shoulder. "So I stole the key to the shackles and slipped it to the other girls. Then I started the fire and ran. Except they... Are they dead?"

"You don't have to worry about them again." When I looked up, Rylan's eyes had darkened and his chin rested on templed fingers. I took some comfort in his words. He studied me for the longest time, long enough that I felt awkward under the weight of his gaze.

I stood from my chair and walked around the table. I stopped in front of the map on the wall, the map that wouldn't show me where home was. There was a new tack on the map, nestled in the Atlua Forest, not far from where we were in the camp. The chair Rylan was sitting in scraped across the wood floor. I glanced at him as he stood beside me. I tapped the tack with my finger.

"Is this where you found me?"

"Yes. I believe they traveled along the border to keep from getting caught. If it weren't for you, they might not have been."