Page 5

“Are you expecting me to sleep down here?”

“It’s dry, you will be warm and if you reach the weapons, you can even try to kill me in my sleep. I think that’s a pretty good deal for you, don’t you think?”

I huffed but did not respond.

Because he was right.

The fact that I had spent the most comfortable night since my arrival into the drake camp did not dissuade my determination to hate Dahr. On the contrary, now that I had a few hours of rest and my hands and my entire body were comfortable again, I started using my remaining energy to plan ways to annoy him.

I did not want to overestimate my power or even try to reach for the weapons as he had suggested, which I spotted covering the table as soon as dawn hit. He seemed to be an intelligent man, so I had no doubt in my mind that his challenge was unachievable. He wouldn’t have given me enough space in my leather binding to be able to reach the table, nor would he put himself in danger like that.

I wasn’t trained with a knife, but as a sculptor, I knew my way around a chisel and had enough strength in my hands to break stone. I didn’t count the hammer that I used to push through with the chisel, I was hoping an adrenaline spike would be enough to allow me to injure should I be put in a position of dire need.

Instead, I thought of other ways I could at least minimally inconvenience the man. Scanning the information I knew, he arrived at the tent late in the evening and was interested in nothing else but sleep. And making sure I constantly interrupted that throughout the night, especially since I was so close to him, didn’t seem like a difficult task.

After I allowed enough silence for his breaths to even out and the entire surface of the tent to be fully engulfed by dark tendrils of night, I started having a coughing fit. Faking one, at least in the very beginning, because my dehydrated throat took it upon itself to continue for at least an hour, until my raspy coughs depleted their energy and stopped.

I considered this a small victory, because even though he struggled to keep silent and tried to return to his rest, the man couldn’t control his sighs and annoyance.

“Do you need some water?”

He rasped at me when his tension reached a high point, but just then, when I knew he had to step on his pride to stop the situation, I halted my noise and went to sleep.

Just for an hour or two, because once I rested enough, I started struggling and making all the noises I could release while wrestling my bonds and trying to escape. This took a more physical toll on me than I would have liked, and it wasn’t as effective, because it earned me a simple grunt from the man.

Just before dawn, I started singing. Without caring that my voice was raspy and annoying, even to my own ears. The more terrible, the better.

I started singing my university hymns, songs I had heard at school, songs from my childhood and some that I had learnt at the school for girls where I lived. I was hoping to earn a vicious snarl, a good scolding or even a threat to my life, but instead, Dahr seemed to like my singing —if such a thing was possible— and I even spotted him out of the corner of my eye swaying his shoulders to the rhythm of one of the songs, as though he was deeply enjoying it. Due to the lack of a better plan and the need to recompose myself, I kept my mouth shut and closed my eyes as well.

“Are you planning to end this torture anytime soon?”

I unwillingly jumped into alertness at the buzzing of his voice and the underlying irritation that surfaced from his very essence. My eyes opened to see the roof of the tent, now gleaming under the rays of the sun, the stunning adorning paintings and victory displays shining brighter than ever under the natural light that dried the fabric from the other side. The side that held freedom.

I found myself still tied up with the heavy leather strap to the corner of the massive wooden bed and took a while to realise that it was carved with intricate designs. Every part of the wooden frame had been shaped to mimic the same imagery that was painted on the walls and ceiling, the same battle scenes reflected onto the wooden structure, all of them encapsulating this man in what seemed like a predetermined destiny. I came to the realisation that they were all an ode to him. They must have been. The painting, redone over and over, layer after layer, designed to shine into this man’s tent, the carvings on the bed and all around.

Some sort of offering to his power that I had yet to understand.

Or maybe all camp commanders enjoyed this type of bestowment upon their might, as a form of incentive for a job well done.

Nevertheless, I had to unwillingly return my focus to the man on the mattress, who sat at the edge of his bed and looked down to where I was lying on the carpet made of furs and nestled into the blanket he had thrown over me. His features were harsh, jaw tensed and brows so furrowed that his annoyance crept stronger than the rays of sunshine.

“What?”

I looked at him and moved into a sitting position myself to mimic him, unwilling for this conversation to be anything but on equal ground. If his superior occupancy over the bed even allowed for such a thing.

“Your stomach…”

he rasped at me. Well, not at me. I quickly understood that he was viciously gazing at my stomach for whatever unknown reason.

“My stomach… what?”

I involuntarily used my free hand and covered my belly, checking that everything was alright. I found nothing but skin under the blouse I had been wearing for a few days. No wounds, no bleeding, no sharp objects poking at my belly. It was just a normal stomach.

I wanted to protest and chastise him for making a fuss out of nothing, when my belly took its cue and started grumbling. Not with the sound of a normal stomach asking for nourishment, but with that of a beast howling for food.

When the noise started, my eyes averted from where I was looking down and lifted to find the sharp gaze of the man, who looked at me pleased, proud that his point had been proven.

The noise did not stop for a few long seconds, and I had to endure through it, unwilling to unpeg my gaze from his while my tummy continued releasing feral noises. On his part, he maintained

eye contact and even held off blinking until the very echo of my stomach grumbling disappeared from the tent.

“When was the last time you ate?”

he harshened his frown and finally lowered his attention from mine and back to my stomach.

“That’s not your problem,”

I took the opportunity to push the blanket away and move my body into a stand, forgetting that my right hand, even though comfortably, was still tied to the bed frame. The leather wrap pulled me back and the gracious and powerful stance I had in mind turned into a cruel image of me falling on my ass when the string pulled me back, just like a rabbit in a snare. To his credit, he didn’t comment on my lack of planning and focused on repeating the question.

“When was the last time you ate?”

This time his voice came out harsher, that commanding tone he was probably used to spilling throughout the camp coming out to play. It chilled my veins, and the blood flowed a bit slower through them. I forced myself to keep strong however, tightened my shoulders and pulled my head back up high.

“As I mentioned yesterday during your return, I am not interested in anything that comes from you, Dahr,”

I forced as much venom into pronouncing his name as I imagined Medusa’s snakes produced on a daily basis.

His eyelids moved slowly, like a set of curtains that wanted to pull down and shut everything away over his eyes as he released a low, deep breath.

Was this the sound of Dahr’s nerves getting stepped on?

I hadn’t considered that such a minor inconvenience as my belly growling would set off the man, but I was in full support of taking credit for this small victory. I took a moment and let the seconds float between us as his calm-inducing breaths resurfaced into the tent. He needed a few of those, it seemed.

Part of me wanted to push him, to say something else that would annoy him, anything that would get on his nerves, but the other part feared the proximity I was forced to share with him and did not want to receive any backlash.

I stretched the tip of my toes to reach for the blanket I had thrown just slightly too far and once I got it back, I nestled myself fully into it. Partly for the subconscious level of protection being covered offered me, and partly because I wanted to avoid another grumble that I felt coming.

Without a word, Dahr left the bed and moved towards the exit with heavy and extremely annoyed steps. I didn’t know him very well. After all, we’d probably exchanged a three-minute conversation during the time we were acquainted, but it was enough for me to start reading his gestures. He didn’t seem like one would expect a commander of a war camp to be. The man was set on basic necessities and doing his job.

As far as I could gather from within my confined space, he and the other men in the camp travelled to a training station I assumed they had set up and sparred all day long. Further proof of this were Dahr’s bloodied knuckles and specks of blood he sported every evening.

He did not seem to need flattery, golden objects or riches and if I were to assume, I would allow myself to say that the artistic opulence of this tent was a traditional setting more than a request. Dahr seemed like a simple man, who enjoyed simple things. Like sleeping. And quiet.

I didn’t allow myself to dwell too much on how he’d treated me the night before. Even if ruthlessly, he took me out of the rain, eased my ties and even gave me a larger and more comfortable space of movement and brought me next to his bed, where the rain wouldn’t be a problem. Even though I had negated his very presence and wanted nothing to do with him, even if I’d done my best to annoy him all night long, he still showed me kindness and respect.

If tying a woman to his bed could even be called such a thing.

A knot in my stomach came along with the thought of the possibilities and other more pleasant reasons Dahr would have to tie a woman to his bed. To tie me to his bed…

I attributed it all to my unsettled stomach crying for food and pulled the fur-lined blanket over my face to keep my mind from producing such atrocious thoughts. I remained hidden under the covers in a vegetative state, sometimes falling into the world of dreams and sometimes thinking through my action plan and my situation. There wasn’t much I could do to aid my situation, especially since I was still unsure of the reason why I had been kidnapped and my purpose in this camp and in this tent.

They didn’t want to kill me. At least not yet. And they seemed to value my comfort. The past night only reinforced that message. For whatever reason, my purpose was to be tied up in Dahr’s tent.

He hadn’t tried to ask me about myself, about my town, he hadn’t shown a need or will to extract information from me or even ask me a question other than about my immediate wellbeing during the time we'd spent together. Moreover, he seemed concerned about me and made a show to pull me out of the rain I had so stubbornly remained under.

I didn’t understand this man. I hadn’t fully grasped his business or purpose here and I still didn’t understand why they planned to attack my town. But I was too terrified to ask what that attack consisted of, especially since the warriors of this camp spent their day training.

Unfortunately, I was ashamed to admit that for the first time in my life I had no plan. No higher purpose than to just be… to just exist in this tent under this blanket and digest myself, if the growls of my stomach were any indication of my future.

I could somehow try to escape and warn the others, though I didn’t know how I would go about that, since Dahr liked to spend the night in his tent, and I didn't have to be a genius to guess they had guards all over the place.

A faerie camp that appeared by the coast, out of nowhere, without being detected meant that they knew very well what they were doing. How to disguise their presence and conceal their attacks, so I doubted I had enough illusionism skills to make myself disappear without being detected.

Maybe if I waited until Dahr went to bed and managed to untie my binding, maybe if I stole one of the leather garments the women around the camp seemed to be wearing and plaited my hair like they did, cover myself in furs and fake going on an errand? By the time they would go back to Dahr to confirm, I would be long gone. Or maybe I could speak to him and ask to be let out of the tent for a little while, enough to gather information on my surroundings and location.

I couldn’t just let them attack, I couldn’t let them kill innocents or hurt thousands of people…

Clinking sounds and hushed voices awoke my curiosity enough to make me remove the cover over my head and look around the tent to spot Dahr and another male carrying what looked like a wooden plank filled with cutlery and plates. They walked slowly and with care, keeping the makeshift table even, which told me that it must have been filled with food.

Of its own accord, my tummy grumbled loud enough to alert them of my awake state, inviting both of them to turn their focus towards me.

“This is Markos,”

Dahr motioned towards the other man with his chin and continued dragging the plank towards the bed and indirectly, towards me.

“He is Karisha’s mate,”

he offered without me asking and providing an answer to the questions that had started surfacing.

Markos was a tall and handsome man with light brown, almost blond hair. He wore a blue tunic and dark pants in the general fashion that was known to me and all the humans, so at odds with the leathery garments the drakes sported.

“Hello,”

I said slowly and dipped my chin just slightly.

When the man turned to me and offered me the same easy-going smile his mate did, my heart almost melted, and the deep blue colour of his eyes was a perfect match to his tunic.

“Please thank your mate for her kindness,”

I said, referring back to the refused visit I was planning to apologise for if I ever saw the woman again.

“Oh no, this was all Dahr. It pisses him off that you’re not eating so he plans to stand watch and guard you until you do,”

he replied with a smile, so sincere that I instantly knew he wasn’t joking when presenting the situation.

Just then, both he and Dahr reached the general area of the bed and placed the wooden plank my side instead of resting it on the mattress, as I had initially assumed. Indirectly letting me know that all this was for me.

Three carafes were situated on the new table, one with water and two, I assumed filled with other liquids. One of them smelled warm and sweet so I guessed tea.

There were also two entire loaves of bread, already cut into slices and various plates with different foods. I had a massive selection at my disposal. From dried meats, grilled chicken slices, boiled potatoes and carrots with butter to biscuits and some sort of baked fruit cake, sausages and cheese, pickled vegetables and various types of dried fruit.

“Did you steal the food of the entire camp?”

I felt my eyes widen at the variety and exaggeration of how much I would be able to consume and looked up to see the Dahr’s full attention pointed at me.

“You will eat,”

he said plainly, matter of fact.

“I will not!”

I replied with immediacy, not because the food didn’t look delicious, but because his attitude was seriously lacking.

Markos’ brows arched only slightly at my tone, as though my raised voice at his… commander?… friend?... colleague?.... had somehow shook him.

“I’ll leave you to it,”

he excused himself and made his way out of the tent, leaving me and Dahr to frown at one another in silence.

“As I said,”

I broke the silence after realising he had no other plan than just stare at me menacingly.

“I will not take anything that comes from you,”

I said pointedly.

If this man could have exploded with fury, then this would have been the perfect moment. His lips pressed together, his nostrils flared, and I half expected to see smoke coming out of his nose. His cheeks turned red and started burning with fury, the tension his body was producing evident from the way his thick veins swelled in his forearms.

Yet, he kept his composure and slowly situated himself on the side of the bed. I expected him to shout, to scream or insult me, even to kick me in his anger. Why not? He was a faerie, a savage beast that came out of nowhere with plans to invade our world and steal everything my kind worked so hard for. To claim and conquer everything we believed in and everything we created.

“You can’t plan your escape on an empty stomach…”

he spoke in a hush tone, as though wanting his words to be produced only for my benefit.

My heart started thumping in my chest. What if he was one of those supernatural beings with the power to read your mind or your feelings? What if everything I had thought so far, everything I knew was an open book for him to flick through whenever he wanted?

“How would you know what I want?”

I snapped back, pressing my legs together should the need for a defensive kick arrive in the very near future.

“Isn’t that what we all yearn for?”

he said in a low tone again, voice longing. “Freedom?”

That question halted my chest from beating for just a little while to push a sentiment of sympathy towards the man.

“Even you?”

I dared ask, earning myself a small chuckle from his side.

“Especially me,”

he barely confessed. He allowed himself this vulnerability for less than a second before he schooled his features back into the ruthless warrior I had come to know.

“You will have to take care of yourself, March. No one else will. Don’t lose your strength to prove a point, it’s worthless and stupid. You’re smarter than that.”

With that verbal slap that made my cheeks blush, he stood from the bed and made his way towards the exit.

“Aren’t you going to wait and see?”

I asked, some irrational part of me unwilling to let him go.

“It’s your choice now, March,”

he turned only slightly to say, then opened the tent flaps to leave.

“Nora!”

I said instinctively, halting his progress once again. Not ready to end this conversation.

“What?”

he turned to me and my heart beat just a little faster when his adamant eyes found me again.

“My name is Nora,”

I said pointedly.

“Not March. You keep calling me that.”

Dahr dipped his chin but didn’t reply, then pushed himself out of my line of sight.

I ate everything that was brought to me for the rest of the day.