Karigan woke with a pounding headache. She groaned, wondering just how much she had to drink the previous night. She had not thought she imbibed too much—she could only remember drinking a couple glasses of wine before switching to water. But perhaps those had affected her more than she thought.
She started to turn over, but she stopped upon realizing that she was not lying on her soft bed. The surface underneath her was cold and unyielding, and it felt almost as if she was moving. She opened her eyes, trying to ignore the pounding in her head. A small bit of light filtered in, allowing her to see a vague outline of the place where she lay. She furrowed her brow upon seeing the hay stacked up in front of her, swaying slightly. So they were definitely moving. However, she did not smell the tang of the ocean nor did she think she had been unconscious long enough to reach the nearest body of water, so she was likely in a cart of some kind rather than on a ship. She doubted she had boarded the cart willingly. Her suspicion merely grew when she attempted to sit up and found her arms tied tightly together with some sort of rope that chafed her wrists.
Blinking, Karigan tried to clear the pounding from her head so she could remember what had occurred the night before. She knew she had gone to the ball celebrating her upcoming wedding the previous night. She remembered most of the events from it, even ones she would just as soon forget such as a rather stilted dance with a large lord whose name she could not remember. After the ball, Zachary had escorted her to the door of the room where she was staying—after the threats against her, he had insisted she stay inside the castle. She had tried to object, but in the end, she realized she would be moving to the castle soon enough anyway with the wedding less than two weeks away, so it would not matter much if she moved a bit early. Zachary even offered to move out of his own quarters so that she could move into the queen's quarters early, but she had refused to put him out like that. She had scoffed at the idea that they couldn't just both sleep in their own quarters—after all, they had completely separate bedrooms, bathing chambers, dressing rooms, and even separate sitting rooms.
"The bedrooms connect," Zachary had told her with a small grin.
"So? There's a door between them, right? There's not much more than that between me and some of the male Riders in the barracks, and I don't see anyone getting worked up over that."
"You're not engaged to any of them."
"So if I was, it would no longer be okay?"
"That would be Laren's call."
Karigan sighed. "What if we lock the door and give the key to someone above reproach? Surely that would be enough to convince whoever needs convincing that we're not slipping into one another's chambers at night."
"Unfortunately, I don't think that will help. It's only two more weeks, love, and then the question will be moot."
The sudden ceasing of the movement broke Karigan from her memories, and she glanced around, trying to figure out why they had stopped. She heard voices outside the cart, but the words were indistinct. With some difficulty, she managed to roll onto her stomach, allowing her to inch her way across the bottom of the cart toward the voices. She pressed her ear to the wood, straining to hear. Though she could hear the voices better like that, it did not help much, for they were speaking in a language she did not understand. From the volume and tone, it sounded like one of the speakers was angry with the other though Karigan did not know why. After a couple minutes of arguing, the voices stopped, and Karigan felt the cart move backwards before turning to go back the way it had come. That gave her a good clue as to what had caused the one speaker's anger. Likely, someone had discovered she was missing—she had a number of meetings to attend on the current day, so it would not have taken too long. Once that had occurred, it would not have taken Zachary long to lock down the city and prevent anyone from leaving with her. She suspected they had run across some sort of roadblock and decided it would be safer to turn around. Good. It would be much easier to escape and make her way back to the castle if she was still in the city.
Karigan spent a couple minutes wiggling her way toward the source of the light, a small crack in the side of the cart. She pressed her eye to it, but unfortunately, she could not make out any details of where they were. With a sigh, she shuffled backwards until she was sitting on a bale of hay. As comforting as it was to know that Zachary was doing what he could to ensure her safety, she hated relying on others to help her out of tough situations. She needed a plan.
Karigan lost track of time as she considered her next action, but by the time the bouncing of the carriage stopped, she at least had some thought of what to do. The door opened and two hands reached in, pulling her roughly out of the carriage. Karigan bucked against his hands, making it difficult for him to get a good grip on her. He grunted as her head connected with his chin, letting her go briefly. Immediately, Karigan scrambled out of the carriage. She had trained a couple times with her hands tied behind her back, for it was a necessary part of swordmaster's training, but trying to fight without the use of her hands in a life or death situation was much different than in the practice ring.
Still, Karigan was not the type of person to give up easily. When the man approached her, she swung a leg, catching him unawares and dropping him to the ground. Karigan started to turn, hoping she could move from his reach before he stood again, but a second figure blocked her path. Her momentum carried her forward, and she slammed into an unyielding chest. Immediately, she fell to the ground as the second man said something in the odd guttural language to the first. Karigan suspected he was criticizing his partner's handling of the situation, but she did not spend much brainpower trying to analyze his tone. It was time to move to plan B.
It did not take long for the second man to pull her roughly to her feet, but it was long enough for Karigan. With some difficulty due to the ropes, she slipped the sharp stone she had grabbed into her sleeve, holding it there with her hand. She continued to fight as the man dragged her into a dank-smelling building, but the second man held strong. It did not take long for Karigan to find herself tossed unceremoniously onto a cold, stone floor. The door to her prison shut with a thud, and she heard the snick of metal on metal outside it as the man locked it.
Karigan quickly removed the rock from its hiding place in her sleeve, rubbing it against the ropes as she studied her prison. The only opening seemed to be the door her captor had just locked; she saw no windows anywhere in the smooth stone walls. The door did have a small opening near the top which allowed a bit of light into the room, but it was blocked by bars so she certainly would not be escaping through it. And since every part of the room seemed to be made of stone, she would not be tunneling her way out either. Not that she was likely to accomplish that even if the floor was dirt.
Karigan cursed under her breath as the rock slipped, cutting her wrist slightly. She readjusted her grip before continuing to saw at the ropes. They were thicker than she first thought, and she was beginning to doubt her ability to actually slice through them. She wished that she had progressed further in her swordmaster training. Zachary had mentioned that part of the training did include lessons on escaping—lessons which would certainly come in handy now.
Fortunately, Karigan had never been the type of person to dwell too long on her problems. She had generally found that some type of action was better than none at all. And so she kept working on the rope as her sharp mind began to puzzle through her options for escape.
Karigan was not sure how long she worked on the ropes, but she eventually loosened them to the point where she was able to tug one wrist free. After that, it was a simple matter to free the other wrist after which she spent a few minutes working the feeling back into her hands. Once she did so, Karigan moved to the far corner of the room where the least amount of light reached and waited. Her hands unconsciously fingered her broach, and she thanked Aeryc that she had apparently been captured before changing into her nightclothes.
As far as Karigan was concerned, the waiting was the worst part. She had assumed the men would return soon enough—after all, they obviously wanted her for some purpose—but she was beginning to doubt that assessment. She was just considering the possibility of doing something to bring them back sooner when the door finally opened. Quickly, Karigan grabbed the brooch and felt the familiar draining feeling as she faded out of sight. One of the men stepped into the room, his brow furrowing in confusion when he saw it was empty. As soon as he moved forward to check more closely, Karigan slipped behind him and out through the open doorway. She did not run, afraid that it would make too much noise and give her away, but she walked down the halls as quickly as her legs could carry her. Behind her, she heard the man shout to his companion, and she kept her eyes peeled in case the second man decided to reach her prison through the hallway she was currently using.
Fate seemed to be on her side, however, and Karigan reached the end of the hallway without incident. There was more light in the hallway, so she was more visible than before though she had not dropped her fading. She turned the corner, abandoning some of her caution in order to increase her speed. She could still hear the shouts of her captors, but they were fortunately still some distance behind her. Now, she just needed an exit.
A soft cry stopped her in her tracks, and she listened carefully, wondering if there was a third man helping the two she had already seen. However, the next cry quickly dismissed that thought from Karigan's mind. "Mama?" the voice questioned. Karigan swallowed hard, glancing to the left to see a heavy wooden doorway. Like the one that had blocked the entrance to her prison, it had a small window with a few metal bars set at eye level. Glancing through it, Karigan saw a small form curled up in the corner, shaking. She swallowed hard. She needed a new plan.
Karigan spent a few minutes thinking before grabbing a large metal rake off a nearby wall and turning back the way she had come. Her captors were doing nothing to reduce the noise they were making, so it was not difficult to locate one. She stopped at the end of the hallway where she heard him, concealing herself with both her ability and a convenient alcove. She listened carefully as the man's footsteps grew louder. It was not long before she saw his shadow cross in front of the alcove where she hid; once it passed, she quickly exited the alcove and raised the rake high. She brought it down with as much force as she could muster directly on the head of the man. He stumbled forward, and she quickly struck again, trying to make sure he did not have time to react. He gave a shout, but she was already moving on to the next part of her plan. As he fell forward, she reached toward his belt, quickly locating the key ring hanging from it. Without even stopping to make sure he was fully unconscious, she turned and ran back toward the small boy's prison.
As she ran, Karigan heard shouts behind her. She was not sure if it was the man she had brought down shouting or his partner since she had not been trying to be quiet, but it really did not matter. When she reached the door of the boy's prison, she grabbed the first key she could find, but it would not even slide into the lock. The second did go in, but the lock didn't turn. Karigan wanted to shout in frustration, but she knew it was a waste of time and energy. Instead, she kept trying the rest of the keys, grateful there were only half a dozen to test.
The lock finally turned with the fourth key, and she pushed the door open quickly. The boy cowered, staring at her with wide eyes, and she remembered she had not yet dropped her fading. Unfortunately, dropping it simply caused him to begin whimpering—she was not too surprised since she supposed it was somewhat frightening to see an unfamiliar woman appear out of nowhere. Quickly, she approached, shushing him with what she hoped were reassuring words. "I'm a friend," she told him. "I'm here to get you out." He stared at her for quite some time but finally seemed to accept her words. He nodded, and she gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster given the circumstances. "Come on," she told him, holding out a hand. "Let's get out of here." He took the offered hand, and she gave him another smile before telling him, "Okay, I'm going to make us disappear so we can escape. It's going to feel a little strange, like having water sprinkled on you." He nodded again, still wide-eyed. "Here we go," she told him. She called upon her fading with all the strength she had left, noting she was already starting to get a headache. Well, there was not much she could do about that now. If she could just get them out of the building, perhaps they could find somewhere to hide until she could come up with the next part of her plan.
Karigan led the boy slowly through the halls, listening carefully in attempt to avoid their captors. Fortunately, they were making enough noise that it was relatively easy to locate them, so it was not hard for her to decide on a path to take. Unfortunately, they seemed to be in some sort of building laden with hallways, and Karigan could not seem to find a way out of it.
Karigan rounded another corner and stopped abruptly, for one of the captors was standing no more than ten feet in front of her, scowling as he scanned the open area they were in. Quickly, Karigan slunk back around the corner, pulling the boy with her. Hopefully, they had not been in the lighted area long enough for the captor to see them—he did not seem to be raising an alarm, so Karigan felt fairly confident that he had not. However, she was also fairly confident that the door he stood in front of was the door that led out of the building. He was smarter than she had hoped—the sounds must be his partner searching for them since Karigan still heard them in the background.
Karigan considered her options for a few moments. She could turn around and search for another door but given how intently the man was guarding the one in front of her, she suspected there likely was not another one—or, at least, not another one that she could find easily. And every minute she waited was another minute the second captor could inadvertently run across them—he may not be able to see them, but her fading did nothing to reduce her solidity. Additionally, her headache was growing worse, and she was not sure how much longer she could keep up the fading without a break.
Without many other options, she crouched down so she was eye level with the boy. "We need to get out that door right there," she told him, pointing around the corner. "I'm going to run out and get the man standing there to follow me. I want you to stay here and count to ten—you can count, right?" He nodded solemnly. "Good. Count to ten after I leave and then go out that door. Turn that way," she pointed right, "and run as fast as you can until you find someone. Tell whoever you find that Karigan sent you for King Zachary. Here." Karigan fumbled for a moment before sliding off the ring Zachary had given her a few months before, telling her it signified his promise that they would be wed. Her finger felt naked without it, and she briefly wondered if she would ever see it again, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and she needed something for the boy to prove his story. "Show this to whoever you find and keep insisting they take you to King Zachary. Can you do that?" The boy gave another nod. Karigan searched his face for a moment. He could not have been older than five. She was probably asking too much of him, but she did not have many other options. "Can you tell me what you're going to do?" she asked, placing the ring in his hand and closing his fingers around it. To his credit, he slipped it into his pocket as soon as she released his hand.
"Count to ten and run. Turn that way and run. Find someone to take me to the king," he recited. Karigan gave him a small smile. He seemed sharp—under other circumstances, she would have liked to get to know him better.
"Good. I'm going to make us visible again and then run. Once you see me leave, go ahead and start counting." He nodded, and she dropped her fading and then his hand. With a final smile that she hoped was encouraging, she turned and ran out into the open area.
The man by the door spotted her immediately. He started for her, but she faded again, ducking the hand that reached for her. He stumbled, obviously confused as to where she had gone, and Karigan took the opportunity to duck under his arm. When she reached the door, she tugged it open and dropped the fading again, needing the man to follow her if the small boy was to have any chance of escape. Her plan worked—the man shouted something, but Karigan did not stop to puzzle out what it was. She started running as fast as she could, turning left to lead the men away from the direction she had told the boy to go.
Karigan was not sure where she was, for she did not see any recognizable landmarks upon exiting the building. She suspected she was somewhere along the Kingway given that they had encountered a roadblock, but she did not think she was in Sacor City anymore, for the buildings around her were spread more widely than in most areas of the city. She supposed they might have been in the outer city—there were sections of it which were sparsely populated, but even in them, the population had been growing denser as citizens sought safety in the city's walls. More likely, she was in one of the small farming villages that surrounded the outer wall. Not that it particularly mattered. Karigan doubted she would be able to escape her captors which meant she would not need to know where she was. She knew her only real hope lay with the boy.
Karigan's head was pounding from using her gift, and she was weary from her time in captivity and the subsequent adrenaline rush as she attempted to escape. She knew it was only a matter of time until the captors caught up to her, but she was hoping to give them at least a bit of a chase first.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Her foot caught on something—likely a root or something similar, and she pitched forward. She threw her hands out and managed to keep herself from face planting onto the ground, but she was not able to scramble back to her feet, for a heavy boot on her leg stopped her. She struggled, but two strong hands grabbed her shoulders, pinning them to the ground. "If I were you, Greenie, I would not be so much trouble," her captor growled.
"Good thing you're not me." He growled, lifting her up by the shoulders and slamming her upper body forward. Her head struck the ground hard, and her vision swam briefly before everything went dark.
When Karigan awoke, night had fallen. The air smelled of horse and smoke, and voices nearby told her she was not alone. She opened her eyes, but her vision swam and made her so nauseous that she needed to close them again. After doing so, she queried her injuries. Her head still pounded though she was not sure if it was from overuse of her ability or slamming into the ground. Probably a combination of both. Her wrists were still raw where she had worked out of the bonds, and her shoulder was sore as well though she was not quite sure why. Her hands were bound together behind her back again, tighter than before. Perhaps that explained the shoulder. Other than that, there were a few tender spots on her torso which she expected would turn into bruises, but they didn't feel too serious. All in all, she was lucky. So far at least.
Karigan next turned her attention to her captors. They were speaking in low voices but were close enough that Karigan could hear them relatively well. Not that it mattered. They spoke in a guttural language she did not understand but which did give her a clue as to their identities. It sounded very similar to the language she had heard from other members of the Second Empire. She briefly wondered why they wanted her before a logical voice in the back of her head reminded her that she was currently one of the highest valued political targets in all of Sacoridia. She would be Queen in a few short days. Assuming, of course, that she made it out of her current predicament alive.
Turning her attention away from her captors, Karigan instead focused on planning. She had no doubt Zachary was turning over every stone in an attempt to find her, but she had never been good at playing the damsel in distress. Surely there would be some way to help herself, even if it was just to force her captors to make a mistake that would allow others to find her.
It seemed, however, that she had underestimated the toll that her time in captivity had taken on her body. Before she had spent much time contemplating her plans, her consciousness ebbed, and she fell into a deep slumber.
Karigan awoke to someone shaking her violently. It took a few seconds for her sleep-addled brain to remember her circumstances; when it finally did, she forced her eyelids open to see one of her captors—the one she had come to regard as the follower—standing over her leering. "Time to get up," he snarled, tossing a hunk of bread to the ground beside her. "We leave in fifteen minutes. Since you're awake today, you can walk." Karigan said nothing but did grab the bread and force a few bites down, knowing it might be the only food she received that day. The lack of water made it especially difficult to force down, but Karigan did not ask for water. She had a feeling such a request would have pleased her captors, and she was not in the mood to please them.
As promised, it was not long before the second captor—the leader—sauntered over and pulled on a rope which was tied around Karigan's wrists. Karigan stumbled a bit before managing to get her feet under her. The man did not give her a chance to fully catch her balance before tugging her forward, tying the rope securely around the bridle of one of the horses. With that completed, he mounted and kicked the horse into a walk. Karigan half-jogged, half-walked after it, wondering silently how long she would be able to keep up the pace.
It did not take long for Karigan to get her answer. After about an hour, she stumbled over a piece of uneven ground hard enough that she fell. The horse dragged her for a minute or so before its rider noticed and stopped it. He dismounted and approached, dragging her to her feet once more. Karigan could not suppress a wince as she put weight on her right ankle. She was not sure if it was broken or just sprained, but she did know that there was no way she would be able to keep up her previous pace with that injury. Fortunately, her captors seemed to realize this as well, and they slowed their horses enough that Karigan could keep up by walking briskly. Her ankle still throbbed with every step, and she stumbled multiple times, but she at least managed to keep herself from falling again.
Karigan was not sure for how long they walked. Time seemed to slow down as she continued, half-delirious from the pain and hunger. They stopped at some point during the day and did give Karigan water, but Karigan did not remember much about the rest. When the leader finally called a halt for the night, Karigan actually stumbled forward into his horse. She steadied herself on the large beast, blinking to try and clear her vision. Unfortunately, that action did not seem to help, and she could not stop herself from sinking to the ground. Her captors did not seem inclined to move her, so she half-sat, half-lay on the damp dirt, too tired to even think about the plans she had been making the previous night. One of the men shoved something into her hands, and she slotted her eyes open to see it was a piece of stale bread. Grimacing slightly, she began to eat, chewing automatically. At some point, one of the men shoved a cup of water in her hand as well, and she drank it down without thinking. Once she had finished her meager supper, she sank backwards so that she was fully lying down and let slumber overtake her.
When she awoke the next morning, she was feeling slightly better though it still hurt to move. The leader of the two noticed she was awake and brought over a bowl of tasteless gruel for her breakfast. Karigan noted with gratitude (and a good bit of surprise) that it was still warm. She had gotten quite a chill from sleeping on the damp ground all night, and the warm porridge helped chase the worst of it away. By the time she had finished it and the water they gave her, she was able to stand without swaying. They hooked her to the horse once more, and she mentally steeled herself for another hard day of walking. She wondered how many more days like the previous one she could endure but quickly chided herself for thinking about that. She would endure as many as she needed to. Somehow, some way, Zachary would find her—she could not give up hope of that. And so she would keep going, putting one foot in front of the other. If nothing else, she could do that.
Once more, they stopped around midday, untying Karigan from the horse. Karigan noted with some interest that they did not tie her to anything else—at all of the previous stops, they had tied the end of the rope keeping her hands together to a tree or rock nearby. Apparently, they had decided that in her weakened state, she was no longer a flight risk. Normally, she would have been happy to discover that, but at the moment, she was feeling they were probably correct in their assessment. Even if she did manage to stay on her feet long enough to run, there was no way she could outrun two men on horseback. And she was not nearly strong enough to use her gift. Maybe with another day or two of rest.
They did not bring her any food for the midday meal, so Karigan instead used the time to rest, letting her eyes slide shut as she leaned against a convenient tree. It did not take long for her to slip into a restless slumber, only to be awakened after what felt like merely a few seconds by two hands roughly shaking her. "Wake-up, Greenie," a heavily accented voice said. She forced her eyes open to see the follower leering over her. "Good. Wanted you to see that it's just me'n you now. No one to rescue you, claim we needs you pure." He spat on the ground beside him. "Like you're so pure." The words confused Karigan, and she suspected maybe some of them were lost with the heavy accent. "Doesn't matter to me anyhow. In fact, I like it better this way." Karigan did not have to wonder long what he meant by those words, for his actions soon made that perfectly clear. He moved closer, hands dropping to his belt buckle. She shied away, but someone—likely the man now standing near her—had reattached her shackles and bound her tightly to the tree so that she could not move more than a few feet. Not that it mattered anyway. In her weakened state, she doubted she would have been able to escape him even with no bonds.
Once Karigan gave herself up to the inevitability of what was about to occur, she watched what was happening with an almost clinical detachment. She had heard about such attacks before, had witnessed her father's ire in the aftermath of a couple of them when some dockhands had crossed a line with a couple of the local girls. It was one of the only times she had seen him truly angry, and she did not dare ask him what had become of the offenders. But hearing about such things and experiencing them were very different, even if the experience was like her current one—unbelievable enough that it seemed to be happening to someone else. She flinched away as the man's hands grabbed at her clothes, but that seemed to only encourage him, and he quickly ripped her tunic from her body. His own belt already hung loose, and he was unbuttoning his pants when a blur of motion hit him from the side, causing him to topple to the ground.
Karigan glanced in the direction in which he fell and saw the leader had returned and was now wrestling his partner. Blood already flowed freely from the follower's nose, and his attempts to defend himself were mostly ineffective. They were arguing about something, but they spoke in the guttural language Karigan did not understand. Despite her inability to translate, however, she was fairly certain that the argument centered around her. That was an interesting fact that she forced her tired brain to catalog for later evaluation. She was not sure why the leader would care if she were mistreated, but she could perhaps use that to her advantage.
It did not take long for the leader to emerge victorious, and the follower stomped off, nursing a couple minor injuries. The leader spared Karigan only a quick glance before striding off in the opposite direction from his companion. Karigan forced herself into a sitting position so she could watch them, but the follower was merely sulking on one side of the camp and the leader simply tending the fire. It did not seem that anything was happening, and Karigan got the distinct impression they were waiting for something—or perhaps someone.
Karigan dozed at some point, too tired to keep herself wary despite the earlier incident. When she awoke, it was dark. It took her some time to realize that she had not awoken naturally—rather, the noise of many voices had awoken her. She blinked sleep out of her eyes and pushed herself into a seated position as best as she could in order to see better. Her eyes widened when she saw at least two dozen men now milling about the camp, obviously waiting for something. It did not take long for her to pick out the leader—a tall figure in a dark cloak standing to the side and watching the proceedings carefully. The men were building a large bonfire in the center of the camp, and Karigan wondered if they were close enough to the castle that the smoke might attract attention. She doubted it, but she could always hope. She no longer thought she would be able to escape without some sort of help.
A few men approached Karigan, barely pausing as they grabbed her beneath her shoulders and began to half-carry, half-drag her across the camp. "What are you doing?" she questioned, stumbling along, cursing as she put weight on her bad ankle. "Where are you taking me?"
The men did not answer, but they did not have to. They soon reached a platform constructed from some split logs lashed together that someone had placed near the fire. The men began to undress her, and she redoubled her efforts to fight them. Despite her worst fears, they never removed her undergarments, instead slipping a filmy white shift over them in place of the tattered clothes she had been wearing. With that complete, they wordlessly lifted her onto the platform. Karigan continued to thrash about, using the last of her strength, for she had guessed what was coming. However, it was no use. The men easily overpowered her, fastening all four limbs to the platform with some sort of leather straps. Karigan strained against one, but it held firm. Seeming satisfied with their work, the men backed away, and the next thing she knew, Karigan was looking into the face of the man in the dark cloak. Half his face was shadowed, but she did see a short, black beard gracing his chin beneath his thin lips. He said something in his language as his lips curved into a smile. Karigan saw the glint of metal, and she knew she needed to act quickly. She thought for a moment, trying to remember anything which might help her, and she suddenly recalled the follower's words as he had tried to attack her. "I'm not pure," she said as loudly as she could, for someone nearby had started chanting. The man obviously heard, for the knife stopped before it reached her flesh.
"What?"
"I'm not pure," she repeated, praying silently that she had guessed correctly. "You can ask around the castle. Aeryc knows that bit of gossip has spread widely."
"You're lying." His eyes narrowed.
"Do you really want to take the risk that I'm not?" He studied her for a few seconds before turning. With a shout of rage, he tossed the knife, and it flipped end over end before embedding itself in a nearby tree. The leader raised both his hands to the sky, and lightning flashed down from a dark cloud Karigan had not noticed until that moment. Still raging, the leader brought a hand down on Karigan's temple, stunning her. Her last coherent thought before falling unconscious was that at least the lightning should help any search parties locate her.