The Crown of the Thunder King

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Pajuris Woods stood in the middle of the southern peninsula, bordered by two canyons that stretched from one side of the landmass to the other. Apparently, that made Maxorien a pain to travel to by land, as any caravan would be forced to cut a trail through the forest. It wasn't a particularly dense wood, but bandits had made it a hotspot for highway raids.

Adlai had seen more impressive forests, at least. Sure, its greenery was flourishing in a way that you'd never see in his hometown of the capital, and its strange dark oak trees, stooped with age, made for a somewhat mystical sight, but all-in-all, it was pretty unremarkable.

"So this is the last stretch, huh?" Kolohe drawled unenthusiastically, squinting at the uninviting line of trees. "Past this and then it's paradise time?"

"Work time, Kolohe," Sanja said curtly, walking past him. "The past week has been your vacation. The fact that we're heading to Maxorien does not give you permission to slack off."

"Huh?" Kolohe's knees gave way, and he slumped to the ground, looking up at his fellow incredulously. "That slave-driven slog was vacation?"

The rest of the group passed him as well, each one glancing down at his slack-jawed expression before following Sanja into the woods.

Adlai stopped by him and bent over, placing his hands on his knees and peering into Kolohe's face. Insensate. Sanja's work ethic had claimed another victim.

"Adlai..." Kolohe groaned suddenly, flopping his head over so that his glassy, thousand-yard-stare fixed the other man's eyes in place. "Adlai.... Why..."

"Stop it. You're creeping me out."

"My vacation... I was going to hit the saltwater baths... Eat fresh food... Maybe pick up a babe or two..."

"Any girl can instantly tell that you're trouble," Adlai joked, holding out a hand. Kolohe's eyes slid over to the proffered limb, and he sighed, grasping Adlai's forearm.

"I'll try and get Sanja to give us a day to explore," Adlai said, hoisting Kolohe to his feet. "There's no way Elke or even Dobrea'll let him work us the entire time."

"Adlai..." Kolohe drew his face uncomfortably close, eyes shining with a renewed vigor, tears welling up. "You'd do that.... For me?"

"That's still creepy. Cut it out."

Kolohe, undeterred, threw Adlai away rather violently and began sprinting off in the direction of the forest.

"Beeeaaach! Hell yeah baby, here I come!"

Ah, well. He'd lose energy eventually, once he realized that they still had two days of travel left. Adlai shrugged to himself and followed. Kolohe's impending despair wasn't his problem.

After about two hours of nothing but trees for scenery and the buzz of insects for background noise, Adlai started to get bored. Apparently Sanja had no worries about getting lost in the monotony of the forest, as he marched confidently along, but Adlai wouldn't have been able to tell anybody anything about where in the world they were headed.

It wasn't even the walking that bored him. It was the soul-sucking single-file shuffle that Sanja had insisted the group keep to. Sure, it may have been to keep everyone from getting separated, but after the majestic vistas of the canyon outside the woods and the plains by the Imperial Lake, Adlai could practically feel himself falling asleep on his feet.

Lily's auburn head twisted to and fro before him, looking around at the forest with apparent intrigue. Adlai had never seen her bored before.

Must be nice, he caught himself thinking, and no sooner did that wistful thought pass through his mind than Lily opened her mouth and began to speak.