A Darkening Honor

Chapter 14

 Callum really hoped that Lydian wasn't following them. He had thought he was pretty clear, but the girl had a mind of her own. He just hoped she had enough sense not to get killed, though it wouldn't be her fault if she was, considering he had abandoned her in a kingdom she had never been too, where she would be hunted to the ends of the earth if they found out what she was.

Suddenly, his daring sacrifice to save her was seeming less and less well thought out. He had learned, much to his chagrin, that Men had created some type of binding that stopped demons from dissolving. He supposed it was only a matter of time before they had resorted to using magic to stop magic, but he had hoped there would be more time to prepare. The next time he saw his mother, he would tell her what he had learned. He may not want the demons to win, but he did not want men to, either, and he did not want his people killed or enslaved.

Callum's only comfort was that the bindings did not hold him. He could feel his powers weaken when they were on, but he could dissolve, with great effort, true, but it could be done. He supposed it would be due to his heritage. Being half-human had its perks.

Callum's thoughts were broken by the approaching of a horse. He was being guarded carefully while they rode, surrounded by no less than five men at all times, but the Prince had yet to make an appearance, until now. His gaze was harsh, his features arranged into a less than attractive look, and Callum thought that he would be much less ugly if he wasn't so hateful.

"We know the girl was with you." Even the Crown Prince's voice was harsh. "We searched the inn for her, but there's nowhere she could have hidden."

"She must be gone then."

"Do you think I am an idiot?" Callum didn't answer. "Very well. But rest assured, we will learn where she went, and we will find her. We'll kill her, when we do." Callum smiled at that, for there was weakness, just there, in the prince's face.

"You won't," he said, and watched Alexei's face fall in confusion. "Not when you find out who she is. What she is." He turned away from the prince.

"And what is she, that would save the life of a Darkened?" But Callum had said all he would, and merely drove his horse on, towards the waiting arms of a kingdom who would have him dead.

___

Now that Lydian had stopped running, and felt marginally safer than she did when Alexei was pounding down doors looking for her, she felt the anger she had been pushing down as she fled, and it threatened to spill out of her.

She knew, rationally, that she was only mad because she cared for Callum, and that he had only allowed himself to be captured because he cared for her, but it didn't make his absence any easier to bear. She was going to berate him the when she saw him again. If she saw him again.

The thought sobered her, tamped her anger and made it easier to bear, though she felt, suddenly, hopeless. Without Callum to guide her, how was she meant to survive on the mainland, much less find her father and rescue him. Her magic wasn't something she could use without risk, and her only other resource had been Callum. She supposed it was just like him to get arrested on their first day on the mainland. She missed him terribly, and she realized that she didn't know how to save him. She smiled, albeit weakly, and tried to think what Callum would tell her to do.

Obviously, she needed somewhere to stay, and the Drowning Fish was no longer an option, not until Alexei had taken Callum back to the capitol.

The capitol.

Lydian should have known. Of course Callum would use himself as bait to get her to follow them back. Alexei would take Callum all the way into the depths of the castle, and Callum, Lydian knew, could be unstoppable, if he so chose. She just needed to follow him, in case he needed her magic. All she had to do was follow him, and things would be alright.

Lydian's plan had seemed much more plausible two hours ago, when Lydian had been angry, and the adrenaline from her near escape had fueled her to steal a horse from one of the inn's travelers. But two hours of hard riding had weakened her resolve, and all she could do now was keep riding. She couldn't turn back, and yet she was so tired it was difficult to go forward, but she must go forward.

She rode on, feeling the heat from the sun's ascent warm her as she did so, trying to ignore the pain that had come from riding so long. She had ridden for a few minutes, at most, on Osira, and all her efforts were concentrated on keeping herself astride. Luckily for her, the mare she rode had been cooped up for far too long, and Lydian could tell she was eager to run. Lydian let the mare take the lead, her strides lengthening as the sun rose higher in the sky, and held on for dear life.

Finally, the sounds of the royal party encroached upon her solitude, and she begged the mare to slow, pulling back on her mane, as she had chosen to forgo the complicated looking bridle the mainlanders were fond of using. She slowed to a trot, and then a walk, as they approached the party from the rear. Lydian hesitated, and then steered the horse into the trees along the road. She was less comfortable in the woods, and would not be able to see her enemies as well, but they would find her quickly if she simply walked up behind them and joined them. She needed a place to observe, so she wound her way through the many trees.

She caught sight of Callum, riding wearily in the middle of a mass of soldiers. She wondered briefly how Alexei had found so many men so quickly, but remembered what Callum had told her. The man gets what he wants.

Suddenly, her mare stepped on a fallen branch, which echoed through the woods with a resounding crack, and Lydian winced. For a moment, she thought she was lucky, that no one had heard, but then she heard shouts, saw the men in the prince's party turn to the woods, and she kicked the side of her mare wildly, taking off in terror. She had not come this far only to be caught so easily.

But her steed was tired, and did not know how to ride through trees, nor did Lydian for that matter. She urged the mare faster as she felt the soldiers gaining on her, but the horse stumbled, and pitched Lydian from her back.

She hit the forest floor with a cry of pain, and when she tried to raise herself, to keep running, her arm screamed in agony and she collapsed. She opened her eyes. Her forearm was bent, where it was not supposed to bend, and she could not bring herself to rise, even as the soldiers surrounded her.

She felt someone grip the back of her hair, pulling her up, and she yelped in pain, struggling against him, though she felt some of her hair rip from the roots as she did so. She jerked her head up, wildly, she knew, and wondered what the soldiers thought of her, this dark skinned girl with magic in her veins and a wildness in her gaze, and she hoped they were frightened. It might ease the knot of fear in her own belly that tangled itself as she gazed down the point of a long, long, sword, into the eyes of the Crown Prince.