King of Dust

Chapter 19

"Where the hell were you two?"

We returned to camp only to find Urien with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed. Yra rolled his eyes like a teenager caught after curfew and I waved. "Hallo, Urien! You're up late!"

"And you're not supposed to leave camp!" Urien stomped his way over to us, away from the firelight. "I told you this the last time you were almost hung, Darius!"

"We needed to eat," I explained.

"You killed? In town?"

"No! No," I interjected. "We took a little from some poor bastard and left him under the tree. He was drunk."

Urien heaved a sigh of relief and passed his hand over his eyes. "Thank the gods. You two need to let me know where you're going."

"And you need to loosen up, Captain Worrypants," Yra cooed, tapping the tip of Urien's nose with his index finger.

"C-Captain Worrypants?" Urien muttered under his breath.

The two of us made our way back to the campfire, which smoldered. It appeared that Urien had fallen asleep and forgotten about us until he started in the night. I wondered how long it would take before he would trust us. I didn't imagine Yra would be trusted soon, but I had hoped I would be different. I suppose I shouldn't have expected much. We were vampires, after all.

* * *

When morning came, I was already dozing off. Switching sleep schedules had been a nightmare. I had grown so accustomed to spending my nights following Liliya Sorensson across the countryside, spending time with Yra, or reading bedtime stories to Astrid that I almost forgot what the sun looked like. Urien called for us to awaken and Yra and I dragged ourselves from the wagon, having just gone to sleep. Yra's curly hair fluffed in a mess around his head, and I hastily braided my hair anew, not looking forward to stepping out into the sun.

Yra extended his umbrella, and I pulled my cloak over my head as we stepped out into the wooded area where we had made camp. Urien wouldn't let us stay the night in Nessden: it was too risky, apparently. People knew my face and didn't trust me in such a big city with the enchanted cloak. Apparently, he thought I would mess something up, lose the cloak, and start a vampire hunt. He treated me like a child, and I hated it. I would've killed for a bed, and the floor of the wagon was getting old. Astrid was already by the fire, her hair catching the sunlight in a waterfall of flame, and she held a mug with a grin on her face.

"Good morning, Darius! Hello, Yra," she said.

Yra did nothing but grumble as he blocked his skin from the sun, finding a seat by the fire. I sat next to Astrid and waited for Urien to return from the front of the wagon. When he did, his raven came swooping down from somewhere high above the canopy to land on his shoulder.

"My bird says things have been in upset in Nessden. People are getting killed left and right, and no one knows by who or why," he muttered as he pulled the percolator off the fire. The coffee from the tin poured in a perfect black stream into his cup, steaming in the morning light. I hadn't thought about how much I missed coffee until that moment.

"So, we need to find the pattern," Yra stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Figure out who's being killed, because then we can find who's doing it."

Urien's eyes slid to meet Yra's face, and his lips pressed into a thin line. "Yes. That's the goal."

"Does that mean we get to go into town?" Astrid asked. Her face lit up at the thought of seeing new places. She had always loved it when I read her books about faraway countries or large castles in fairy stories.

"Yes, it does, and therefore I'm going to set a few ground rules before we do anything stupid." Urien sipped at his coffee. He was a nightmare to deal with before his morning cup. "You will follow them, and if you don't, I can't be responsible for the consequences."

"Okay, Captain Worrypants, what horrible rules are you going to lay down?" Yra buckled his boots as he sat by the fire, his eyes drooped in apathy.

"Firstly, Darius, you will use the robe that I gave you. You are not to walk about with your face under any circumstances. A disguise is absolutely necessary."

"Sure, that was kind of a given, ya?" I pulled my cloak around myself. Urien was the king of common sense.

"Secondly, no feeding on anyone in town. I won't have the town guard sniffing about our business or our camp."

"That's impossible," Yra quipped. "Darius and I did not feed nearly enough last night to be able to sustain ourselves for very long. We're going to have to feed again."

"You can make it."

"I'm telling you, we can't."

"We'll have to feed, Urien," I added, "unless you want us to literally be two useless corpses in the back of the wagon. I would rather not lay in endless paralysis until one of you drips blood into my mouth."

"Eat animals."

"It doesn't work," I explained. "That's part of the magickal nature of the curse. We can only drink from sapient beings."

"Damn it," Urien cursed under his breath.

"I'll do it," Astrid said.

The entire forest seemed to silence at her response. Urien, like a creaky tree, turned slowly to look at Astrid. "You will do no such thing."

"It's my body, and I'll do with it what I choose. If they can feed from me without hurting me or killing me, I see no problem."

"We'll discuss it later. For the third rule, tell no one why we're here. They know my face but will not know yours. You all are... my new travelling party and we're moving on to Kalka as soon as we can."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

"Finish your breakfast, Astrid. Once you're done, we'll go into town. I'm going to prepare the wagon."

Urien stood from the fire and set his cup down near the rest of the camping supplies. Once he was gone, the three of us let out a collective sigh.

"Being around him is like suffocating under a blanket," Yra muttered.

"Be nice," Astrid said. "He's keeping us all safe."

"Hopefully, town will be nice. As soon as we step foot near a pub, I'm getting a drink."

"Can you drink liquor?"

"We can," Yra explained. "It just does nothing for us."

"It's the thought that counts, right?" I sighed.

❣ ❣ ❣

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