Splendid Fall

Ch.24 Sweet Sweet Angel

Chapter 24

The wagon moved with such speed down the roads of the city that Birdie wondered if they were being pulled by jinns instead of the five horses she had seen hitched up front. There was barely any light to light up the small dark wooden box. Wren laid on his side in the cramped space with Birdie kneeling beside him and the jinn at the other corner.

"Who are you?" Birdie asked the man.

"My name is Azad," the jinn answered. "I was sent by Ira to get you out of the city. But not him."

"I'm not going anywhere without him," Birdie moved a bit closer to Wren.

"What the hell?" Wren groaned as he tried to sit up but hit his head on the low bench. His eyes itched from the dust storm and his skin felt as if someone had rubbed him with sandpaper.

"Let me see your eyes," Birdie leaned forward.

But just as she was about to wipe away the bits of dust and sand away from the fey, the wagon hit a pothole on the road, sending her crashing into the prince. Wren's arms shot out as he grabbed Birdie and broke her fall on his chest. Her cold and red nose collided with his jaw as she lost her balance and dropped all her weight on him.

"Sorry," Birdie said as she tried to climb back up.

"Don't move," Wren warned her, feeling the way her hair caught on the button of his shirt.

But of course the girl had a bad habit of doing everything he told her not to do.

Birdie tried to jump back but suddenly realized she couldn't when a sharp pain yanked her back to Wren on the floor of the wagon.

"I told you not to move," Wren muttered against her ear. "You need to start listening to me."

"Don't order me around," Birdie pulled back just enough to untangle her hair and rise up to her knees. "Let me see your eyes."

"Don't order me around," Wren mocked her as he sat up.

"You're going to go blind with sand in your eyes, stupid," Birdie grabbed his face and turned him towards her. "Who will take me home then?"

Clicking his tongue with irritation from the pain in his eyes, Wren let Birdie hold his eyelids open and blow into them gently to push away the bits of sand. In the confinement of the small wagon, Wren couldn't ignore the scent of sage in her hair. The humid air amplified it to the point where it was all he could smell as she held his face and used her thumb to wipe away the corners.

"I shouldn't really be bringing him anywhere."

Birdie frowned as she sat back on her legs and looked back at the jinn in the other corner. She felt Wren shift beside her as he peered into the darkness.

"Who're you again?" He asked.

"Azad," the jinn replied.

"You're part of the insurgency," Wren said. "That dust storm back there..."

"What's the insurgency?" Birdie asked, looking at Azad and then at Wren.

"Rebels," Wren said. "Every now and then they try to stage a revolution against the throne. Key word being try."

"We will wipe your kind out," Azad spat. "The Tyveer did it once and we will do it again."

"You're from Earth!" Birdie gasped.

"Y-yes," Azad looked at the girl with wide eyes.

"You're Tyveer," Birdie's heart began to hammer with excitement.