The Way We Fall

Chapter 104 (Roche)

Roche screamed against her gag, using inkblood to peel off her shoe and hurl it at the door. She huffed silently, waiting to see if Tigris or anyone re-entered the room.

No one did.

Because Roche had to protect the stupidest, careless royal brat to ever exist. She groaned, sagging forward from her painful position tied to the bedpost. Her arms were beginning to ache. She needed to get out of here, and quickly. There was no way Roche was going to let the princess die. Her heart squeezed painfully at the very thought.

She rallied her concentration, which was absolutely scrambled after a night of chasing down Tarak.

Annodtan.

Tigris' sash unknotted easily, falling to the ground with a muted swish of fabric. Her fingers prickled as blood drained back into her fingertips. She ripped the gag out of her mouth and stumbled towards the door on shaky legs. Tigris could be anywhere by now.

Roche's mind raced, trying to plan like the princess would. She'd need Orpheus, which she'd probably have gotten in the time it took Roche to untangle herself. Then she would head to the stables and get on one of the horses Roche had tacked and readied earlier.

Roche prayed she wasn't too late as she raced down the halls of the castle, ignoring the strange looks she garnered from the nobles and servants she passed.

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Tigris' horse was gone. Roche cursed, mounting her own. The stableboy hadn't seen the princess leave, so Roche had no idea which direction she'd gone. She charged towards the forest, praying that she could pick up a trail of some kind.

It was no use. Roche wasn't a hunter or even a warrior like Tigris. The mulch and snow all looked the same to her. Every snapped branch and crushed leaf looked like Tigris' horse had crashed through. Roche ran a frantic hand through her hair. Her inkblood was of no use. She didn't have time to scry for Tigris either.

She wasn't a tracker, she couldn't find Tigris.

An idea dawned on her.

She wasn't a tracker.

But she knew someone that might be.

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"So... you want me to track a person?" Brom asked, furrowing his brows. Roche nodded desperately.

"Not just any person," she said.

Brom rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. It's the princess, isn't it?"

Roche nodded, and Brom groaned loudly. He sucked at the edge of a glass bottle despondently. "You know she's probably on some hunting trip or something. Nobles love that sort of thing."

"She's going to get herself killed!" Roche insisted, signing emphatically. Brom smirked as she stumbled over the last sign.

"Good, you'll be free of her." he slid his empty bottle over the counter of the vacant bar, "Congratulations!"

Roche leaned closer. "I know you don't like nobles, but Tigris is not like the others. She's kind and good and she's ready to throw her life away from her people. I respect that and I can't, in good conscience, let her life be in vain."

Brom tugged his gaze away from the bar to study Roche's face with uncharacteristic scrutiny. She squirmed under her eye, restless and ready to go.

"You're really loyal to her, aren't you?" Brom asked quietly. Roche nodded, and he frowned, "I never quite understood that kind of thing. My old man did, though. Look where it got him."

He sounded sad, almost. Roche leaned up against the bar.

"I think you understand it too," she said, "Even if you don't want to."