Frayed Ties (Ties, Book 1) | ✓

Chapter 13

It was early afternoon when Atticus stopped them next to an old stone bridge that crossed the river they had been following.

"This is where I will leave you." Atticus turned to Simon, his expression the most serious Danya had seen it since he'd been threatening to kill them. "Be careful, human. The land beyond this point belongs to all but your kind."

"Well, I'd love to, but nobody wants to give me any of my knives back," Simon grumbled, shooting Sharn a glare that managed to look more grumpy than anything else.

"You are unsafe here because you will be viewed as a danger. Being armed will not help you in that. If you need to fight or even to threaten, you will have most likely already lost."

"Ah, diplomacy. Got it." Simon made a face. "I am much better at stabbing things, though."

Atticus chuckled, a deep rumble. "I wished to kill you when we first met, and now I do not. Perhaps you are more competent than you believe."

"Well, I'm going to have to be, aren't I? Thank you for getting us here safely."

"I wish you well, human. Farewell."

"My name's Simon," Simon called out at Atticus' back.

Atticus raised a hand and waved without turning back around.

Gaira took a deep breath in and let it out. "Well. You ready to meet our leader?"

"I suppose we're going to have to be."

There wasn't much of a path once they made it over the bridge, but they didn't have far to go. After about twenty minutes of weaving through the woods they came upon a clearing containing three log buildings that looked newly, and rather roughly, constructed.

There were mages here. Danya had felt them before he had seen them. Most of them were inside the buildings, but a few lurked on the perimeter and tensed up when they saw Simon. Though they weren't in military dress and most didn't have their hair cut in military styles, they all looked to be Soldiers by breeding. They were also all women.

Gaira rapped her knuckles against the door of the biggest building and then pushed her way in without waiting for a response.

"Good," a female voice said from within. "Did you get the supplies?"

"Uhh..." Gaira looked back at Simon and Danya. "Not exactly. Well, okay, no, not at all. There was... a situation."

Lynna pushed in front of her. "We captured a mage and his master."

There was a beat of silence. "Why?"

Sharn nudged them from behind and they finally all filed into the building.

There wasn't much to it. In the single, open room inside there was a pile of bedding shoved in one corner and a table with several chairs where a couple of Soldiers sat.

The Soldier who had been talking to them was tall, but not quite as stocky as Gaira or Sharn. She looked to be in her forties, a good bit older than the other mages they'd met, and had hair that was shaved close to her scalp. Her gaze was fixed on Simon.

Lynna took a step towards the table. "They saw us, Noni."

Noni's eyes flicked to Lynna and she shook her head, her hands squeezing into fists on the table. "This isn't what we do when we get seen."

"Danya here," Gaira squeezed Danya's shoulder, "he was gonna fight us over the matter. Did you want us to fight him and then kill his master in front of him? Because I wasn't about to do that, and just letting them go wasn't an option."