The Rogue Lady

Chapter Twenty Three

     I prefer this chapter to the previous one! And before we move on, the siren in this chapter, in my world, has nothing to do with the siren from Greek mythology, though in a way they are similar.

    Hunger Games; Mocking Jay part 1 was amazing! So amazing I went to see it twice, and if I had the money I would go again!!

     Check out the map in the external link, and let me know if there are any mistakes.

     **

     A week later we left Brightburn behind us. I was secretly glad that we did; I was beginning to feel restless. There were only so many things you could do in a city like Brightburn and once you did all of them you got bored. There were only so many secrets you could discover in the streets of an occupied city; honestly there had not been much for me to find. And there were only so many stones you could throw into a lake for fun before you started throwing them out of annoyance. But now we were finally on the move.

     I had sort of hoped William would let me ride ahead again but it seemed like he wanted to keep me close. Close enough to keep an eye on me at least. I wasn’t sure why; maybe there was no need for me to go ahead this time or maybe he was worried about me. If it was the latter, then I didn’t see what could have brought it on so suddenly because I hadn’t even partaken in the fight for Brightburn. My blades hadn’t seen the sun for almost a week, which had to be some kind of record. I also feared that if William wanted to keep me close there was no way he would agree to what I needed to ask him. I wanted to go to Starryfield. That was where that general had said they would go if they caught me, and deliver me to the Queen. If the Queen was going to be there, then I wanted to be there too. I just didn’t know how to approach him about the matter, and I had thought about it all morning and the beginning of the afternoon.

     I must have sighed one too many times because Eric’s horse suddenly appeared in front of mine. It snapped me out of my thoughts almost immediately. My mare came to an abrupt halt, not liking it any more than I did. When I gazed up at his face, he looked at me expectantly, an eyebrow arched in silent question. I frowned slightly at him and tried to move the mare around him but he kept blocking my path. Eventually I got annoyed with him and snapped. “Dragon, Eric! What’s your problem?”

     “I could ask you the exact same question,” he replied calmly. “You clearly have something on your mind; why don’t you share it with me?” What he meant as a polite suggestion obviously wasn’t one as he wanted me to spill whatever I was thinking about. I didn’t reply him immediately, but glanced at William just ahead. Maybe I should simply tell him right away instead of telling Eric first and then have him report back to the other man. “Is it something you want to share with William?”

     “That’s the whole problem; I’m not sure if I should bring it up. And if I do, how I should start,” I sighed once more.

     Eric gave me a sympathetic smile. “It can be a bit unnerving to start a conversation with William out of the blue. But I’ll help; I overcame that fear a long time ago.” The smile changed into a more evil one and, the moment Eric turned around on his saddle, I knew what he was going to do. “Hey William! Svana has something she would like to discuss!”

     My mouth dropped open. I stared at Eric, who seemed to enjoy my shock. William stopped when he heard his name being called and once he spotted Eric and me, he turned his horse around and walked back towards us. Before he reached us though, I recovered and managed to slap Eric on the arm, though not throw in the lake like I really wanted to. At least it was hard enough to make his smile momentarily disappear. William must have notice as he was trying to suppress a smile.