The Book of Trials || ONC 2019

Chapter Ten

"By morn, the poison sets like iron. The sunset ceases travel goers."

"You mean to say that something's going to stop us if we don't make it there before sunset?" The discomfort shone through Atlas' voice like glass and I shifted again in my seat, then shut the book and nodded.

Lefeli glanced between the both of us with wide eyes. "Do we have any idea how the book will stop us?"

"To put it in perspective," I said, "I think it would be safe to say we know as much about the book as we have money in our pockets."

Atlas groaned, running a hand through his hair, then he beckoned Birdy faster and we set down the path about as fast as the horse could go.

I had no way of knowing how close we were to Azareba, but it didn't look good when the sun hit midday and Atlas still seemed as tense as he had this morning. And the day pressed on, the road going in and through forests, around fields, over hillsides, even around elegant flower fields of bright greens and pinks, but the sun still crossed the sky and before I had the chance to breathe, sundown was an hour away.

"Atlas," Evyne growled, "I could steer Birdy better than this in my sleep. At this pace, we'll never make it."

"One problem," Atlas turned to her and snapped. "You're less active than a bear in January!"

"Oh, come on." I sat straighter on the bench and fingered anxiously at the book cover, then I glanced at the sky, stained orange and offsetting my nerves. It seemed like new sentences only appeared in the book when it was open, so what if I simply kept it closed? What if we just remembered what it said so we wouldn't have to spring new curses on ourselves? Would it be that simple?

Was it ever that simple?

Birdy huffed, slowing down, and Atlas beckoned her forward, but she tossed her head and whinnied.

Oh, curses. I looked around us. Of course, we'd just entered more forest, which means we couldn't see past the road, and now Birdy decided to stop. Now, of all times.

Evyne swore, rustling in the back, and Lefeli tugged on my sleeve. Oh yes. As it turns out, the dark is the best place for things to go wrong in all the worst ways. No time better to fulfill a curse than sunset.

A good fifteen hooded figures crept up on us from all sides, all of them noiseless, all of them inexplicably threatening.

"Bandits." Atlas cursed, too. I imagine he'd already had enough of bandits after the chase in Esterwilde. Well, that made two of us.

"Lefeli"—her grip on my arm twitched when I spoke—"do you happen to know any Latin phrases that could ward off creepy black figures?"

"I can't do magic." Her voice was high and squeaky.

At once, Atlas shot to a standing position on the bench, rocking the cart and scaring the wits out of me. His eyes were hard.

"What do you want?" he demanded, his voice carrying.

There was a pause where the bandits said nothing and a bead of sweat ran down my forehead despite the weather. One of the figures unsheathed a long blade with a metallic scraping that echoed across the canopy.

"We want your help with something." His raspy voice addressed only Atlas. My gut twisted. "You see, we have friends who would love a little company, and we want your lady friends here to help them with that."

Atlas grimaced, clearly ticked, and put his hand on the sheath of his dagger. I watched his movements. Was he only protecting his sister or was he actually a decent person?