The sight of Arego appearing in the distance, as well as shouting erupting from the scouts that we're arriving, is probably the best sight I've seen over recent days. Besides that box descending from the mountain at the hands of my power and watching Renit live rather than slam against the ground, spotting the bustling streets still standing unravels a tightness in my chest I hadn't realized was there.
Walking slowly at my pace, something he hasn't complained about over these days of travel, Renit braces a hand underneath my arm and helps support my left side. My limp is still there, as are most of the cuts and bruises, but the rest is fixed. My ribs are healed, my shoulder no longer requires a sling, and the bruising along my hip has gone down.
Each step I take is excruciating, and Renit, the kind and uncomplaining witch he is, never protested to carrying me for hours on end. To keep up his strength, he promised me. I knew the truth behind his easy-going statements. The slower we moved, his hairs would either start turning grey or he'd rip them out himself from impatience.
Carrying me is not convenient, especially not while hiding along the busy trail until carts and wagons and guards passed, some taking longer than others to check identification for passers on the way to and from Lona. Hiding underneath the thick veil of the trees and stuck there during the night after being unable to escape the camp of guards within feet of where Renit and I were crouching, we watched merchants and innocent travelers killed.
They were too close to Arego, too fidgety, too innocent on the eyes to keep alive. The king's desperation is growing. Even those of immortal strengths are deemed unworthy to live in his kingdom if their spines aren't straight and their eyes aren't clear. I held my breath through the entire night, only dozing for minutes before my body shook me awake and forced me to maintain a hold on the current situation. Despite Renit's best interests, he couldn't keep his heavy-lidded eyes open any longer.
Once the guards had gone to sleep, leaving only one man on watch, the deaths stopped. As did the jokes and stories of past times where Renit's name came up, one guard detailing a victorious raid on rebels living in Mailan. How the prince had cut off their heads and set the building ablaze; the living trapped within. And he never turned back as they screamed.
The story settled in my stomach like an empty pit until the sun rose and Renit lifted his head from where he rested it against my stomach. My muscles, after not moving for the entire night, couldn't support me to stand. Alas, Renit carried me for another few hours so I could muster the strength of daylight hours once the guards were gone.
Besides hiding from guards and enduring every step with a grit of my teeth and a strong clench of my jaw, the journey back to Arego was uneventful. We ate what we could of our food, drank fresh water from streams, swam in a pond hidden within the woods to rid the grime off our bodies, and Renit, being the mysterious healing type, tended to what wounds he could repair.
Only one gash, one along my arm, was wide enough for stitching. Not wanting to risk the wound getting infected, Renit stitched the skin together while I screamed into a bloodied cloth and clenched my hands so tight into fists that I dug small wounds into my palms. Renit cleaned those, too.
I slipped in and out of slumber for most of the journey so the memories of what we went through are not there. The box was clutched in my arms the entire time, hidden within the satchel, and that weight was the one thing I didn't let go. Not even now as we approach Arego; I grip the strap of the satchel tighter as if someone will leap from the trees and snatch it directly from my body.
A flash of orange hair reveals to me that Bren is still alive and that lock in my chest loosens further. Everyone is alive, they're all right. My biggest fear was returning to find everyone gone, Arego reduced to nothing but ash and the king—the victorious leader of Esaria—standing atop their bare skulls.
YOU ARE READING
Conquering The Unbroken
Fantasy[Book 4 of the Grounding the Storm series] Roux is back in the safe hands of those that care for her most. With a ticking clock over their heads, the rebellion forms into the operation Bren dreamed it would be since the day he joined. But the threat...
