The Mages of Royas Bay (Mages of Wrystan 1)

Chapter 3: The Old Witch, Part 1

A HARD SHOVE on the shoulder woke Hawk the next morning. It broke through his restless dreams and brought him back to his nightmare.

The camp was busy with activity as the Callisuni men finished their breakfast and packed up their gear. Trying without much success to stretch out his aches and pains, Hawk took a quick glance at his guardsmen. They looked as cold, stiff and uncomfortable as he felt.

"Are we done waiting yet?" a disgruntled voice muttered by his shoulder.

Hawk looked down into Sidony's dark green eyes and shook his head. "Not yet."

"What are you waiting for?" she huffed. "A miracle?"

A flash of orange caught Hawk's eye. "That would be nice."

"No talk. Up. Go."

Rough hands dragged them to their feet, barely pausing to allow them a swallow of water and a bite of stale bread each before they were moving off through the forest. There was no breath for talking after that.

* * *

THEY TRUDGED ON without rest through the morning. It was hard for Hawk to keep up with the fast moving foreigners on stiff legs and an empty stomach, but Sidony fared worse. Smaller and a lot less used to going without, there was only so much she could take before collapsing.

She tried to fight it, though, and Hawk was amazed by how stubborn she was. Even when she stumbled and had to be supported by Ren, she still refused to give in. Thankfully, all the prisoners were being herded together, so when Ren grew tired of bracing her up there was always another guardsman to pass her along to. If their captors saw the girl struggling, they showed no signs of caring.

So much for her being valuable, Hawk thought, focusing grimly on walking, determined not to fall. He was light-headed from hunger and exhaustion. Yet every so often he caught a flash of orange from the shadows and it spurred him on.

Cyrus was still out there, waiting for a chance to act. Hawk had to keep his wits together so that he would be ready. A chance had to come soon, something had to change. All he had to do was wait for it.

* * *

"ANYTHING?"

Hawk and Sidony had been dumped in the middle of the camp again, with the guardsmen staked in pairs around the edge. They were in a clearing created by a couple of fallen pines and filled with bracken and prickly thorns. It was even more difficult to get comfortable here than it had been in the dell. Sidony kept wriggling and Hawk wondered what Cricket was up to.

He looked down and caught a twitch of a whisker from the edge of Sidony's sleeve. "Be careful," he murmured.

Sidony winked at him.

"I asked you a question, witch. Have you seen anything?"

The head kidnapper and the old man were arguing again. They did it a lot. By using the Wrystani tongue, they managed to avoid informing the majority of their men just what it was they were disagreeing over. If it meant they told their captives instead, clearly they didn't care. It wouldn't do them any good anyway.

Hawk raised his eyebrows at Sidony and she tightened her lips with a nod, promising to keep quiet. It was their only way of learning what was going on.

The old man, who looked unfairly lively after such a walk, shrugged. "Nothing. There is nothing. I told you there would be nothing and nothing is what you have."

The leader stepped in close, using his height to intimidate the wizened figure. "If you are lying to me..."

The old man waved his hands. "Bah. I told you. Her job is done. We have the little mages. She will go home now."