“Can you shut up?!” I hissed under my breath, my nerves on edge.
“Are we good to leave?”
“What?”
“The codex?” His smile waned. “Did you find it?”
Crap, I had to run into him! I couldn’t lie about having it. If I did, we were stuck here until we recovered it. “Ah, yeah… yeah!” I nodded vigorously. “I got it. Where’s, you know, the L-, I mean, Lord Alpinuer?”
“Being summoned by the council,” he whispered. “Jacidia prepared our escape route, it’s best we take it.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Jezz
I never liked depending on luck to save my furry backside, but this time, I’d make an exception. It didn’t matter how motivated I was to get out of that blazing abyss of torment and misery, it wasn’t going to be easy. Red warned me it wouldn’t, but I was so determined and focused that I thought I could overcome anything that came my way. But after the Blood Games, things were bad, really, really bad. They had eyes on me every second of every hour, and I knew that slipping away from their grasp would be near impossible. And then there was Red—Lucyna made sure he was segregated from me as far as possible. I had no clue if he was alive or not, but when my unexpected guardian angel came to rescue me, I insisted he released as many prisoners as he could, including Red.
Still, I felt weird about the entire thing. This was Gerald, Lucyna’s titan guard I was talking about. The super juiced up, clocked up war machine who was known to snap without a second’s thought. And to add onto his scary reputation, he’d killed my Silas on earth, and I’d never forgive him for that!
Just thinking about it as we marched through the barren lands of Senterra made me antsy. With the help of Gerald’s mana potion, I had teleported us here so we could space ourselves out from the guards, but the aftermath of the prison break was still heavy on my shoulders. It was bringing me down, that, and the cold nipping wind that ate at my ankles.
I could transform into a wolf, but I wanted to spare my energy.
“How much further to salvation?” Red asked me as he trailed behind.
I pivoted my head over my shoulder and gave him a furrowed look. “I could teleport us directly there, but I need to wait until my mana catches up,” I reminded him. Gerald had broken the Kutra chains back there, helping us in escaping. He was able to shatter my metal cuffs with his bare hands, reminding me of how strong he was. Even so, I wasn’t an ounce bit scared of him! If he made one wrong move, I was going to put him down!
It was why I was walking right beside him, and Red was behind us. If Gerald decided to change his mind, I’d protect Red and give him time to escape. Without these chains handicapping me, I was confident that I could handle my own against the behemoth, no matter how powerful he was.
“Cold…” he randomly spoke, then he turned his head my way and looked down at me. “Cold?”
He must have noticed that I was shivering. My clothes weren’t the best, battered and tattered in some areas, with a few rips here and there—all courtesy of Matissa’s torture toys. The fabric of my tunic was a dull grey that smelled musty, like old sweat and dirt had been ground into it. The shorts that stopped at my knees were torn, with loose strings dangling off the edges. The backside was ripped open with long narrow tears from being whipped, letting the icy air bite at my skin.
I didn’t remember Senterra being this cold during this season. The change in climate was unusual, or maybe not. Mama Kar was dying, and this crippling weather could just be one of the stages of her death.
My teeth rattled as I tried to keep quiet, not wanting to draw his attention to me. But it wouldn’t matter, Gerald reaching into his inventory and pulling out a thick and incredibly huge black cloak.
He dropped it over my head like a blanket, the darn thing swallowing me in! I wrestled with it before I made a huge fit, tossing the piece of fabric that smelled like blood and rotten flesh on the ground. “I don’t need your sympathy!” I scolded him. “Just stay away from us! I told you this before! We don’t need you!”
“Jezz!” Red called out, rushing to my side. He leaned over my shoulder and whispered, “We shouldn’t upset him!”
“He’s not coming with us!” I whispered back through my teeth.
“I know that, but for now, let him be. He can protect us.”
“We don’t need his help anymore! He gave us the only healing potion he had and broke our chains, so now his work is done!”
“We can run into problems along the way,” he reminded me. “It is best we have him as insurance.”
“Screw insurance! The closer we get to the camp, the more we risk him knowing where it is!”
“I understand what you mean. But for now, let us play it safe. We want to be ready for any surprises.”
I grumbled under my breath but didn't argue with him. He had a point. The journey to PP was dangerous, and we could use all the help we could get. I picked up the cloak from where it lay on the ground and wrapped it around my shoulders, shuddering at the touch of the cold fabric on my skin.
As we continued our journey, I couldn't help but feel uneasy with Gerald's presence. I knew Red was right, that we needed him as insurance, but there was something about him that made me feel... exposed. It could be the way he looked at me, his eyes lingering for a little too long. His big size didn’t help either, as it felt like I had a giant shadow with piercing red eyes glued on me.
“What the heck are you staring at?!” I barked at him, and then my stomach grumbled.
“Hun-gry?” he asked, his voice low and hoarse. Then he looked up to the sky at the big bird flying solo across our heads, whipped out his laser eyes, and beamed it at the creature. A squawk, some falling feathers, and a 500 feet drop. The big bird plopped right in his grasp, Gerald then proceeding to find wood for a fire along our path.
I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Well, at least we won’t grow hungry with him around,” Red smiled, walking over to Gerald to help him with the fire wood.
Red was getting too cozy too quickly with the idea of having a murderer around. Red must have forgotten the devastation he’d caused, no matter what the race. He was a worldwide menace, and he wasn’t about to trick me into thinking otherwise!
After we had settled around the fire and roasted the bird, I made sure to keep my distance from Lucyna’s watchdog, sitting as far away from him as possible. I took a seat by Red, who insisted on engaging the skeleton faced giant with small talk. He asked him a lot of questions, the last one being, “Why did you rescue us?”
He answered back with silence. It was better that way. Between his broken articulation and robotic stuttering, I couldn’t bear to hear him talk anymore. But as the night grew darker and the fire dimmed, he had learned to rehash his words to sound smoother and more coherent. With Red keeping him talking, I noticed that his responses were getting longer, sentences forming and ideas materializing.
Well, good for him. He was giving my ears a break.
“It seems like whenever I say the princess’ name, you tense up,” Red observed. “So let’s leave Dradersi in the past, and focus on the future ahead. I’d like to ask you again, why did you save us, Gerald?”
Again, he couldn’t speak. All he could do was look my way, like I was the answer. Heck, I didn’t know him! He was staring at me like he did, and I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He was making my skin crawl. Red seemed to be oblivious to the attraction, completely unaware of the tension radiating from me.
As we sat silently around the fire, Red and I ate while he continued to sit there like he was still thinking about Red’s question. Red gave him time to find his words, because he was curious as to why someone like him, a devoted servant of dragons, would help two imprisoned fae. It’d been five minutes already, and I used all that time to tear through that bird. I ate more than Red, and Gerald didn’t even touch the food Red and I prepared.
