Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Again, the scarred one they called Castor glared at me out of the corner of my eye. I understood his suspicion. I’d been nothing but a model prisoner since I woke from my fever dreams to find the nightmare wasn’t yet over.
But it soon would be.
They were taking me to Trono City where I’d be executed. Death was the only choice left since I didn’t make it through the border. It’d be their only choice if I tried to escape again, so why try?
My greatest fear was that they’d force me to enter the academy, but Castor took great pleasure in telling me that my making them follow me through a pack of typhons was tantamount to attempted murder. Deucalion Academy was off the table.
I accepted that and all their threats of what would happen to me if I ran, in blank-faced silence.
In Trono I’d be given a quick death. If I tried to run from them, the gold-booted soldier would explode me like a ripe grape in the Olympia summer heat. They would get no trouble from me.
“What’s wrong with you?” Castor snapped. “Did you trade your tongue for cowardice? Speak!”
I granted him a cool look. “And say what?”
“Ooh, so she does speak. Well, don’t stop now,” he said when silence befell me again. “Aren’t you going to tell us your side? Explain why you abandoned your people? You look to be about eighteen years old. Which means you’re due to enter the academy next week, and yet you were going the wrong way.” His lips twisted. “Why did you run? Did you really think a better life awaited you in the mundane dominion? Those selfish bastards brought the gods to their knees. What did you think they’d do with a gutless demigod speck like you?”
I gave him the back of my head and returned to my dandelion counting. “I give no excuses, nor will I defend my actions. I accept the punishment for my crimes.”
Castor scoffed. “If only all captured traitors were as agreeable as you.” He said that, though I picked up a trace of dissatisfaction in his tone. Was it because I didn’t satisfy his curiosity, or because he wanted more of a fight?
I didn’t spare the question another thought either way.
Our party fell quiet through the final trek through Calliope’s Forest. I remembered this path. A few hours on it would take us through the village where I spent the last of my money on bread and cheese. Bread and cheese that were ruined in the storm.
My stomach growled a loud, embarrassing echo. I was starving.
The closer we got to the village, the more I wondered at my chances of them spending good money to feed the gutless demigod speck.
They’d sooner let me fall off this horse in hunger.
“We’re coming up on Scythia Village,” said the mysterious soldier with his hood still pulled low. “We’ll book in an inn for the night, stock up on supplies, and sleep in real beds. It’s a seven days’ ride to Trono City. Enjoy the rest. You won’t get another until we get there.”
“What about the prisoner?” Jason asked.
“They have a jail. Book her in for the night.”
“Is that wise?” Jason was tall, stocky, middle-aged, and weathered from the lines on his face to the set of his dimpled jaw. The mysterious soldier sounded young, but the men around me deferred to him.
Wouldn’t you, when faced with a power like his?
Of course. Power trumps all in this dominion. I suspect that held true in the others as well.
“If she’s guilty of all she’s accused of, she’s already proven she can achieve impossible escapes. I suggest we don’t let her out of our sight.”
“Children of Hecate spell the jails against escape. But if it will allay your fears, you three are welcome to take shifts guarding her. You wanted to waste the people’s time with a trial. You can waste your own getting her back in one piece. She’s your problem.”
I bristled at his tone. So much dislike in one small speech. You would’ve thought we were a married couple and my attempt to flee was to get to my lover in another land.
Rolling fields stretched out around us, enticing us to dance with the tall undulating grass. I turned my face to the sun, secretly glad my last days would be under its shine, instead of mud, floods, and poisoned rain.
Voices soon assaulted my peaceful daydream. I kept my eyes closed, staying in it just a while longer.
The hustle and bustle of village life pressed in on my ears, dragging memories to the surface. I remembered my little town on the sea. Boats would cling to the harbor, baring the battle scars of siren and scylla attacks. Men bellowed across the decks, waking those of us with homes nearby for a dawn rise.