Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
“Are you done?” Nylian groused.
“I don’t know. Are you and Adeline done with negotiations?” I shot at him.
“We’re done. We’ve settled on seven hundred.”
“Excellent.” I hopped to my feet and dusted off the seat of my pants, for what little it was worth. The way things were looking, it was going to be a while before I saw anything like a hot bath and a clean change of clothes. “Let’s get on the road.” I pointed in the direction I thought was northeast, trying to appear confident and powerful.
Nylian sighed as he wrapped his fingers around my wrist and adjusted my point by forty-five degrees to my left. “It’s a good thing you’re not leading this group.”
“Yep. I have no sense of direction,” I admitted freely. Back home, I’d gotten lost in my local mall more than once. God help me in those big box stores.
“Why am I bringing you along at all?”
I smiled at the elf and patted him on the shoulder. “Remember, I’m the distraction. I’m the one always ready to get you out of trouble.” I also hoped I wasn’t the one getting him into trouble.
Chapter 8
Time for Me to Strangle Nylian
Hiking through the woods to something that resembled a road sucked.
Had I complained about riding a horse recently?
I took it all back. Every single derogatory word. Horses were great. They were beautiful, magnificent beasts that generously carried me from one place to the next at a brisk speed.
This walking was tedious.
Of course, the things hiding in the woods trying to kill us made the walking worse. The ogres hadn’t made a reappearance, but those first couple of days we’d run into wild boars who hadn’t cared for us moving through their territory, as well as bears, goblins, and what Nylian had reassured me were orcs. We didn’t stick around long enough to spot them. Hearing them from a distance was enough.
While Adeline threatened to sic her brother on them and shrink all the orcs down to squirrels, I wasn’t too confident that Jasper had control of that spell. I didn’t want to risk becoming squirrel-sized as well.
It wasn’t just the boredom from walking or the exhaustion that was getting to me. Nylian had begun acting strange almost from the start of adding Jasper and Adeline to our group. It was as if the man didn’t want me talking to Jasper. Was he afraid I was going to get into magic and try casting spells myself? Not likely.
Occasionally, the elf would run ahead to scout the route and make sure we didn’t need to take a detour past any troublesome areas. When he would return, I would be swapping stories with Jasper. Each time, the elf would insert himself into our conversation and intentionally chase Jasper off to walk with his sister.
I didn’t dare talk to Adeline more than necessary. Soon, Nylian and Adeline would fall for each other, and I didn’t want to risk getting caught up in that mess.
I wasn’t sure how that was going to happen, though. Adeline and Nylian barely spoke more than a few words and were never alone together. As much as I hated to do it, it was time for me to step in. Those two needed to be well on the road to love before reaching Riverhold. Because if they weren’t, they would go their separate ways without a backward glance. We would also need to cough up the money we owed the thief-mercenary.
Besides, I wasn’t letting this elf screw up my book more than he already had. He was supposed to have a harem that loved and supported him on this difficult road. What did he have now? A neurotic, useless author who was good at walking into trees. That was not enough.
Of course, I enjoyed the conversations I had with Nylian. He had a dry, sharp wit that always took me by surprise each time it sneaked into his tales. While he was still careful to avoid giving details about his life as a prince, he shared some interesting adventures he’d had with his brother. There wasn’t much I could share about my life, but he seemed to enjoy stories about Georgie and her girlfriend, Jack.
As the third day wore on, we called an early halt when he located a flat spot to make camp near a winding stream. I was getting pretty good at helping to set up camp—though considering our nonexistent supplies, setting up camp came down to finding some firewood and removing some rocks from the area so their sharp edges weren’t digging into my spine as I slept. If we were out of food, Adeline or Nylian would head off to find or kill something to fill our bellies.
Nylian and Jasper had attempted to give me lessons in cleaning and skinning the rabbits or fowl they caught. I’d thrown up both times, so they gave up on trying to teach me that and let me take over the cooking and firewood fetching.