Page 31 of Trapped to Tame
Chapter 6
Drax
They travelled for the whole morning, stopping for an afternoon meal only, and the female ate as much as she possibly could, shoveling it all into her mouth at speed as if she was afraid it would be taken from her.
Drax frowned at her, wondering again at her life in that town before they met her. He and the others had been blessed with childhoods in the Underhill, but he’d wager her experiences had been a far cry from theirs.
‘Why do you eat so much?’ Priest asked in that cold way of his.
‘Enough, Brother,’ he said quietly, giving Priest a meaningful look that his Brother ignored, preferring to stand and mount his steed instead.
‘Going to scout ahead,’ he announced, casting one more scathing look at the female before he turned his horse and rode off down the road, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
‘Don't mind him,’ Drax said.
Eve merely shrugged as they mounted their horses and went slowly after Priest. She pretended she didn’t care what Priest said, but Drax knew the truth. Priest’s anger towards her and his cutting comments were beginning to take their toll on her. He could feel how anxious she got whenever she was the focus of his ire.
‘Where are we going now?’ she asked. ‘Will there be another inn?’
Drax didn’t need the bond to hear the hope in her voice. She may be uncomfortable in the lavish surroundings they took for granted, but she’d enjoyed the fine room they’d stayed at the night before … just as she’d enjoyed what he’d done to her though it was clear by her shock that she’d never been brought to her peak before. He looked forward to expanding her education, but it would have to wait.
‘There are no more towns between here and the Ice Plains,’ Drax told her. ‘It'll get colder. The road will become more treacherous. Stay close to us. Keep your eyes and your ears open.’
She nodded, gazing around at the forest that surrounded them.
‘You don't like it, do you?’ Drax muttered, gesturing at the trees.
‘There are a lot of things I don’t like,’ she said, her voice just as low as his.
They didn't seePriest for the rest of the day. Their small party kept to the road and, as it began to get dark, Drax looked around for his Brother’s tell-tale markings to show where he had left the track, for it was not safe to camp too close to the main thoroughfare. The woods were dangerous, it was true, but the road was doubly so.
He saw two sticks on the ground, pointing into the underbrush and he led his horse off the packed dirt and into the trees. He felt the female’s fear spike, but she didn't say anything as they went deeper into the forest.
They hadn't gone far when Drax smelled the smoke from the fire. He dismounted, hearing Fie and Eve do the same behind. They walked the rest of the way on foot, coming to a small clearing with meat cooking and the bedrolls already laid out. Priest had made a circle of stones large enough for them and the horses as well.
Drax made sure not to disturb them as they passed over the threshold and into the clearing. They’d be necessary later out here.
‘Hurry up,’ Priest said. ‘We're not alone. I left some rabbits as a decoy, but as soon as the sun is down, we need to make sure the circle is cast unless you want to spend the entire night fighting,’ he stifled a yawn, ‘which I do not.’
Drax made sure that the female and her horse were within the circle’s boundaries. He nodded to Priest who took his amulet, runes carved into the surface, out of the pouch at his belt. His Brother muttered the words to ensure their safety for the night.
‘You must not leave the circle,’ he said to Eve.
She didn't question him, though Drax knew she was curious.
She wasn't much of a talker. In some ways, that was a good thing. It was irritating to travel with a companion who constantly needed to fill the silences with mindless chatter, but he did wish she would volunteer more information about herself.
He supposed that she didn't trust them. Of course, they didn't trust her either, he reminded himself, though he wasn’t sure he believed that anymore. Since the claiming, it had been getting harder and harder to remember that her being a Fourth was a necessity, a temporary state. They hadn't chosen her. She had forced their hand. They’d neither wanted nor needed a Fourth. That hadn’t changed, had it?
The subject of his thoughts sat on a log by the fire, staring at the rabbit and practically salivating. Priest scoffed at her, but said nothing, focusing on sharpening his knives.
Drax walked to the edge of the circle and looked out into the rapidly darkening forest.
‘How many are out there?’
Priest didn't get up from what he was doing, nor did his actions falter.
‘There are about twenty in that direction.’ He pointed to the north. ‘And something larger makes its way towards us from the south. Nothing we aren’t prepared for,’ he said. ‘We know what dangers lurk out here. In truth, I was surprised that the human mercenaries we sent north returned.’
