Page 14 of Gilded Lies

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He ended up at another river crossing. Technically, on the other side, he’d be in Zora. The owner of that boat said he’d seen a boxcart, but he hadn’t paid attention to it, and he didn’t feel like talking.

Jari disembarked, found another trail heading south, and continued. After another three days of not enough rest for either and hasty trips to get food and water, the trail merged onto a road.

“Fuck,” he swore, and Mercury let out an angry huff.

Plenty of lines marred the dirt from wagons and carts, and if any split off at some point, he wouldn’t know if it was his actual target. It headed south, and King David’s Castle was roughly thatway. The problem was that he didn’t know the area, and they might not bring the Prince directly to the King. What if they held him somewhere else, and he never picked up a trail or a hint?

“Come on, Mercury. I’ll tear this fucking Kingdom apart if I had to.”

Mercury snorted as he shot forward.

The road led to the capital, Zenith, which was spread out beneath the Castle that was up on a hill. He stared at it even though he knew he wouldn’t see Aurelius.

It would make sense to keep the Prince close, right? How would Jari get in? Maybe he could clean himself up, get a job inside as some kind of servant, and go from there? That wouldn’t be something he could do in an hour. He might not be able to get a job anyway.

What if Aurelius was being held somewhere else? Jari seethed as he fought his way through the crowded streets and cursed himself again for letting this happen. He passed a stall with books set out on shelves so the fronts showed, and he had to pause Mercury. A fruit seller’s baskets had been spilled in the road, and he was hurriedly trying to collect the fruit. A man shouted at someone to move, and a kid snatched a blue, fuzzy fermon before he ran off with a giggle.

Jari glanced at the bookstall and the two shelves next to it. The gilded letters of one title winked at him.

Eurig said the fourth item was in a guard. Maybe he hadn’t meant a man who wielded a sword and could have been dead by then. He’d barely been able to speak at that point, and he’d ignored Jari’s question while he struggled to get out a few last words for his son.

“Do you want to buy a book?” The teenage girl trying to lure people over hurried up to him. “We've got a bunch of new ones.”

Jari pointed at the picture on the book with the gilded title. “Is that about King David?”

“None of these are about King David,” she said. “It’s all fiction. If you want history, you’ll have to go to the actual shop. It’s on-”

Jari ignored her as he spotted a gap in the crowd, and he urged his horse through. Someone swore at him, and he was pretty sure Mercury mercilessly crushed a few pinkyberries under his hooves, but he ignored it.

He knew exactly what the fourth item was and where it was hidden. Everyone knew what King David’s ability was. It was a bit rare, not overly fabulous, and something that would give him an excuse to have a whole area for it. Eurig would have known and likely thought the fourth item to be a fitting gift for the one he used to love. After they split, it hadn’t been returned.

Aurelius had tried to give him a copy as a gift, although whether or not he’d secretly known was a mystery.

Except David surely hadn’t taken the gift and smashed it on the ground.

Chapter Three

Aurelius’s smothering panic had ended pretty fast after one of the men had knocked him on his ass with a few lightning bolts. After that, he’d only been vaguely aware of boots stepping onto his forearms and pinning his arms down so he couldn’t use his hands.

Bitter liquid had been forced into his mouth, and nothing worried him anymore. He might as well have been on a cloud. Actually, hewasa cloud.

The jiggling of the cart was great. Everything was great. He’d never feel anything bad again. Even the odd sensation of swaying that later came was fabulous. Occasionally, voices reached through the haze. They meant nothing to him. He couldn’t tell if he had his eyes open or closed anymore, but he swore he caught a glimpse of Jari.

His beautiful lion. To be held by him and never released.

The swaying went away, and he was almost sure that Jari was there with him. After all, he’d always stay.

All of the bad shit came back after a while. Once he was coherent enough, he realized they’d drugged him so he’d be quiet and entirely helpless while they crossed the Prime. That explained the swaying. They hadn’t been willing to try and keep him quiet with threats or a gag. A riverboat owner would also get pretty pissed if it turned out his passengers had a prisoner, and that was why someone was shouting and banging on the inside of a boxcart.

Before the next crossing, he managed to keep his panic under control when the men opened the back, and the sunlight damn near blinded him.

“If you slide the bottle over, I’ll drink it, and you don’t have to-”

They didn’t even let him finish. They repeated the process and didn’t give a fuck about his bruised forearms. Aurelius spent the next crossing out of it, so he didn’t care about his forearms either.

When it happened a third time, he was still muddled with just enough sense to realize they’d be passing through populated areas. He was pretty sure they gave him extra liquid too. After that, he might as well have been trapped in a dream. It wasn’t bad. At least nothing scared him, and Jari was there.

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