Chapter 46 Closer

Chapter 46 Closer


ATLAS' POV:

"This is bullshit!"

That was what got everyone awake and me running back to where they were to see what was wrong.

As it happens, Boar just woke up from his forty minute nap, and the first thought that came to his head was start complaining.

"My back is completely ruined," he announced to no one in particular. "That tree had a knot in exactly the wrong spot. I'm going to walk crooked for the rest of my entire life because of this."

"You'll live," Raven said, as he grabbed his knife that he always kept beside him.

With his grip on the hilt of the knife, I was sure he was imagining how his knife would look good with Boar's blood on it.

"Barely. I'll barely live." Boar stretched out clueless, and groaned, then he noticed Lily over by the stream. "Hey. Princess. How's the maid doing over there?"

Lily looked up, rubbing her fingers on her eyes, clearing out the daze. "Still unconscious. But she's breathing."

"Well that's something at least." Boar walked over and crouched down and looked at Anya's face. "She's got a nasty bruise there for sure. Might have a cracked rib too, the way they had her stuffed in that closet. But she'll make it. She's a tough one."

"You don't even know her," Lily said quietly.

"I know the type." Boar stood up. "I've seen it before. Girls who serve nobles, they're either broken or they're made of iron. She's iron."

Lily looked at him for a long moment and then she nodded.

I walked over to them. "We need to move soon since Boar has already interrupted our rest. Raven, where's the nearest village around here?"

Raven pointed east. "Maybe an hour, maybe two. It's a small one but we can get some food there, maybe horses if we're lucky."

"And if we're not lucky?"

He shrugged. "Then we walk more. That's all."

I glanced back at Lily to see her already watching me, her expression unreadable, her fingers running absentmindedly on her maid hair.

She could see my reluctance because she stood up. "I can walk. I'm fine."

There was a weird squeezing in my chest... again. I've been feeling that since we rescued her. It was as though I wanted to force her back to rest.

She wasn't fine though. I could see it in the way she was holding herself, all stiff and careful. And the shadows under her eyes were dark. And her hands had this slight tremor when she moved them. But she wasn't complaining and that counted for something.

"Let's go then," I said, shaking off the stupid spirit possessing my body.

Raven picked Anya up again and settled her over his shoulder. Boar stretched one more time and groaned about his back again.

Lily came and stood right next to me, and we began walking. "Will there be a physician to take a look at Anya?"

"What happened to you Physician Lily?"

"Shut up." She said but in all softness and tiredness. "I didn't say I was a licensed physician. You're the one who keeps calling me that."

I smirked. "I know nothing about your maid except that you are in need of treatment. You look like dog shit." I moved my head close, and sniffed her dramatically. "You smell like one too."

She actually took offense in that. Her small pouty lips squeezed together, her eyebrows dipped down, almost touching each other and her eyes...she looked like a cat trying to do damage but couldn't. "I'm sorry that I was kidnapped and wasn't offered any food or maybe a bath!"

"You're the crown Princess. You should have ordered one."

Her mouth opened, then closed as she gazed at me, her words seemingly lost for a while before she muttered. "You are unbelievable and annoying. I hope you know that."

"Yeah I do. Helps me sleep well at night."

"Shut up. I'm not talking to you, neither should you."

Even as she said that, she didn't move an inch away from me. I hid my smile, loving how she was depending on me.
The village was even smaller than Raven had said it would be. Like maybe a dozen houses, a well in the middle, and a pen with a few scraggly looking chickens in it. No inn. No horses for sale anywhere.

But there was an old woman selling bread from a little cart.

Boar practically ran over to her. Like he moved fast, faster than I'd seen him move in a while. He came back a few minutes later with two loaves of bread that were still warm, and he had a whole story about how the old woman had tried to charge him triple because he looked "like a bandit."

"I'm wounded," he said, tearing off a piece of bread and shoving it in his mouth. "I have feelings, you know."

"You have a face that looks like you rob people," Raven said.

"That's just my face. I can't help my face. I was born with this face."

"Do the world a good by wearing a mask over your face then."

I was starting to miss Black.

"Your mouth is full of shit, Raven bird shit." Boar answered harshly, turning to Lily offering her bread. "Here you go Princess."

Lily took the bread that Boar offered her and she just held it for a second, like she wasn't sure what to do with it. Then she started eating, fast, like she was afraid someone was going to take it away from her.

I looked away to spare her any form of embarrassment until she was done and asked for some water which Boar handed to her.

We found a spot near the edge of the village, kind of hidden behind some bushes, and we sat there eating bread and drinking water from the well. Anya still hadn't woken up. Lily sat beside her and fed her tiny little sips of water, talking to her in a low but gentle voice.

Boar finished his bread and leaned back against a tree. "So what now? We just walk back to the palace carrying her and say 'Hey, look what we found, your princess was in a closet'?"

"We figure out what Kathy's next move is," I said. "Her people must have reported back to her so she knows Lily's gone by now. She'll have people looking for her."

"Let them look." Boar shrugged. "We're faster than they are."

"Not with her." I nodded at Lily's maid. "And not with Lily exhausted like this."

"Why can't we just kill them?" Boar asked, already vibrating with the thought of fisting his hands into someone's chest.

"Because it will cause more problems than we already in." I replied.

Raven was quiet for a minute, thinking. Then he said, "There's a place I know. Old hunting cabin, maybe an hour north of here. Nobody uses it this time of year. We could hole up there for a day, get some rest, make a plan."

I thought about it. Going straight back to the palace was risky, too many questions and too many people who might be working for Kathy. But staying out here in the open was risky too.

"We go to the cabin," I said. "One day rest. Then we move."

Nobody argued. I took that as acceptance as I crossed over to meet Lily.

Lily looked up at me when she heard my footsteps. Her body was displaying signs of tiredness but she made sure to keep her eyes opened.

"Thank you," she said as I was within her reach.

That was the third time now.

"Yeah whatever. I'm not doing this for free. I plan to use this event to torment you forever."

She nodded and gave me a small smile. "I will happily allow that."

With that soft expression on her face, I had no idea what to say.