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My mouth is cupped, and my arms are restrained as a group of naga grab me from behind.
One presses a knife to my throat, its cold, hard, serrated steel almost piercing my skin.
“Another peep out of you and you’re dead!”
They haul me away.
Just like that, my new life is gone.
21
SELLISS
Now that I have the King’s blessing, I waste no time heading to the stables. There, I select the fastest equu the castle has in its arsenal, a valiant steed by the name of Scout.
As the stable workers prepare him, I equip myself with a sword and light armor. Once set, I take Scout’s reins and spur him into a trot, guiding him out of the palace grounds.
We exit the palace gates and pick up speed, transitioning into a gallop before we reach the main city.
“If she snuck out in the dead of night, she’ll no doubt have gotten past the main city.”
I continue on, coming to the outskirts where the terrain gradually lightens to nothing but sand for miles. At this point, I’m hightailing it to Lodra.
“I wonder if she even made it,” I say to myself. “These deserts are scorching hot in the daylight and drop almost to freezing at nightfall.”
As I ride, I pray to the gods that I do not stumble upon her corpse waist-deep in the dunes.
I long to hear Maya call out my name again, to hear the word ‘master’ emanate from those beautiful lips of hers.
The further I travel, the more anxious I grow, yet at the same time, it impresses me that she’s been able to get so far. For someone who has no knowledge of the land, she did well pulling off an escape.
Then again, I suppose that’s the kind of fuel that comes from being kept holed up in one room for weeks on end.
I ride for a few hours. It is still bright by the time I reach the outskirts of Lodra. As Scout trots into the city, I cannot help but feel a strange tingling run up my spine, like the scurrying of a hundred unwelcome insects inching their way beneath my skin.
I hitch Scout outside an inn and make my way inside, parched for a refreshment. I march up to the bar and signal for the bartender.
“A pint of water please.”
“Where are you coming from today, traveler?” he asks.
“Nowhere interesting, friend.”
“Have it your way,” he says, handing me the drink. “Lots of compelling folk coming round this way over the last while.”
“I bet. These are turbulent times, after all.”
“Indeed they are. You should have been here yesterday morning. There was a poor human woman who looked like she hadn’t seen sleep in a week.”
Human woman?
“Tell me more,” I ask, leaning my elbows on the counter.
“Where do I start? She came stumbling in like she was about to collapse. We gave her some water and a bite to eat, and after some prodding, she revealed she had come all the way from Yadat.”
“Yadat, you say?”
I keep my tone calm, but I know it just has to be Maya.
