I Am Who? - Book 2

Chapter 12 - Mender

Bright sunlight blinded me for a moment, and I blinked quickly to clear my vision. When my eyes had adjusted to the light, I found myself looking down the mountainside. Uncertainly, I took a few steps around the corner of the tent and found myself surveying the tent encampment. Biting down on my lower lip blankly, I wondered where I was supposed to go.

Evidently, between the time I had arrived in camp and now, there had been heavy rain. Frowning, I realized I had neither heard nor seen any indication of the storm until now. The tents must be made of some strong material that would keep even the wild weather of Kirmoa out.

I started at the sound of movement behind me, whirling to face it. A tall man rounded one of the tents, hauling an enormous log behind him. He barely spared me a glance as he passed, but nervousness thrummed through me. After the dream I had just had, nothing in the world seemed right. Outside the walls of the tent, I felt exposed and alone.

"You're awake?" I whirled again at the sound of the familiar voice.

Ayan's face met my eyes, and a sense of warm relief flooded me. His sharp gaze looked me up and down, and I wondered if there was any way he could have noticed my disheveled mental state. An ache stirred in my heart as longing sprang to life for someone to know what was happening. I couldn't bear to burden David with the information, but it was so hard to keep it locked away within myself, facing the horrors alone.

"You slept so long, Martimus thought you wouldn't wake up!" He smirked. "Of course, Martimus is rarely right about anything." He raised his voice and glanced meaningfully at the tent I had just exited, winking at me.

An exclamation of displeasure shortly followed by Martimus's muffled protests met our ears. Ayan looked down at me, his expression full of devilish satisfaction as he listened. After this, I didn't think anything about the two of them could shock me anymore. For years, I had heard nothing but whispered rumors about how terrifying they were, but now that I was face-to-face with them, they were nothing like what I'd expected.

"Come on." Ayan said. "Let's get you something to eat. He'll keep going like that for hours."

"Won't he be angry if he finds out you left when he was trying to say something to you?" I shot a glance at the tent.

"Mmhmm." He grinned at me like a naughty schoolboy, taking my arm and leading me away.

With Martimus's voice still echoing in our ears, we cross the camp to the fireside. Ayan began to hum cheerfully as he shifted some of the logs and brought flames to life. I stared at him awkwardly, unsure what I should do with myself now.

"San, bring some food." He called when he'd set the fire up how he wanted it. "You may sit back and watch. Dinner's on me." He winked.

Obediently, I sat down on a log that was situated near the fire—presumably for seating purposes. The man that had passed me earlier appeared in a moment with a tray. Again, he barely looked at me as he handed the tray to Ayan, whispering something unintelligible before disappearing into one of the tents.

Ayan fell silent, seeming to consider whatever information he had just received, but when he noticed me staring at him, his serious expression disappeared, and he smiled. My heart pounded nervously in my chest at the realization that he was hiding something from me. What were they planning to do with me?

"If you think we're going to hand you over to his royal pain in the backside, you can get that thought out of your head." He raised a brow, piercing a piece of meat to roast. "If we'd wanted that, we would have left you with those men." He looked up at me meaningfully, and I was reminded how my future was entirely reliant upon them. "Look, I meant what I said back at the castle that time: you're one of the luckiest people I know. You have more friends than most, and after the way you've defied the king, we'll stand behind you now."