Lady Thief [on hold]

~ Chapter Seven ~

Key remained in her almost conscious, almost unconscious phase for as long as she road. Every once in a while, she came to completely, but the scenery around her seemed too vivid, the light of the sky was too bright and the shadows of the trees were too dark. Everything else seemed simply too extreme to be real. The angry yells of the officer were booming thunderclaps, and the constant clip clopping of hoof beats on the ground was like the cadence of a giant war drum.

They didn’t stop riding all throughout the night, and when the sun crested over the horizon, they kept on riding, not stopping for even a moment. The sun kept creeping on its path over the world. Once it reached its highest point, at mid day, the other people in the group started pulling spare food out of their bags and eating. Key watched with blank, lifeless eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to eat. Even at the thought of food, Key’s stomach felt like a lead weight in her gut.

When Key next came fully to her senses, the sky on the western horizon blossomed with color. Her eyes became fixated on the setting sun, which left a sea of vivid scarlet in its wake, and a barely perceptible, winding trail of gold through the clouds.

“You see those buildings up ahead?” boomed the officer. Key’s head jerked toward the harsh sound of his voice.

“It’s Celandine!” cried one of the other people in the party. Other joyful words bounced through the crowd, but they filled Key’s ears as a bunch of pointless, white noise.

“Right. Now, get off your horses and start setting up camp for the night. Wardens, flatten the grass, sorcerers, sort out the rations, and swordsmen, get the firewood.” he commanded, pointing to each group in turn.

“What do you mean set up camp?” asked one. “The city is right there! We could continue riding and arrive within the hour!

The officer scowled. “Yes, I’m glad you can see that, Mr. Collins. And if you challenge my authority again, I’ll have you walking there tomorrow morning, and it’ll take you at least twice that time, are we clear?”

Key sat numbly for a moment, watching the goings on before she felt a stab of panic. Celandine! There was a doctor there who could help her! It was the reason they were in this mess. “What about me?” Key asked.

“Yeah, she’ll be lucky if she even lives to see tomorrow morning.” she heard Serenity chip in.

“Aye! I’m not going to sit here and watch myself sink into insanity with this infection, or what ever you want to call it.” said another person.

“She’s the reason we rode half of the night, anyway!”

A glint of malice appeared in the officer’s eye. “Well, I suppose you all have a point.” he said in a voice that seemed falsely sweet when paired with his stormy expression. “Since Lady Malakanorda is in such failing health, it would only be fair to give her a fair shot at recovery, and the only way we can hope to accomplish that is to send her to a trained healer.”

The officer spurred his horse toward Key, coming up behind her. “So, without further ado, I intend to send our swordswoman on her way.” he said ceremoniously. “The rest of you can get back to work.”

Before Key could puzzle out what he meant, he yanked out a whip and cracked her horse right on the haunches. A high pitched cry escaped the beast, and it lunged awkwardly forward. Key could do nothing but bury her face in the horse’s neck and cling to it for dear life.

The horse took off into a frenzied flight down the road, making the world fly past in a wild blur. Key’s tenuous hold on consciousness threatened to do the same. Flecks swam in her vision, and her head throbbed at every frantic hoof beat that sounded. For the perhaps the first time, Key had a sinking suspicion that she was actually going to die. With any other enemy she’d ever faced, whether it was a monster, a person, or more than one person, there was always some hope that she’d get out of it. In fact, no matter what, she always managed to escape trouble somehow, it was why she was around yet. This, though, she couldn’t escape. She couldn’t kill it or trick it, or even run away from it.