The Book of Glass

Burlap Throne (11)

"Grab them and bring them outside. I want to make sure it's them."
    Emory dropped the book from her hands, knowing that even if she dove for the dagger in her bag, she wouldn't stand a chance. They filed in one by one, grabbing the girls and dragging them outside into the moonlight. Their calloused hands gripped their forearms and forced them to the ground facing the lake. Emory looked over to Shay, whose eyes were darting back and forth among the people surrounding them. Men and women alike, but their faces were marked with dark paint slashed over their lips, not in pristine armor like guards but in jagged hide or beaten down steel. They weren't concerned with niceties as their nails dug into the skin of the girls, making them wince with pain.
    One of them, with broad shoulders and a long beard, approached Ingrid. "You must be the one we've been warned about." He drew his sword, and the other girls let out a scream. Emory tried to tug her arms away, and succeeded in freeing one just as the man brought the hilt of his sword down across Ingrid's head. She slumped over onto the ground, and Emory fell to her knees once more. The man looked at her, a smile on his face. "We're not going to kill any of you. You have decent bounties on your heads."
    Shay's eyes moved over to Emory, who the man was now approaching. "Who are you?"
    "I'm Camtono. Now, in Waektown you said your names were Will and Rhys, but I have a feeling that's a lie." The raider, Camtono, leaned down and grabbed Emory's face. "You fucked Crane, right? Ha, that's why he let you hide out there." He pushed her face away and turned back to Shay. "You're her, though. The Daughter of Rosalind!" He laughed and reached up to the sky. "You have no idea how badly I wanted to meet you, Daughter." Camtono got down on his knees in front of Shay, just looking her over. Her hair was braided back now, but strands had fallen loose during her struggle, and he gently pushed one back behind her ear. "Actually, I did meet you before. You were too little to remember, then, but I was one of the guards that stayed behind to let you escape."
    "What?" Emory perked her head up. They had talked about their memories of that night over and over again, and while Shay didn't remember much, Emory remembered every little detail. Camtono looked over at her, and Emory shook her head. Even if he was there, he should be dead.
    "You girls left, and I waited for the other guards to come looking. They didn't kill me, and I'm glad they didn't. But, they did mark me for death for not following the orders of the new king. Ezekiel, too. How is he, by the way?" Camtono stood up, eyebrows drawn together.
    "Dead," Shay seethed as she looked up at him.
    Camtono didn't say anything, but looked down at the ground, messing with his beard in thought. Without looking at them once more, he gave a wave of his hand and the raiders around him picked the girls up once more. The last thing they saw was Camtono looking out at the lake as the moonlight reflected off of it, and then bags were tied over their heads.
    Emory could only make out noise as they were pulled into the back of a wagon. The whinnies of horses sounded like the raiders were struggling with Barley and Freckles, and she felt her heart skip a beat. Don't let them hurt them, she asked Rosalind. The raiders had tied their hands together with itchy twine that seemed to connect to one another somewhere behind their backs.
    The wagon went along, and at some point Emory could hear someone shifting. It was Ingrid, groaning as she realized the pain in her head. "Emory?"
    "I'm here. How's your head?"
    "Just great. What did they do with Shay?"
    "I'm here, too." There was a pause and Shay spoke again. "At long as we're together, things will be fine."
    "We can't guarantee how long we'll be together."
    "Alright, enough talking back there!"
    The girls fell in silence once more. The ride wasn't too long, but it was painful. Every bump in the road meant a bump in the cart, and it made her body sore sitting with her arms behind her back. There wasn't any hay or bags to cushion the blow, and soon Emory's knuckles were red and scarred from hitting the bottom of the cart every few seconds.
    Emory could slowly start to make out the sounds of people in a settlement of sorts nearby. They came closer to the noise, and she realized they must be at a raider camp. "Wautch ya catch this time 'round, Camtono?" "Any chance I can get a piece of that bounty?" "Are those girls for us?"
    The wagon slowed to a stop, and the sound of Camtono's voice cut through the others. "I'd like to see Waylin." Shuffling, and then she heard Ingrid call out. "Don't touch me!" Before she knew it, someone grabbed the rope between her and Shay and dragged them off of the wagon, but caught their bodies and stood them upright. Then, they were blindly led into a tent, a piece of the opening curtain brushing against Emory's shoulder.
    "Camtono? I thought you would be gone for a few more weeks." A beautiful voice greeted Emory's ears, and she looked in the direction of it. "What happened with the shipment?"
    "Forget the shipment. What I brought you is much better."
    "Then stop wasting my time and show me."
    Raiders lined up behind the girls took the burlap sacks off of the girls' heads, revealing a woman with deep black skin sitting on a make-do throne. At sight of the girls, she rose to her feet, her single brown eye widening. The other wasn't there anymore, and a scar dragged itself from her brow down to her chin. Her hair fell like thick rope, beautifully braided and laced with gold string.
    "Am I right to assume this is Princess Shay?" The woman, Waylin, walked up to Shay, a fur cloak trailing along the ground beneath her. The entire tent was an elaborate set up, and Emory watched as the woman walked with grace, but also with power. She was hardly a raider. She was their queen.
    "You are."
    Shay looked at the woman with a stone cold face, but Emory noticed her jaw clench as the woman closely examined her face. Then, Waylin bowed her head. "It is an honor to meet you, Daughter. I apologize for the way you were brought to me, but I can safely say raiders have a hard time with gentle touch." She smiled, revealing teeth with gems inset on a few.
    Shay remained silent and Waylin's smile disappeared. "Not a talker, I see. What about you two? What's their importance?" Waylin moved to Emory, sizing her up.
    "We're her guards," Emory said with ease.
    "Well you're terrible guards."
    "We weren't expecting an old man to have ties with raiders."
    "Like I said, terrible guards. What's your name?"
    "Emory."
    "And your friend?" Waylin turned to Ingrid, who had her eyes trained on the ground.
    "Witch," Camtono explained. "But, they all have decent bounties on their heads. High Commander Cassius insisted they all be brought to the castle alive and intact. I figured you would want to do the honors."
    "Oh, I would. How many people know their identities?" Waylin turned back towards her throne and continued to watch Ingrid, who paid no attention to anything going on around her.
    "Only me and the others who went with me. Six others in total. When do we leave?"
    "Tomorrow morning. If we leave now, the others will realize this is an important bounty. Then we have to share even more. You can leave tonight, actually. Take those two, and I'll leave with the Prophet. She doesn't seem too dangerous," Waylin cooed, obviously trying to get under Shay's skin. Get a reaction. But the three girls just stood with their hands tied, refusing to let her win any more than she already had. "They're not very fun."
    "Sorry to disappoint." Ingrid finally spoke, and when she did, she brought her hands in front of her body, the ropes broken. "Much better." The guard behind her reached for her sword, and Ingrid held up her hand, causing the person to freeze. "I'm not going to hurt anyone unless someone hurts my girls. I just don't like shackles, and I don't like being touched. If you want my bounty, I can assure you, it is better to play nice with me." Ingrid's words cut through the air, and Waylin's brows drew together. Before she could respond, Ingrid crossed her arms. "I'm going to assume you understand. You seem smart enough."
    "I don't like your tone."
    "I don't like you. Our horses aren't to be touched, as are our belongings. No distribution among the raiders, or no bounty."
    "You act like you have power of your own bounty," Waylin laughed, stepping up from her throne as her tone grew deep with anger. "I can assure you, my dear, that I don't need the money your bounty brings. If I feel like slitting your throat I could do just that."
    "Touch her, and Rosalind's grace for you is gone," Shay threatened. Emory looked at her, and realized just how much she was learning. She wasn't being treated like a child by anyone around her anymore except for Emory and Ingrid, and it was showing.
    Waylin looked back to Shay, her interested piqued. "She speaks." Waylin stared at her a second longer before turning back to Ingrid. "I would like to remind you that you are my prisoner for now. No magic will be tolerated, and if anything it will make you a target so in all honesty your show of power is unnecessary." Waylin took one last long look at the trio before gesturing to Camtono. "The bags go back on their heads, and then they go with Camtono, but the witch stays with me."

Emory and Shay were back in the wagon, but this time, Camtono was kind enough to let their hands be bound in front of their body at the sight of their knuckles. Still, they rode with bags over their heads. "Are you really going to make us wear these bags over our heads the entire way to the castle?" Shay spoke up, but neither of the guards replied to her.
    "If I'm lucky maybe I'll suffocate before I can get there. Then I wouldn't have to deal with the False King."
    "Of all the years we've been running from him, I don't see why you didn't try it sooner."
    "I figured I couldn't leave you to deal with him on your own. Besides, this way at least Rosalind smiles upon me."
    "That she does," Shay laughed. "Her smiles have become fewer and wider between. I can't blame her. These people haven't given me a single reason to smile on them myself-"
    "If you think talking will get the bags off of your heads, you're both wrong. We've had plenty of criminals who try to do what you are. I don't want to spoil the ending but, it doesn't work." Camtono laughed from in front of them. He rode on his own horse, watching their every move while the girls sat uncomfortably in the wagon. They weren't trying anything other than talking, and for that he was thankful. The less they resisted, the less he had to physically handle the Daughter of Rosalind against her will.
    "I'm not trying anything. Are you, Shay?"
    "I would never."
    "Ezekiel taught us better."
    "He did."
    "If only his good taste had rubbed off on the prick in front of us." Emory spoke with a smirk on her face, and after a second the wagon came to a halt. The bags were torn from atop their heads, and Camtono sat on his horse before them, anger leaking through his smile.
    "Ezekiel was my friend. And you are my prophet. And Eden is my home. Your absence has done nothing but bring war to our land, and that's why I'm returning you to King Evander."
    "He is no king." Emory seethed.
    "We agree on something, then. You know the difference between us, though, girl?"
    "I'm not a raider who steals from others?" Emory rose her eyebrows and Camtono laughed.
    "Another similarity is our lack of a silver tongue. The true difference? It's that I care for all people, not just the royal ones. Everything Evander has done has been to provoke you, Shay. Was to appeal to your love for the people." Camtono stared hard at Shay, whose mouth pursed together as she listened to him. "Clearly you have no such thing."
    "I love my people."
    "Try it again when you can be more convincing." He nodded, and the bags fell back over their heads.