The Ways of War

Chapter 14

           I think it will always astound me how similar and yet different Opher and I were, like two sides of the same coin. Whereas I would have interrupted the story many times over, Opher waited until I had finished to start asking questions.

"Am I not in danger too then?" He asked simply making me jerk my head up and curse myself.

I was the worst rider in history. I had been so caught up in my own life that I had not spared a second's worth of thought for my best friend. Jerking to my feet, I left the spoon I had been using the stir the gruel inside of the pot and took a few jogging steps towards the blanket barrier. Jerking it aside I stepped into the main part of the building where Bram, Erle, and Adam were sitting on their newly arranged bunks and Nico was fiddling with his belongings.

All three of the guards snapped to their feet when I rushed into their part of the tent, instantly alert. "Opher, is he in danger? We need to get him!" I said, already heading for the tent entrance.

The path I was taking led me directly towards the guards and Bram grabbed me and halted me before I could pass them. "Royse, calm down." Adam ordered as Bram turned and forced me to sit on the bunk he had previously been occupying. "Opher is okay for now, our dragons are with him, and with the added room from moving the extra beds out, Opher will be sleeping in here with us." Adam continued, crouching so that he was able to look into my eyes in my newly seated position.

Relieved for a second, I took a breath before continuing with my panic. "But what if something happens to him? Everyone knows who he is! They saw me with him where we were almost taken out when we landed here and even if they hadn't, his scarred foot is a dead giveaway!" I rambled in a panic.

A new thought occurred to me and jerked to my feet again. Or well attempted to. The top buck got in the way and instead of standing and rushing towards the flap to run to my dragon's aid, I slammed the top of my head into the top buck and sat back down with a heavy thud, my hand already moving to rub at my sore scalp. The three guard's around me looked stunned for a second before Bram spoke up. "We 'eard about you being accident prone, we thought they were exaggerating." He said simply blinking down at me with a look of disbelief on his face.

Nico snorted from where he was standing, having moved towards us in order to listen, but far enough away that he wouldn't get in the way. "Unfortunately, I'm sure what you heard didn't even begin to cover it." Nico joked and I glared towards him for a second before turning my attention back to the guards.

"What about the Tsoro? The one who I talked to? I all but guaranteed he could help me. Won't the people after me go after him too?" I asked, getting on a roll with asking questions, I continued. "And the first day I got here? A bold was headed towards Opher and I, I just assumed it was the Tsoro's aiming at us, but could it have been the Riders who are after us?"

Finishing my question, I saw the guards exchange some looks and gasped, once again jerking to my feet, albeit this time avoiding the top bunk. Before I could ask more questions, Adam started speaking. "Yes, Royse we do believe the initial attack on Opher and yourself may have been launched by a Rider, we didn't have enough evidence to confirm this suspicion, so we chose to not tell you for your own safety. In regard to your Tsoro friend, he is under guard by some of our most trusted. Nothing will get to him. Opher is safe as well. He, along with Nico and Kelly's dragons, are being guarded by our and Lucas's dragons, and as soon as they are finished with their dinner they will be coming here and sleeping here." He said in a soothing voice, finishing just in time for there to be a rhythmic knocking on one of the post's supporting the tent.

Jumping at the sudden noise, my guards shoved me behind them before chuckling to themselves. "It's just Lucas," Bram told me before moving towards the tent flap and pulling it open enough to allow Lucas entry.