The Darkest Dawn

Chapitre 10

The sun rose on the three males and one dog hiking hillside. There was no speaking, even Dog was silent throughout the day. Darius turned every once in a while, glaring past the group. The open plains had no sign of the woodland, due to the constant travelling with no stops. Malachai didn't complain, so Lucien took it upon himself to do the same.

It was a blessing when they did stop, at the top of a particularly tall hill. Darius and set upon laying out bedrolls, and hollered when Malachai attempting to pull the drywood from their heaviest sack. No fire, he had growled. He seemed more paranoid than normal, volunteering to keep watch throughout the night as well. Lucien woke from another nightmare and insisted the man got some sleep.

Now Lucien scanned the landscape for signs of what caused Darius' paranoia. There was utterly nothing except yellowing grass with the approach of summer and the heat waves that it bore. That's what his eyes told him. His intuition, his instinct, told him otherwise. That there was someone or something hiding behind a hill, in a mini valley between the mounds. Lucien shook his head. Now Darius' paranoia was rubbing off on him. Lucien blinked slowly and yawned. Then he blinked even slower.

Lucien opened his eyes with Darius hollering at him frantically. Déjà vu washing over him, the déjà vu of waking up to fire. Except the fire is the anger and fear in Darius' eyes and not a burning forest.

"Wake up!" Darius shrieked. "Wake up! You've betrayed us!" The man was in hysterics, packing the camp like a madman. "You've betrayed us! Get up!"

"W-what do you mean I betrayed you?!" Lucien cried, sitting up and jumping to his feet as fast as he can.

"Malachai is gone! He's been stolen!" Darius roared. Lucien whipped around to see Malachai's bedroll and saw it empty. He dropped to his knees quivering. "Read this for me!" Darius snarled, showing Lucien a note with elegant writing.

"What do you mean? Can't you?!" Lucien growled, unable to look away from Malachai's bedroll.

"No! I can't read, okay?!" Darius argued, his voice cracking. "Just read the damn paper!" Lucien snatched the note and narrowed his eyes. 'Return to me. Do not forget who you belong to.' Lucien read silently. "What does it say?" Darius demanded.

"It's Rhaelra. He took Malachai." Lucian replied. He didn't need a signature to know who it was. Audie wrote it on Rhaelra's behalf, judging by the handwriting. "We have to go back for him." Lucien stood, anger boiling.

"Agreed." The ex-soldier nodded, swinging a sack upon his back.

"It's going to take forever to get back there...." Lucien whined.

"So we steal horses from Bennois." Darius muttered.

"Horses? There were horses there? Why didn't we take them in the first place?! We could've left Audie in dust if it was he who was following us!" Lucien jabbed.

"I wasn't thinking, okay?! We were there for one night! Besides, Audie must've had a horse as well, judging by the rate it took him to get back to Rhaelra and catch up to us again!" Darius retorted defensively.

Lucien hollered and kicked the empty bedroll. "Damn it! Everything is such a clusterfuck!"

"And to think you rarely curse." Darius huffed. "Right. The longer we waste time, the longer it takes to rescue Malachai." He shoved past the frenchman. "I can't believe we're going back...." He muttered under his breath.

In the dead night, Bennois was eerily quiet. Darius lead the way to one of the small ranches. In the stables, horses sleep standing up. Lucien snuck past a few of them when he followed Darius, reminded of nights he worked late hyped on caffeine. Darius opened one of the stalls and slipped inside. Lucien peered over the rustic wooden gate to see Darius waking up the horse inside with gentle pats. The horse was dark brown, like the fertile egyptian soil by the Nile. Darius grabbed the bit. To Lucien's disgusted shock, Darius used his free hand to wiggle fingers into the horse's mouth to get it to open up. The bit slipped in easily, and the disgruntled horse began chewing on it.

"Aren't you afraid it could've bitten you?" Lucien asked in a hushed tone, intrigued.

"No." Darius whispered, sliding the brow band carefully on the horse. He buckled the throat latch, then attached the english style reins. "What, you've never ridden a horse?"

"Never even touched one." Lucien admitted. Darius gave him a knowing look.

"Fine, I'll tack up your horse too." He muttered.

The horse Darius assigned Lucien was black. Lucien was smart enough to know that Darius chose darker horses to blend into the night better. Darius clasped his hands together and kneeled. Lucien uncertainly stepped into the other's hands and leaned up. He gasped when Darius swiftly lifted him. Quickly, Lucien swung his leg over the horse and settled into the saddle. He shoved his feet into the stirrups and clung his hands to the horn of the saddle. The Frenchman wasn't allowed to steer his own horse, so Darius managed what he could by holding two sets of reins.

When they set off, Darius clicked his tongue and kissing sounds. The horses' ears perked and they shot off into a gallop. Lucien shrieked and clenched the horn in a death grip, his knuckles turning white. Surprisingly, his horse was a smooth traveller. The horses' made heavy heaving sounds, worrying Lucien. Darius spurred them on however. When they were out of Bennois, he finally let the horses walk. That's when the routine began. After short periods of walking, Darius would click and have the horse's trot for a while. As soon as his horse was at a gallop, Lucien found himself going airborne every time he bounced on the horse. He was relieved when they walked, no longer having to fear falling off until the next trotting period.

It was a little over an hour, and Lucien was already sore. The saddle was solid and not soft at all. Lucien could stand in the stirrups during walking periods but he had to sit when the horses would trot. Bouncing on the rough leather saddle and holding onto the horn left the man bottom sore and aching all over. Not to mention his legs squeezing the sides of the horse, as Darius instructed him too. Perhaps he should've gotten riding lessons a long time ago, but Lucien knew what Rhaelra would've said, "Why would a house servant need knowledge about horses?"

The two reached the creek in the woods and Darius let the horses drink, giving Lucien great relief. Lucien didn't have all the time he needed to recover from the flash extensive horse riding lessons before Darius rallied him back onto the horse. By sunrise, the two were already at the burnt forest. It was impressive to see the great trees only somewhat blackened. Seivohn must've put out the fire, after all not all of them are powerful nobles. It had taken them a week to get away from the mansion yet only a nightspan to return. Lucien suspected they'd be back within the hour. He was only off by twenty minutes.