The Nightbringer

Chapter 3

It turns out, the weather did in fact have it out for them. It started raining half way through the night. They all slept on the ground, no pallets or blankets, and unfortunately for her, nobody else seemed to mind. Asten awoke at the first sign of rain some time during the night and shivered through the rest it. She had been irked before, but now it was certainly more severe. At least in her cell under the sea, it was relatively dry. At the first sign of dawn, the rest of the company awoke, or finally deigned to rise and began stoking the fire. Asten knew they wouldn't be able to get it going again since it had poured steadily the whole night, but she let them poke around creating nothing but smoke for her mere amusement. Tiren emerged soon after from the woods with fresh wood and scolded the men for their idiocy. Asten watched him smuggly, and he gave her a cold look before getting another roaring fire going. She wondered when had he snuck away, and was suddenly angry with her self for not noticing. Shameful what her senses had become after being locked up for so long. Still, she was grateful for the warmth, as most of her body was numb with cold. Her clothes were sodden, even though they weren't more than rags covering her skin to begin with. She wouldn't admit thanks to anyone however, especially not Tiren. Nobody from Andaria deserved her thanks. Not after what they did. 

"We'll set out again after the horses have been fed." Said Tiren, who then stalked off to his beautiful stallion where he was tied to a tree at the edge of the forest. 

Asten sat against a log lounging in front of the fire, using her arms as a headrest. The men around her worked on packing everything up. Tiren was obviously in charge, but what rank did he hold? She wished she knew so she could have some piece of information before going into the castle. Her blood went cold. She hadn't really considered what this all would truly mean for her. The castle. And not long after that, she would hold audience with the king. She didn't know how she could face him after what he and his people had done. She looked down at herself. Flaming hell, she hoped they would at least let her bathe before she was presented to him. Her physique was already embarrassment enough, no need to look like a vagrant on top of it. 

Boots crunched on the ground and Asten closed her eyes, savoring the last bit of warmth.

"Up" Tiren huffed at her, angrily.

Asten took her time turning to look up at him, and grinned lazily. 

"General, we are ready to depart." One of the men announced as he approached.

"Oh, General now are we? General Arsekisser? Or do they refer to you with you're last name?" Asten drawled, standing up and ignoring the lightheadedness that came with her sudden movement. She didn't want to think about how long it would take to get back in shape. The man tried his best to control his smirk and turned away. At least she had amused somebody. But it seemed she had succeeded in ticking off Tiren. 

"Do you have to talk so much? It's General Fallon to you." He replied, not looking at her. Instead he was glaring in the direction of the man. "Let's be off then." He growled and stalked back to his horse. She stuck her tongue out childishly as he turned his back on her.

Two men came over to her and directed her back into the carriage. 

"It seems to me that the General must've slipped in the woods earlier since there is a giant stick up his arse." They both chuckled at her, shaking their heads.

"The General has to be tough miss, he controls the entire King's army. I would be put off if I was him too, tasked with retrieving a prisoner and all. Must seem like grunt work to him." One of the men told her with a tone of condescension that she didn't fail to notice. She just rolled her eyes. 

There was no dragging this time, which she much appreciated since there were bruises on her arms from the previous manhandling. She lifted herself into the carriage with some trouble, although she did her best to not make it noticeable. If they had made as much headway as she had expected, they should reach the castle by nightfall. The carriage was freezing, but at least it was dry. She sat down and tried to make herself as comfortable as the hard, un-cushioned bench seat would allow. Not long after, she drifted into another restless sleep, waking every few minutes as the carriage bumped and wobbled down the road. 

                                                                                              ***

Asten jolted awake again and muttered a string of curse words at whoever was driving the blasted excuse for a carriage. She noticed their pace had slowed which probably meant they were approaching the city of Valevarre. 

Valevarre, the capital city of Andaria, was situated right on the coast. The palace, home to the Andarian royal family, was built on a man made island that could be accessed for the most part by the average boat or with one single bridge for carriage access. The channel surrounding the castle was known for it's extremely dangerous currents, so attempting the crossing with no knowledge of boat handling would essentially be signing a death sentence. The last time Asten had been to Valevarre was right before she was sentenced to the underwater prison. The city represented painful memories, most that she did her best to push down before they surfaced.

Asten pulled aside the curtain and glanced out the carriage window. There it was. The channel itself was about a half a mile across. White caps could be seen, even from their current distance. Asten wondered if they were going to cross the waters or the bridge. She hoped for the waterway. She had been yearning to be on a boat since she was imprisoned. 

As they carried on through the streets of Valevarre, Asten noticed they were in an all too familiar square and suddenly felt flooded with guilt. That square was where everything went completely and utterly wrong. She wanted to look away, but couldn't bring herself to. But then Tiren noticed her peeking through the window and he smirked. She scoffed. What an arrogant bastard! All she needed was a boat and some wind and she would wipe that preposterous smirk right off of his face. For now, she just stuck her tongue out and swiped the curtain shut. 

Not long after, the carriage came to a complete stop and somebody opened the door. One of the men gestured her out and she came face to face with the channel. She could almost taste the salt. They escorted her over to Tiren.

"We will be sailing across to the castle with an escort" Tiren informed them as they stepped in front of him. 

Asten ignored the rest of what he said and turned her attention to her surroundings. The wind blew right into her face facing the water, so they would be sailing directly upwind. There were several rigged vessels down by the shoreline. Several of them were attended by sailors and guards, but there was one much smaller one sitting completely unguarded. It looked to be completely rigged up and seaworthy. She glanced around her. Tiren was now down talking to some of the men on the larger vessel that she would most likely be placed on. They probably wouldn't let her sail the vessel either. Now that would not be fair at all, she thought to herself. She deserved a little sail after being trapped for so long. 

Her guards were talking amongst themselves and not paying much attention to her, so all she had to do was quietly slip down to the smaller vessel. It wasn't very difficult, she was pretty familiar with slinking around unseen. Just as she reached the vessel she heard a shout behind her. Took them long enough, she thought with a grin. She sprinted at the vessel and gave it a huge shove into the water, jumping onto the stern in the process. She quickly scrambled up to the bow and raised the sail, immediately catching the wind. She sat back and grabbed the tiller pointing the boat up into heavier wind. The water rippled ahead and soon a large gust caught the sail and she was hanging off the side to balance it out. Asten grinned even more. The wind kissed her skin and she could taste the salt in the air. This to her was pure bliss. She could see a small beach just across the channel and she pointed the boat even higher. That is what she would aim for. She glanced behind her laughed, the others were just now setting off the beach and looked to be very very angry. She was already several leagues ahead of them and she knew they would never catch up. She turned back around and prepared to tack the boat onto starboard. She had missed this the most out of everything when she was trapped. Freezing cold waves crashed against the hull and completely soaked her from head to toe, but Asten didn't care. The current was very strong, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Even just sailing alone in a small craft was invigorating. The men were yelling at her to stop from somewhere far off behind her but she just tacked the boat again and continued to the little beach. When she was close enough, she jumped off into the knee deep channel and dragged the craft ashore.

When the men finally arrived she was sprawled out sunning herself on the deck. She heard them dragging the crafts ashore and opened her eyes to find Tiren bristling in directly in front of her, soaking wet. 

"You smell like wet dog" she said and wrinkled her nose.