No Escape from Fate

8 Time to Hit the Road

"What are you doing here, Naziza?" Dildan glared at me angrily. "Your tent is somewhere else."

"I have no idea where our tent is," I tell the plain truth. "I stepped away and now I’m a little lost."

"It’s always nothing but problems with you," the brunette started grumbling and led me by the hand toward the correct tent.

Vasmiya and Nufira were already in the tent, getting ready for bed. The girls weren’t very talkative, and I myself was tired from all the emotional ups and downs, so I quickly fell asleep on the provided bed, where, for some reason, all night I dreamt of the gray eyes of the mage and the indecencies he did with the body of the w***e, in whose role I already was.

Early in the morning, we jumped up from our places because Kays had rudely burst into our tent, waking us and ordering us to get ready to go.

He seemed somehow angry to me. What had bitten him at this time? He should be well-fed and satisfied; probably the w***e didn’t do her job well.

"Why are you yelling like that?" I couldn’t take it and muttered in response to the blond’s shouts, getting out of bed. "There’s clear dissatisfaction on your face."

"And you, I see, know a lot about satisfaction," Kays roared at me, approaching closely. "You probably wanted to be in the place of that w***e I f****d yesterday, huh?"

"Well, the world doesn’t revolve around you alone. And dissatisfaction can be about anything. Life, or orders, for example. And you reduced everything to yesterday’s w***e. So she really did a poor job if you’re throwing lightning and focusing your attention specifically on that?" I said sarcastically, not hesitating to look into the young man’s angry and incredible eyes, which up close were even deeper and brighter.

"You annoy me."

"Likewise."

"For the especially curious," without taking his eyes off my face, the brunette glanced at my lips for a second, but as if coming to his senses, stepped back from me and addressed the girls. "We have a long and difficult road ahead. Your settlements are relatively close, so you haven’t yet fully appreciated all the pleasures of the journey, ladies. The road to this valley goes through the mountains, and we got here without problems, but just now, the sentries reported to me that they saw wandering gorts. And that means that this year, their migration started much earlier than usual, and getting through the mountains back will not be as smooth as it was to come here."

We sat quietly on our beds, paying attention to his words. From the information received, the girls went pale, and I saw quiet panic on their faces. And there was obviously a reason to panic, since because of these stone giants, Alaya’s relatives had died.

"Therefore, everyone needs to get off their beautiful asses and quickly get ready so we can reach the Shinir caves before dark, where we will be safe and stay for the night. We move out in five minutes," Kays yelled and rushed out of our tent.

Well, there was no time to waste, so we all jumped up and hurriedly started getting ready. Luckily, for the journey, we were provided with more comfortable clothes – fitted, weightless pants and a top, and convenient, light shoes. There was also an extra set of warm clothing, specifically for cold weather and mountains, as well as several sets of underwear and hygiene products. As I understood it, for food we had rations, and the rest would be hunted by the guards themselves.

At the appointed time, we were ready and standing near the tent. The sun had only just begun to rise, and the sentries were already fully equipped and showed us our horses.

Just as I was about to climb onto the horse, someone called out to me. Turning around, I saw Alaya hurrying toward me.

When she reached me, it was clear how hard it was for her emotionally, and her eyes were glistening with tears. After greeting me, she pulled me into a tight hug, and despite her efforts, tears streamed down her beautiful face.

"I couldn’t let you leave without saying goodbye," the woman sniffled, forcing a smile. "I hope we meet again. And I wanted to give you something; I hope it will be useful."

She held out a pendant with a large yellow stone.

"This isn’t an ordinary pendant," Alaya explained. "I recently traded for it with a wandering collector of rarities. Inside is a rare stone that warns of danger. Right now it’s yellow, which means everything is safe. But when it turns bright red, it means a threat is nearby, and you need to be careful."

"Thank you," I managed to whisper, a lump of emotion choking my throat. "We will definitely see each other again. So I won’t say goodbye."

After hugging once more, I finally climbed onto the horse, as Kays was already rolling his eyes in impatience, clearly ready to end our tender moment.

We set off toward the mountains. Alaya told us that their vast plain is completely surrounded by a mountain range, and there’s only one route through the gorge that provides a somewhat reasonable path to the outside world—not counting the narrow old trails.

Once we left the settlement, the horses were spurred, and they galloped forward. Perhaps the girls were ready, but I certainly wasn’t! Startled, I almost fell off—if a strong hand hadn’t grabbed me just in time.

"You’ve never ridden a horse before?" asked a brown-eyed young man with long white hair tied in a high ponytail. He was one of the guards of our delegation.

"Imagine that… no," I muttered, grumbling. I had posed near horses for pictures, but never dared to ride one.

"It shows," the white-haired young man smiled, dimples appearing on his cheeks. "I’m Yafi. Shift a little!"

I certainly didn’t expect the formidable warrior to jump off his horse and settle behind me, tying his mount to mine. Whistling and spurring the animal, we galloped after the rest of the garrison at full speed.

Now I was no longer in danger of falling, since Yafi’s strong hands held me firmly on both sides like handrails, controlling both horses at once.

We galloped like this for some time, and then the animals needed a rest, so we rode at a calmer pace.

Yafi turned out to be a very charismatic and pleasant man. He patiently showed me how to sit properly in the saddle and control the horse. I, of course, still couldn’t gallop yet, but at a slower pace, I was doing surprisingly well. All thanks to the white-haired blond.

During my crash course, Yafi managed to tease me subtly, but always in such a harmless, joking way that I couldn’t bring myself to be annoyed.

As it turned out, Yafi was not alone; his twin brother, Yaro, was traveling with us too. He was almost an exact copy of Yafi, if not for the terrifying scar covering half of his face.

By noon, we finally reached the foot of the mountains and stopped for a rest, dismounting from our horses. Unused to riding, my backside felt completely numb—it hurt everywhere! I couldn’t even sit on the log where the girls and the mage had settled for our simple lunch, and of course, Kays noticed.

"What’s wrong with you?" the man asked, frowning, his sharp, clear eyes burning into me.

"Probably bruised my backside on the horse," I shrugged, leaning my shoulder against a tree so as not to disturb the sore spot. The man snorted mysteriously at that.

"Come here, Prepedollie," Kays called me over.

"Why?"

"Can you, for once, not argue?" the guard started getting annoyed, and I decided to obey, stepping closer.

"Closer!" he commanded, and I moved another step forward.

"Even closer!" he said impatiently, looking directly into my eyes, nervously tapping his left foot.

"How much closer do you want?!" I protested, moving so close that I was practically pressed against the boy sitting on the log.

Suddenly, my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Kays’ hot hands landed on my poor backside, moving me even closer to him. Now I was standing between the brunet’s widely spread legs.

Those incredibly clear eyes, looking up at me, and the sly smirk on the man’s face made my breathing falter.

"Are you sure you’re not mixing things up?!"

"Not mixing things up," the man sneered sarcastically. "Don’t wiggle and don’t struggle."

Immediately, his eyes gained a faint glow, which up close was mesmerizing in its beauty, and I felt noticeable relief in the injured part of my body, and after a few seconds, the discomfort completely disappeared.

The healing was over, yet his hands still held my half-bottom, as he looked into my eyes.

"Kays, buddy," Yafi spoke up. "You’re a real virtuoso at healing asses. Our grandfather has suffered from hemorrhoids his whole life. Will you help when we return?"

Loud laughter filled the area, and the brunet threw his hands off me as if burned. Out of embarrassment, I blushed too, giving Yafi a reproachful look, and he grinned from ear to ear, winking at me.

When our rest was over, we climbed back onto our horses and approached the rocky terrain, slowing down at its edge.

Suddenly, Kays’ head snapped back, and his eyes shone brightly as he looked upward, where a huge eagle hovered, letting out its distinctive cry. After a couple of minutes, the brunet shook his head to regain composure.

"The path is clear and safe for now," the mage informed us. "We need to move quickly before the gorts appear."

No one argued, and we headed into the mountains.