Sara looked at him with new tears in her eyes, but this time they were tears of gratitude. “I felt all of my pain leave me. I felt your compassion and love and now my tattoo is gone.” She looked at him intently, looked into his eyes.
“You’re a Venefica.”
“A wha…” he started.
“Silence,” snapped Arkin. ”Sara, don’t say another word, not here. You know what could happen. You lot clear your minds.”
“But…” Kovos said.
“Do it now,” Arkin barked as people from around the tavern looked at them.
“Sara, you cannot go back to your owner. You know as well as I do that they will find out what happened. And we all need to leave now. Sasha, give Sara some clothes so she will look normal walking out of the city, and the rest of you get ready. We’re leaving. Now.”
“Arkin, what about getting…” Keither started.
“We have answers, now go.”
They all stood, but Sara looked apprehensive. She was obviously torn between the possibility of newfound freedom and the fear of her owner. Legon had taken her pain into himself for just a moment, but in that moment he had gained an understanding that would have taken years to learn, if not a lifetime. To feel what someone else was dealing with, how they thought and felt during a situation… He wondered what kind of person he would be if he had this knowledge his whole life.
The sensation in his head was gone now. He should have felt scared about what he’d just done, but he didn’t. After all, he did what he had wanted to do. He wanted to set Sara free and to take away her pain. Was it magic? It had to be, there was no other way to explain it.
Sara moved along slowly with the others and Arkin showed them out the door and down the street. The streets were clogged with people and the going was slow, but Legon wasn’t paying attention to that. He kept rolling the thought of magic around in his head. What had Sara called him? “Venefica,” he thought. What did that mean, and how did she know about it? He also wondered what Arkin had learned that made him want to rush out of town so fast. They reached the stables next to the entrance of Salez.
“Sara, do you have a horse?” Arkin asked. He noticed Sara was now in one of Sasha’s dresses. It fit well, but when did that happen? He needed to get his head in the game.
“Ah, no, I don’t.”
“We’ll buy one then.”
Sasha walked close to her friend. She couldn’t believe that Sara was here, but at the same time Sasha felt sad to see her. When Sara had been taken into the queen’s care Sasha had always just hoped that she would be made a common servant of some sort, but that obviously hadn’t happened. Sara looked like she was shell shocked and obviously scared about what could happen to her.
Arkin left to buy Sara a new horse. Legon and Kovos took to walking around the group in wide, meandering circles. Over the last few days Arkin had started to teach them defensive techniques that they now were employing.
“You guys have been through a lot, haven’t you?” Sara asked. Sasha started a bit.
“You could say that. I will tell you more on the road, but yes, we’ve had a hard run so far. Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, just nervous is all.”
“I can see that. Are you worried about getting caught?”
“Yes. If the mark on my neck is gone I should be ok, but still.”
Arkin came back shortly with a new horse in tow. He was also accompanied by a group of children leading the other horses along. He handed the reins of the new one to Sara. She took them and they all began to exit the city. Two soldiers stood guard at the city gate. One was young looking with shaggy, sandy hair and a long nose. It appeared that he was new because he was eyeing every passerby with interest. The other was older looking with a short, scruffy beard and a look of extreme boredom on his face. As they passed, the younger guard stopped them.
“Hold up. You know you can’t leave,” he said, directing his voice at Sara.
“And why can’t she leave?” Arkin asked in a challenging voice.
“Because she belongs to the brothel up the way, that’s why.”
Chapter Thirteen
“In all my research I have yet to truly understand the depth of the journey that the Everser Vald made, but I think that if we narrow our focus we can find individual events within that journey and learn from them. Maybe if we understand we can recreate greatness, but perhaps not.”
Kovos knew that they needed to act fast before the situation got out of hand. He walked up to the man.
“What do you mean the brothel?” He tried to put as much menace in his tone as he could.
“She’s a whore. I have her at least once a week. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” The man smiled at Sara, who was looking terrified.
Kovos wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but it was worth a shot. He dropped his horse’s reins and lunged forward, hitting the man hard in the mouth and sending him sprawling back. His companion leaped up and stood between them, sword drawn and leveled at Kovos. People were walking away quickly, not wanting to be a part of whatever was going to happen.
“What do you think you’re doing? That’s a…,” the older soldier started.
“I’ll have a go at anyone that calls my fiancee a whore!” Kovos roared at the men.
The soldier on the ground was getting up and spluttering. “She’s a whore, I know she is!” the younger one said.
Arkin turned Sara around and lifted the back of her hair, showing her unblemished neck. “Are you sure?” he said.
The older man stretched his neck to look and then turned to his companion and hit him in the gut.
“You imbecile! She’s not marked! And to think I was going to defend your worthless hide.” He turned back to Kovos and Sara. “I’m sorry, he’s new. I would still warn you, however, not to hit a soldier, but in this case I understand. I would have done the same. Just move along.” He eyed his downed companion with distaste.
Kovos walked up to Sara and placed his hand gently on hers. “Come on, dear. I’m sorry about this.” There was no way that had worked. He thought for sure the men would figure it out. He and Sara hadn’t even been standing close to each other. They mounted their horses and started south away from Salez.
After they had some distance behind them, Arkin rode in close to him. “That was some fast thinking on your part.”
“Is that a good thing? I took a big risk.”
“Perhaps, but shocking the men was about the only way to get out of that, I’m afraid.”
It was good Arkin agreed. The guy knew what he was doing, so if he said it was a good job then that’s what it was. And what the hell had Legon done to Sara back at the tavern? It kind of gave Kovos the creeps. Not that what Legon had done was bad; it was good that Sara was free now. Still, the thought of his friend being able to use magic was odd. How did he do it? Salez was moving farther away and they would set up camp in the next hour or so. Then maybe he would find out what was going on.
