The corner of Aldric’s mouth twitched in an amusement Dnara couldn’t share. “Sounds wise,” he said.
Liam hitched the enormous stallion’s reins to the wagon and left off in a trot after a last lingering look Dnara’s way. Aldric returned his gaze back to her, ever steady and focused, and he beat a fist to the wagon’s sideboard. The slapping of reins followed and the wagon lurched forward. Dnara bobbed with the motion, following it like the horse now walking obediently behind them.
Aldric evaluated her in silence. Galloping hoof beats approached the wagon from behind, passed along its side without slowing and faded into the distance far ahead. Dnara rocked with the wagon and blinked, staring past Commander Aldric and into nothing.
“You missed Carn,” he said, then paused to evaluate her reaction. When she gave none, he continued. “We reached the Red City just as dawn broke. I had hoped to show you the sunrise, when the red bricks glow and give the city its name, but you would not wake. We’re now on the Dragon’s Road and will reach the Red Keep before nightfall.”
Dnara stared without blinking for a long moment, her mind trying to pull Aldric’s words past the fog they were stuck in. Behind Aldric, rocky, unsettled lands passed by in a blur of brown earth, black stone and scraggly yellow shrubs backed by the golden hue of a lowly hung late afternoon sun. They were moving uphill at a steadily increasing incline, and from somewhere far away the sounds of crashing waves joined a chorus of seagulls.
“Perhaps I can take you to Carn once this business is settled,” Aldric said, his eyes still waiting for a reaction. “The ever sprawling edge of the great city is only a short ride from the keep. One day, it may even reach the keep walls, if they ever learn how to securely fasten houses to the sea cliffs.”
He’d meant it as a joke, she was sure, but not even a polite giggle tickled her chest. Part of her knew it had been funny, and part of her wished to ask questions about Carn. She knew she should feel disappointment at having missed the ride through what sounded like a city of unimaginable size and wonder, but the feeling itself remained out of reach. All of it, her emotions, the commander sitting in front of her, the hunger in her belly and the thirst scratching her throat; everything felt far away, like the sea she could hear but not see.
“Dnara,” he spoke her name softly and placed his hand atop hers as they lay folded in her lap. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
His question broke through the fog in a second of clarity. Her mind filled with a ringing tone. Heat flared at the back of her neck.
“Yes, sir.” Her voice replied, but it had not been her mind that had given the command to do so.
With unfelt alarm, she realized it had been the collar commanding the answer. She wanted her eyes to widen, for her hand to squeeze Aldric’s in a plea for help, but her body simply moved with the swaying wagon as its wheels maneuvered up the cliff-side road. At the back of her neck, the buzz emanating from the starstone increased until it overtook her panic. When the buzzing reached its peak, the fog surrounding her closed in and the emotion faded into nothing. Within seconds, she could no longer remember what they had been discussing or the question he had asked her.
He leaned back, uncertainty adding weight to his dark eyes. Glancing to the side, he found the untaken offerings from Liam and held them out to her. Once again, she didn’t react despite the way her stomach involuntarily rumbled. Aldric’s gaze flicked down to her stomach then up to the thin collar circling her neck and finally settled back on her glassy eyed stare.
He held the corn cake out closer to her. “You should eat.”
“Yes, sir,” she said and took the cake from his hands. She ate it with small unhurried bites, methodically chewing and fully swallowing each before moving onto the next. When she finished, she placed her hands back in her lap and stared blankly ahead.
Aldric furrowed his brow in thought then held up the waterskin. “Here is some water.” When she did not reply, he reworded the statement. “You should have a drink.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied as before and took the waterskin from him. She took one long drink from the skin then offered it back.
Aldric reached for the skin then stopped, his eyes questioning an idea he was on the cusp of understanding. “Take another drink.”
“Yes, sir.” She did as asked then held the skin out to him.
“Are you thirsty?” he asked.
“No, sir,” she replied, her throat no longer parched.
“Take another drink,” he said instead of taking back the waterskin.
“Yes, sir.” And she did, despite not being thirsty.
Aldric now wore a heavy frown to match his furrowed brow, setting lines in his stony skin that aged his young face considerably. He took the waterskin from her and hung it onto a hook overhead. It swayed from its strap to the wagon’s movement along with Dnara as Aldric looked on in concern.
Sunlight glinted through the wagon’s slatted sideboards and reflected off Aldric’s armor, gilding it with an amber sheen that colored the edges of Dnara’s murky mind. She watched the light as it gave form to shadows. A thought blossomed but quickly wilted under the starstone’s pacifying tenor. Dnara’s mind sank further into the mud, and even Aldric’s concerned expression blurred into nothingness before her eyes. Her world became one of filtered light, hazy shadows, muted sounds and disjointed comprehension.
“When we meet King Lelandis,” Aldric said, “follow my lead. I’ll do my best to
