Chapter Fifteen: Break The Foot

He untied my gag and stared at me expectantly. “How did I know? The book! Not only is this letter in the back written entirely in Caligerian, it’s also addressed to Jenny. I want some answers.” He threw the book at me quite forcefully and crossed his arms.

“Hey! That was uncalled for. Yes, my name is Jenny. I’m not a Leivenirian orphan. My father owns an inn in Yondrin and I’m traveling to Eirodin, okay?”

With a nasty glare, he slapped me across the face. “To think that I told you about my mother! What kind of weirdo pretends not to speak her own language?”

“Ouch! It wasn’t my idea. It was A-Felix’s…” My arms ached as they stretched above my head. “Could you please…?” I jangled the ropes hopefully. My toes throbbed.

“No. You can dangle like that until the spring for all I care. I cannot believe that you have understood everything that has been said. They chatted about you so vulgarly.”

“And it took all of my self control not to react.” I replied, thankful he hadn’t noticed my slip-up with Dill’s name. “This conversation would be easier if you could-”

“I am not going to let down the ropes. Why are you traveling?” He snarled.

I whispered harshly, “That is my business. I don’t have to tell you anything.”

“You are in no position to refuse either, Jenny. How much would an innkeeper’s daughter be worth? Surely not enough to keep her innocent. Surely not even enough to keep her alive.” He had his index finger to my throat, holding it there like a dagger.

“I’m looking for my mother.” I omitted the details of my hunt for answers on Sleepwalker, unwilling to explain. “I was hoping to find her in the archives in Eirodin.”

His face softened at the thought of a mother. “My apologies. I didn’t realize. By tomorrow morning, we should nearly be on the outskirts of Dunver.”

I cursed. “Then it will take at least three more days to get Eirodin. Sorting through files will be no quick task. I probably will not find her before winter.” I groaned. After a moment of musing, I reflected, “Well, I could see the library and the university.”

“You are going into a city of thieves and you’re thinking about a library?” Tristan scolded me. “I suppose you have Felix to protect you. How do you know him anyway?”

“He’s a friend. We’re traveling together.”

Angrily, he rolled his eyes. “Oh, I see. You’re betrothed to him. Well, I must say that you two liars are perfect for one another.” His tone was scalding.

“You’re a thief! Who are you to accuse me of being a liar? Wait, did you say betrothed? I’m not betrothed to him!” I flailed in my restraints, wishing to strangle him.

Another rustling came from camp. Footsteps steadily approached.

With a panic-stricken look, Tristan’s hands rested on my hips. Gently, his lips brushed against my neck, nuzzling me. He moaned and groped my backside.

“Tristan, what the hell are you doing?” Lister squinted at us. “Oh, I…uh. Damn. I wonder how Felix would feel.” Scratching his neck, Lister crawled back into his blankets.

In the morning’s light, Tristan’s face was a deep scarlet. “I…couldn’t think of anything, so I…I mean it’s better than…you’re blushing. I thought you were betrothed.”

I whispered, cognizant of Lister, “I told you. It’s not like that. We’re friends. I’ve only known him since I left home. That was the closest any boy has ever been to me.” My cheeks were flushed with bashfulness. My shoulders burned in protest to dangling with only the very tips of my boots on the ground supporting me. Soon enough my legs shuddered from the stretched position of my body. “And you’re sure that you can’t let-”

“Would you give up on the damn ropes?” He barked still in a hushed tone.

“Oh, my apologies, if you were draped over a tree like a batch of laundry by your wrists, I’m sure you’d feel no discomfort.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.

Grumpily, he raised an eyebrow. His eyes shifted to my arm. “You’re bleeding.”

From my raw stinging wrist, blood trickled down my forearm. “Yet you still won’t let down the ropes, will you?” I queried doubtfully. My dress absorbed the scarlet color as it neared my upper arm. I blinked, shooing away exhaustion. “If we reach Dunver, it will be death for me. Help Felix and I escape tomorrow. Please.”

His voice rose in interest. “Do you have a plan?” He asked, suppressing a yawn.

“Well…” I watched the sun high in the sky. “I will let you know later. Go rest.”

“Of course.” Carefully and gently, he retied the gag. “Would it be rude to wish you to sleep tight?” He offered a half-hearted smile. “Yes, it would, wouldn’t it?”

I watched as he made his way to the fire to lay by the dying embers in the autumn chill. An envious shiver crawled through my body. I supposed autumn was finally here.

When I realized I had not eaten in two days, my stomach rumbled angrily. “As if I really needed one more thing to worry about…” I moaned, not from pain or hunger, but sheer boredom as I watched the sleeping forms of the men until the sun sunk beneath the trees.

Varick Varian himself let me down from the tree, but didn’t untie my wrists. “Well, I heard you’ve been seducing my men, Miss Bonaparte. I like to have a very focused crew, you know and I wouldn’t want your pretty face to cloud their judgment. If one of them were to help you escape, I wouldn’t want you to make it very far.”

Armadillo saw Varick cup my chin, his thick calloused fingers against my face. His face creased with worry. “Sir, she cannot understand a word you are saying.”

“Perhaps pain is a language she would understand better.” He drew his sword, intently watching my fearful expression. “Ace, take off the girl’s shoe.”

Furrowing his brow, Ace untied my bootlaces and slipped it off my foot.

“Nice socks.” Varick said darkly before he unclenched the blade of his sword. The hilt slammed into my foot as he remarked in false shame, “Oops.”

I bit down on the gag, squeezing my eyes shut. Another blunt force slammed into my exposed foot, crushing it. Weakly, I cried out muffled by the gag.

“I still don’t think it’s broken. Goliath, grab a rock. Biggest one you can lift.”

I braced myself with a fierce exhale. After a thump and a sharp crunching sound, pain and throbbing resonated through my entire body even after the rock was lifted. Unable to stand on it, I toppled to the ground exhausted and sore.

“Varick, you’ve gone too far!” Dill drew out a small sword that Ace had given him. “How dare you hurt her!” When Varick laughed, Armadillo swung his sword. “Fight someone who can fight back, you coward!” He slashed the air; Varick leapt back.

Varick clumsily and hastily pulled at his own sword. Eventually, he managed to tug it out of its sheath. He pointed it to Dill, the blade’s dark edge like a sinister compass.

With a speedy pivot from Dill’s sword, Varick’s blade fell to the ground. A metallic clatter resounded through the trees.

Varick leaned against the tree, his breathing erratic.

Armadillo’s blade rested on his throat. “Admit defeat and you’ll live.” His voice was a foreboding grumble.

At this, Varick grinned. “Well done, Mr. Arthur. Welcome to the Valiant Villains. Now, be a good boy and lower your blade. In her state, I’m sure her uncle will be more desperate than ever for her safe return.” Varick raised his eyebrows since Dill hadn’t moved an inch despite his commands. “Felix, drop the blade.”

Tucking it back in its scabbard, Dill adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. “Natalie stays unharmed henceforth. Do you understand?” His voice was cold, colder than I’d ever heard it. When Varick stayed silent, Dill yelled, “Do you understand?”

“I understand that Natalie enjoys more than one distrustful man in her life. Lister happened to spy her busying herself with Tristan’s company this morning. Now, Felix, do you understand that?” His voice was a whisper. His lips curved into a small smirk.

Dill eyed me still on the ground. “That is not my concern anymore, is it? I suppose I relinquished my claims to her when I joined you.” He returned the grin.

Varick snickered. “That’s my boy. Welcome Felix Arthur, to the Valiant Villains!” He locked Dill’s neck around his arm playfully. “You would look great with a tattoo, you know. Perhaps, an armadillo. They’re very manly, thick shells and all.”

His eyes widened, but he laughed at the irony; I might’ve too if my foot wasn’t pulsing with hurt. “Maybe, I will.” After watching the Valiant Villains disassemble the camp around us, Armadillo took a knee next to me. “Are you okay?” He whispered softly in my ear once he lifted me into a sitting position.

Through tears I gave him a nod.

“Move your toes. I want to make sure that they’re not broken as well.”

Wincing, I wiggled my toes beneath my dirty sock. Sharply, I gasped when his thumb pressed down on my foot.

“Do you still want to escape tonight?” He queried tenderly.

Without uncertainty, I nodded again. Though, I doubted our success when Dill uncovered my foot to reveal a swollen purple lump. We both grimaced.

“Jen, that looks awful. Let me…splint it or something.” He snatched a piece of the dry wood that hadn’t been burned in a fire. Silently and stealthily, he whittled it into a two thin boards and padded it with his own shirt. With strips of cloth from his bag, he wrapped it in place on my ankle. “Move your toes again to see if the blood is moving.”

With less pain, I waggled my toes at him. “Funks,” I mumbled.

He slid my sock on my foot. Chuckling, he replied, “No problem. Can you walk at least to the horse?” Despite my nod, Armadillo draped my arm across his shoulders while I hobbled to the horse. Delicately, he pulled me onto the horse and jumped on after me. He urged the beast into a gentle trot. “It’s not jostling your foot at all, is it?” He pulled on his other shirt as it rode on toward the rest of the impatient Villains.

“Well, how was she, Felix? Good even with a broken foot?” Ace wheezed a snigger. “I bet she’s good.” He winked. On Varick’s orders, he flicked his horse onward.

I shivered at his gesture, but Armadillo must have thought I was cold since he tucked me into his warm chest. “Dill, um nut culd,” I muttered. Heat crept in my face.

He sighted the crusted blood on my arm. “You’re a mess. We’ll stop at an inn outside Dunver and you can rest up.” His hand brushed my forehead. “And you have a fever. I think your foot is infected. You are a mess.” He chortled at my misfortunes.

My injured foot ensured that my eyes didn’t close as it smashed against the horse’s ribs. It sent a jolt through me each time the horse stepped. The pain surging up my leg replaced any soreness in my shoulders, tire in my brain, or hunger in my stomach. A cold sweat glistened on my forehead. Despite how warm I felt, I still shuddered.

“You are in no shape to escape tonight.” He untied the gag, so I could breathe more easily. “We can wait for another night.”

“No, we can’t. We’re almost to Dunver. If we get there and there’s no duke waiting for me with a large sum, we are as good as dead. It has to be tonight.” The words struggled against my dry throat. “Do you have my water skin?”

After muddling around in our bags for a bit, Armadillo lifted it to my dry lips.

The cool water tipped into my mouth, providing much needed moisture.

“Thank you,” I breathed, burrowing my face in the rough cloth of his shirt to pretend that it was father’s for a moment. Then I cleared my throat and sat up. “We need to form a plan, a full plan. We have opium tea, poetry, and seduction.”

“The tea should likely sedate Lister for the entire night and maybe Goliath, but it’s hard to tell with his size. I only wish that there were more of the plants.”

“Dill, there’s only one problem. How do you plan to make them drink the tea?”

His face fell. “I actually hadn’t thought of that. Perhaps, I’ll give you a bit to convince them that nothing bad will come of it. Besides, it should ease the pain a bit.”

“And with the pain eased, it would be much easy to…ugh, flirt with Ace.”

“It’s your plan. So while Ace is untying you, I will distract Varick with that poem and Tristan will hit him over the head.” He paused. His eyebrows lowered in thought.

I continued, “Once Ace has untied me and Varick is unconscious, you’ll hit him on the back of the head as well. And then, ah!” I gripped at my leg as the ache traveled up from my foot, which had knocked against the horse’s ribcage.

It whinnied, a mocking sound. The creature was probably laughing at me.

“It’s going to be a long night.” Dill stared ahead at the darkness.

Ace dropped back to us. “A couple of merchants ahead. Varick thinks they may have something worthwhile. Tie the horse to a tree and leave the girl on it.”

Armadillo nodded in understanding and veered off the road. He tied the reigns around a tree limb. He peered toward me. “Will you be okay while I’m gone?”

“I will be fine. Just go.” For a long while, I sat there. My back rested against the tree while my legs dangled over the same side of the horse in a makeshift chair. Since I was especially weary and sore, I stretched as much as I could with tied wrists. “I will be gone in the morning,” I assured myself. Without the gag smothering me, I breathed easily and even closed my eyes for a small while.

After hours of waiting, a slight shuffle in the brush warned me of Armadillo’s return. Even in the dark, I was able to spy blood running down his cheek once he mounted. Moving awkwardly with my bounds wrists, I wiped the blood off of his face with my skirt. “Are you alright?” The minor ache of an illness weakened my grip.

“You have an infected broken foot and you’re asking if I’m okay?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be good if we were both too weak to escape,” I tilted his face, trying to get the best angle possible at the cut.

“Jenny, it’s only a scrape. It’ll clot soon enough. One of the merchants had a knife on him and he got a hold of me. I suppose I’m not made for thievery. Maybe I should return to my old ambitions of studying.” Wryly, he grinned.

My face showed only worry as the sky lightened into a clash of yellow and purples, each fighting and blending the colors between them. “Sunrise is near.”

Bathed in a warm yellow light, blood contrasted Dill’s tanned skin. He replied solemnly, “Then we had best be ready for it.”

Author's Note

This chapter is a bit choppy. And it reads a bit like a filler. Thanks for reading