Page 111 of The Poison of the Earth
His eyes flick around. Everything seems calm. “Listen, I saw the leaders’ tent. I’m guessing General Khingal and Captain Hawkes are there, at the least. Things tomorrow would go a lot smoother if I could off them. Do you think you two are alright?”
Ollie and I both nod.
“We’re fine, go Kai,” Ollie urges, “This should take only a few minutes at each well. Meet us quickly, love.”
He nods and trots off.
“Alright,” I say, my eyes now scanning. “What do you need to do?”
She walks to the edge and pulls up the rope hand over hand until the bucket is visible. I grab it and put it on the edge.
Ollie puts her fingers in the water and her eyes close.
She whispers, “I just let my magic out. It’s easy. It’s pulling it back that’s hard.”
I feel her tug the energy around her. I turn, watching for anyone approaching but everyone is just going about their business.
“Done,” Ollie says quietly and I hear the bucket drop. “One down, two to go,” she quietly crows.
We stand and I scan. There are solider everywhere, but none of them seem to be paying us any attention. I take Ollie’s wrist as Kai had and tug her gently along. A solider is watching us so I turn and grab Ollie’s breast. Her eyes open wide; she giggles and grabs my hand. I flick her a grin and her eyes sparkle.
“C’mon now, lassie,” I say, “Let’s go have some fun!”
“What kind of fun, milord?” She says, laughing, attempting to copy my fake accent.
“Oh, you know, pretty girl, the kind that involves a strap-on,” I lilt.
She snorts in surprise. “Wood ye like that, milord?”
“More than I was expecting,” I say quietly.
“Ay, well, then, I’ll be sure to do it again.” She winks at me and I snort.
“Made it,” I whisper, as we step up to the next well. No one is at this one so I quickly tug the bucket to the top and hand it to Ollie. She dips her hand into the water that’s in the bucket, allowing her to infect the entire well. Her eyes close and I turn my back to her. I look around, keeping an eye out for Kai, and for any of the Stonesthrow’s army.
“Done,” Ollie whispers and I hear the splash of the bucket.
A soldier with long brown hair and pale skin walks to the well up holding a pitcher. Ollie steps back with a tiny grasp and I take her wrist again. We watch the soldier pull up the bucket and dump the water into his pitcher. He looks up and catches us staring. He nods awkwardly and turns, headed back to his tent.
Ollie whispers, “He’s barely grown.”
I swallow, feeling as sick as my betrothed sounds. “C’mon, Ollie. Eyes on the prize,” I encourage. I put a hand on her back and push her to moving. We hurry towards the last well, weaving through the Fae as quickly as we can.
“Thank the Goddess,” I breathe, as we arrive at well with no one around it. I grab the rope to pull the bucket when Ollie lets out a muffled scream. I spin, my heart in my throat.
A soldier has her, one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulders, his bare hand over her mouth. His big brown eyes are on me.
“You’re not in uniform,” he says, eyes on my sweater under my stolen cloak. His grip on Ollie tightens, her pink eyes wild.Not wild-terrified. Wild-furious.She looks to me.
I nod to her and I feel the tug of energy.
The Fae holding her suddenly tenses. His eyes roll back into his head and he gurgles disturbingly. Just as his hands on my betrothed loosen, a much larger solider grabs Ollie by the cloak. The first man hits the ground with a muffled thud.
“What’s this now?” The new solider’s voice is gruff.
But my sword is already drawn. I swing it down, rage filling me.
“Don’t touch my wife!” I scream as I separate that Fae from his hand.
