Page 23 of The Queen's Crown
The tunnel curved to the right, and it sounded like there was rushing water up ahead.
“Why are we taking the tunnel?” Sabine asked.
“It’s faster than going around the mountain,” the soldier answered.
They were going through the mountain.Through. The thought of being inside a mountain made Sabine’s shoulders ache, as if a weight pressed down upon them. Having no idea how long this journey would take didn’t help either. Even if going around the mountain added a week to their traveling time, she wouldn’t have minded. At least then she could see the land. Here she saw nothing. Fear set in at the thought of a chunk of the mountain caving in and burying them alive.
The tunnel abruptly ended. The soldier leading the way held out his torch, revealing a waterfall to the left feeding into a river which went to the right. The soldier behind her moved to the side, pulling a small boat out from a cave.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Sabine said. “Do you expect me to get in there?”
“Not until it’s in the water,” he said, shoving it closer to the river.
“This will be much easier than walking,” Markis assured her.
She glared at him.
He shrugged.
The two soldiers put some supplies in the boat before lowering it into the water and holding it in place.
“The princess goes in first,” the one said.
Not wanting to overthink it and scare herself more, Sabine went over and stepped into the boat, sitting in the middle of it.
Markis joined her, sitting at her side. Then the soldiers got in, one in front, and one in the back.
“No oars?” Markis asked.
“Don’t need them,” the man in the back answered. “It’s not that deep and the water will take us where we need to be.”
Both men let go, and the boat floated away. The water rushed forward, taking them into another tunnel. Thankfully, they still had the torch so Sabine could see.
The farther they traveled, the deeper into the mountain they went. The air turned thick and heavy. The sounds of them breathing seemed loud above the water which was fairly quiet against the smooth sides of the tunnel.
They rode all day. Every few hours, the soldier at the front would grab a new torch, lighting it with the old one. Once the old torch burned out completely, he tossed it over the side and into the water. Sabine and Markis were offered something small to eat—a loaf of bread, some dried meat, or a piece of fruit.
Sabine didn’t remember falling asleep, but she awoke and found herself on the floor of the boat, leaning against Markis’s legs.
She stretched, realizing she needed to relieve herself. “Um,” she mumbled, glancing about the small boat.
“If you need to go, there’s a chamber pot in the back here. I’ll switch places with you. No one will look. Then toss it over the side.”
Horrified, Sabine realized what she was going to have to do.
“Being a man comes in handy sometimes,” the soldier said as he switched spots with her.
Once she finished, she returned to the middle. “How long will we be traveling like this?”
“It’s seventy-five miles long. About three days,” the soldier answered.
Which meant she would not see or feel the sun on her face for three days. “We have enough food for that long?”
“We have what we need,” he answered.
It was going to be a long three days since she had nothing to do to occupy her time but worry about what the future held.
ChapterSeven
