A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(11)

The two soldiers guided me outside, where the rest of the Onyx men had gathered with their horses. Bleeding Stones, even their horses were terrifying. Pure jet black, with wild and unruly manes and eyes with no pupils.

I couldn’t bring myself to look over at where we kept Bells and Hooves. I didn’t want to know if these cruel men had left them alive. I thought of Leigh and my mother. What they might see if they came back for me. The blood on the floor…

I wrestled away from the soldier behind me—kicking and panting.

“Come on, girl. You’ve had your fun, that’s enough,” The soldier behind me pinned me to him until I fell still.

So depleted, so cold—

I just couldn’t let them go after Ryder, my mother, Leigh…

I whipped my face away from the soldier behind me and called out to Bert, who sat atop one of the midnight-black horses.

“Let my family be, and I’ll go with you willingly.”

Bert laughed and the gruesome noise rang through the night.

“Do I look scared of you putting up a fight? Just wait until the king sees you.” His wretched smile gleamed in the pinpricks of moonlight that filtered through the trees, exposing all his yellowed teeth. “Besides, I thought you didn’t know the kid.”

My stomach threatened to empty itself all over the ground.

“He’s my brother. But you have plenty of coin—how many healers? Willingly means I’ll help you. Heal you and your men. Can your stolen coin do that?”

Bert didn’t respond, and the soldiers turned to him expectantly. His silence bolstered my courage.

“If you go after them, I’ll never work for you. You can torture me, kill me—I won’t do anything if they are harmed.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a bluff or not.

“Fine.”

It was all he said.

So abruptly that I almost forgot to feel relief.

Before I realized what he was doing, the soldier behind me tied my wrists together in front of me. The twine was sharp and scratchy on my skin, and my breaths began to come in strange, sharp bursts.

I did not like feeling trapped.

Heart and head whirling, I was in such shock I couldn’t even cry. I was leaving Abbington. But not for Garnet, with my family.

No, to go to Onyx.

Alone.

The single most dangerous kingdom on our continent. With a herd of the deadliest men I had ever encountered.

I wondered absently if the king even knew about his errant lost coin. It seemed doubtful. This felt like a personal mission, orchestrated by a greedy lieutenant, who would return now with a new healer and boast his findings.

Acid rose in my throat.

The soldier tugged me behind him as our lethal caravan filed into the night, some on horseback, some on foot. The only thing I could hold onto was the knowledge that my family was going to be safe. They had enough coin now to build a beautiful, safe, new life, and that was all I could possibly want. They deserved it.

I trembled again at the enormity of what I’d surrendered myself to. The horrors Bert alluded to. Most likely I was going to be raped, tortured, or killed, if not all three. What in the Stones had I done?

***

The cool evening air assaulted my frame, and I remembered how little I was wearing. My face flushed, but with my hands pulled in front of me I couldn’t cover up.

We had been walking in silence for hours. At every hitch of someone’s breath or errant comment among the men, my stomach dropped—sure they’d decided to kill me after all. Once in a while, one of the soldiers would actually say something to another that I strained to hear, but these men were like well-trained beasts.

I’d stopped recognizing anything and all the trees and branches were beginning to look the same. I had also stopped wondering if these men ever planned to set up camp for the night. I’d seen a handful of maps in my life, especially when I was young and in classes, and from what I recalled Onyx was as far across the continent as was possible without crossing the Mineral Sea. I could only imagine we would be traveling for months, and my feet protested at the thought.

Yet none of them seemed tired at all. They were truly a different breed.

But one thing didn’t make sense. These men had no gear, no campsite, no carriages. How would they survive? How would I?

The soldier that bound me had taken to dragging me along behind him as my fatigue set in. Mentally I was exhausted, and physically I was getting there. When I stumbled over a few dead branches, he looked back at me with what was either pity or disgust. It was hard to tell through his helmet of bone and steel.

“Soon,” was all he said.

It only made me feel worse.

When I was sure my body was mere minutes from giving out, we came to a glade. It must’ve been well past midnight. The stretch of dirt and hay was coated in a dim haze of night, and I had to squint to see where I was going. My feet and ankles and calves protested at each step, so sore that even standing still ached. The men came to a stop and looked around at one another in anticipation before I heard it.

A thunderous sound akin to the bang of a mighty drum or the crash of waves on an angry sea pierced the night. I startled and scanned the clearing for whatever monster must have made such a noise but saw nothing in the surrounding trees. The thuds grew louder, a deafening beat, reverberating in my skull like a war drum.

The wind spun around us, blowing dust into my hair and eyes. With my hands tied, I could only screw my eyes shut and listen with unbridled fear as the noise grew even louder. I was almost grateful to be surrounded by these men who felt more like weapons. Not that anyone’s first intention would be to save me, but I had a better shot at surviving whatever this thing was with them around.