Seeing is Believing (9 page)

"Apparently they don't want you to fall into our hands," Reid said thoughtfully. "I don't know why they're that concerned, it's not like you're a great catch."

"Then why bother to free me?" Ty asked curtly, glad his sore side was keeping his muscles tensed already. Less for him to give away to Reid.

"I don't give the orders, I just follow them," Reid replied brightly, tucking his arm around Ty's arms wrapped around his middle. "Even when they're to rescue scrawny, smelly mages with little to no magical use."

If that was true—and Ty didn't really doubt that it was—then they simply didn't want to see the killer of one of members of the high council walk free after only a year in prison. Ty focused his gaze on the back of Reid's head, wondering what Reid would do with him when he found out.

Probably leave him for recapture if they were still on this side of the Melari border. After that … Well, that depended on what they planned to do with him then.

*~*~*

"We're going to have to stop for the night," Reid announced after a few hours of solid silence. He didn't sound too pleased by the prospect, and Ty didn't blame him. The horse had already been beleaguered enough without supporting both his and Reid's weight.

The poor thing was going even slower now, and Ty thought he could probably have walk faster than it was if his side wasn't throbbing fiercely in time to the horse's step. Reid lapsed back into the unsettling quiet he'd been maintaining all afternoon, but Ty just wearily accepted it, focusing on sitting carefully and not jostling any of his aches more than necessary.

It was a short amount of time later that Reid halted the horse in a tiny clearing, just wide enough to let sunlight through during the day.

"Good enough," Reid muttered half under his breath. Ty sighed, wondering if he'd be able to get down without falling on his face. After a moment, Reid twisted to look awkwardly over his shoulder at Ty. "I know you've been enjoying being pressed up against me, but you should get down now."

Ty glared, hooking his fingers in the back of Reid's shirt for balance before stiltedly dismounting. His legs nearly crumpled beneath him, but Ty steadied himself with a fresh grip on the horse's rigging.

Reid swung down after him, looking only a little less worn than Ty felt. He ignored Ty, focusing on the horse. The poor creature looked about ready to fall over itself, and Reid was murmuring to it softly under his breath as he worked on divesting it of saddle and harness.

Ty dragged himself a few feet away before collapsing down to the ground with a groan he couldn't quite stifle as his aches protested the movement vehemently. He fell back flat against the ground, not bothering with the effort of sitting up. The ground was hard and uneven beneath him, but Ty thought he could probably fall asleep easily anyway.

Reid snickered from somewhere nearby, but Ty ignored him, keeping his eyes shut and his limbs motionless. Everything hurt less when he didn't move.

"You're going to hurt worse in the morning if you fall asleep like that," Reid advised, practically right next to Ty and much closer than he had been a moment ago. Ty jerked in surprise, strangling a pained yelp at the protest his muscles made. Reid raised an eyebrow, smirking knowingly as he straightened from his crouch. At least he was moving a little stiffly too, Ty noted with a bit of satisfaction.

"You should eat something, too," Reid said, dropping one of the saddlebags in front of him. "We should be out of the forest sometime tomorrow, provided we haven't gotten too far off track."

"Good," Ty muttered, dragging himself up into a sitting position as Reid walked away.

Reid set about stretching out their one remaining bedroll on the opposite side of the tiny clearing from the horse. Reid probably expected to repeat last night's presumptuousness, and Ty couldn't really protest—they both needed to sleep, since Ty didn't think he could travel much further without resting and Reid was the only one capable of mounting any sort of defense if they were attacked again.

Reid finished with the bedroll and settled down next to Ty. His features were almost indistinguishable in the dark. The moon was still mostly full, but not a lot of its light made its way through the trees. The only thing clearly visible was the thick scar, and Ty wondered for a moment what could cause such a large wound and not kill a man.

Perhaps the wound had cause Reid's obvious lack of mental faculties. Only no, that was rude. Even if Reid had been nothing but rude to Ty, he wasn't going to stoop to the same.

"So, has rescue been everything you dreamed it would be?" Reid asked, smiling widely. He took the unopened saddlebag from Ty's fee, pulling it open to root through it.

"I didn't dream of rescue," Ty replied absently, without thinking.

"Really?" Reid drawled, leaning closer. "What did you dream about?"

"Certainly not you," Ty retorted, and then his brain caught up with his words and his cheeks started to heat. What kind of response was that? Obviously, he was too tired for this.

Reid laughed loudly, pressing a dried apple into Ty's hand and tugging at a stray lock of Ty's hair, pulling sharply once before dropping his hand. Ty half-heartedly tried to swat his hand away, but Reid was quick and Ty was exhausted.

"I'll forgive you, seeing as you hadn't met me yet," Reid offered graciously, passing Ty a bit of dried meat. Ty ignored that comment, shifting in an attempt to relieve some of his aches. It was to no avail, and Ty thought it would take weeks of nothing but hot, soothing baths and no riding before he stopped aching.

"How bad are the bruises?" Reid asked casually, taking a loud bite of his apple. Ty just shrugged, taking a smaller, quieter chunk out of his own apple.

"Do we need to slow down?" Reid asked, thankfully not anything but matter-of-fact.

"No," Ty dismissed immediately. If the group of guardsmen pursuing them had gotten so close twice, they couldn't afford to dawdle because Ty ached. Besides which, Ty didn't really think they could go much slower. The horse obviously needed a good rest before it would be any good, and carrying the both of them wasn't helping.

"Good," Reid declared, smugly approving. Ty rolled his eyes, applying himself to his food. The sooner he finished eating, the sooner he could go to bed and not have to move for a few hours.

"You didn't think you'd be rescued?" Reid asked thoughtfully, after too short a silence. "Don't you have a family?"

"They're dead," Ty said shortly, giving Reid a disparaging look.

"And no friends? No
lover
?" Reid pressed, stressing the word 'lover' like saying no would be tragic.

"No," Ty snapped, tossing his apple core towards the horse. "Not that it's
any
of your business."

"Poor thing," Reid cooed. "No wonder you're so unhappy."

"You're a jackass," Ty retorted, irritated all over again that he infallibly rose to Reid's bait. Heartily sick of always being on the defensive, Ty opened his mouth and demanded, "Is that how you go that scar? You were an ass to the wrong person?"

Reid's smile slipped from his face and Ty instantly regretted opening his mouth and stooping to Reid's tricks.

"No. I go this scar rescuing another stupid mage like you," Reid replied, falling short of the mocking tone his words usually had.

"I am not stupid." Ty's face heated and his fingers started to tingle, itching with the urge to reach out and throttle Reid. It was a sobering impulse—the anger drained away immediately and Ty stared at Reid, aghast.

Reid scoffed, the familiar smirk twisting his lips. "So you didn't do something stupid like not take your suppressant or try to take out a supply depot of the drug? I doubt you were in prison for the view."

"I was in prison—" Ty began woodenly before cutting himself off, shaking his head a little. "I wasn't in prison because of magic."

Reid's mouth twisted in a frown, the smirk disappearing, and Ty stood up abruptly, wincing at the sudden movement.

"Here." Ty handed the rest of the dried meat back to Reid. "Eat it or put it back. I'm going to sleep."

Reid surprisingly didn't say anything, just nodded. He didn't say anything as Ty limped across the clearing to the bedding either. Ty collapsed down to the pallet painfully, ignoring that Reid would probably be joining him shortly. He didn't care. He just wanted to sleep and forget the conversation with Reid had ever happened.

*~*~*

Ty woke up suddenly, jerking away from the sword point at his throat with stiff muscles. Reid muttered something sleepily from behind him, but he didn't move and Ty felt a brief flash of annoyance that Reid was apparently
sleeping through
their capture.

"Stand up," the guardsman directed. "Slowly."

Ty nodded and the sword was retracted a few inches to give him breathing room. Pushing Reid's arm away a bit violently—Reid didn't even stir at that—Ty carefully stood up. He nearly toppled over when he put weight on his left leg, and Ty hoped that if it came to running that he could actually run.

"Kinsly, tie his wrists," the guardsman ordered, and Ty followed his gaze to see two more guardsmen waiting a short distance away. A fourth was stationed by their worn-out horse, and Ty hoped like hell that Reid had a backup plan.

Kinsly wasn't at all gentle, yanking Ty a few stumbling steps away from the pallet where Reid was still fast asleep. He bound Ty's wrists tightly together, the rope biting into his abused skin painfully. He held onto Ty's arm when he was done, jostling Ty a bit as the lead guardsman attempted to wake Reid.

He was nudging unsuccessfully at Reid's shoulder with the toe of his boot, as though Reid were something unpleasant he didn't actually want to touch. Reid moved abruptly, stretching with a wide, dramatic yawn.

"Yes, yes, get up and get your hands tied," he muttered. Ty stifled an inappropriate smile at the look on the guardsman's face. Reid sat up slowly, staring up at the guardsman balefully.

"This is still better than the wakeup I got yesterday," Reid told the man earnestly. "Ty apparently doesn't like to cuddle."

Ty scowled, his face heating. It figured that even in enemy hands Reid wouldn't lay off.

"Get up," the guardsman ordered, his sword moving menacingly closer. Reid sighed loudly before getting slowly to his feet. "Jensen, his hands and a suppressant."

Reid made a face, but let his wrists be bound—Jensen the guard wasn't as rough with Reid as Kinsly the guard had been with Ty, he noted sourly.

Then Jensen pulled out a clear vial filled with something liquid and shimmering.

"Is this really necessary?" Reid asked mildly, jerking away from Jensen's grip. "I have no energy left."

"Take it or I'll put a matching scar on your face," the lead guardsman threatened, hefting his sword.

Reid laughed mockingly, lifting an eyebrow challengingly. "You couldn't if you tried."

The guardsman nodded to Jensen, who immediately backhanded Reid. Ty winced and Kinsly's grip on his arm tightened in response.

"You hit harder than he does, Ty," Reid reported cheerfully. Ty stared at him in disbelief. Reid's smart comments weren't limited to Ty, it seemed, though how Reid could find the courage to so openly mouth off to the guardsmen who could just as easily kill him as drag him back to the city was beyond Ty.

Reid let Jensen feed him the suppressant though, shuddering visibly as he swallowed it. Ty didn't envy him the taste, vividly remembering the bitter, biting taste that had tainted every meal.

"Where's your queen bee?" Reid asked, letting Jensen pull him over to where Kinsly stood with Ty.

"Quiet," Jensen spoke up, giving Reid a bit of a shake. Reid paid him no mind, something Ty could've told the man. Telling Reid to shut up never worked.

"Too high and mighty to lower herself by coming out to get us herself?" Reid asked mockingly and Jensen hit Reid again.

"Stay quiet or I'll gag you," Jensen said darkly. Ty blinked, wondering for a second why he hadn't thought of that. Not that Reid would've
let
Ty gag him. Ty sighed, wondering if he'd hit his head when he'd been thrown from the horse yesterday.

"Yes, sir," Reid acknowledged with a smirk. He really did enjoy getting a rise out of people, Ty decided, gritting his teeth as Kinsly shoved him forward. The fourth guardsman was packing up their things and loading up the horse as they headed for the path leading into the woods.

The guardsmen didn't have horses with them, so their main camp had to be somewhere nearby. Kinsly pulled him into the trees, his grip not slacking once as Ty limped along as best he could manage. He didn't bother to mask how difficult moving was. Reid actually stayed quiet too, something Ty wasn't sure whether to be thankful for or worried about.

*~*~*

The guardsmen's main camp was situated in a large clearing about an hour's walk away. Well, an hour at Ty's pace. He had little doubt that it had taken them a lot less time to get to his and Reid's camp than it took for them. Reid had earned three more blows on the walk, but Ty had taken his example to heart and kept quiet.

There were five horses tethered with long leads to a clump of trees near the edge of a wide stream. A burned out campfire was centered in the large clearing, the ground around it dry, hard-packed dirt. The rest of the clearing was covered in soft grass and sprouting mushrooms.