Chapter 228: Homeward Bound
Thamor’s hand trembled as he grasped a small dart as tall as his fingers. He looked around to see who could have thrown it. Was it the woman who looked at him like he was dead? But he did not see her make any movement. Surely it wasn’t her.
His grasp on the dart tightened. How was it so accurate that it landed perfectly and penetrated his pants and pierced his precious gem? He took a deep breath and pulled out the dart. That was his mistake. The dart’s tip was barbed, and when he pulled it out, the soft tissue of ’his thing’ was ripped.
"Ahhh!’ he screamed, then he passed out.
Alaric, meanwhile, stood beside the prisoner carriages, speaking quietly with one of his officers. His tone was clipped, his expression cold.
Two of the prisoners had vomited from the heat and the rough ride the day before, and the guards had nearly left them in Basco. Alaric had ordered otherwise and had asked to give them Lara’s medicine.
By midmorning, the procession rolled back onto the road. Dust plumed beneath the wheels as they traveled farther from Legares and deeper into the ungoverned lands between towns.
The guards rode in high alert, their eyes scanning every hillside and hollow. Bandits were a risk, but Alaric’s mind was on something else: the king’s plans for him.
That evening, they arrived in another town— larger than Laiya, with actual brick buildings and a better-stocked inn. But space was still tight. This time, the Norse siblings got two single rooms; Alaric took two. Everyone else — guards and prisoners alike — were again assigned to tents outside.
Over dinner, Reya glanced around the shared room. Sandoz seemed in better spirits, cracking quiet jokes and pretending the incident in Ranuva did not happen. Her eyes were on the window, watching the shadows stretch across the dirt road.