Page 112 of To Kill a King
She shrugged. “‘Twas faster than carryin’ ya, or figurin’ out how ta tie ya t’ the front.”
Fair. “So let me out.”
“‘S not even locked.” She waved toward the side of the carriage. “Get out yerself.”
Oh. He hadn’t even considered trying the door. His chest tightened as his face flooded with heat. What an embarrassing oversight.
Making his way to the exit, he limped down the stairs.
Zadé grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the driver’s bench alongside her.
“You stitched me up?”
“No need ta’ look so su’prised. I seen my share of battlefield medicine, ya know.”
As the foremost general in the combined elven army, he had no doubt.
“Fixed yer shoulder ‘n nose, too.”
That explained the sore joint and splitting headache. “Thank you.”
“Welcome.” She eyed him. “How ya feelin’? Yer lookin’ a little peaked.”
His stomach spasmed with a grumble. A wave of nausea, which may have been from hunger or pain, threatened to overwhelm him. “How long was I out?”
“Almost a full week.” She handed him her wineskin. “We’re nearly to Westcliff.”
Raising an eyebrow, he studied the contents. “I don’t know that alcohol is the best option for me right now.”
“‘S all I got, and it’ll help yeh feel better.” Leaning toward him with a conspiratorial glint in her eye, she whispered, “Don’t worry. It’s the good stuff.”
He smelled it. A flowery bouquet mixed with strawberries tickled his nose. Well, at least it was elven wine and not something harder. A week of drinking a beverage that was more fruit juice than alcohol explained the lack of slurring in Zadé’s speech. With a sigh, he took two large mouthfuls before handing it back. “Thanks. So…want to tell me what happened? I thought we were both dead.”
“Yeh nearly were.” She frowned at him. “If it hadn’t been fer me…”
He nodded. “That was a pretty hard blow you took to the head. I was worried it cracked your skull open.”
“Bah!” She rapped the side of her head with her knuckles. “It takes a worse hit than that ta rattle these brains. I opened my eyes just as the human stabbed ye. He glanced around, then took off across th’ road and into th’ forest. Prob’ly after Princess.”
Elessan tilted his head and shrugged. “Makes sense.” If Aliya was on foot and traveling through the wilds, Brooks could hardly take the wagon after her. “I just hope she’s fast enough to evade him.”
Zadé waved him off. “Yeh worry too much, Elsan. Yeh taught her all about trackin’. She’ll be long gone afore he finds her.”
He shook his head. “No…that jewel in his head acts like a magical compass. He told me he could feel her no matter where she went, and he’d keep chasing her until he dumped her at Malkov’s feet.” Elessan shuddered. “We can’t let him do that.” He went to get up, but his ab muscles spasmed, slamming him back into the chair.
Zadé frowned. “We need ta find yeh a healer first. Yer practically dead, and’ll be no good ta Princess if’n we do catch her.”
He opened his mouth to argue but paused. She was right. He was hardly in any shape to stand, much less fight off Brooks and Malkov.
Zadé grinned as she gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. “Now that yer awake, mayhaps yeh can take a look at what th’ human left us?”
Following her gesture, Elssan glanced at the small shelf behind them that he hadn’t noticed before.
Stephen’s pack sat like she’d just picked it off the ground and tossed it there as an afterthought. He grabbed it, upending the contents into his lap. Two more of the metal canisters tumbled out, along with a wooden box that flew open, throwing several silver balls across the bench.
Picking up one of the metallic spheres, he rolled it between his thumb and index finger. “These are the same things we dug out of Cressida. They killed her.”
Turning his attention to the tubes, he glanced at Zadé. “What do they do, you think?”