Mara hummed while she lathered my hair up with the sweet smelling soap and I almost fell asleep while she massaged my scalp. Soon I was clean again, wearing a patched up oversized work shirt that Mara said belong to her husband. The top reached comfortably past my knees and would serve as a night shirt. Mara didn’t stop there; she brushed my black hair until it shone in the firelight and then braided it in a single plait down my back. Danny knocked again a few minutes later and came to remove the tub. Mara excused herself as well and left me alone in the room.

I hadn’t been alone in I don’t know how long. I listened to the crackling of the fire and the darkness of the room seemed to suffocate me. Jumping up, I ran to the shutters and threw them open to let the fresh air pour in. Breathing in the night air calmed the panic that almost assailed me from being shut in. Turning back to the room, I crawled into a bed that felt too soft. Rolling over, I closed my eyes and soon fell into a fitful sleep.

“Hook her up!” a voice snarled. Struggling against the cold hands that gripped me I arched my body in defiance. The freezing points of metal stabbed me in the spine and I tried one last kick of freedom before I was bound in the machine. The deadly looking bands were locked into place around my body. Waves of hooded red robes floated around me.

“She hasn’t shown any signs yet. Give her another injection.”

I heard chanting as the Septori in red robes gathered around the machine, preparing to send an electric current into large bands that stabbed me and looked like eerie wings. Pain would follow and course through my body. I looked at the Septori and all I saw from the darkness of their hoods was evil, yellow eyes that glowed. Sharp, pointy, metal teeth glinted menacingly in the candlelight. They lunged toward my body as I heard ominous laughter egging them on. They flowed toward me as ghostly phantasms and then through me. Gasping I felt myself begin to fall, the earth opened up and a gaping hole in the ground formed around my bare feet. I felt a pounding at my head and then I was falling, falling and then pain.

“Ouch! Blistering son of a scorpion!” I cussed. I was lying in a tangle of blanket on the hard wooden floor of the Inn. I had fallen off of the bed.

“A dream!” I breathed in relief. “Oh, thank the heavens” Grabbing the pillow from the bed, I curled up on the familiar hard surface of the floor and tried to fall back asleep. The pounding headache of my dream persisted, and my heart raced at what I secretly feared the headaches might mean. I was normal, I desperately told myself, I was still human. Closing my eyes, I missed the shadow outside of my window move away.

The pounding in my head continued through most of the night followed by stomach cramps before fading away near dawn. The pounding started again at first light getting louder and louder.

“OH, STOP!” I said, grabbing my head, before I realized the pounding was coming from the door.

“Thalia? Are you all right? Answer me! Thalia!” The voice began to get frantic.

“I’M COMING!” I yelled as I wrapped the quilt around my body before limping toward the door. My muscles screamed in protest at the use. It had been moons since I’d ridden a horse. I took a second to steady myself before unlocking it and opening the door to a worried Joss.

“Oh, it’s you!” I stated grumpily. After last night I was in no mood to talk.

“What...what happened to you?” He began to step into the room but I pushed the door back into him.

“I was sleeping.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been knocking for at least five minutes? I was about to break down the door.”

“Uh, I was asleep!” I replied sarcastically. “I guess I’m a sound sleeper.” I was not about to tell him about my nightmares. He peered over my shoulder and glanced at the pillow on the floor and the extra blanket. He looked back at me, the tension leaving his perfect brows to be replaced by a slight worried look.

I stuck my chin up at him in defiance, and I tried to move and cover the view of my room. In the process I stumbled on the edge of the blanket and bashed my forehead into the doorframe with a thud. Joss grabbed my arm to steady me, and then he looked at me a little closer before releasing me.

“So there is a girl underneath all of that dirt,” Joss spoke with a twinkle in his eye.

My eyes went big at the comment and I tried to step on his foot in revenge. But Joss dodged it merrily.

“We are having breakfast in a quarter hour and then we shall reach Haven by late this afternoon. Can you be ready?” He grinned at me, one corner of his mouth going up in a laughing manner.

I ran my hand through my sleep-muffled hair and felt in horror that my beautiful braid that Mara had done had come undone. It must have happened because of my tossing and turning.

“Yes!” I squeaked, realizing the state of disarray I appeared in. I pushed the door frantically against him and he stepped back into the hall laughing.

Turning back toward the room to change, I felt my legs turn to pudding as I stumbled toward the bed. It seemed that no matter what, I didn’t have a graceful bone in my body.

I was ready in ten minutes and took the stairs slowly, dreading the thought of getting back on a horse. Mara took one look at my unsteady stance and went into the kitchen and came back out with a salve.

“Here Thalia, it’s my mother’s own special recipe, it’s for your muscles.” I opened the container and got a faint peppermint smell. Going back up to my room I applied it to my aching legs and felt immediate relief. Before I could hand it back to Mara, she clasped her hands around mine and told me to keep it.

Breakfast would have been perfect except for the fact that Vienna served it. The way she fussed over Joss made me feel sick to my stomach. I shouldn’t be feeling these pangs of jealousy over Joss. He wasn’t mine by any means, and I had just met him. It was the fact that he paid equal attention back that hurt. I was still underweight and pale looking, but at least I was clean. I felt that the bath had made me a new person and the comment about how I was a girl still hurt. I wanted to be considered a woman, not necessarily by Joss but recognized by anyone. What I went through at the prison made me feel old in comparison to my years and I just wanted someone to look at me the way Vienna was looking at Joss.

When we saddled the horses to leave, Joss offered for me to ride double with him. His earlier comment still rankled so I ignored Joss and walked over to Darren’s mount. Grabbing the reins, I tried to swing myself onto Gypsy and immediately slid back down, not having the muscle strength it took to lift my own body weight. Ashamed and red faced, I kept my face to the horse. Joss looked a little hurt, but then assisted me onto Gypsy and saddled Anthem without giving me another look. Darren missed the whole exchange since he was attending to the stable boy with the silver piece.

I didn’t know why I was acting this way. I kept imagining him and Vienna holding hands and laughing at the Singing Swine or Happy Hippo Pub, or whatever it was called that they probably went to last night. I definitely didn’t want to be leaning against his solid back while picturing it. I wanted to be a strong independent woman. Not a sick child that need saving from her shadow.

Chapter 4

My first distant view of the city of Haven took my breath away. The Ginger Dragon was on the outskirts of the province, and the scenery slowly changed from forests to rolling hills the farther in we traveled. In the distance, what I took for clouds turned into large, snowcapped mountains. The closer we came to Calandry the more travelers and merchants we met, each giving us a friendly wave as we passed.