The Wonder by Colleen Oakes

Author:Colleen Oakes [Oakes, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1940716206
Publisher: SparkPress
Published: 2014-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Dinah slept for two days after that, two glorious days on the bed of woven grass, two glorious days of rest. Occasionally, she would be awoken by the pain. She’d eat and relieve herself, before surrendering her consciousness. Sir Gorrann sat quietly beside her bed, always watchful. He must have slept, but Dinah didn’t know when he did, and she didn’t really care. The healing paste made her dreams bright and vivid and joyful. Charles, weaving feathers into a hat. Harris, adjusting his spectacles while they feasted on wine and grapes. Wardley, astride Corning, his brown hair glowing like warm chocolate in the sun, his arms reaching for her. Wardley… she thought of him often in the few minutes between waking and falling back asleep. Wardley, her love, whom she probably would never see again. Wardley the Weak, as he was called now. The shame she felt at tarnishing his name was at times unbearable, so it was easier just to sleep.

When two days had finally passed, Dinah begrudgingly decided that it was time to leave the confines of her warm, cozy tent, though she felt she could stay forever—eating, sleeping, and dreaming. Sir Gorrann roused her early and made sure that she ate a plate of eggs and strange amber fruit. As Dinah bit into the egg, a rush of yellow yolk ran down her chin. She stared at Sir Gorrann, who was devouring his eggs, still famished after the last bite.

“Did you lead me here?” she asked. The Spade wiped his face with a feathered napkin.

“Perhaps. Perhaps it is not yet time to ask.”

Dinah flung her plate across the room with a fury that surprised even herself. Her wound screamed in protest and she let out a tiny whimper. “Why? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Why would you take us here?”

The Spade stood and brushed off his lap. “I’ll not answer that question for yeh now, not now and not while yeh are acting like a child. But I would say, ask yerself if yeh trust me. Ask if yeh would have survived without me. And when yeh are done, I will take yeh down to the river to bathe because I have never seen anyone look so disgusting, and your wound will need washing and redressing.”

He left the tent without another word. Dinah stewed for a few minutes in the bright white light of the tent. He had led her here. But why? To provide the Yurkei with the revenge they so desired? To ransom her off to the King, who would then kill her? No matter how many situations she came up with, not a single one of them made any sense. The Spade had saved her, protected her, taught her to fight. One did not give one’s enemy a sword and instruct the arm to wield it. The more she considered it, the less sense it made. But what choice did she have? She couldn’t change the fact that she was a well-rested hostage of the Yurkei tribe who had been stabbed by the Chief.

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