Snow sat down, his back against a tree trunk, and took a deep breath.
They'd been on the road for eight days, now. Which meant eight nights he had barely been able to sleep. It also meant eight days eating nothing but fruits and roots, and whatever he could find, growing in the woods around them.
As to be expected, it didn't take long until their food supplies were depleted, since they hadn't been numerous to begin with, and no one seemed to worry about saving what little food they'd brought with them. Well, of course they didn't care about that. Apparently they had no problems whatsoever, hunting fresh game on a daily basis. The only one with a problem was Snow, since he couldn't even bear the smell of it, much less the idea of eating a piece of meat.
After the the first few couple days of insistent, albeit useless, attempts to engage him in friendly conversation, they had mostly left him alone, apparently accepting his silent, detached posture as expected, which also meant that no one really cared about what he ate or if he ate at all.
It was the same with everyone else, Snow had come to realize. They just didn't care.
YunZen had fallen off his horse five times, and the most that had happened was everyone stopping to see what was going on. They had waited to see if he was able to get back on his feet. The one time he hadn't, clearly too week to even move, RyuXin had eventually climbed off his horse and had finally lent him a hand.
The same with RimJan, who was obviously a lot younger than the rest. No one cared where she went or if she was back in time to eat with everyone else. Even though she was just a little girl, they treated her like everyone else, and expected her to be responsible for herself.
And so, they had also eventually stopped caring about him, about what he did, where he went or when he came back. The only thing he wasn't allowed to do was to get close to the prison cart. And so Snow had had no other choice but to procure his own food, since they also didn't care if he ate what they cooked or not.
Thankfully, he had experience looking for food in the wild. And, even though these woods were a bit different from the forest surrounding Woodbridge, he was still able to find enough roots and berries to keep him going. Which didn't mean that he didn't miss having some real food …
An ironic smile touch his lips at the thought of that.
He had spent most of his life having only one meal a day. A cold mesh of something without any flavor. And yet he had clearly been able to live that far on only that.
But now that he had tried real, tasty food, he couldn't help missing it, his stomach too used to being happily full three times a day. People were really quick to adapt to what was comfortable and good. Even though he now had more food than he had ever had during his years of captivity, he still felt shamelessly hungry most of the time.
The soft sound of footsteps captured his attention, and he watched as the blond little girl approached him, her dirty hands full of red berries.
Snow smiled and silently accepted her offer.
The two children were the only ones who still interacted with him. Of course, from time to time, RyuXin would still try to strike some conversation. But, since Snow refused to even acknowledge his presence, his attempts were constantly frustrated, resulting only in HuaQin openly making fun of him. Even RimJan had stopped trying to approach him after the second day of travel. But the children, who were supposedly linked to him by blood, constantly tried to please him at every chance they got. Especially the blond little girl. The boy seemed a bit more skittish, preferring to keep his distance, even though Snow knew that most of the times he'd been the one gathering the small gifts she brought him.
Even though they were both so young, they were basically treated like servants. Every time they stopped, the children would silently climb down from the cart and would immediately start working around the camp. From checking their horses' hooves, to gathering wood for their fire, or even washing clothes or pans in the nearby river, they did whatever they were told to do, and did so without uttering a single complain.
Sure, none of the others actually mistreat them, in the sense of beating them up, or giving them any sort of physical punishment. But they were fed only once a day and from whatever was left from their meal. And so Snow had taken them with him a few times, when he left the camp in search of food. As usual, no one had asked him where he was going or why he was taking the children. And so he had tried to teach the little ones a few easy things, like how to distinguish between eatable berries and poisonous ones.
The little boy with the coppery hair seemed to follow his explanations with extra attention, and so Snow was happily surprised the first time the little girl had brought him some berries. At least they now knew what to eat if they ever got hungry.
One of those days he had also taken the opportunity to give them a bath and wash their tattered clothes. In the beginning he had wished he had Sand's skills, when it came to mending old clothes. But then he had completely forgotten all about such unimportant details.
Sure, none of the others mistreated the children, but their backs told an entirely different story. As to be expected from noble children, they had both had been blessed with daitai. But the beautiful markings were completely deformed by all the scar tissue that now covered their young skin. They had obviously been whipped severely in the past, and not only once or twice. So much so that just the look of those tiny backs was enough to leave a tight knot around Snow's throat.
And then there were the strange, dark lines covering their entire bodies, almost as if the blood running through their veins had turned black.
Also, although Snow had first thought that the collar they wore around their necks was the same he had worn all those years ago, looking from up close he could see that he couldn't have been more mistaken. The metal ring surrounding their thin necks was completely glued to their skin, so much so that Snow couldn't even slip one finger between the two. And there was a small hole on the back of the collar, as if something was supposed to be connected there. Some kind of chain, he guessed with a heavy heart.
"We're opening the passageway. Get ready," MaoHan told him as he passed by him, and Snow sighed, getting back to his feet. He was feeling too tired. All he wanted was a bath, that he still hadn't had the courage to take, afraid one of the others might actually be watching him and see his back. And sleep. He wanted a good night's sleep.
Looking towards the cart, he saw that ZaiWin was climbing inside it again. Twice a day, they would let him out of the cart, but only for a few minutes. And they always kept him under heavy surveillance, as if they feared he might try to run away. Which was ridiculous, Snow thought, taking into account that they seemed to feel rather safe, as long as he was siting inside the cart. If ZaiWin wanted them dead, inside or outside the cart, it wouldn't matter either way. Then again, Snow had long realized that, although they seemed to know a few facts about ZaiWin's life, like who his mother had been and that he was the Governor of Nox and so on, in truth, they knew very little about who he really was or about what his daitai could actually do.
Taking a deep breath, YunZen stood just a few feet away from them, and opened another of his dark passageways. It was the fifth time he opened one of those passageways, and the more Snow saw them and stepped through them, the more certain he became of the wrongness of it all. He was sure they were using the passageways to accelerate their progress, so that they could reach their destination as soon as possible. He didn't know how many days of travel they gained, every time they passed through one of YunZen passageways. The only thing Snow knew was that, every time without fail, YunZen would completely exhaust himself to the point that he would practically drop dead the instant he came out on the other side. Not that anyone really cared. Sure, they would help him get back on his horse, if he was unable to do so on his own. But no one tried to check how he was really doing, or allow him a few moments' rest so that he may recover his energy. It was as if he exhausting himself like that for the benefit of the group was more than expected. And so, every two days, he would open another passageway.
"Let's go," MaoHan declared, as always guiding the cart through the dark fracture, and Snow sighed. He guessed that this was his way to make sure that Snow would undoubtedly follow them.
Each pulling their horse, the two women passed next, and then RimJan, leaving him and RyuXin for last.
Even though Snow hadn't spoken a single word to any of them since they had left Seven Waters, RyuXin still lingered around him from time to time, as if hoping he would change his mind. As if he could change his mind!
Another thing Snow had learned about them was that they were all lacking hugely in terms of common sense! As if their world moved based on a different set or rules, and things that were important to most people were indifferent to them.
Patting Dancer's neck, Snow pulled him through the dark passageway and, just like all the other times, he was suddenly in another place. Not that it looked much different from where they'd been before. They were still on the road, still surrounded by trees. And yet, this time, something had clearly changed.
Something wasn't right, he immediately knew, his stomach turning. And he quickly released Dancer's reins to rush to the side of the road and throw-up. Gasping for air he threw-up again, even though his stomach was already empty. What was happening …?, he tried his best to understand, his legs and arms shaking.
"Are you all right?" RyuXin asked from behind him, and Snow took a deep breath, forcing his stomach to settle down, blinking away the tears that had filled his eyes. He hated that he had to be sick in front of them!
"That's why I told you that we shouldn't let him eat those strange things!" HuaQin sighed.
Straightening his back, Snow wiped his mouth to his sleeve and tried his best to firmly make his way back to his horse. Everyone just watched him silence, as if expecting to see if he could actually stand on his feet. Thankfully, right about then, YunZen also stepped out of the passageway, that immediately closed behind him, and basically dropped dead where he stood.
HuaQin sighed again.
"Better help him up. Don't think he can manage to stand on his own this time."
Holding on to his saddle, Snow forced himself to take a deep breath, but it only made him feel even worse. Mount. He had to mount his horse.
Forcing his shaky hands to hold on, he gritted his teeth and hoisted himself up. Relief coursed through his body when he was finally able to straddle his horse and could stop making an effort to stand on his feet.
Pulling the hood of his cloak over his head, he tried his best to focus, his eyes immediately turning to the prison cart in front of him.
He had moved. For the first time since they'd stuck him inside that cart, ZaiWin wasn't sitting in right back corner anymore. Instead, he was basically glued to the prison bars, his cold, blue eyes fixed on him.
Snow gave him a weak smile. He had the feeling that he hadn't seen the color of his eyes in a very long time. Even though his facial expression showed nothing at all, somehow Snow felt that he looked angry. Well, of course he'd be angry. They were both stuck in that mess because of him. He had even gone and drugged him. Used the fact that he had completely lowered his defenses in his presence and betrayed his trust, leaving him behind just like that. And now he was even getting sick. It was as if he was so useless that he couldn't even take care of himself.
Squeezing the leather reins in his hands, Snow forced himself to keep his back straight. He was fine. He would be fine. He didn't have to worry. But the way ZaiWin kept pursing his lips told him that even though he was trying his best, his message clearly hadn't come across.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now what?! ☹️☹️☹️