Calidad, the land of Dragon Flame, and ourselves, the more hope I seemed to lose.
Of course, when I noticed the way that some of Carn’reau’s men had fallen back so they could travel behind us, boxing us in no doubt for safe travelling, it only increased that feeling of dread and doubt. Which was why, as we turned a corner, I looked back at the castle one last time before it went out of sight for good. Then in hopes of cutting through the tension, I told Lucius,
“You know, I think despite it all, I am going to miss Rivendell.”
“What’s Rivendell?” he asked after I had finally broken the silence.
“Rivendell is an Elvish valley in Middle-Earth and where the quest to destroy the One Ring began,” I told him, making him chuckle and reply,
“Ah yes, how could I forget your little ugly friend, Gollum, that still occupies my shelf,” Lucius said, making me laugh before looking back at him in surprise.
“Have we been getting acquainted with my movie figurines by asking google?” I enquired in a knowing tone.
“What can I say, unfortunately I had time on my hands when my Chosen One did a runaway act, leaving me with nothing but worry and curiosity to fill my time… well, that and hunting a little wayward mortal across the seas,” he replied, making me wince.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I made bad decisions… geez, no need to rub it in and bring Gollum into it,” was my reply, making him place a hand to my belly and pull me closer into his body. Then he growled in my ear,
“You’re my precious and don’t you forget it.” On hearing this, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter, one so loud it to shocked everyone in our group enough to turn their heads our way and stare at us. But I was too far gone in my humour to care, and jiggled in the saddle forcing both Lucius’ arms to curl around me and take hold of the reins in both hands, just to stop me from sliding off.
“I take it she is well, my Lord, and not indeed having some kind of fit?” Carn’reau asked after pulling up his own Manticore beside us, making me wonder where his own frightening beast was. The one I had seen him sat upon the first time I met him, when Vern had sacrificed himself and double crossed him in that shit hole village.
“It is hard to tell the difference, I know,” Lucius commented with a smirk I knew he wore even without seeing it, making me elbow him in the gut.
“Oi!” I shouted, making him release an over exaggerated,
“Humpf!” sound, and with it Carn’reau’s eyes widened in surprise, most likely wondering why I was allowed to get away with such an offence. Then Lucius started laughing himself and lifted a hand to my cheek, cupping it from behind before turning my face to gaze up at him then he spoke without taking his eyes off me,
“For your sake, Carn’reau, I hope that when you are fortunate enough to find your fated soulmate, that she too is as spirited as mine.” Then he leaned down and kissed me, doing so until I was breathless and as for Carn’reau, by the time it ended he was already gone, and therefore I missed whatever response he would have given to Lucius’ sweet declaration. After that, it seemed to ease the tension I had been feeling, as no matter what was going on in Lucius’ mind it didn’t change the way he felt about me, that much was obvious. And well, it wasn’t as though he didn’t have enough on his mind so really, maybe I just needed to cut him some slack.
After all, his people were under threat of being wiped out, so all I could hope for was that this was what it was that lay heavily on his mind and not something else. As for the rest of the journey, I thought that we would stop at some point, however Lucius seemed determined to keep going. Then, when I started to get uncomfortable in the saddle, he simply positioned me in a different way, swinging my legs up so I was sat in his lap. After this, I had to say the feeling of finally being able to close my legs had me sighing with relief, making him grant me a warm look before telling me,