Empress of the Gods

Atarah

“Morning hunter,” Atarah greeted with a silvery voice when she approached William, who was waking up. He touched his injured shoulder and tightly closed his eyes as his jaw tensed. The salve she put on him the previous night should have done its job, so she wondered if it didn’t work at all or if he had overslept in his injured arm. Either way, that’s not your problem, she reminded herself, only that she was worried about him. “If that’s your idea of standing guard, then I think we were lucky last night,” she commented as she threw him a couple of apples, some falling on his lap, as he caught one in the air with his good arm. She’d picked them up after she woke early.

“Why should I do it when I have a beast watching every move I make?” William asked, and Galad replied, showing his teeth at him, who kept looking at her. “I’m sure your beast would have alerted us if something were to happen,” he added with a smile before he bit his apple.

Atarah took a deep breath and gave him a fake smile while William looked so calm. She didn’t like it when someone addressed Galad in that way. So, she gave another step towards him with her arms folded. “You know what? I think you are a lucky man,” she said, taking up a calm pose.

“Yes? And why is that?”

As if Galad had read her mind, he slowly came to her side while he stared at William as if watching his prey. His back arched, and he even put his claws on the ground, preparing himself to attack as he growled.

“Well, if Galad hadn’t already fed, maybe you would have become his breakfast,” she said with an enigmatic smile. As soon as she ended up talking, Galad grunted, showing his canines as William slowly placed his hand on the handle of his ax, as if he was preparing for an attack. William observed him, trying to control his breathing as he waited for her to give him an order to stop when Galad look up at the branch of the tree and jumped. William stood instantly while her protector’s tail hung on the tree, wagging back and forth on that branch that barely held him. He looked at the tiger on the tree before frowning at her as she tried to suppress her smile. He was a mortal that didn’t fear monsters, but when it came to a big wild cat—he looked terrified.

She couldn’t hide her amusement at how the hunter feared the feline in the tree.

Atarah knew she was testing William’s patience. The truth was, she wanted him to get tired of her, so he would take the doubloons and leave her there. She didn’t need anyone else to help her get her sister back. She was better off alone.

“I’m not your enemy, Atarah,” he told her.

When she faced him, Galad descended from the tree, making the earth tremble under his paws, the branch falling behind his tail. Then he walked behind her, eyeing the hunter in front of her. Galad was reminding William who was protecting her. She knew William understood the message. A message he had received more than once.

“The bond proves it,” he continued, as if he was never interrupted.

“Wrong,” she argued with a calm voice. “What the bond proves is that you can’t kill me without ending your own life in the process,” she added, getting a little closer to him. “I don’t need or want your help, so you’re free to leave,” she said before walking close to him that she almost hit him on the shoulder.

Her nightmare felt so real, she still seemed to feel the sword that pierced her. She couldn’t deny that knowing William was a hunter didn’t mess up with her head despite the bond. They were two strangers who were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, that had ended up that way, and she didn’t have time for it.

“I can’t do that,” he replied, following her.

“Yes, you can. You just need to go in the opposite direction.” She pointed with her palm to the road. “And you will have to do that because I don’t trust you,” she stated when she faced him.

“Neither do I, but you don’t have a choice.”

Atarah turned back and smiled as if it was a joke what she was hearing. “Yes, I have. I do not need another protector. The one I have is more than enough. So, you already have your golden doubloons. I think it’s time for you to leave,” she dismissed him.

“Don’t be a brat, princess.”

“You better watch your mouth with me if you don’t want to end up as Galad’s next meal,” she warned him.

“The doubloons are paying for my bounty-hunter services. Services that you didn’t pay, so now that we’ve more than established we don’t trust each other, I think it’s time for us to make a plan because there’s no way—” he carefully approached her, “—I’ll put my life in your precious hands.”

They stared at each other for a moment when she heard Galad’s growl.

“You better have him under control,” William warned after he glanced at her protector.

“Fine. If there’s nothing I can do about it,” she replied, ignoring his last words and accepting that William was determined to follow her wherever she went, or at least until he fulfilled what Rhiannon forced him to do with the spell. Also, she suspected that would be the only way to remove the bond. “I’m going to find the seer Sabine to ask her about my sister’s location.” She shared with him her plan, and they would stick to it. She not only wanted to know where Myrah was, but she wanted answers to the questions that tormented her, and she knew that with that witch, she would get them. Atarah and Myrah heard about Sabine from Rhiannon’s informants, who kept an eye on her and passed reports to the Silverclaw leader whenever they could. If anyone could give her the answers she needed, it was the oracle who seemed to know Rhiannon. Without forgetting, she could help her with the dagger.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No. We are going to the nearest village to ask if they saw anything out of the ordinary. That can help us know where to start looking,” he said, emphasizing the word we.

“I didn’t ask you,” she interrupted him. William frowned as he placed his hands on his waist, looking at the ground and then at her. “I’m going to see Sabine,” Atarah firmly said because she didn’t need his approval.

Who made him the one in charge?

“It’s a bad plan,” William’s response made Atarah frown.

“Well, darling, your presence is not needed. So, if you don’t feel like coming, then don’t,” she suggested with a half-fake smile.

“An exiled witch is more dangerous than a witch with a coven. Unless you have a death wish, I don’t think we’ll set foot in that place. Because, unlike you, I still want to keep breathing,” he explained.

“You know where she is, don’t you?” Her anger calmed when she listened to what he said. William could take her with Sabine.

“I’m not going to take you there,” he firmly said as if he had read her mind. Atarah squeezed her nails into her palms, and William noticed it, but she didn’t care about that. He only folded his arms. “I could take you directly to Euthoria and save me all the trouble for once and for all, but instead I’m going to help you find your sister,” he whispered to her without taking his eyes off her.

“How merciful of you,” she teased.

“There’s a good chance she’ll be with your people,” he interrupted her.

Atarah opened her hands again. “What did you just say?”

“She could be with your kind.” William took out a leather bracelet woven into a braid with a small crystal stone tied to it. “Do you know what this is?” he asked, and Atarah shook her head in denial. She took it from his hand, admiring the cold stone from the bracelet. “That bracelet is only made in driadae realms, so your sister must be in one of them.” And before she could ask, he added, “I found it after you ran, trying to follow the horse’s hoofmarks.”

Atarah froze. “But which one?” she asked, more to herself than to him. She observed the bracelet while she thought about the possibility of her sister being dragged to Drykahria, confusing her with her.

“I don’t know, that’s why we have to get to the closer village, because it’s possible that they passed by, and someone noticed them. Which could help us to identify who has her and where they’re going. That is why we cannot waste any more time.” He gazed at her as if he really wanted to help her.

“Thank you for the information, but I got this.” She winked at him.

“I’m not asking you to trust me, but to trust my abilities to find her.” William’s face had softened as if he somehow understood what she was going through, but Atarah wasn’t convinced to follow his plan because it might take years, and they didn’t have time for it. She didn’t have time for it. Also, she didn’t need his pity. He contemplated her as if he knew what she was thinking. “Let’s try it my way, and if we start taking longer than expected then I will take you with the shadow-seer, but it is necessary that we go to the village so we can get a horse and regain strength, otherwise we will take longer to find her, or if I take you with the shadow-seer I doubt you will stand a chance with her.”

He waited for her answer, although she suspected that he already knew it because no matter the plan they had, they still had to get to the village.

Still debating how much she needed him, she needed to accept she wasn’t a tracker and the man in front of her had more experience than her in that field. Even if that remained to be seen.

It wasn’t the doubloons or the link to her life. Atarah sensed there was another reason he was still around, and she would figure it out eventually, but for the moment, she sighed in surrender. “Fine,” she accepted with a toneless voice.

Galad sat next to her, observing William, who glanced at the tiger and then at her. Atarah rose her eyebrow, not knowing what he meant. “Keep it under control,” he repeated.

“And what if I don’t want to?” she challenged him.

He was going to say something when he stared at her as if he came to realize something. “You don’t have control over him, do you?” William replied with a smile on his face like hers, which made her stop smiling. His dimples were marked on his cheeks. Then he touched his beard. “Go figure,” he said as soon as he walked close to her side. Atarah bit the inside of her cheek, looking at the empty space William had left in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hated to feel at a disadvantage with him. He knew more about her than she did about him. “Are you coming?” William said behind her.

She turned around with a half-smile on her face, as if his reaction had not affected her.

As they walked, they kept a reasonable distance from each other. She couldn’t help to stare at him every time he put his hand on his shoulder or how he tried to move it to the back. The salve with the drop of her blood she put on him should have done more than enough to heal him. She didn’t dare to ask him if he was okay. She didn’t even know why she cared if he was okay.

It was going to be a long journey, so they had to tolerate each other, but she didn’t know how they were going to do that if they distrusted each other.