“You can't. The guards will arrest you, and Premier will have you executed.”
“I'll use my magic to get by them.”
“What about Premier?”
“I don't care!” I clenched my fists, doing my best to control the wildfire storming inside. I couldn't get the picture of Premier’s mocking smile out of my head. “She needs to be warned. Things are far more dangerous than I thought they'd be—than she thought they’d be.”
He placed a strong hand on my shoulder and said in a calm voice, “I wish we could warn her, lad. I tried to tell the king, but it was Premier who imprisoned me before I could do so. Do you honestly believe you could get to her and then get away?”
The fire inside me subsided as I realized the truth. “I suppose not.” I sighed, and my shoulders slumped. “I don't even know who you are.”
“Jastillian of the Rammalong House.” He grasped my forearm.
“Hellsfire.”
“Good. Now's let get out of here, lad.”
I took one last look at the castle and prayed to the gods that Krystal would be all right and that I'd see her again. If anything were to happen to her…
“I'll be back.” I promised to Krystal.
I retrieved my horse and bought one for Jastillian, as well as some clothes that were far too big for him. We trotted out of Alexandria, but as soon as we were past the city walls we broke our horses into a full gallop. We didn’t slow down until we were out of sight of the city. After that we alternated between trotting and walking the horses.
I kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting to see a cloud of dust as a horde of guards galloped after us. Luckily, there wasn’t. Either Jerrel or Krystal had bought us time, or Premier didn’t want word of the dwarf and our escape to get out to anyone. Either way, I was thankful.
As tough and strong as Jastillian looked, he couldn’t keep up the pace we were going. His body finally gave out on him, until he could barely hang onto the horse’s reins or sit up straight when we rode. I couldn’t either. I rubbed my eyes, remembering I had been up half the night. We decided to stop for a rest. Our bellies needed to be filled, and the horses needed to graze.
“I’ll try to scrounge up some kindling and firewood,” Jastillian said.
“And I’ll go and try to get something to eat.”
I walked around for a bit, looking for anything edible on the barren plains. It took me awhile to find something to eat, and when I did, the roots I pulled weren’t exactly the tastiest. Thank the gods I had some dates and dried fruit in my purse. I was about to walk back to camp, but then I thought of Jastillian. He must be terribly hungry, and I knew dwarves loved meat.
I had hunted years ago in Sedah, and finally I flushed a brown hare out of the scrub. He stared at me with his liquid brown eyes, unmoving. I created a quick fireball and flung it at him. By the time he decided to run, it was too late. He died with a shriek. I slung the dead animal over my shoulder and went back to camp. I plopped down near the roaring fire and gave Jastillian the hare.
“Good job, lad,” Jastillian said. “You wouldn’t happen to have a knife on you, would you?”
I nodded and gave him my dagger. Jastillian skinned and cooked the rabbit. What would have smelled delicious to me a couple of years ago now made my stomach churn. It rumbled, and I had to force my tongue to remain still. Jastillian tore into the rabbit, leaving nothing but bones. I ate the food I had gathered along with what was in my purse. I was more tired than hungry anyway.
“That was delicious!” Jastillian said and licked his fingers. “Thank the gods for good food! It has been weeks since I last had anything more than bread and water. I would have offered you some, since you were the one who caught it, but I know wizards don’t eat any meat.”
I sighed and rubbed my furrowed brow. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up in Premier’s dungeon, or do I have to guess?”
“I’m sorry, lad. I suppose I’ve kept you in the dark long enough.” Jastillian stroked his beard. “I guess I should start from the beginning. I’ve never seen or heard about you before, Wizard Hellsfire—”
I blushed at the title. “Please, just Hellsfire.”
He tilted his head. “Hellsfire, and I do a lot of traveling. But I can say for certain, you’re a true friend if I ever met one.”
“I’ve never met a dwarf before.”
Jastillian chuckled. “You know about dwarves, lad?”
“A little bit.”
“In that case, I don’t need to tell you about us. Let’s just say, I’m different from most dwarves because I’m a historian.”