The Cursed Tyrant and His Reluctant Queen

The ground is too soft, so my heels leave traces. Not to mention the horse's clogs. Like this, we'll never actually escape.

Unless the ground becomes harder.

«I can freeze our path,» I say. «So, we won't leave traces.»

«What about the water that will be left when it unfreezes? Or, even worse, what about the trail of magic ice behind us?»

«Not ice, Ignis. I'll just freeze the earth under our feet. And it will unfreeze as soon as we pass because it needs magic to be kept together.»

«Is that so? How convenient,» he chuckles. «Will it exhaust you?»

«Oh, if I fall prey to exhaustion, you'll just carry me in your arms,» I tease him. «And I have enough energy to freeze the whole region, right now.»

But then, I realise this is not something I should say out loud. Not so proudly, at least.

What if Ignis decides to abandon me out of fear?

«Is that so?» he chuckles.

Instead of leaving me here to my destiny and running as far as possible, he just laughs about it. As if it wasn't such a big deal.

«I guess my wife is powerful,» he adds, wary of my silence.

«I am,» I confirm. «But that doesn't mean I'm dangerous.»

Maybe just a bit. And only in peculiar situations.

«Let's get away from here, Veronica. We don't have much time, and the second city from here is already in Narith. We're close to your home.»

«All right,» I say while following him. Hand in hand, we proceed through the woods.

We walk for two hours without stopping, keeping the horse next to us. It all proceeds rather calmly, and we find a river at sunset.

«Water!» I exclaim while running to drink.

My thirst has been bothering me since earlier. I couldn't complain since Ignis was in the same situation, and there wasn't anything we could really do.

«Finally,» I sigh after having had enough. If we had a bottle, we could store some water to carry with us but like this...

«How much is it to the closest town?» I wonder.

«It's half a day by foot. However, we're not going there. We'll cross the woods and arrive in the second town in two days at most.»

Crossing the woods seems quite the work. We'll sleep on the grass, under the starry night. We'll shiver from the cold and fear the beasts. Not quite what one imagines for their honeymoon.

Oh, at least we'll have the moon, even if not made of honey. Small and declining, but still...

«Let's cross the river,» Ignis affirms. «We won't need to cover our traces anymore, on that side.»

«Oh?» I murmur. Can I compact water enough for us to walk on it? I don't think that's possible, unfortunately. Especially because this is streaming water.

«We can pass here: it's not too deep. It doesn't look like that, at least. With some luck, we can make it to the other side,» Ignis says.

I turn to him and widen my eyes.

Wading a river is harder than it looks. The running water makes it impossible to stand still, and coming back is as difficult as proceeding after some point.

Yet, I don't have a big gown. I can take this risk with the light dress.

«I will help you, Veronica. You don't need to be afraid!»

«I'm not afraid,» I rebuke. «Just a bit worried.»

«We can search for another wade,» he proposes, tightening his lips and looking upstream. «It'll not take too much time, hopefully...»

«No, wait... We shouldn't waste a single minute. Let's pass here and get it over with.»

It will be a few minutes only. I can resist.

I clench my fists and step in the cold water. I change my mind when the shoes become slippery. Oh, damn.

I walk back and take them off.

«Let me,» Ignis says, bowing down to help me.

He takes the shoes and his boots, and he secures both on the horse.

«I suggest you lift your skirt, Veronica. It's easier if you have less resistance to the water.»

I do as I'm told, hiding my blushing behind my hair. I return to walk, and I can proceed until the water reaches my knees.

Here, things become more complicated. I can walk, but it's so tiring.

Each step makes the water deeper. Every time a dry part of my skin sinks down, I shiver from the cold. It's getting darker since the sun disappeared from the sky.

What I fear the most about this situation happens when I step on the wrong stone and slip. It's viscid, probably covered by algae. However, among the night coming to us and the rushing of the river, there's no way to see what rock is safer to step on.

Ignis catches me before I fall in the water. He grips my arm with so much strength that there will likely be some bruises tomorrow. However, I don't get all wet.

My skirt slips from my arms and is soaked, but I still stand.

«Oh, Ignis,» I sigh. «This is so difficult.»

Among the troubles I'm facing, the most disturbing is the feeling of those viscid stones. It makes me tremble every time. I can imagine the greenish colour of the rock. I can feel the animals crawling under it.

The water is now grey, and its rush didn't decrease one bit. The force pushing us towards the valley is so powerful that it makes me wonder what made me start the adventure.

«Come here,» Ignis says, waiting for me to reach him. He grabs my hand and shows me to proceed.

I take another step while the rushing of my heart calms down. We're almost at the half. Soon, the water will start decreasing. It will be easier there. Just a bit more....