Liam stood shackled next to the horse he was to ride for their journey to Jalmar for his punishment. Shepherd Godfrey started to help Liam on to the horse.
“Stop what you are doing!” Oliphant yelled at Godfrey.
“My lord?” Both Shepherd and Liam looked back at Oliphant, confused.
“He will walk.” Lord Oliphant gave Liam an acidic grin.
“Walk?” Liam asked aghast. “That will take two months!”
“My lord,” Godfrey protested, “the lord general wants the traitor in the capital as soon as possible!”
“And the traitor will be.” Oliphant attached a long chain to Liam’s shackles so he could be held between two soldiers. “I have no intention of slowing our pace.”
“My lord!” Shepherd protested.
“Silence!” Oliphant yelled. “You have been given your orders, and they are to transport the prisoner how I see fit. Now move!”
Godrey let the other two soldiers, Cameron Telcrum and Fletcher Windsor, take Liam’s chains. “This will not be on my hands.” He grabbed the reins of Liam’s horse and led it next to his before climbing atop his own mount.
“Ride on!” Oliphant called, urging his horse into a trot.
Liam was jerked forward when Telcrum and Windsor followed Oliphant. He let out a yelp as the chains pulled him forward, stumbling until he got his footing. The hard metal dug into his hands, threatening to dislocate his wrists if he didn’t keep up with the horses’ momentum. His chest began to burn as he panted; sweat already beaded on his forehead.
“Slow down!” Liam yelled, stumbling again as the first mile passed. “I can’t keep up.”
“Slow down, and you’ll both join him,” Oliphant yelled at Telcrum and Windsor. “Keep on!”
Dread crept into Liam’s stomach. He would not survive long enough to make it to the capital if they kept this pace the whole journey. He wouldn’t even last the day if he fell and got dragged behind the horses. Swallowing hard, Liam pushed down the vomit in his throat and watched the ground for any holes.
Mile after mile passed before they finally began to slow. Liam’s legs felt like jelly under him, and he stumbled at the slower pace. After only a few paces, he fell. Pain erupted in his chest as his wound opened. Dirt filled his mouth, and he coughed violently to expel it; he rolled to his side to keep more dirt from piling in. “Stop!” he yelled.
Relief flooded him when the horses actually stopped.
“We’ll break for lunch,” Oliphant told them, dismounting. “Tie him to a tree.”
Liam was tightly bound to the closest tree trunk, his face scraped and the front of his shirt torn. He didn’t care, as long as it meant he was able to rest. He leaned his head back against the rough bark to keep the sweat and blood from pouring into his eyes.
Shepherd Godfrey came to his side with food. “You need to eat,” he said to Liam.
“I am not hungry,” Liam protested. “I would retch anything that hit my stomach.”
Godfrey sighed and let him be. When he rejoined the others for their meal, Godfrey shot Liam frequent looks. Likely to make sure that he didn’t die.
Liam watched the others eat and slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep. He jolted awake with a gasp when his foot was kicked. Liam’s whole body ached from just the few miles of travel. He didn’t know if he could keep up this pace all the way back to even Anatalia, much less to her capital to be jailed. He looked up at Oliphant with bleary eyes. “Let me rest a while longer.”
“You don’t get to decide when we leave, traitor.” Oliphant spat next to Liam. “Untie him, and chain him to the horses.”
“You cannot do this to him, Lord Oliphant,” Godfrey complained as Liam was untied. “It’s inhumane!”
“Speak again, and you’ll join him, Godfrey,” Oliphant threatened.
“I’m all right, Godfrey,” Liam said as he struggled to stand. He swayed a bit before he leaned against the tree. “Do as he says.”
With a sigh, Godfrey climbed onto his horse.
Liam stumbled as Telcrum and Windsor brought him to the horses. He inhaled deeply, steeling himself. He wrapped his hands around the chains to lessen the burden on his wrists, already bruised black from his first run.
“Ride on,” Oliphant commanded.
Instead of waiting for the horses to pull him, Liam moved with them. He only lasted a mile before he began to stumble again. His legs burned like fire ants had bitten every inch of them. Another mile passed before Liam fell. He yelled out as he hit the ground.
“Halt!” Oliphant yelled.
Liam sighed, trying to melt into the ground so that it would end. He’d do almost anything to make the day stop. He never should have followed the lord general. He should have minded his own business and— Liam groaned when his hair was gripped tightly, and his head lifted.
Oliphant crouched next to Liam, lifting his head up until Liam could look him in the eyes. “If you cannot keep up,” he said lowly, “then you will be whipped until you’re bloody.”
Liam wasn’t given the chance to answer before Oliphant dropped his head. Pain erupted in his cheek—no doubt, it would bruise by the morning.
“Get him up, and let’s move,” Oliphant commanded. “The king deserves to have the traitor to do with as he will.”
Liam closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head to try to clear his weariness. The sky was starting to darken, and he hoped they would not go much longer.
“Onward!” Oliphant commanded.
Liam gasped for breath as he ran, fire burning in his lungs. He could feel blood seeping into the front of his shirt. He would never last this journey. He would certainly bleed out first. Maybe he could play on Godfrey’s sympathies to put him out of his misery in the night.
It was not long before Liam started to trip on his own feet. He gripped the chains tightly to stay upright, but even the strength of his arms failed him. He stumbled, not having the will to stay upright. The ground assaulted him rudely, battering Liam as he was dragged behind Telcrum and Windsor. He couldn’t bring himself to fight back this time.
“He’s fallen!” Godfrey yelled, stopping his horse. “We have to stop.”
This time, Liam was lifted from the ground by Oliphant himself. “I told you if you could not keep up, you would be beaten bloody. Chain him to the tree,” he commanded.
“You can’t do this, my lord,” Godfrey said. “You will kill him before we reach the capital!”
“And who is here to tell me otherwise? You?” Oliphant asked. “I don’t see anyone else stepping forward in this traitor’s defense.”
Liam barely registered moving, his arms chained above his head and his shirt lifted to his elbows to expose his back. He heard a jingle of armor before hard leather connected with a crack. Liam was too tired to cry out; he leaned his head against his arm and closed his eyes tightly as each lash came. By the time Oliphant was finished, Liam lost count of how many times he’d been whipped.
“We’ll camp here for the night,” Oliphant commanded. “Let him down, and set up camp.”
Something must have happened in the night.
The day started off with a slow morning, and they didn’t leave until nearly noon; he was even tied to his own mount and didn’t have to run behind them. Maybe he wouldn’t die after all. Liam looked between his escorts and found everyone tensely glaring at each other. He wasn’t sure if he was sorry or not to have missed whatever argument had quelled pernicious Lord Oliphant, but Liam was pleased that it had happened.
When they made their first stop for the day, Liam looked imploringly at Godfrey. Godfrey waited until Oliphant was distracted before he said anything. “We told him last night after you fell asleep that if he killed you, we would bring him straight to the lord general and charge him with murder, and drag him back the same way he dragged you here.”
Liam let out a single laugh before he groaned. He couldn’t do that. It hurt too much. “I wish I had been awake then.”
Godfrey shrugged. “We would have waited until you were asleep, regardless, to embarrass him. You know he would have made it worse on you just to spite us if we hadn’t.”
That was true. Lord Oliphant was more prideful than he deserved to be. He was only a minor lord, after all.
Godfrey gave Liam food and water to have while he rested, and this time, he was only restrained by his middle with one of the soldiers observing him to prevent any escape. It was not like he could—Liam would only make it a couple of feet of clumsy running before he’d be captured.
The rest of the day went easily for him. They all alternated between walking and riding so that they didn’t overtire their mounts. Liam was even feeling better by the end of the day. He was still sore, but he at least no longer felt like he would die of exhaustion at any moment.
That didn’t last, however.
The next day, Oliphant woke Liam roughly and once again chained Liam between the two horses to run behind them. Each day alternated between an easy ride on the horses and making Liam run for his life. It was almost more torture to give him a day to recover than to keep running ragged.
Liam leaned against the tree, exhausted. They were only a few days out from the capital, and Liam had just finished his nth whipping. Oliphant gleefully whipped Liam, mostly with the lord’s belt, when Liam inevitably could no longer hold their hard day’s pace. The men ate while Liam rested.
“Are you ready for your dinner, traitor?” Oliphant asked, holding his bowl with contents fresh off the fire.
Liam spat at him. “Go to hell.”
Oliphant sneered at Liam, throwing the contents on him.
Liam yelled as his chest burned. He glared at Oliphant. If Liam ever got the chance, he would take his revenge on the arrogant lord.
“My lord, if we let the traitor ride the rest of the way, we could reach the capital by tomorrow evening,” Godfrey suggested when Oliphant returned to the fire. “And we can finally be rid of him.”
Oliphant rolled his eyes. “Stop trying to coddle the traitor, Godfrey.”
“We should have been there a month ago—it’s already Semonat, for heaven’s sake! We’re lucky it hasn’t snowed and frozen us all to death in the night,” Godfrey protested, motioning at the steely clouds in the distance. “I don’t want to get a reprimand because you have a ridiculous vendetta against Fulton.”
“Would you like to join the traitor, Godfrey?” Oliphant asked, his light tone betraying the deeper threat. “I’m certain a story can be arranged where you are both traitors.”
“Lord General Crompton would never corroborate your story.”
Oliphant rolled his eyes once more before he turned away from him. “I’ll be happy when we’re rid of this mewling idiot,” Oliphant said to Telcrum and Windsor.