Okay, maybe I hadn’t stolen his thunder. He was right, though, not that I wanted to hear it. The first chuggers of the season were always packed to the gills. After that, you never knew what would be passing through to where or when. It all boiled down to the fact I had to get this chugger.
I grabbed the bow that was strapped to my back, getting in position, as the chugger became louder. I wasn’t the best shot of our group, but when it counted, I was typically the one who came through. These shots were nearly impossible. You had to hit the inside of the tire as it was passing through. My guess was that some of my magic was at work. I just didn’t know how.
“You sure you can do it?” Ruck asked.
“I always do it.”
Ruck wasn’t calling me a liar out loud, but the fidgeting hands and shifting eyes didn’t inspire confidence.
I pulled the arrow back, timing the movement of the chugger and calculating the breeze. My hands were weak, but that didn’t matter. I’d make the shot.
Calming my breathing, I waited. I couldn’t mess this up. If there was something wrong with me, the chugger heading our way would feed them for a month, maybe two. Between this and the hollyhoney, it would buy them time to reorganize.
I pulled my arm back, aiming for the inside of a tire, where they were thinner. The chugger passed a tree as I let the arrow fly.
It went right past and into a nearby tree.
I’d missed. I never missed. I reloaded my bow quickly even as the shock was still hitting. I released it, and it was even farther off target. I caught sight of a few arrows flying from the other side of the trail, knowing it was Marra. All misses.
The chugger was passing us. We’d never know if the driver knew he was getting shot at, since he didn’t stop. I sat there, stunned by my failure, as the chugger grew smaller.
Ruck and I were the last to enter the house, my feet feeling like they were weighted down with rocks as we’d made our way back. We’d walked in silence, and not because they were angry with me but because I was furious with myself.
I’d missed the chugger. I never missed that shot. Whatever sickness was spreading through me was draining my magic now.
Marra came over to me, taking my smaller frame into her embrace and telling me without words how she felt.
I pulled back and nodded, but had a hard time holding her gaze. I didn’t want compassion. I’d screwed up, royally, and the looks of concern on their faces made me feel that much worse.
“We’ll hear of another chugger soon. We’ll get more supplies and we’ve got all that hollyhoney.” Sinsy said it to no one in particular, but she darted looks my way. Her mop of dark curls bounced all over the place as she tried to add enthusiasm to her statement.
Tiger, with his tawny hair sticking out every which way, added, “The countries might like to fight, but they still have to trade. The weather is breaking. They’ll be coming through again.”
And what was going to happen to them when I wasn’t here anymore? When the hollyhoney ran out and no one could stop the chugger? If they didn’t stop trying to make me feel better, I was going to hang myself.
I walked over to the corner and retrieved the hollyhoney from the corner. They’d be too busy trying to hold it down and wouldn’t be able to try and cheer me up.
“Spoons,” I said.
As good as they were, a groan still slipped out. I thought it might’ve been Fetch, but I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t looking forward to it either, so no judgment.
I pulled off the lid and held the jar of hollyhoney out in the center of us, each with our spoons in hand.
Fetch, who got his nickname because he was forever tossing something around in his hands, be it a stone or stick, flipped his spoon. “It was so close.”
Sinsy shrugged, appearing way more resigned than the rest of us to eating the hollyhoney.
Ruck elbowed Fetch before saying, “I’ll go first.” He dipped his spoon in.
“Let’s load up and do it together.” I scooped my spoon in next. “At least our stomachs won’t be growling afterward.”
“Yeah, I mean, it’ll stop the growling,” Sinsy said.
Marra patted her back in encouragement.
One by one, everyone dipped their spoon in.
“Who wants to do the toast?” I asked. You couldn’t eat hollyhoney without the toast. It was known as very bad luck.
Ruck held his spoon up. “Here’s hoping it’s a decent batch. If our luck is true, it’ll stay down the hatch.”
Everyone raised their spoons and then sucked the bitter brew down, which took some work. This stuff clung worse than tar to bark. But no matter how foul the taste, you didn’t waste hollyhoney.
All eyes turned to Tiger.
As expected, Tiger threw a hand over his mouth, his eyes watering. It was a close battle, but after a few precarious seconds, he seemed to win. Tiger had only been in the Ruined City for about a year and had yet to acclimate himself to the taste. No one else was going back for seconds anytime soon, but most of us had roughed it on hollyhoney before. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was an acquired taste, but you were prepared for battle, so to speak.
We all stood around, giving it a few more minutes to settle. There was a short window after a dose of hollyhoney when it still could go violently bad.
As they worried about throwing up, though, I was staring at the jar and doing the math. There was enough hollyhoney to keep everybody going for about three weeks. Then we’d be back to slow starvation. There wouldn’t be anything worth picking off the trees for a good two months from now, and it would be a war for resources with every other starving person in the Ruined City. The dragon claw had been a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and there was no depending on another. Time was going to run out.
I waited until everyone found their beds that night before I caught Ruck alone in his room, where he was settling in for the night. He sat up, knowing I needed to talk. “Are you still worried about missing that chugger?”
“No,” I said, sitting cross-legged in from of him. Of course I was still thinking about how bad I’d botched it with the chugger. But I was moving on to bigger and better things to dwell on. “You know how you always want to make big moves?”
He smiled. I didn’t even tell the lunatic what the move was and he was smiling. How was he even alive?
He sat up straighter. “What are you thinking?”
Was I crazy? No. I was desperate. There weren’t any other choices. Although was there that much difference between crazy and desperate? “I want to rob a country.”
“I’m in.” The words shot out of him like a bullet.
I inched back. “Don’t you want to hear the plan first?”
He took a second to think that over. “Of course I need to hear the plan, but I’m in no matter how stupid it is.” He smiled, letting me know he didn’t actually think it would be stupid.
“Okay, here’s the deal…”
Chapter 6
It was the middle of the night as I approached the Valley, Ryker’s country, alone. That had been the deal with Ruck. I did the surveillance and chose which country we were going to rob. He’d agreed because it was the only way he’d get to rob a country.
There were only two countries close enough to get to on foot within a couple of days’ walk, the Valley and Dorley, the Ruined City lying in between the two.
The benefit of robbing the Valley was the place didn’t even have a wall. Before I’d headed out, I’d figured we’d hit Dorley for sure. When I got there, it was to find their wall had grown a few feet since the last time I’d gotten close enough to see it. The Valley still didn’t have one. I guessed you didn’t need a wall when you were Ryker.
I made my way closer, but stayed a good fifty feet shy of the nearest building. Most of the camp would be sleeping at this hour, but even Ryker would have a lookout set up. I tossed my sack to the ground and found a good climbing tree, a nice old oak, which would let me get high enough to see the layout.