“Men with me!” a warrior yelled.
Cas dared to go a little faster. He was completely out from under the wagon now, lying flat on his stomach in the middle of the road. The tall grass in front of him wouldn’t be enough to hide him if anyone looked closely, but maybe if he stayed still. Very still.
A grunt made him peer over his shoulder, and he saw the two warriors closest to him now facing each other, talking.
He scooted into the grass until his feet were off the road, and then went a bit farther. He placed his palms flat in the dirt and rested his face on top of them. He was breathing heavily, but he tried to be perfectly still.
“Back inside!” a warrior finally yelled.
Horses’ hooves thudded against the ground, and he knew the warriors had all gone back to their posts. All they had to do was glance over at the lump in the grass and he was dead.
Cas held his breath as the wagon creaked and the horses began to move.
“What is that?” a voice called.
Cas curled his toes in his boots, preparing to run. Maybe if he ran fast enough they wouldn’t catch him. Maybe he could find a good enough hiding place.
“Is that my knife?” The voice was amused, and someone else laughed. “Get your own knife.”
Cas said a silent thank-you as the sounds began to grow distant. He remained motionless for a long time, probably much longer than he needed to.
He finally lifted his head, slowly, and blinked against the sunlight. Everyone was gone. A warm breeze blew through the grass, making it tickle his face, and he almost felt like laughing for a moment. The urge left as soon as it came.
He got to his hands and knees, then to his feet. If the warriors were staying away from the river, then that was exactly where he needed to be. He could follow it almost all the way to Fort Victorra.
He pushed his hair out of his face and ran through the grass, headed for the cover of the trees.
TWENTY-SEVEN
EM WALKED BEHIND Koldo and Iria as they trekked through the jungle. It had been two days since Aren had found them, and she felt better with her friend next to her. He’d pointed out Koldo’s slight limp and bloodied left leg yesterday and she’d been watching it ever since, getting a handle on how he moved in case she needed to defend herself.
They were all silent as the morning stretched into afternoon, and Em couldn’t help but think of Damian. He was the talkative one, the one Aren and Em would have to shush and remind that they were trying to be quiet to avoid hunters. The weight of his absence mixed with her fear for Cas, and every step she took felt heavy.
“Should I carry you?” Aren asked, cocking an eyebrow when she fell behind again.
“Sorry.” She took a couple of quick steps to catch up with him. “I miss Damian,” she said, leaving out the second part of her sadness.
Aren kicked a pebble out of his way. “Me too.”
“Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we’d gone into hiding instead of doing all this,” she said, letting herself picture it for a moment. “Like if we’d just found a place to be safe and took some people with us. If I’d married Damian and tried to forget everything that had happened.”
Aren laughed, and she turned to him in surprise. He rolled his eyes at her.
“You never would have married Damian, Em.”
“I . . . I don’t know. Maybe it could have happened, if everything had calmed down.”
Aren shook his head. “If you’d felt that way about him, it wouldn’t have mattered how crazy our lives were. You managed to develop some pretty strong feelings for Cas despite terrible circumstances.” He lifted an eyebrow, and she looked away. He had a point.
“He wasn’t upset about it,” Aren continued. “Disappointed, sure. But he wasn’t waiting or hoping or anything.”
She swallowed, crossing her arms over her chest.
“And you will never be the type to hide,” Aren said. “Everyone else wanted to hide, and you insisted on fighting. I admire you for it.”
“Don’t admire me.” She’d taken the king’s tactics and made them her own. While trying to defeat him she had become him, and that seemed far worse than anything she’d ever imagined.
Aren bumped his shoulder against hers. “Too late.”
Cas’s stomach rumbled for food, and his mouth was so dry that he couldn’t think of much else. The heat inland was almost unbearable, and he wondered why people would live in the jungle when they could enjoy an ocean breeze near the shore.