“Do you know where my friends are?” I asked. The bird closest to me called out in the night and they both took to the sky, flying around and around in circles until they disappeared. The fear slowly crept back as the darkness around us grew. I hadn’t brought a lantern or a flint. Calm down, take a deep breath in. I started to whistle.
A short while later as we traipsed half-blind through the forest and reached a clearing, the birds found us again. They continued to dance around each other and then danced around me and the horse. He wasn’t particularly pleased at the intrusion, but a gentle word and a good pat calmed him down enough to see reason. Relief washed over me as the birds flew through the line of woodland to the left of us. When I didn’t follow they perched and waited, squawking shortly. I willed the horse on and he obliged gladly, walking, then cantering, through the trees.
CHAPTER THIRTY
WE WERE NOT alone in the woods, that much was sure, but the threat was not serious. Occasionally eyes glowed where the last light of the fire stretched and kissed our surroundings but the beasts never ventured closer. There was only one creature that would dare to attack us. I dragged my blade across the whetstone rhythmically as the others slept. Ric snorted and fell silent again. He slept like a rock. Sometimes I wished that I could lay my head down and shut out the world immediately. It didn’t work that way. Not for me. My horrors were too great; my memories haunted by the faces of too many dead.
After what she’d said I couldn’t help but think that maybe Ava had been right. A pit wedged in my stomach when I watched her walk back to the house. She was smart and cunning and Daeus-know she was stubborn. Yet, compared to someone like Alistair who flipped from one person to another at the drop of a pot, did she even stand a chance without us there? ‘These lands must be crawling with spies for them.’ Ric’s words followed me all the way out here. I shook my head. I’d made my decision. No matter how much I regretted it, I had to have faith that Ava could handle herself while we were away.
I pushed all thoughts out of my head and let the rhythm of the whetstone fill the empty spaces.
Shhhhhng...
Its gentle repetition eased my mind.
Shhhhhng...
I dozed, finally allowing for a moment’s rest.
That is, until the foliage behind me shifted and a long, angled blade touched my throat.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“SOME SENTRY YOU are,” I purred as the tip of my blade caressed the soft spot between his collarbones.
Ethan looked at me. Did I spy a hint of remorse before he registered who I was? His eyes were tired and he seemed to be weighing up whether he wanted to kill me or kiss me once he’d finally focussed. I guess the last thing he expected was to be pounced on and pinned down in the dead of night.
“Admit it. You’re pleased to see me,” I said, pushing him further to the ground and sheathing my dagger.
With one easy motion he flipped me onto my back and reversed our positions. Yes, I’m glad to see you, his eyes seemed to say. “What do you think you’re doing?” his mouth said, unfortunately. I smirked.
“Did you honestly think that this time I’d do what I was told?” I asked.
“When the situation is as dangerous and unpredictable as this one, yes, I did,” he said, exasperatedly.
I sighed. “I’m a little bit insulted. Considering how we met, I thought you’d have more faith in me than that.” My ears warmed as he slid his hands around my wrists and helped me sit up.
“How did you find us?” he asked, more curious than angry.
“I tracked you at first which, by the way, was a bit too easy. You might want to work on that-”
“Continue,” he demanded.
I pouted. Sourpuss. “After I lost your tracks I had some help.”
“Help from whom?” He looked around warily and I pointed above us.
The silhouettes of the birds suddenly shimmered as they opened their wings and took to the sky. I waved as they faded from sight, silently thanking them for leading me to safety. “I have a way with animals, remember?”
He studied me. “You know, legend says that those birds are messengers of Miah. They lead the light and righteous to fortune and the damned to their deaths.” He expected me to be scared.
Instead I smiled. “They warned me of the danger the night you rescued me in the forest, they lifted my spirit this morning and they led me to you tonight. They can be Berserker accomplices for all I care.”
Something about him warmed; his eyes became soft as he looked at me. He picked up the braided hair behind my ear again, noting the small, shining feather now attached to the tie at the end.
“It was a gift from them,” I said.
He felt the softness of it beneath his fingers. “Pretty,” he said.
My ears burned again and I rocked to my feet, “I’ll check on the horses before bedding down. Sorry I woke you from whatever sleep you were having. You look like you haven’t slept in a month.”
“I’ll punish you for it tomorrow,” he said, half-jokingly and lay on his side with his back toward me.
“Goodnight,” I whispered. He grunted, bringing a smile to my lips as I walked off into the surrounding woods.
RIC HAD BEEN happy to see me when he’d been roused the next morning, and Daniel was still impressively impartial. However, given his start to life I could hardly blame him for being a bit emotionally reserved. Almost two weeks had passed since I’d joined them, and finally we reached the foot of the Eastbrook Mountains. Daeus, I wanted to sleep on a bed that wasn’t covered in stones, eat something that wasn’t jerky or foraged weeds, and I wanted to bathe and wash the stink out of my clothes. A storm rumbled above and forced us to take shelter in a cave not far up the mountainside, though thankfully we wouldn’t have to climb much higher to get to the other side of the valley.
I was still in a withered, old tree as I kept my eyes open for rabbits. The traps I’d set earlier were covered below me on a well-used trail. Once the creatures jumped into view I whistled to Ric to start herding like I’d shown him earlier; a thrown rock, a rustled bush, nothing to scare the things silly but enough to move them on. Then the traps got them, swift and painless.
When we entered the cave a fire was burning already, yet the other two were nowhere to be seen. I sat beside the pit, stripping thick sticks I’d soaked in a nearby stream before getting to work on the rabbits. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ric staring at me, following my lead clumsily.
“Have you ever skinned a rabbit before?” I laughed.
“Not by my own hand, no. If I ever ate anything outside of hunting for Willow, the other one just eats them whole, skin, innards and all,” he said, making a messy cut along the belly. “It’s hard to be picky when you don’t have opposable thumbs.”
I skewered the meat while he laid the skin out to dry. “I keep forgetting about your other side.”
“I wish I could forget it,” Ric said. “At least he’s useful in the winter. Plenty of fur to keep me warm on longer trips.”
“What does Lavender think of your other side?” I asked.