Because it had meant something to her, I often spotted a lone bird. I cherished the sight now, recalling memories of old, moments of happiness, of family, of love. Memories were all I had now.
Having Mira at the camp felt like my father orchestrated it from beyond. Sent the last connection he had to let me know he was still around. Knowing that she was pregnant, growing life inside of her seemed too much a coincidence. My father always wanted me to believe in something, whatever I chose, but to hold on to it with everything. To let it drive me, to anchor me. He’d always said he never wanted to rein in my free spirit, but needed to know I never went into the world with nothing.
I’d never confessed how lost I felt. Pretended that I made the world bend to my will, put on a strong front so he wouldn’t worry. I suspected he knew that, though. Hence why he’d insisted I find something to carry with me.
With every mission, every interaction, I searched for what it might be, that nameless, shapeless thing inside whispering in a language I couldn’t understand. It felt like wading through muddy waters, each step cloudy and unsure. Still, I pressed onward, forever searching.
I surveyed the soaring sparrow, watching it fly in irregular patterns, as if it too didn’t quite know what it was looking for. Having grown accustomed to the sounds of the living forest and fields around me, I quickly picked up on the dull, rhythmic beat growing louder. Footsteps.
Running footsteps.
Maybe my patrol relief came early? Except it wasn’t one of our soldiers. Alba raced toward me, hand waving frantically. She was easy to spot in her short-sleeved burgundy shirt and ratty blue pants marked by years of dirt stains.
“Ro!” she called out in a panic.
Immediately on edge, a stampede of shivers erupted along my spine. My arrow was already nocked, aiming at the ground as I ran to meet her. “What’s wrong?”
“Ravinder says there’s movement on the other side of the river, soldiers from Windguard. He wants you to go to the spot where the rocks nearly choke the river. Cross it. Find his contact in Hava City. He says he’ll know what to do, and trusts you to get there quickly.” Her words came out in uneven spurts from gasping breath. She wiped the gathered sweat from her brow, though the day’s heat had yet to truly blossom.
This couldn’t be happening. Why now? And why hadn’t she taken a gods damned horse? I might have had the opportunity to return, to scope out the situation myself if I could ride back within a few minutes. But on foot? I’d be wasting too much time only to double back again. Alba had already delayed the message by running here.
And every second would count against an impending attack.
I’d seen his contact in Hava City one time—a mason who owned a shop on one of the merchant strips. Though disbelief rattled my reality, I reaffirmed to myself that I could do this. I would find his contact and get help.
I speedily gathered my cloak and sprinted south toward the river point I’d been ordered to go to. Guilt nipped at my heels. What were the chances that soldiers just happened to find our camp only days after I’d made a scene at the market? At least the convoy hadn’t departed, leaving us with the numbers to fight.
At some point, I’d strapped the bow and arrow to my back, giving me more motion to run. After a few minutes drowning in shame over the possible outcome and how I’d caused it, I clued in to the echo of steps behind me. I whirled to see Alba trying to keep up.
“What are you doing?!” I questioned, stopping only momentarily. Maybe she hadn’t relayed her entire message before I’d taken off.
“I’m coming with you,” she wheezed.
“No, it’s dangerous. Go relay to Rav that I’ll do what he says.” My lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe, but I’d bet money it was from my rising guilt and panic more than anything.
“He wanted me to go with you,” she said, nearly doubling over from exertion already.
“What? Why?” Rav would never put an untrained civilian in harm’s way.
“He wants me to cause a distraction if you get caught. Go, we don’t have time!” She picked up her skirts and booked it past me.
I didn’t have time to question or reject that absurd idea. If it were up to me, I’d send Alba back home, but dammit if Rav hadn’t thought this through. With my altercation in the market last time, possibly identifying my face, he wouldn’t risk my getting caught before his contact heard the news. It went against everything in me to let her continue, but I would put my trust in Rav, and in myself, to not let anything happen to her.
It took some time for us to travel farther south to the point where the rock bed encroached on either side of the bank. The current was still strong, but the water seemed calmer today. A small mercy—if we managed to avoid getting swept away.
“Do you think we’ll be able to touch the bottom?” She huffed and puffed beside me, her eyes nearly bulging with hope.
“No. It’s narrow, but still deep enough for a large ship to sail through.” My mind raced, assessing multiple possibilities, trying to figure out the best way to cross. Without a word, I started gathering and braiding dried twigs and long strands of grass sprouting from the bank.
Alba clearly wanted to ask what I was doing, but she opted for catching her breath, letting me continue my task with aquestioning glare. I’d made good headway when she finally gathered herself enough to speak. “How will that help?”
“If the current takes us, we’ll be at its mercy, but if I can tether one end of this makeshift rope to both sides, we’ll have something to keep us in place.”
I continued working, not realizing she’d used her herbalist magic to grow roots from the ground until she yanked them free. My fingers stopped their work. “Well, that’s much better.” I tossed aside my admittedly pathetic collection of thin branches, opting for Alba’s sturdier construction. We secured one end to a log half-protruding from the river bank, and the other to my arrow. I fired it across the river, embedding it into a tree on the other side.
If it failed, I wouldn’t have Alba drowned on my watch. We prepared for next moves if things were to go wrong. Alba was to return and relay what’d happened so Rav could send someone else. Preferably someone with skills to cross the river.
With time still against us, I plunged myself into the cold, steady water. My hands remained tightly gripped to the roots as I leveraged to pull myself across. My legs strained to kick against the pulling force, but the roots remained strong. I hauled myself onto the rock bed on the other side, waving Alba to cross. The pebbling on my skin was nearly painful, and I choked down air while my body fought to regulate its temperature. Thank the gods it was summer.
