“Bossy.”
The bird whistle shooting through the forest might have once been a covert signal, but when birds no longer live amongst the trees, we may as well just shout words.
Val whistled in return. First checkpoint cleared. A string of chirping patterns sounded from the first sentinel to another in a code that I’d vaguely deciphered during my years. Never being placed on guard duty, I wasn’t taught the sequences they’d created. Luckily, I’d been paying attention regardless.
The first sequence, two short chirps followed by a lilting long one, indicated that our members had returned. The second with three sharp chirps was an alert of an unknown person. Had Val or any of the others decided to use that signal, Ro would have been dead on the ground before the second sentinel position. My plan, fortuitously, disarmed them, too.
The echoing response from sentinel two carried until sentinel three responded, carrying to sentinel four. In my human form, I wouldn’t have been able to hear past the first couple.
To my fellow hunters’ knowledge, Ro should have had clearance if Taja truly sent her and Marvoe knew about it. Thanks to a well-timed storm and days of travel, Ro coming down with a fever and chills laid the perfect cover for her exhaustion to sweep over her before crossing the borderlines, letting her slip past the defenses under the visual impression that she was our prisoner. Having her act in this weakened state also lowered our group’s guard. Val and Harlson even whisperedwith joy that Marvoe might take one look at her pathetic condition and kill her on the spot.
Worry lived like writhing maggots in my veins over the same thought.
Last night, I’d tried again to convince Ro to leave. Tried explaining that there were too many opportunities for this all to go south—whichsheshould be doing.
To my disappointment, she’d been determined to continue. And for some reason, I wouldn’t let her do it alone.
A single thread of unexpected trust existed between us, though neither was willing to divulge our secrets or intentions. Gods, that was the most damning thing. Drawn to a woman whom I didn’t know, with motivations I couldn’t decipher, while balancing my own priorities.
With every graceful stride down the lane, her body swayed against me. The steady beat was like a rhythm similar to the one inside my chest. She’d come out of nowhere, full of fire and fight. Maybe I should be questioning this natural pull and set boundaries. But this connection, however small, was the first sign of life in the barren landscape of my existence, and analyzing it wouldn’t strip the power she held over me. Ignited in me. I’d committed to getting her in and out alive. I would do all I could.
Until it jeopardized my own mission.
The fourth checkpoint neared after another half an hour of walking. Each checkpoint possessed an opportunity for things to go wrong, yet so far so good. Posted guards at the entrance ahead spotted us, and to my hopeful prediction, I could see the celebration on their faces at the catch dangling from my maw. I needed that excitement, that desperation for food to outweigh the perceived captive slumped over me.
“Looks like we’re heroes, boys,” Harlson said through a cocky grin, his swagger bolstered to a degree I didn’t think possible.
“Part of me still thinks we should turn her in. It may give you some credit with Marvoe. If the king sent her, and you delivered her, great. If he didn’t, and you reveal a spy, even better,” Val whispered from a few feet back. I’d started to suspect she and Harlson might have developed a romantic connection, but can two snakes even feel emotions?
A wild need to drop this boar and replace it with Val’s head sprung to life.
“And here I was thinking we’d become the best of friends.”
Ro’s comical, sarcastic intrusion fizzled my rising malice to nothing more than steam, enough that I would have smiled had we not been under constant surveillance now.
“Treat everyone in this camp like they’re cunning and exploitative. Remember, nothing you do will go unnoticed if this works.”
“You mean if I live past the entrance?”
My mouth dried as the entrance neared. Getting past the initial guards, risky, but judging from the way their hands gripped their hungered stomachs, manageable. After entering camp? All bets would be off, with no predictable outcome.
“Ready to eat, boys?!” Harlson shouted ahead, clapping his hands that showcased his bulging muscles from his torn, sleeveless shirt.
Their cheers and circling fists in the air only fueled Harlson’s ego, though Johni walked as if he knew these steps were his last. Val, me, and Dalin returned within our ordered timeframe with a kill. Not that any degree of certainty existed when it came to how The Eleven chose to run the camp, but it should be acceptable enough to keep breathing for another day.
We made it to the guards, and I stopped short, letting the boar tumble before me. A string of saliva stretched until it broke, earning a grimace from the posted guards. On other occasions, I walked right in with the kill, dropping it at the chef’s tent. Thiswas another attempt at distracting them from the woman who tensed almost imperceivably atop me.
As always, Harlson could be counted on to preen for attention. “Isn’t she a beaut?! Leave it to my group to locate what’s probably the last boar north of the fall line.”
“Fall line?”Ro asked.
“The first town that retreated when we established our presence up here.”
“Where citizens were forced to fall back.”
I hummed, carefully observing each of the three men that should be paying better attention to their post but were struggling to maneuver the overweight beast.
“Continue to report,” one strained to say as they tugged with clipped movements.
