They hid in the foliage—like he had said—and also attacked in groups. They were also easily overpowered if isolated from their comrades. Any knowledge she learned now could save her life later.
But it was her captor’s horns and his size that really made him stand out. He was obviously not a centaur or a barghest, and she had not seen another monster with horns since being pushed into the labyrinth, at least she had not glimpsed another in the gloom.
He stopped suddenly and she fell into his back. His wet and torn back. Aldora leapt away.
He placed his hand over the weapon hanging from his side and she sucked in a breath, waiting for another attack. She took a half-step closer to him, her own hands poised on his back, and braced her feet apart in case she needed to move quickly. Minutes went by and nothing happened.
She strained to hear what he sensed.
Nothing. Nothing but the creeping, gruff night noises that had yet to stop. She pressed her lips together. His muscles moved under her palms.
The smell of his flesh refilled her nostrils, accompanied by the thick scent of iron and melted metal that reminded her of the blacksmith’s shop. Aldora sucked it in, so thick it left a residue that she knew would remain for hours. It wasn’t unpleasant—except for the blood—but it was cloying, and the longer she breathed it in, the more it seemed like it was taking away her own smell, eating it up and overpowering it.
She rubbed her nose.
He turned toward her and loosened the leash that bound her, allowing the rope to droop between them. Aldora lifted her gaze to his face while still rubbing her nose.
“We’re being followed,” he said loud enough for only her to hear.
She licked her dry lips. “Is that...bad for me or for you?”
“Bad? No, more an annoyance, but would you risk another at this witching hour?”
Aldora wasn’t sure if she would. “I don’t know,” she said behind her hands. She still could not smell herself.
“You don’t want to know.”
“No, I don’t want to know. I want to go home,” she agreed, turning her head to the side. “I don’t want to know you or anything else about this place. I’m not supposed to be here.”
“And yet, here you are, already losing your sense of smell.”
She flinched and looked back at him. “How do you know?”
“It happens to all humans after breathing in the curse. Your blood is already tainting. We must keep moving.”
His words filled her with dread. When the mist spread into Savadon’s lands, all was lost within them. It would consume all that it touches and change it, twist it, make it into something new and unnatural. Was she going to lose herself too? It hadn’t occurred to her until now that there could be more to its spread, that there could be dominion.
The beast turned its back to her and pulled on the rope, tugging her whole body forward. Aldora was forced to drop her hands to his belted cord and follow.
“I don’t understand. What’s happening to me?”
“You’re adapting, degrading, and fast. Soon, your blood will be as corrupted as mine. Given a month’s time, you’ll be nothing more than a thrall.”
“Can it be stopped?”
“Yes.”
Aldora tightened her grip and tugged when he kept walking. “Will you stop it?”
“I don’t have the right supplies on me.” He continued to pull her along and she tripped after him. “But I will stop it.”
His words gave her pause. She had expected a fight, had expected him to make her beg or worse, and for a few steps, she followed him meekly, wondering at his game. He had not hurt her, but he had lured her in with his voice, had not threatened her except with the unknown but had taken her far away from the barrier and kept her from returning home.
He was the only thing she smelled now.
Aldora stared at his back, resolving that she had no choice but to stay tied to his body.
They continued walking through the night, sometimes stopping to hide in hidden alcoves and brush, and her thoughts wavered between what was following them, and what was going to happen to her now. The land took a different shape and texture under her boots, becoming more sodden with each step. They passed piles of bones and fresh corpses, and the farther they traveled from Savadon, the denser the mist became. The creatures that she had seen hours prior had not re-appeared but she could still hear them.
