He grunted in acknowledgment. "Who is the most able-bodied among you?"
Laurell raised her hand.
Ollie scoffed. "Don't even think it. You're barely upright."
Laurell levered herself to her feet with a wince, paling as pain bit deep. "I'm a warrior. We don't let small things like this stop us."
Caden steadied her as she stepped down. "Are you going to be able to do this?"
Laurell’s eyes were flinty and hard with determination. "Watch me."
"I'm coming too," the naysayer said, the one who had ridiculed the fox. He gritted his teeth as he staggered to the end. "I'm not dying in here. If this is the end, I'll go out on my feet as is proper."
The others were too injured to move, though Eva could tell they wanted to. For the Trateri, who placed stock on their prowess in battle, being injured and reliant on others was a harsh medicine to swallow.
Ollie scooted toward the end. "I should help you with the horses."
She tried to push him back. "You should stay here. You're injured."
"Not so injured I can't sit in the driver's seat," he said, waving her protests away. He lowered himself to the ground, favoring his right side.
Bandages stretched across his chest and there was one on his upper leg. He didn't look much better than when she had seen him after her return to camp.
She grabbed his arm and slid under it as he set one hand against the wagon to keep contact. Everyone knew what to do in case of mist. The Trateri had made sure to spread the word after the first encounter and now gave regular classes in it.
By the time they reached the driver's seat and got Ollie situated, there were brackets of pain stretched around his mouth and eyes.
"Ollie," Eva said, her face concerned.
"Do what you have to do. Don't worry about me," he said on a gasp.
Eva didn't want to leave him, but the best thing for him was to get out of the mist to where a healer could look after him.
Ollie threaded the reins through his hands as Eva stepped down, jogging to the horses who were hitched to the front of the wagon. She took hold of the small bridle attached to their heads and started forward.
The fox danced at her feet for the first few steps, his tails waving in happiness before he bounded forward. Eva kept her eyes on those dancing tails as they moved through the foggy landscape.
Her footsteps echoed oddly, muffled yet loud. She could hear the clink and murmur of voices from the others as they reverberated through the mist, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. If she hadn't had the tangible feel of the leather bridle in her hands, felt the coarse brush of horsehair against her skin, she would have felt disconnected.
There was an odd peace to walking through the mist, leading the others. Her head felt calm—the concerns of the mortal world far from her. She could see why Ajari, Sebastian and the fox had decided to play for a while in its depths. If she could be guaranteed a way out, she would have been tempted to linger.
A small warmth pulsed in her chest, and her steps slowed. A call filled her, pulling and tugging, whispering of acceptance. Family. Home.
Her grip loosened on the halter as she started to follow the call. The mist thinned and she caught the barest glimpse of sun-drenched skies, the wide meadow from her dreams, with Kyren either galloping or flying across it.
It felt so close. All she had to do was reach out and touch it.
Desire for that place rose. What was the harm?
Before she could reach for what was hers, small teeth on her ankle ripped her out of the hazy dream. She flinched as the fox stared reproachfully up at her.
"Thank you," she told him.
She didn't know what that vision was, but it would have been a mistake to reach for it. Maybe later, when there weren't people counting on her.
"Well, well, this is an unexpected sight." Ajari's dry voice wrapped around her.
Eva paused, looking around. The mist swirled and danced, shadows condensing before they broke apart. She couldn't see Ajari. It was like he was a ghost.
