“I think I’ll miss this,” Finnvid whispered. “When I get back to sleeping in a regular bed. I’ll have too much space, and not be cozy enough.”
“You think you’re going to be sleeping in a bed when we get to Windthorn? I was planning for you to be on my floor again.”
“I’ll fight you for the bed.”
“You will? I’d better get in shape.”
They smiled at each other, and kissed, and then drifted off into a peaceful doze. Finnvid woke when he felt Theos’s finger on his lips. The touch wasn’t sensual, for a change, and Finnvid opened his eyes cautiously and looked at Theos, waiting for an explanation. Theos just looked back at him, and put the finger to his own lips.
That was when the booted foot broke through the ceiling of their den and dangled for a moment between their shocked faces. A grunted Elkati oath followed, and in that instant, Finnvid saw the expression on Theos’s face turn from surprise to fierce determination.
“The cord,” he mouthed to Finnvid. He already had a knife in one hand, and Finnvid knew his sword would be drawn as soon as there was room. And as soon as the sword was drawn, there would be blood.
“No,” Finnvid mouthed back.
Theos stared at him in disbelief, then frowned and nodded vigorously. “The cord!” he mouthed again.
No. Finnvid knew he was right. He didn’t want Theos to fight Elkati soldiers, didn’t want to see injuries or death on either side. But if Theoswasfighting, no matter who his enemy was, Finnvid would be part of it. Even if he wasn’t much use, he would not sit idly by and watch Theos killed. So he shook his head, and Theos glared a little more, and then something dripped down the sides of the rough hole left by the Elkati boot. Something yellow, and warm enough that it was melting the snow around the top of the hole.
Finnvid and Theos both drew away in disgust, watching the urine fall to the snow between them. Then they lay there, still as ice, as the man above them crunched off.
Finnvid exhaled, then scrabbled lightly at the snow by their shoulders, covering the yellow stain. As ifthatwas all he needed to be worrying about. But it was the only thing he coulddoanything about, and Theos didn’t tell him to stop.
When he was done, they kept still for a while, and Finnvid could hear more sounds. Nothing too loud, just the squeak of boots against cold snow, the snap of an occasional tree branch and, more comfortingly, a few casual words here and there. The men outside had no idea how close they were to their quarry, or they never would have been so relaxed.
Theos was listening too, his eyes squinted as if that improved his hearing. When the noises stopped, Finnvid opened his mouth to speak, but Theos shook his head firmly. So they stayed there, silent, for so long Finnvid felt as if his chest might explode with all the unspoken words, until finally Theos shrugged.
“I guess they’re gone,” he whispered. “But still be quiet.”
Finnvid resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As if he’d been about to start yelling. “What were they doing?” he whispered. “Why weren’t they on the track?”
“They must have figured we’d stayed behind,” Theos said. “Maybe they found Andros’s tracks and saw that it was only one man traveling.” His eyes focused somewhere over Finnvid’s shoulder as he added, “Maybe they caught him. Made him talk. He could have told them we’d denned up off the trail, but it would be hard for him to give them a precise location.”
Finnvid shook his head. He wouldn’t let himself believe that Andros had been captured and tortured. “Probably just his tracks. Or else it’s like you said: they know you were hurt, so they’re guessing maybe we denned up somewhere.”
Theos nodded tentatively, and Finnvid felt a wave of affection for the man. Theos cared about his friend, and he was worried about him, and it made him seem a little vulnerable. Finnvid cared about Theos, and wanted to comfort him. It was all so pure.
Then Finnvid glanced down and saw the long knife still gripped in Theos’s hand, and the complications of the world crashed in on him again. “I won’t sit back while you fight,” he whispered. He squirmed until he found the leather cord and pushed it over toward Theos. “I’ll fight with you, or run with you. I won’t be a coward.”
Theos opened his mouth to argue, but Finnvid was already there, kissing him quickly, then pulling away as if the decision had been made. “Is it safe to leave, do you think? I don’t really want to stay in that man’s latrine for longer than I have to.”
“We should go,” Theos agreed. “And we’ll have to move fast. If they’re searching off the path, they’ll probably find our old den, so they’ll know they’re right, and they’ll have a good idea of how long ago we left it. They’ll probably turn around and chase after us.”
Finnvid nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
So they eased out of their den and headed for the path, Theos swearing as they went and he saw all the tracks through the woods. “Idiots,” he said. “They have no one on the trail at all? If they did, they’d have seen our tracks, and seen where they ended.”
“Maybe they thought we were Elkati. The Elkati military isn’t set up for this sort of mission. Our communication isn’t too efficient, and we don’t have . . . routines. I don’t know the word. We don’t have processes to follow, ways to expect people to behave. It’s probably pretty chaotic out there.”
“Good,” Theos grunted, and then they saved their breath for traveling rather than wasting it on conversation.
They moved fast, and again Finnvid lost his battle to stay alert and on guard, drifting into a meditative state, focusing only on putting one foot in front of the other. He knew that Theos would be paying attention to the larger world, so Finnvid paid attention to Theos’s feet, tromping through the snow ahead of him.
They took short breaks to drink the melted snow from the containers they kept strapped against their chests and to eat quick bites of jerky and even of straight butter. As darkness fell, they stepped just off the trail and burrowed into a snowbank together.
The night was long, and Theos said it was too dangerous to travel in the dark; too much chance of falling off a cliff or running into a camp full of Elkati. Finnvid felt ashamed for his gratitude to the night, but he knew that if he’d asked his legs to carry him any farther, they would have refused. So he loosened his outer clothes and snuggled in against Theos, and they slept, alone again in their tiny world.
***
