Isla stood there for several moments, trying to gather her thoughts. Had she really just met the God of Air? How was this even possible? These beings had supposedly not walked among them for centuries. Over time, she’d often doubted their existence; she assumed they were legends passed down to give the people something to hope for—or, more likely, to blame for their problems. Yet here she was, having seen this man demonstrate two inexplicable acts of power.
And what of his cryptic warning, that “something is coming”? The way he had said it led Isla to believe he wasn’t talking about more common thieves and pillagers.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had to get back to the others, and they needed to continue on to Krill. She’d let this wild night distract her from her purpose; her family was all that mattered.
Isla walked through the trees. The moon was bright in the night sky, lighting her path and casting everything in a silver glow. When she reached the clearing where the massacre had occurred, she gathered the spent arrows and her dagger from the men she’d taken down.
The dead thieves were grimy and haggard, with holes all over their dirty clothing. A few of them had long, straggly hair, now dark red after lying in their own blood. They all showed signs of a life spent in violence: missing teeth, broken noses, scars covering their bodies. She’d heard of the groups that wandered these areas over the past couple of years, waiting for traveling merchants to let their guard down. They stole from the helpless, took advantage of women, left children fatherless.
She was not sorry she had killed them. It was a strange and curious thing, how easy it had been to put an arrow between their eyes. To take a human life. Not unlike when she took down wild game in the forest. She supposed it should frighten her, this new sense of power, knowing what she could do. But she felt calm and steady, as if realizingshecould be the strong one. She could be the one to take care of those she loved. She never had to be weak or helpless again.
“Who wasthat?”
Isla was drawn from her thoughts by Bri’s voice. While Isla had been with the stranger, her three companions had tended to the survivors as best they could. They had a small group of four men huddled around the horses, most of whom were faring well, considering the chaos around them, except for the man Isla had found in the tent. The cloth she’d used to keep pressure on his wound was soaked through with blood, and the man’s face was an alarming shade of white.
“It doesn’t matter. We need to get him some help,” Isla said, rushing to the injured man. “Are there any other horses around?” she asked, remembering the poor dead animals they had seen on the ground when first arriving.
“I saw a couple toward the back of the camp,” August replied, walking away to fetch them.
“You, there,” Isla said, pointing to the healthiest-looking survivor. “Can you ride with him? He’s going to need a lot of support.” She motioned to the man with the wounded leg.
The first man nodded. “C’mon, Coy, I’ve got you.” He helped ease his injured friend up. “Trenton?” he whispered hesitantly. The man named Coy slowly shook his head.
These merchants had suffered much loss that night.
It didn’t take long to reach the village. The streets had long since been darkened and evacuated, and Isla couldn’t make out much about the area. Mostly, she saw trees and rows of small houses settled under the outline of the nearby mountains. She was so anxious to get to her father and Arden that she barely noticed how quiet and solemn her best friend was on the back of Damien’s horse.
Isla closed her eyes wearily. Checking on Bri hadn’t even crossed her mind, and she couldn’t imagine the thoughts blazing through her friend’s head. While Bri may dream of adventure and seeing the world, it was much different to experience such violence firsthand. And she’d just watched Isla take down five—five—wild men. What if Bri was afraid of her now? Or disgusted with how quickly Isla had killed them? She would have to talk to her soon but wanted to do so in private. And now, being this close to her family, Isla could hardly think of anything except her father.
August stopped their horse in front of a small house with a fraying roof and mismatched windows on either side of the door. A fire flickered beyond one of these windows, and muffled voices floated outside.
“Here we are, miss,” he said, dismounting and helping Isla down. She sprinted for the door, and it flew open as she neared it.
She had never been so happy to see Arden in her entire life. She lunged at him, and he caught her, hugging her tight. Tears welled in her eyes as she inhaled his familiar scent.
“Where is he? Please tell me he’s awake. Are you hurt?” She pulled back and frantically searched her brother for any injuries, noting a purple bruise below one of his eyes and a bandage around his left upper arm.
“I’m fine, Lala. Just a couple scrapes. You should see the other guy.” Arden winked and then winced, gingerly touching his bruised eye.
“Yeah, well,youshould’ve seen your sister in the fight back there. She walked away without a scratch,” Damien said.
Isla closed her eyes and groaned softly. She hadn’t planned on telling her brother about the events of her night yet.
“You. Are. Such. An. Idiot,” Bri whispered harshly, hitting Damien on the back of the head after each word.
“What did I do?” he cried with a grimace.
Arden fixed Isla with a stern look. “What’s he talking about? What fight?”
Then Arden noticed the caravan of people with them. He roamed over the unfamiliar faces, a grimace appearing on his features when he saw Coy, the man with the bandaged and bleeding leg.
“Gods above, what happened? Who are all these people?”
“We were on our way here when we heard a campsite being attacked. We went back to see if we could help—”
“Isla, are youmad?” Arden interrupted, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing. “After what happened to Papa? How could you be so reckless?” She’d never seen him so terrified, so undone.
“Arden! Arden, it’s okay. I’m fine. I’m right here.” She cupped his cheek. If their roles were reversed, she would be thinking the same thing. What would she do if she lost him while Papa was still in his condition? This was why she hadn’t wanted to bring it up yet.
