One of the less gaunt-looking women pointed out the body that held the keys, and Keeran fetched them, thinking it best not to push Aelia too far. Killing someone was one thing, a huge thing, but rifling through their blood-soaked pockets was probably expecting a bit much.
“We need to hurry. This road is quiet, but we want to be long gone before anyone else comes this way,” Keeran told them all as he unlocked the cage.
Aelia helped them all out. She was right, they were human, every single one of them. He noticed her scanning their faces, and watched the hope fall from her when she realised Fenrir wasn’t among them. He’d doubted he would be, but that didn’t make seeing her grief hit her anew any easier.
He squeezed her arm, a small, understanding smile tugging at his lips. She just nodded and turned to help the weaker humans out of the cage.
Keeran spotted crates stored on top of the cart and climbed up, prying one of them open with a grunt. There were enough supplies here to last the humans for at least a week.
“Help me get these to the ground,” Keeran called to one of the younger men. He jumped forward to help, two others close behind him. Together, it was easy enough, and Keeran was soon back on the floor.
“Where were they taking you?” Aelia asked the woman who had pointed out the keys.
“They never said,” the woman replied. “Some of us were in that cage longer than others, but no one ever heard them mention what they were going to do with us. Trust me, we listened.”
“You’re not all from the hamlet back there?” Keeran interjected, handing her a cloth bag full of food. She opened it immediately and pulled out an apple, taking a huge bite with closed eyes. It was a few seconds before she replied.
“No, they’ve been collecting us one stop at a time,” she said through her mouthful, already rifling through the bag and pulling out a stale chunk of bread. “Each time I thought they couldn’t cram any more of us into that cage, we’d pull up somewhere else.”
“I don’t understand. Why would they be collecting you?” Aelia wondered out loud, touching her fingers to the hilt of the dagger at her hip.
“None of us know, but we’ve been headed in the direction of Llmera,” one of the others said as he limped over; his clothes hung off him, torn and dirty. Keeran dreaded to think how many ‘stops’ he must have witnessed.
“I just hope I never find out,” the woman added before tearing into the bread, her jaw working hard on the stale crust.
“Where will you all go?” Aelia asked, looking out over the small group of humans. They had to have saved about thirty ofthem, and all because of Aelia, he thought with a tinge of shame. He’d have just ridden past the smouldering hamlet.
“As far from here as possible. I don’t know if anywhere is safe for us anymore, but we’ll put our heads together and come up with a plan.” The man sighed as he took in the massacre on the road around them. “Whatever we do, we can only do it because of you two. We all owe you our lives.”
“There is no debt.” Keeran looked towards where their horses had fled to, looking warily down at them from halfway up the gentle rise of the hill. “Just get off this road quickly and we’ll do the same.”
“Thank you, we will.”
Keeran turned, making to step over the prone form of one of the Astraea to get to the horses. He paused as he did, looking at the body for a moment.
“And take their swords with you,” he said, before stepping over it without a second glance.
“We will,” the man repeated, more quietly this time.
“Good luck,” Aelia said before starting to follow Keeran.
They madeit to the horses, reassuring them with gentle murmurs. When the whites of their eyes were no longer visible, they swung into their saddles and trotted away without looking back, oblivious to the humans watching them disappear behind the trees.
They rode longinto the night. Only when the horses could go no further did they finally set up camp, washing them off in the water before leaving them to graze. They’d managed to find what little remained of a farmstead on the lakeside, the moss-coveredstone walls having crumbled away to varying heights. The tallest stretch of unbroken stone came to no more than shoulder height, but they settled down behind it gratefully, escaping the wind that still tore across the grasslands.
Keeran hunted whilst Aelia washed, making sure she was well out of eyesight when he shot a tiny ball of fire into the eye of a waterfowl. Usually, he wouldn’t take the risk so close to her, but the blood that covered him had well and truly dried by now, and he wanted to jump headfirst into that lake more than anything. He hid the mark by slipping a throwing knife into the smoking hole, the laceration obliterating the evidence.
Aelia was teasing the knots from her hair by the fire when he returned. All thoughts of the lake deserted him when he caught sight of her. The firelight played over her skin, shining a spotlight on every beautiful inch of her. He could have stood watching her all night, lake or no lake, but he guessed he only had another second or two before she looked up.
He made the most of both of them before finally moving, holding up the waterfowl for her to see.
“You go wash. I’ll sort those out,” she suggested.
He took her up on the offer and headed for the water.
He stripped in the privacy darkness provided, washing first himself, then his clothes. Only when every speck of the day had been scrubbed off did he return to camp, the luxury of clean clothes one he deeply appreciated. He’d thrown on a vest until he was dry enough to swap it for a shirt, no longer feeling the need to hide his scarred arms from her.
He hung his wet ones to dry next to Aelia’s, and the domestic simplicity of the task struck him with an overwhelming gratitude that she was here, alive. Today could have gone so differently. It sent that strange twist in his chest into overdrive, as though his heart had been rung out like his bloodstained clothes.
