With a silent scream, I lunged forward and caught Gaz around the throat.Clutching his back, I pulled his body free of Taio, even as he grabbed at my arms to throw me aside.I dug for purchase, my hands slipping through his short, sweaty hair.I tried again, and this time my fingers jabbed into something soft.Gaz screamed, and alarms sounded in my mind.The Hollows would hear us.They would be back.And yet, I burrowed my fingers in deeper, feeling the softness give way to a viscous liquid.Gaz clawed at my hand, but I wouldn’t release him.My fingers closed on the orb I now realized was his eye, and I yanked it free, releasing it with disgust almost as soon as I held it.Gaz screeched and rolled away, and I stumbled to my feet.Taio was up, his face covered in blood, his blue-green eyes wide with horror.He spoke but I couldn’t understand a single word.And then he lifted me, slung me over his back, and began to run.
***
IDON’T KNOW HOW LONGTaio carried me over his shoulder.It felt like hours or seconds before I tapped on his shoulder blade.“Let me down.”
He paused, panting hard.I reared up and slid down his chest, his arms catching me to hold me steady.My head was still hammering, but I was steady on my feet.I paused and listened for sounds of pursuit, not that I thought Gaz was in any condition to pursue us.I pushed the last image I had of Gaz, bloody hands clutched to the cavity where his eye had been, out of my mind.Gaz might not be after us, but there had been a pack of Hollows not so far from where he’d ambushed us.I listened for the telltale grunts and hisses but heard none.
Yet.
I reached for my belt, wanting my skullcrusher in my hands and ready, but my belt was empty.I looked down, grasping the empty weapon loop as panic raced through me.“My weapon!”
Taio nodded.“Mine as well.We left them at the ambush.”
My first instinct was to insist we go back for them, but that was madness and suicide.We had to move forward, away from the pack of monsters.
“I’m sorry,” Taio said.
“It’s my fault.”I paced back and forth.“I should have known this was an ambush.It’s so clear now.Gaz sent Nize in one direction to lure the Hollows from the cabin.We did exactly what he wanted and emerged into the open.All he had to do was lie in wait for us.”
“This is not your fault, Mara.”Taio put his hands on my shoulders.“We had no good choice.”
He was right.Staying at the cabin was as much a risk as leaving.
“I should not have left the weapons.”
I shook my head.“No time to look for them.You were right to run.Let’s not waste any more time standing here talking.The Hollows can move surprisingly fast when they sense prey.”Was Gaz still bleeding in the spot where we’d left him?Were the Hollows feasting on him even now?The blood oozing from his wound would attract them.Taio’s bleeding had stopped, but our clothes were splattered with blood.We’d have to change as soon as we had a chance.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.You lead.I want to look for suitable sticks.”
Taio’s eyes narrowed, but he shrugged and started away.He probably thought it was another strange thing people in my land said.But I meant what I said.I felt naked without any sort of weapon.If I could find a long, thick stick, I could sharpen the end and use it as a weapon.It wasn’t as effective as my skullcrusher, but it was better than nothing.Taio pushed through the thick brush, holding branches and limbs back so they did not hit me in the face.We were moving west again, toward Zulen, and we kept our eyes open for any signs of the other Zulenii.I didn’t have much hope we’d find them.The forest was enormous, and they could be miles from us or already across the border by now.
Or they could be dead.
At least once an hour, the sound of the wind through the trees was rent by a loud growl that could only be a Hollow.They weren’t close enough to smell yet, but they weren’t far enough away for comfort.All day we’d walked in silence.The birds didn’t sing.The insects didn’t chirp.The Hollows were coming for us, else the forest would have been alive with the noise of life.
Taio stopped to drink, and I examined the stick I had plucked from the ground a quarter hour ago.He handed me the flask.“You found your stick.”
I nodded.“I’ll find you one.When we rest again, I’ll sharpen the points, and we’ll use them as weapons.”
He raised his brows.“Clever,” he said.
I didn’t feel clever.I felt desperate.A cold sweat ran down my back, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking over my shoulder.
We walked on, changing places every hour so neither of us became used to leading or following.I found several sticks for Taio, but when I handed them to him, they weren’t long enough.Finally, as dusk was falling, I lifted a thick tree limb with dead leaves still attached.The limb was far too heavy for me, but when I handed it to him, he lifted it easily.“This one for you,” I said.
He looked at it, turning it this way and that.“We may need it soon,” he said, listening for sounds of pursuit.
“I thought about that,” I said.“We can’t keep walking.It’s getting dark, and we have no idea what we’re walking into.But if we make camp right here, the Hollows may sniff us out or stumble right into us.We’re not safe here.”
Taio gestured to the tall trees and dense underbrush surrounding us.“We have nowhere to hide.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.Gaz ambushed us from a tree.He was probably hiding up there for hours.”
Taio looked up and up.Most of the pine trees were too thick and prickly with branches to climb.We both had scratches all over from the sharp needles.We needed an oak tree, something with thick limbs and a branch not too high from the ground so we could grab it and climb.Still looking up, Taio moved forward, past the pine trees and a cedar with no branches low enough.“There!”I said, pointing to a massive oak.The first limb was thick, and though it was above our heads, we might be able to jump and grab hold.
Taio stood under the limb and reached up.His fingers just grazed the bark.“Can the Twilight Men climb?”he asked.
