I backed slowly out of sight and lowered the curtain with excruciating care.Taio and I stood still, waiting to see if my movement had been noticed.The growls and groans did not increase, but I became more aware of how close I was to Taio.We’d been sitting together for hours, leaning against each other, our hands joined.At one point, I’d put my head on his shoulder, and he’d put an arm about me.
Now I stood facing him, and I couldn’t seem to stop my body from leaning toward his.He opened his arms and pulled me against him.The embrace was more out of a need for mutual comfort than anything else, but I couldn’t stop my nose from detecting the scent of him.That scent always made me want to bury my face in his chest.
Before I could give in to that impulse, I pulled his head down so I could whisper in his ear.“Do you have any food?”
He shook his head but set me aside and began carefully feeling along the wooden counter where whoever had lived here had most likely chopped vegetables and other foods to prepare meals.I followed his lead, touching what felt like a mixing bowl and then a wooden spoon.A towel was crumpled nearby, and I lifted it, thinking we might use it later.
Taio crouched down and pulled at some sort of fabric hanging from the top of the countertop.I knelt beside him and helped him find the opening to the fabric.Together we parted the two sides.I reached gingerly forward to touch the shelves, praying our movements had scared away any biting spiders.My fingers touched cool clay, and I closed one hand on a smooth vessel with a wide base and a tapered neck.At the top of that neck, a cork held the contents inside.The clay jar was hefty, and when I lifted it, I saw Taio held something as well.
I leaned close to him and whispered, “Preserved fruit.”
I placed the jar silently on the floor between my legs and held it steady while I pried the cork out.It came out with a quiet pop, and I stilled.But there was no reaction from the Hollows outside.Perhaps the sound had just seemed loud to me and hadn’t carried outside the wooden walls.I lifted the jar and sniffed.Berries.
I had no idea if they were still edible, but there was one way to find out.I reached for the serving spoon and bowl I’d felt earlier, then used the towel to wipe both off.Next I upended the jar, pouring the contents into the bowl.The light was so poor, I missed slightly and ended up with some berries on the wooden floor.I set the jar aside and lifted the spoon.Before I could dip it into the preserves, Taio snatched it away.“Let me,” he whispered.“Could make you sick.”
They could have just as easily made him sick, but if he wanted to be a hero, who was I to argue?He dipped the spoon into the berries and lifted it to his lips.
For a long moment, he said nothing.He also didn’t spit the berries out, which was a good sign.Finally, he took my hand and placed the spoon in it.“Eat,” he whispered.
I felt for the rim of the bowl and dipped my spoon inside then tasted the contents of the jar.The berries were sweet, not at all tart and certainly not spoiled.They were delicious.Once I’d started eating, I couldn’t seem to stop.I had four or five more bites before I forced myself to give Taio the spoon.He pushed it back to me, and I finished the jar.He emptied another into the bowl, and I forced him to take the spoon and eat.
While he ate, I searched the shelves for more jars and placed them where he would not knock them over.Then I felt something else.It was not a jar, but a square thing with glass sides and metal framing.I pulled it out and held it up.
Taio said something in his language and took it from my hands.He rose and carried it to the hearth, where we’d left our packs.While he rummaged around, I found the spoon he’d abandoned and ate the contents of another jar he’d emptied into the bowl.This one seemed to be some sort of tart vegetable.I did not care.I was hungry enough to eat the pinecones littering the forest floor.
Light flared near the hearth, and I drew in a quick breath, chancing a look at the window to be certain the curtain was drawn.The window was covered by the thick material, and I could see that clearly because a small flame danced in what I now saw was a lantern.Taio had managed to fuel it and light it, and its fragile flame flickered over the cabin.
I spread my arms, silently asking him how.He held up a small container of what was most likely some sort of fuel and a tinder box.I didn’t usually carry such materials in my pack, but then only the patrol leader was allowed to decide when we might light a lamp or build a fire.Only he or she had the materials to make a fire.
Taio closed one of the lamp’s shutters, darkening the side of the room housing the window.He was clever and careful.I liked that about him.I brought the bowl over and offered him some of the tangy vegetables.He ate them while I took advantage of the light to look about the cabin.Everything inside was in order.The beds were made, the bowl we’d found set out to dry.Whoever had lived here had not left in a hurry or been attacked inside the cabin.Perhaps they’d gone out and never returned.I opened one cabinet against a wall and a few moths fluttered out.They must have been feasting on the clothes inside the cabinet because only tatters remained now.I closed the door again and opened another cabinet on the wall across from the window.A large metal pail sat inside, one large enough that Riah might have been able to fit.But this wasn’t a bathtub, though water sluiced over the edge and trickled down.I looked up and realized the cabinet opened to the outside via a small opening.Rain drizzled into a funnel that emptied into the pail.Beneath the pail were metal slats where excess water drained out so as not to flood the interior of the cabin.
A ladle had fallen onto the drain, and I lifted it and dipped it into the water.I sniffed the contents of the ladle then tasted the water.It had a slightly metallic taste, but it was clean.Some of the people living in the outerlands had cisterns like this one.They needed to have water available in case they were surrounded by Hollows and forced to stay inside.A small cistern like this one meant they didn’t have to venture out to a well in times of emergency.I found a pitcher and ewer sitting nearby and filled both.Then I fetched our flasks and filled those as well.Taio made a face at the water, but he drank.I dunked the towel I’d found into the basin, wrung it out and ran it over my face.The cool water felt good on my skin, even if it was so cold it gave me goosebumps.I wished we could have built a fire, but the smoke might attract Hollows.At least we had blankets from the beds to keep warm.I took our bedrolls and hung them over a thick length of twine that ran from one side of the cabin to the other.They could dry out overnight.We should probably hang our clothes up to dry as well.
I glanced at Taio, who was watching me.Well, no time for modesty now.I removed my belt and set my skullcrusher within reach.Then I toed off my boots and hung my socks on the line.Next, I reached for my tunic.
Taio was up and at my side in an instant.“Why do you do this?”
“My clothes are still wet.If we hang them now, they’ll be dry by morning.”Since Hollows were less active in the day, if we could avoid attracting their notice for the next few hours, they should wander away and do whatever they did in the light when the sun came up.
He nodded.“You are right.”He fetched our packs and handed me mine.Normally, I liked to keep everything together and ready to go, but almost everything inside was soaked.I pulled out my spare clothing and hung it then emptied the rest of my belongings, setting them out on the floor to dry.My skullcrusher I’d keep close at hand.Taio had emptied his own pack and hung his own things.Now he went to the closest bed and shook out the mattress and blankets.He threw one blanket over his shoulder and handed another to me.“So you do not feel cold,” he said.
Then he stripped off his tunic, revealing his muscled abdomen and the drawings on his chest, neck, and arms.I was staring and averted my gaze before he had the garment over his head lest he catch me ogling him.This was about survival, not seduction.
I pulled my own tunic over my head and hung it on the line, cutting my eyes to the side to see if I could catch Taio looking.His gaze was averted.Unfortunately, he had chosen that moment to lower his trousers, and I had a flash of slim hips and muscled thighs before I looked away.I removed my leggings, hung those, and shivered while I finally stripped off my undergarments.I wrapped the blanket Taio had given me around my shoulders and dipped the towel in the basin with the water from the cistern again.I wished I had the means to take an actual bath, but I’d washed this way hundreds of times on patrol.Using my small piece of soap, I was soon reasonably clean.I pulled the blanket tight around my shivering body and emptied the dirty water in the drain under the cistern.Then I rinsed the basin and filled it and the ewer again.
“May I?”Taio asked.He indicated the water I had carried back.
“Of course.”I handed the materials to him, then offered my soap.
He lifted his own from the contents of his pack he’d spread out.I turned my back to give him some privacy and made myself busy sniffing at the material of the blanket.The fabric was soft but had the musty odor that came from long years of disuse.I heard the soft splash of water as Taio dipped the towel into the water and ran it over his body—his long legs, his slim hips, that muscled abdomen.
I inhaled sharply.
“Mara?”Taio asked, sounding concerned.
“I’m fine,” I said, glad we were whispering so he wouldn’t hear how my voice trembled.More splashing and the faint scent of lemon reached me.I tried to hold my breath so I wouldn’t imagine the water dripping over the elegant markings on his arms or the beautiful cat on his chest.I really did not want to think about droplets of that water sliding down his chest, over his taut belly, and down to that part of him I had yet to see.
Taio moved past me, and I shook myself out of my imaginings.With his blanket tied about his waist, he emptied the water in the drain and refilled the receptacles.I returned to the window to carefully check the situation outside.He was sitting on the floor with the blanket around his shoulders and the lamp flickering beside him when I determined the Hollows outside hadn’t moved and had not been joined by others.The pack had either moved on or, more likely, was out of sight.I could occasionally hear their grunts and hisses.
