“Take care of them, Lees.” I almost choke on the emotion that threads through my heart. Her touch might be the only hope the survivors have. The healing touch of a Medici can bring even those on the brink of passing through the veil back to the earthen realm. I can even recall the warm sensation of her magic that eventually seared my scars shut.
Leeson simply nods before following Jessamine. My nerves settle slightly knowing some of our greatest warriors from The Hidden will be a comfort for those that remain of the village.
I take my rough sleeve and wipe my itchy, filth covered face and then turn to Caym and Naaveen.
“Lead the way, commanders.” My tone is flat, unattached. It’s the best I can muster as I don the mask I’ve gotten so familiar with wearing.
Shoving aside any lingering emotions, I settle on the fact that there’s more here that needs to be taken care of aside from those that are now displaced.
I focus on the culling bands and with them comes the harrowing realization; if we can’t locate them tonight, we won’t have another chance.
Chapter 2
Alora
The rustling of leaves and pattering of hooves almost has my skin crawling. It’s eerie, the silence of this night. Knowing what lays ablaze just over the hill only adds to my restlessness.
Naaveen had sketched, roughly, upon charred paper where the store house should be. The grimace on his face as he handed the haggard parchment to me was accompanied with an apology.
“I’m sorry it’s not better, Alora,” he had said. “I know it looks pitiful compared to the rich drawings you’re accustomed to creating.”
His words left my heart lighter. He was not a mapmaker's child like me, but the carefully placed trail and roughly sketchedhome tucked between the treeline did in fact match with the view Caym and I currently looked down on.
The mountainside grows steeper as we make our way down the rocky path, enough so that Caym turns his horse to the thicket of trees to the left of us.
“We can’t risk the horses alerting anyone.” He doesn’t look at me when he says this, his gaze focused on the dimly lit structure.
The chill in the air bites at my neck with the breeze that picks up. This far north on the continent, nearest the Fiordian Mountains, the wind is nearly constant, sending an icy coolness that threatens to sink bone deep.
“Who in gods name thought being so far north would be this damned cold?” The puff of air that escapes my lips hoovers in the moons' light. Caym merely snorts as I bring my cloak closer to my body and rub my numb fingers together.
The light that filters down from the lover moons is almost too bright to remain truly hidden among the grasses and fallen timber. The frosty blades of heather snake around my boots and grab at my damp stockings.
Caym’s voice floats back to me, “You know you complain a lot for someone in such a high position?” His head swivels back to shoot me a cheeky grin. The bastard.
“For a soldier supposedly so talented, you’re awfully loud you big oaf.” A low chuckle is the only answer to my retort.
Truthfully, the joking between us is a tonic for the churning in my stomach. We both realize how screwed we’ll be if we’re captured somehow by a king’s guard.
“Those damn moons are blinding tonight,” he whispers as we both step over boulders.
“It’s because we’re closer to them at this elevation.” I swallow down the word vomit that threatens to spew, a nervous habit I’ve had since I was a young girl that piques when I’m tense.
“Well regardless, they’re not doing us any favors if we’re to sneak down this hill.” He mumbles the last bit out as his foot crunches on flaked shale and slides, almost causing him to slip.
“Hells Caym, are you okay?” I whisper shout, trying to not raise any more alarm to possible onlookers.
“I’m so ready to be done with this mess. I want to be home with Leeson at River’s End, soaking in the goddamn thermal pools.” The words are choppy and short, and I hear a resigned sigh follow.
“I don’t like you and Leeson being this close to King Euron and his henchmen. You’re a sister to me, but gods, if they took Lees, I’m not sure I’d survive that.”
A heavy weight settles in my stomach. I’d feel the same if Leeson was taken, hell, even Caym. They’ve become the closest thing to family since I lostthem.Since I lost Hanin and my parents.
Silence echoes in the night, leaving me to stir in the haunting memories. The same charred smoke smell from earlier, the sudden fire, and worse, the screams from Hanin that were cut short with a blade from King Euron’s soldiers. At the time I didn’t realize it was some kind of fucked up mercy from the Helianate, the royal army. That the fate to burn alive was far more gruesome, one my parents unfortunately couldn’t be spared from.
I dig my sharp nails into my palms, the same now healed place where my blade had sliced earlier. I can’t afford to drown, not right now. I press farther, the pinching becoming too much, causing a sting to bloom into an aching throb.
My head begins to buzz again with clarity and the thoughts are banished. My focus sharpens, turning into hyperawareness. It’s then that I notice a shadow sneak across the front window of the storehouse.
