“Well, I’ve done it this time, and you’re more than welcome to join us. Please, it’s the least we can do in return for all your help,” he said, walking toward their makeshift shelter, careful to cover his tracks. I shrugged.
“How could I justify eating it if I am incapable of killing it? It hardly seems fair to benefit from its death if I don’t have the courage to end its life,” I said, trying for the first time to voice my discomfort with eating flesh.
“Eloquently put,” he exclaimed as we entered the campsite. “So, are you a priestess?”
“No,” I replied, unable to make eye contact, though I wasn’t strictly lying. I was never accepted into the temple and had no formal training.
“No, I don’t suppose there are any left. None who aren’t chained to an elite, that is.” My head bowed in sadness. Excluding me, he was probably right. “Anyway, we can’t stay in these woods forever. We heard there’s a safe passage to cross the ocean if we can make it to the coast. You should join us.”
I offered a benign smile, not committing to anything.
“Are you ever going to tell me your name, or do I have to keep talking in your general direction?”
Going still, I watched Jake from beneath lowered lashes. Inspecting him, but for what, I didn’t know. Couldn’t name.
Amusement lit his face, and I took a moment to wonder at my hesitation in revealing my name. It wasn’t like his knowing could harm me in any way I could think of—so what was it then? Assuming it must have been my reluctance to let people get close to me, I staunchly pushed aside my discomfort and took a deep breath.
“Mila.” My voice was hardly more than a whisper, and Jake’s head snapped around in surprise to look at me.
“You’ve been helping us for weeks. I wasn’t expecting you ever to tell me. Mila is a beautiful name. Thank you.” He rested his hand on my shoulder. I nodded and touched his hand, realizing it was the first time in almost two and a half years that I had had skin-to-skin contact, however fleeting. Rhonda came out of the woods, an angry look already on her face.
“Jake, come here! I need you,” she called in her shrill voice, glaring at my hand touching his. Sighing, Jake obediently walked toward his furious wife. Sending more than one weighted glance in my direction, they had a terse, angry conversation, but with my patience worn too thin, I retreated to the trees.
I headed back to my treetop apartment, then settled in for the night. There was no room in my life for a partner, especially not the kind who came with two kids and a jealous wife. I drifted off, wondering what Jake had done to inspire such hostility in his wife.
The morning chill woke me, and I treated myself to a leisurely breakfast of roasted acorn bread with dried berries and warm water. It might not sound like much, but I was damn proud of my survival skills. In the entire time I’d lived here, I hadn’t seen a single other person manage to do the same.
I took my time heading back to Jake’s camp, enjoying the refreshing winter air. Hearing voices, I frowned. I was still a five-minute walk away, which meant they weren’t making any effort to remain hidden. This I couldn’t understand—silence had been lesson two.
Crouching in the trees, I advanced as quietly as possible. The realization I didn’t recognize the voices hit me quite suddenly. My blood went cold.
Slavers.
Hoping there might still be some chance to save them, I crept closer. The cloying flavor of fear clung to the back of my throat, but I pressed close enough to hear the conversation taking place beneath me.
“I had to sedate the woman. Screeching about Tritans running through the trees like squirrels. Ha! I haven’t seen a Tritan in a year, the idiot.” His voice was gruff and suited his massive frame perfectly.
The second man laughed as he picked at one of my ‘care packages’ filled with walnuts and homemade bread. He took a bite. “Bleh! This shit is awful,” he said, spitting the offensive bread in the direction of his four bound prisoners. “You’ll be happy with your new masters—they won’t feed you anything half as bad asthat.” He laughed and kicked at the fire smoldering in the center of the camp.
I grimaced. Lesson three had beenno unprotected fires.The smoke must have brought these two down on this little family almost as quickly as it had been lit. They must have lit a fire to cook the rabbit and not bothered with all the tricks I’d taught them.
“Please, you can’t do this to my children. Have a heart,” Jake said, voice cracking brokenly.
I shifted so I could see him, and found a man who’d been savagely beaten. The left side of his face was swollen, and there was an ominous dark stain on the back of his neck that looked too much like blood for my comfort.
As the big slaver stalked closer to his prisoners, I took the opportunity to move in the trees, preparing for an attack. If I could drop down on top of the smaller one, I could knock him out and would do my best to subdue the giant. Either way, I was tired of doing nothing.
Muscles coiled tight and ready to pounce, I hesitated just long enough to be struck with heartbreak.
“There’s a Tritan in these woods!” Jake shouted, trembling. His palms raised in a wasted effort to ward off another blow. “I swear it! Free my wife and children, and I’ll help you find her.”
The big man guffawed as he hoisted Jake up by his coat. “Take me to this mystery Tritan first, and then we’ll talk.”
“Her name is Mila, and she made that bread. She’s been living here since Tritan fell. Please, she’s been helping us, and she visits every day. She must live close to here. You have to believe me!”
Jake’s captors were not sympathetic to his cries. There was a loud crack, and Jake slumped unconscious against his wife. His children sobbed pitifully until they, too, were sedated.
“If there were a Tritan hiding in these woods, she’d be worth a fortune. Probably the last free Tritan in the world,” the smaller slaver said. “It would be nice to knock old Allister off his pedestal,” he said with a dreamy quality to his voice.
