Then, finally, Hadima hissed, “Go that way,” herding the group around to avoid them.
They made their way around, but now and then, they would hear something in the woods again, following along on their left. Iryana wasn’t able to see more than a couple dakii in the trees, but she still held her bow tighter.
The dakii were outnumbered, which must be why they were keeping their distance. They showed far more restraint than she was used to. Probably hoping to pick off any of them that strayed too far from the group.
Tonhald moved beside her, falling into easy steps.
“Are they going to let you in?” he asked in a whisper, not taking his eyes off the surrounding trees.
“The brigade?” Her heart started racing again. There was a yearning in his voice, and she couldn’t stand to let her cousin get his hopes up. “I don’t know if they will in time. I’m trying.”
In truth, she felt like she was on the path to being initiated, but even thinking hopefully made her lungs constrict, and she felt lightheaded. There wasn’t a lot of time. One shouldn’t count the buds until they’d bloomed, lest one doom them never to open.
“If there is anything I can do…” his voice trailed off. When she peeked at him, his eyes were dark and his face pinched. His voice came out hoarse when he added, “Another metal-forged in the family would make a big difference.”
She felt queasy, not sure how to answer that. Her cousin was one of the last people she expected to go hunting with her sister. “Why are you here? This is dangerous, and you have Teshya and the baby.”
“They tried to keep me out of it.” Tonhald sighed. “I found out what they were doing, though, and I’m the oldest. I couldn’t let them take risks like that on their own.”
It wasn’t as surprising when she thought about what Pyetar had told her about Tonhald trying to contact the brigade.
Iryana looked to her own sister, a stone-like heaviness in her stomach. Hadima was like that for Misha, and had once been protective in that way toward Iryana too.
There was a rustling sound off to their right, and Iryana noticed there were a few dakii there, closing in slowly. Her head snapped back to the other side, and she realized the dakii on that side were slightly closer than they were before.
“We’re being herded,” Iryana whispered, making Tonhald and Hadima, who stood in front of them, tense. Her sister put on a brave face, but Iryana could see the terror in her eyes.
Levek slowed, drawing closer as they all bunched up. “Iryana, what do we do?”
“Me?” Iryana gasped softly. They had been hunting together for weeks—why would they ask her?
“Yes, you,” Kladara hissed. “You’re joining the brigade, you run around the forest by yourself. What do we do?”
There was fear in her voice, but Kladara tried to mask it with anger, just like Iryana remembered.
Iryana’s throat dried up, and every thought in her mind blanked. The last time she’d led her cousins, one of them had ended up dead.
But then they could hear the dakii even closer, the rustling. They weren’t even trying to hide that they were following them anymore. It was more than the few they had seen before. They were more than outnumbered now.
Then she looked into her sister’s eyes, at her cousins’ faces, and something snapped in her.
She was a fool to have thought they could secretly pick off the dakii one by one, make a difference on the Kleesold’s part of the border. They weren’t metal-forged; they weren’t trained forthis. They’d trained to defend the wall, to defend each other. In one-on-one combat with a guardian, most soldiers or fighters would lose spectacularly. But they hadn’t learned to hunt the dakii and patrol the woods like the brigades did. To move in formations like soldiers. Didn’t have the numbers to chart the way the dakii moved. They were out of their element and deeply at risk.
If they retreated to the post now, even if they managed to make it the entire way without losing anyone to the dakii, the commotion would draw more. Her family’s post could be entirely overrun tonight.
Iryana looked around them, piecing together as much of a plan as she could, her heart hammering inside of her.
“Tonhald, Hadima, Kladara, get to the front, keep as much distance between you and the dakii as you can. Take turns covering each other as you retreat.” She took off her own quiver, grabbed a few arrows, and tossed the rest to Tonhald; she knew he was an excellent shot. The arrows would do more good coming from an air-forged bow than hers. “Don’t stop firing.”
She turned to Levek and Sanora, who had been very quiet, looking pale in the moonlight. “Don’t let the dakii get to the archers. Use your shields if you have to. Don’t bother trying to kill them, just make them bleed and slow them down.”
“What are you going to do?” Hadima asked, with a tremor in her voice.
Iryana sucked in a quick breath. They were nearly out of time. There were too many dakii for them to fight off, she knew it deep in her heart; that was why she had run so fast to warn them. But if she drew the beasts away now, not only could her family make it home, but she could make it back to the fort before morning. If she survived that long.
“I’m going to get them to chase me back down the Yuresh.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Hadima hissed.
