The forest gradually thinned, with the trees grouped in clusters or standing solitary in small clearings surrounded by rings of dead pine needles. Wherever the sun could reach the forest floor, bushes and vines rose to suck it up. Those patches took more time to pass through, and their progress slowed.
As they walked, the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky.
When Pyetar finally stopped, Iryana froze mid-step. He turned to her, slowly raising his hand to cup behind his ear and then point in the general direction of the forest.
She listened and realized there was nothing to hear. The forest was quiet. A shiver went down her spine; there were dakii nearby. She looked around for a spot to conceal them, but with how sparse the forest was here, it would be harder to hide.
Pyetar was standing there, statue-still, eyes closed and head tilted down. She wasn’t sure what she was meant to do but wait. So that’s what she did, watching him. His honey-brown hair was getting longer, sticking out the bottom of his brown felt cap. A dark green summer cloak hid most of his broad chest and muscular arms, but she could see the studded leather of his brigandine where the cloak parted.
At least they hadn’t gone on this mission during the peak of summer’s heat, when they would have worn the bare minimum. He was distracting enough covered up as he was now.
She was just chastising herself for ogling Pyetar when, in a burst of movement, he reached for her hand and a flash of pressure hit her shield. His hand passed through and grasped hers tightly.
When she met his eyes, he nodded, trying to convey something in that expression. Iryana felt a wave of panic crash over her. Was he saying they would fight to the death together? Was he saying everything was okay? Was he—
Pyetar took off into the trees, dragging her behind. They avoided the open clearings, sticking to the shadows and soft needle piles, running as quietly as they could. He didn’t let go of her hand, but kept looking around and reorienting himself. Iryana did her best to keep up with the huge strides of his long legs.
He was heading somewhere specific, but she didn’t know where and couldn’t ask.
They came to the trunk of a tree, one of the ones that soared higher than the others, and Pyetar gestured for her to climb. She didn’t hesitate.
It wasn’t an easy tree to climb. The branches at the base were short and far apart, but the trunk was thick and sturdy. Partway up, she looked down to see that Pyetar was listening, focusing on the surrounding forest. Then he looked up, his eyes meeting hers. He gestured with his head for her to continue and then began to climb after her.
Iryana knew the dakii could knock down a tree if they had a desire to; the only reason to climb one was if you were sure one hadn’t seen you. The thought made her feel like there were eyes on her. Watching.
A hand on her ankle made her jolt, but Pyetar held her in place and then climbed up beside her. They had reached a part of the tree with leaf-covered branches, the ground hard to see directly below them.
He didn’t look afraid, not overly so anyway. But there was certainly an urgency and stiffness to him. That relaxed Iryana somewhat.
Pyetar tugged on her sleeve and worked his way around the tree. On the other side, there was a ladder. She hadn’t seen it with the thicker canopy.
Believing they might outlive the day, Iryana followed him up it.
At the top of the ladder was some kind of watchtower, anchored to a few of the larger, nearby pines. The construction looked old, from before the beasts came or perhaps shortly after, but parts of it had been repaired recently.
Once they reached the top, she realized it was less of a watchtower and more of a covered platform. And not a very large one. Pyetar laid down across the floor on his stomach, and Iryana laid down beside him, her body lightly pressed to his. There was room to move slightly further away, but she knew they needed to stay hidden.
Her heart was still pounding, and the proximity to Pyetar didn’t help. He wasn’t paying attention to her, though. He was pulling out a few bundles of pine-cones from his back and chucked them out away from their tree. Was is to distract the dakii? Make it sound like they were still moving further away if they were being followed? She didn’t know.
She hated feeling so helpless, so useless.
Without knowing what he was doing, she couldn’t strategize or plan. She could either imagine dakii throwing themselves at the base of their tree, the platform suddenly rocking and knocking them off, or she could focus on Pyetar’s body against hers.
Neither option was acceptable.
Iryana slowly laid her head down, facing away from Pyetar. She needed distance.
Beneath them, she heard rustling through the forest, the impact against the ground working its way up the trees and into the wood under her cheek. She tried to pick the sounds apart, determine how many there were, but there were so many that she couldn’t tell a number.
She heard Pyetar let out a shuddered breath. They both held as still as they could, listening as the soft pounding got closer, until she heard the snapping of branches and give of needles beneath them. As the sounds moved further away.
It felt like the rest of the evening had passed, but eventually the forest was full of normal sounds again, the sky now a blanket of night. When an owlhoo’d nearby, she almost cried in relief.
“We’re in the clear for now.”
The unexpected sound made Iryana jerk her head around.
“Is it safe to talk?” She kept her voice as low as she could.
