Agatha nodded, but didn’t look at me. She was clutching her friend's hand. “Are you sure she’s alright?”
I sighed. “She’s okay, but she’s also incredibly weak. For one so strong, she’s shifted too late in life. The build up of the wolf, the sheer power she has…it’s been a huge strain on her body. It’s why we had to keep her asleep, so that she wouldn’t hurt you, or us. So that she could heal. But the resulting weakness...”
I went over, knelt by Agatha. I held off from putting a hand on her, but I did reach out internally. As always, her mind and heart were guarded.
“Her body had the wolf’s blood racing around her veins for four days.Four.Most people when they shift for the first time, it’s barely an evening, a night maybe, but she was fighting to shift the whole time. She’s an incredible woman. An incredible wolf. But dangerous.” I knew that Agatha had seen us copying Feyra’s belongings. But it was an assurance we had to take. If she managed to wake through the potion and turn into a werewolf, then we may have been lucky to haveanythingsurvive, let alone important belongings.
“Our problem now is the travel. We still need to keep moving to make the date of her meeting. But with those new monsters of Lady Skol’s flying about, we’ve had to make some dangerous changes to our route.”
Agatha nodded. “I’ll ride with her again.”
“You can’t,” I said, reassuringly. “You’ll cut your wrists to pieces. We can tie her on–”
“It’s the only thing I can do,” Agatha said, a sob escaping her. “You and Roman know so much. You’re both helping her more than I can. And this whole trip I’ve just been her sidekick. If a little rope burn is all it takes to help, then, then I’ll do it so we can keep making good time.”
I put my hand on Agatha’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re a great friend,” I said, and meant it. I didn’t know what the doubts were inside me, but I believed everything she’d just said. Maybe Roman and I had been alone for too long in the Warlands? Spent too much time with plotters and rebels, too long with desperate farmers and vigilante merchants.
The camp was packed and Feyra, along with Agatha, tied to the horse in under an hour. After that we were gone quickly. We rode single file all morning, with eyes on the horizon and often taking the hardest route possible. We had to maintain as much cover as we could while we were being tracked.
Now in the high country of the desert plains we’d just crossed, we were in the wastelands good and proper. After lunch we continued on in the deep gorges scarring the lands, mountainous peaks soaring like birds to our right. The land was still in the thrall of dying its cursed death. Any trees we saw were gnarled and fruitless. The mighty rivers that had once been here were trickles, with streams barely alive to fill our water bags.
We’d been lucky to come upon the traders and purchase the tent, even if they’d eyed us warily. They wouldn’t pass up a sale this far out, even if it was to fugitives. But it had been a sign of how quickly the massacre’s message had spread.
We finally stopped in the late afternoon at the foothills of a jagged mountain range. They were the last we’d cross before hitting the final plains headed for Jebra. We decided to make camp and tackle the mountain tomorrow. With any luck, Feyra would wake and the journey could continue on with less stress. I hoped.
The tent was pitched quickly, and I brought Agatha and Feyra down together. I let Agatha walk around for a while, getting the blood back into her legs and wrists. Her flesh was rubbed raw and she refused the balm I offered. But she was still happy she’d done it all.
I lay Feyra in the cool tent with a breeze coming in from side openings. Her breathing was better and her pulse stronger. Hope swelled in my heart that maybe tonight would be the night.
After the sun had set and our meal was eaten, I spent some time thinking about how I could bring up the rejection with Feyra. With Agatha retiring an hour earlier, and both women being asleep. I left Roman alone by the fire and walked off to a small lookout. The wastelands stretched away, even in the dusk the gorges were impressive. I thought of all the stories of Jebra I’d been told as a child. I still couldn’t believe half of them, but now more than ever I was excited to find them and see if they were true. Roman was adamant that they were.
There had been many parts to my prophecy, but after The Scarred Heart woman was the trip to Jebra. …In Jebra, the truth will be answered…
I was excited for it. Nervous. I couldn’t think of anything else now that I was this close. I’d come here to think of Feyra and now was only thinking of myself. Maybe I had to see her? See if she were awake. But I made myself wait. Made myself think about the rejection, the prophecies, Jebra. I made myself wait and let the hours pass because if I returned early and she was still asleep, I’d get disappointed.
Eventually I allowed the excitement to grow in my chest. Ifeltthat she was awake now. Believed that I could feel her in my mind. I knew that if I reached out, I would feel her. I began to smile.
I came back to camp quickly, running from the peak in mere minutes. I went straight for the tent. I pulled the flap aside and then the smile left my face.
The tent was empty.
Feyra and Agatha were gone.
Chapter 15
FEYRA
We climbed for what felt like hours. My legs ached and it was like I’d never used them before. My whole body was sore, in pain, but I pushed on. I couldn’t fathom the thought of staying with Dion or Roman any longer. What Agatha had been telling me scared me more than anything I’d ever known.
And things had been worse after the next batch of poison they gave me. I’d had to take it too, if we’d wanted them to believe that I was still asleep so we could escape. I shivered as we scrambled along.
Again I’d had strange dreams of long stone corridors and Lady Skol giving me poison. Thankfully, I’d been able to wake when Agatha shook me.
We came to a small plateau and I wanted to lie down. My steps were tiny and I could barely push on. Agatha urged me, getting under my shoulder and coaching me each step. Surely we’d climbed enough for a break? Surely they wouldn’t have expected us to escape? We had hours of head start, didn’t we? But when I mentioned it to Agatha, she would just say that we were close…
“Close to where?” I asked.
“The trail,” she replied.
