He was right. Another group of King Gustief’s enemies was headed our way, these with wooden torches that contorted their features as the flames danced over them. Their foreign tongue was sharp, their accents thick and menacing as they shattered the heavy silence between the trees. Their steps amplified the sound, setting my nerves alight.
Wiping sweat from my brow, I pushed myself to move faster, not letting the rope between me and Kilia stretch or allowing Ottoh and his partner out of sight as they wove through the thousand-year-old trees.
We’d fought our way here from the beach. Enemies had lain in wait at almost every bend of the rocky shore, and by the time we reached the forest line, therewere so many of them I hadn’t been able to make out Viljan, Ivren, or Rakkel anymore. My leathers were damp, not from the sea but from the blood of those Kilia and I had been forced to take down. By this point I imagined the scent of iron would cling to my skin forever.
“It’s getting harder to see,” Kilia said quietly. “We must be getting quite far inland.”
“Should we stop?” Oscri asked. “Make sure we’re not taking some kind of detour to wherever we’re going?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I replied as muted sounds whipped the air around us: screams that cut off into gurgling, choked sounds, steps crunching leaves, hushed voices coming from every direction. “Just watch out for the roots and keep going.”
Darkness thickened around us like it had with every step we took further inland, and sweat began trickling down my back when the shadows deepened and the trees grew taller, more threatening.
No gentle melody resounded from these woods. Not like it did at home. The forest here was wild. Unpredictable. The trunks tightened around us like enemies surrounding a battlefield. They hummed with hostility, and an eerie howl rose somewhere ahead. I bit down a cry of pain when the sound caused Kilia to waver, making the rope pull at my battered arm.
“Sorry,” he mouthed.
A growl that vibrated through my blood answered the howl, and I flinched when Oscri slipped, a curse flying from him as he stumbled into a slow run beside us.
“That doesn’t sound good at fucking all,” Oscri snapped. “How do we even know we’re going the right way?” the twin continued in a furious whisper, his head darting from side to side as he carried his partner over his shoulder.
The man tied to him had been struck by a wooden club, and there was a worrying emptiness in his half-closed eyes as his body bounced against the muscled karl.
Kilia let out a shuddering breath before turning away from his brother.
“Since there are more enemies, I think there is a good chance we’re on the right path,” I replied. “I’m sure we’ll be there soon.”
Whether it was the truth or not, I had no idea, but I wasn’t about to have the twins lose hope. I needed them to get out of here.
“Where isthere?” Ottoh stopped ahead, and he dragged the sunset-haired boy with him as he turned around. “What are we even looking for?”
“Down,” I hissed as light blasted through thick trunks, revealing just how covered in blood the other heir was as well, his blond hair clumped with drying crimson.
We pulled inward, shoulders locking as we hunched into a mass of bodies. The men’s fast breathing sped up my own pulse, and I almost hopped from foot to foot when another rush of adrenaline flooded my system.
Ottoh’s partner shook so violently the leaves beneath us crackled. “They have us surrounded.”
“Fuck, you’re right,” Ottoh cursed. “They’re behind us too.”
More voices drifted through the trees, and a rhythmic tapping made my heart race. It sounded like someone bouncing their weapon off every tree they passed, moving slowly and deliberately, as if they had all the time in the world.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight.” Oscri shared a look with his brother. “I don’t even know if it matters anymore.” There was a tremor in his jaw as he adjusted the unconscious man.
Guner’s words echoed in my mind.
If the rope is broken when you return, if Darcke or one of his guards sees you untie it to cheat, or if your partner dies, we’ll view you as a traitor to your people, and punish you thereafter.
Kilia’s swallow made it hard to breathe. Pulling at the rope tethering us, I gave him a warning look before I approached his brother. After licking my finger, I stuck it under the nose of the manhe was carrying.
“He’s alive,” I confirmed when his shallow breath cooled my skin.
Pushing his hair aside, I checked the wound. Itwasdeep. But head wounds always bled the worst. That’s what my healer once told me when my brother had slammed a wooden sword so hard into my face that my forehead burst open and my entire tunic was soaked.
There was no bone sticking out, no gray liquid oozing from the wound, like I’d seen before on the battlefield with my father. When that happened, we offered the warrior a quick goodbye, because there was no getting onto a ship again after that kind of injury.
I leaned in to listen to his lips.
The way he breathed—weakly but steadily, without any interruptions…
