“I think he’ll survive.” I turned from Oscri to Kilia. “But we should try to rest. Ideally overnight, if we can, so we all have the best chance of living through the next sundown.”
Kilia’s brows drew in, his harsh face softening for the first time since I met him.
I tried for a smile. “I’m not being noble. I want to get out of here as fast as I fucking can. I assume you’re going to be even grumpier if your brother dies, so I intend to avoid that.”
I rolled my shoulders so he wouldn’t see my arms shaking. It wasn’t purely for Oscri’s sake that I’d suggested we stop. I was tired. I’d had to put such effort behind each kick and strike and jump today to ensure no one would notice what was missing in my veins, and I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it up.
“Where do you suggest we rest?” Ottoh asked. “It’s not like there’s a longhouse waiting for us here with a fire burning and furs laid out.”
“I’m surprised the sun hasn’t broken through the trees at your optimism,” I replied dryly.
Oscri snorted so loudly I smacked his arm, and Kilia stepped closer, slackening our rope.
“There were some fallen trees back there,” I continued. “We can use them as shelter.”
“The captives are everywhere,” Ottoh’s partner said quietly. “They’ll find us.”
“We’ll have to stand guard.” I shrugged. “I said we should rest, not sleep.”
To the east, branches cracked and snapped, and I nudged Kilia before I started walking the way we’d come. Thankfully I hadn’t hallucinated the circle of trees that lay across the moss-covered forest bed, and I accepted Kilia’s help as he pushed me onto one of the thick trunks. As I arched my back to allow him to climb up without tautening our rope too much, a shadow moved in the corner of my eye.
Reacting instinctively, I kicked out, and my boot connected with something soft before a hand wrapped around my ankle and tugged hard. Kilia gasped as our arms stretched over the tree, and I twisted my body to get free when a harsh face came into mine.
“This spot is taken,” Darcke snarled as he lifted an axe, elegantly aligning it with Kilia’s neck as the latter heaved himself onto the trunk. “Leave.”
There were three warriors behind Darcke, two of which I recognized: the terrifying one whose scar looked worse than ever in the dim light, and Torden, the somewhat cheerful one with the dark hair. He gave me a grimace as Darcke leaned in closer, until his nose was only an inch from mine.
“What’s happening over there?” Ottoh asked in a whisper-shout. “There’s a group of captives getting closer.”
“Give me a second,” I called back.
“Did you not hear me?” Darcke asked in his thick accent.
“I think the whole forest heard you,” I mumbled.
“What did you say?” His grip on my boot firmed, and I ground my teeth when the bark scratched my arms and back as he dragged me to him.
“We were only trying to find somewhere to rest,”Kilia said worriedly.
“Rest?” Darcke’s eyes didn’t leave mine as he spat the word. “You are not here to rest. You are here to get your silver.”
“We have someone injured in our group,” I explained. “We’ll continue tomorrow.”
Darcke’s tongue dragged across his bottom lip.
“Your…group,” he said slowly. “There are no teams here.”
I tried to wave the wrist that was tied to Kilia. “Clearly there are. And one of my friends is hurt, so we need to share this space.”
“No.” The warrior squeezed my ankle until I thought he might snap it from the force. “Do I need to addstupidto the list of words to describe you?” I was about to protest when he lifted a hand. “There is no group. There are nofriends. You’re on your own. Now leave.”
“We can’t,” I snapped. “We won’t make it.”
“Theywon’t make it.” Darcke released me while swinging his axe so close to Kilia the latter growled in response. “You seem fine.”
“I—”
“Come on,” Kilia said. “Let’s just go.”
