As I prepared the hare, Digger shifted his weight and inched closer to where Fowler rested. He sniffed at him cautiously. I paused over the hare, tensing, making sure Digger’s intentions were friendly and he wasn’t going to take a bite out of Fowler. He continued sniffing, nails scratching rock as he edged closer and closer, and then there was a slight snuffing and blowing against Fowler’s hair.
I half-smiled, suspecting he was trying to rouse him. Digger gave up with a huff and then settled down close to Fowler. It made my chest ache a little—that this wild beast could find tenderness inside him not only for me but for Fowler, too. It made the world seem just a little bit better. Not entirely dark and hopeless. A little less bleak.
I focused on cooking the hare over the fire, mindful not to burn myself. I couldn’t afford the injury. I had Fowler to tend. It was up to me to pull him out of this. And I would. I had to.
Cooking was a risk, I knew, and not because I might burn myself. The aroma could attract dwellers willing to risk the rocks, but I needed the food. I needed to keep my strength up.
They would not risk the rocks. We were safe from them for now. I let the mantra roll through me, needing to believe it. It was my sole thought as the hare finished cooking over the small fire. I sat beside Fowler, coaxing more water down his throat, talking to him, letting him hear my voice.
Digger reclined nearby, his great furred back a warm pillow alongside my body. It almost felt safe, warm and comfortable. If only Fowler weren’t fighting for his life.
Digger’s hackles flared up an instant before the low rumble of his growl filled our small sanctuary. My apprehension was misplaced. I didn’t need to fear dwellers finding us. I patted his back, feeling every hair there standing on end. “What is it, boy?”
Digger hopped to his feet and trotted out of the cave to investigate. I bit my lip, resisting the impulse to call him back, even if I did feel alone and vulnerable. Indeed, I had no wish to make a sound at all, to make myself a more obvious target.
Instead, I reached for my knife again, all of me as tense as a slat of wood. My hand flexed around the knife’s edge, palm growing slippery with sweat.
My free hand reached for Fowler, clasping the hard curve of his shoulder. Even like this he still felt vital and strong. Maybe that was simply the fever. The heat of his skin imbued with warmth in the chill of the cave. Warmth that intimated health and comfort and well-being.
I patted him for reassurance—for me, I supposed. He was out of his head with fever, unaware of me.
I felt every sound. The flap of a bat’s wings in the far distance outside the cave. Breaths panting in exertion. The sound of multiple footsteps reached my ears long before I heard voices to alert me that men were approaching. I knew their gait, so very different from the dragging steps of dwellers.
I released my grip on Fowler and lurched to my feet, my blade brandished before me in hands that were slippery with sweat but surprisingly steady.
I counted three as they appeared, one by one, squeezing through the mouth of the cave.
They invaded our space, filling it with their smell: sweat and an underlying odor of horseflesh. That meant they weren’t traveling on foot. Somewhere outside the cave, horses waited for them. On the rocks, no doubt. They wouldn’t have left them in the open, vulnerable to dwellers. My mind raced, thinking about the ground Fowler and I could cover if I we had those horses.
And then reality crashed down on me. How could I get Fowler atop a mount? How could we travel at all? He wasn’t even awake.
“You were right, Jabon. There is someone up in here. Two somebodies, it looks like.”
Another voice, presumably Jabon’s, answered gruffly, “Always trust my nose, Kurk. Never leads me astray, especially where food is concerned, and I told you I smelled roasting meat.”
The words made me want to kick myself. Cooking the hare had brought them here. I’d led them here. I’d brought them to Fowler.
I did this.
There was a slight chink as one of the men moved, and I instantly recognized the sound of chain mail. Sivo had kept his chain mail in a trunk. As a child I had donned the much-too-large tunic of mail before, playing dress-up, pretending to be a grand knight like Sivo. Like my father. Of course, Perla would fuss at me whenever she caught me, reminding me that I was a girl . . . the one true queen of Relhok. According to her, queens did not don chain mail. My chest ached and burned. I missed them. Especially now as I faced these men and whatever degradation awaited me at their hands.
“Come, lad, put down your blade.” It was the rough, guttural voice again.
I shook my head, lifting my knife higher. “Get back!” Thus far, experience had not led me to count on any soldiers in chain mail being remotely like Sivo or my father. I wasn’t so naïve to expect that.
“We don’t aim to hurt you,” another voice volunteered, still male, but decidedly lighter and younger than the voices of the other two men. “We’re a convoy returning home from Relhok.”
They came from Relhok? Just this admission gave me a small measure of hope. If they came from there, then I could get there.
He continued, “I’ve lived all my life in these parts, and I have to say you haven’t the manner or speech of a Lagonian.”
Lagonian? As in the country of Lagonia? I knew enough from studying geography with Sivo to know that Lagonia bordered Relhok. Had we drifted so far east that we crossed into the neighboring country?
For a moment, my chest lightened. The kill order on girls was a Relhok edict. It was not a Lagonian law. If we were in Lagonia, I was safe from that threat at least.
The moment the thought entered my mind, I shoved it out. I was never safe. Not even here. Especially not among these three strangers. Soldiers. Even worse. Soldiers were a rough, brutal sort. I knew they had to be to survive, but I still wanted no part of them. Astonishingly, I would rather be back in my tower with my loved ones. I’d taken them for granted.
“We mean you no harm,” the soft-spoken one continued. “How about you share a bit of your meal with us and we’ll provide you escort into Ainswind.”
We must be fairly close to the city if he was offering escort into the capital.
“What makes you think I need an escort to Ainswind?” I snapped, doing my best to keep my voice deep. I still couldn’t reveal my gender. Even if these were Lagonians, we weren’t far enough from Relhok for me to announce that I was female.
They doubtless knew of the decree. By their own admission, they’d just journeyed from Relhok City. My head would fetch a nice price for them no matter their country of origin.
“Oh, you don’t want to go to Ainswind, then. The nearest bit of civilization . . . safety . . . is there. Why wouldn’t you want that? People are dying, truly dying, to get in its walls.” He paused, and tense silence stretched between all of us. After a few moments, his smooth voice continued, “I’m only suggesting a trade. Our escort for a bit of that delicious hare. It’s just the two of you, yes? And your friend looks in bad shape. We can help you. My name is Breslen. What’s yours?”
It was tempting to believe Breslen. Fowler needed care, and I might not have it in me to give it to him. I might not be enough.
“We’re stronger in numbers,” he coaxed, his easy tone suggesting I already knew that. It was reasonable. Logical. Weeks ago I would have agreed with that logic even though Fowler had never believed that. He thought the bigger the number, the greater the target you were.