His jaw tightened in anger. “The three of you will come with us.”
“Where to?” Feena asked bravely.
“You will find out when we get there,” Dar said.
“I have a request, Hunter,” Feena said before Dar could turn away.
“I don’t take requests,” Dar snapped.
“I beg of you to at least hear it,” Feena pleaded.
“It is true then,” Elara said softly, “Hunters have no hearts.”
Feena spoke before the two could trade more barbs. “Adira here is a mute. I ask that you keep her safe from your men.”
Adira pressed herself against Feena’s side, her eyes wide with fright.
Feena hurried her arm around Adira, patting her chest, then Adira’s to calm the fearful lass.
Elara stepped closer to the fence, to Dar, her voice soft and pleading. “Please, Dar, please let no harm come to Adira.”
Dar turned away from them and Elara’s heart sank, but then she heard his words.
“The lass with the older woman is a mute. If any one of you touch her—you die—” He cast a slow glance around, his icy glare landing on every man there. “And it won’t be a quick death.” He turned to a lean man with sharp-angled features and a bloody cloth wrapped around his arm. “Muir, take another with you and find a cart in the village for the women to travel in.”
Muir nodded and signaled to another Hunter, and they took off.
Elara could not deny the anger and bitter disappointment she felt, but a single truth refused to die. He had sworn he would keep her safe, and some part of her, a foolish part perhaps, wanted to still believe him.
Dar’s eyes caught with Elara’s. “We will talk later.”
With barely a shake of her head, she said, “What is there to say? You lied to me and you betrayed me. I have no words for you.”
“We will see about that,” he said and walked off.
“These are difficult times, lass,” Feena said. “The truth often hides, so do not rush to judgement.”
“It stares me right in the face. What else am I to do?” Elara asked, desperate for an answer.
The sound of a cart drawing near left no room for further talk.
Elara went to help Feena up into the cart, but Adira hurried to assist her and climbed in afterwards, settling snugly against the elderly woman. She followed, sitting opposite them, relieved that a thick layer of straw filled the bottom of the cart, making for a more comfortable ride.
“Let not your thoughts trouble you,” Feena advised. “It is better to keep a clear head for what may await us.”
Elara nodded, though her thoughts had turned to one thing alone… escape.
The road narrowed as the Hunters turned east, the autumn wind slipping through the trees and dropping a few leaves ready to fall. Dar rode at the head of the column, his expression carved into the hard, stoic lines expected of one who commanded.
Muir nudged his horse forward until he drew even with Dar. The others instinctively gave them space. Few men willingly rode too near Dar when his temper skimmed the surface.
For a long stretch, only the rhythmic thunder of hooves filled the silence.
Finally, Muir broke the quiet. “Do you think she’s the one, the one with the silver hair?”
Dar didn’t look at him. “That is not my judgement to make.”
Muir smirked. “She is different. Her silver hair. Her amethyst eyes. Her way of surviving?—”