“And was it?” Xander asked, smirking as he failed to contain his amusement.
“It was,” Kysha informed us smugly, slinging her arm over her wife’s shoulders and pulling Maiela in close, kissing her passionately.
Beside me, Daegal groaned. When the females broke apart, they both laughed.
“Come now, baby brother.” Maiela walked over, patting Daegal’s forearm. “You’re a grown elf. Surely you know the ways of the world.”
“Oh, he knows,” Xander snorted. Exchanging a heated look with Aileana, he joined their hands. “We all know.”
“Just because I know whatitis doesn’t mean I want to know my sister is… doing those things,” Daegal grumbled, his blush deepening even more.
Maiela raised a brow. “You are aware I’m not a virgin, right? Wearemarried.”
“Oh, my gods,” Daegal groaned. Pulling me towards Xander, he pointed at the compass. “What’s the plan?”
My Fortune Elf’s attempt at changing the topic of discussion couldn’t have been more obvious if he tried, but no one commented on it.
“The good news is, it looks like we’ll be staying out of the snow for a while,” Xander said.
“And the bad news?” I asked.
There was always bad news where I was involved. Bad luck. Bad news. Bad people. Bad circumstances. I attracted bad things. Maybe it was because I was a Death Elf, destined to live a horrible life, or maybe I was just unlucky.
“It’s not bad news, per se,” Aileana said after a moment. “Just… strange.”
A pit formed in my stomach. “Oh?”
Strange was worse than bad. Strange could mean practically anything. I would have preferred bad news over something strange. My heart rate quickened, and a cold sweat appeared on the back of my neck. This wasn’t good at all.
All the levity from earlier dissipated as Aileana unfurled the map, laying it out on a large rock. Using small stones as paperweights, she kneeled before the parchment. Xander crouched beside her, his hand on her lower back, and the rest of us followed suit.
Thecrackof knees bending and muffled groans spoke to everyone’s soreness. For some reason, I was happy to know I wasn’t the only one suffering during this journey. Once we were all kneeling, purple ribbons left Kysha’s palms. They formed six orbs of light that hovered above us, illuminating the parchment.
“We’re fairly certain this is our location.” Aileana tapped a drawing of an endless forest coming up to a mountain. “We thought the compass was going to lead us around this, but it looks like we’ll be going through.”
Through the mountain. That was strange and absolutely, definitely, not delightful. I did not enjoy tight spaces, nor did I enjoy being underneath mountains. I’d spent long enough in Nightstone Prison to last me a lifetime.
And yet, fate had brought us here. What else could we do?
A pit formed into my stomach, growing into a chasm when I glanced at the back of the cave. Little more than a hole in the wall, it did not seem like the type of place anyone would want to go. The opening was barely larger than Xander and had the distinct appearance of being both extremely dangerous and highly unpleasant.
“This entire situation does not bode well,” I muttered under my breath.
For a long moment, no one spoke. It was Daegal who broke the silence as he pulled me against him. “It’s going to be okay.” To Aileana, he asked, “This is the only way?”
She nodded. “We’re following the compass, and it is clear about the direction we need to take.”
“Even if it leads us into danger,” I said bitterly.
It wasn’t a question. Evidently, this was our path. I was the first to acknowledge that my mental health wasn’t the strongest, but this seemed foolhardy, even to me. Especially when I got a closer look at the map.
“What about those drawings?” I asked, running my finger over the parchment. Dots surrounded the mountain where we currently stood. From afar, they just looked like markings on the page, but now that I had a better look, I could have sworn they were tiny skulls. “What are they?”
Aileana lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. Hopefully, it’s nothing. Either way, we’ll be finding out sooner rather than later.”
The others kept speaking, forming plans all around me. The feeling of dread remained with me as the night wore on. Daegal and Xander collected firewood while Aileana worked to create semi-private quarters in the cavern. Curtains made of vines hung from the rocky ceiling, and moss covered the stone floor.
Kysha and Maiela built the fire—for real, this time—and I was putting our bedrolls in place when a branch snapped outside.