“Tomorrow, maybe the next day. The only way into the village is through the mountain pass.” Lura takes small bites of her meat, savouring the taste or hoping to make it last longer, I don’t know. I ate mine in one whole bite.
Kali shuffles to her feet. “I’ll go see what I can find then,” she proclaims, nibbling on her small piece of cured venison.
Myles wraps himself around me, trying to keep us both warm. I would use my magic, and call the flames to my skin for heat, but when I did that in the last cave, I nearly set the whole thing alight.
“I’ll help.” I need to move before my body freezes up completely. I try to push up, but Myles holds tighter to me. “I won’t be long, stop worrying.”
“Stop giving me reasons to worry, then,” Myles says, reluctantly letting go of my hand to rub his chest. “Fine, go. I’m going to get some rest.” He edges closer to the fire, shuffling around to get comfortable.
Outside the cave, the wind howls, blistering down the pass, circling us, and thrashing our hair over our eyes. Kali clings to my arm as we push round a corner away from the gust of wind. I trip over something large and hard on the ground, and Kali falls on top of me.
“Oh, that’s not good,” Kali says, rising to her feet. She reaches her hand down to help me up.
Bodies are scattered all over the ground, crimson ice pierces the crisp white snow, and they must have been here for a day, maybe two. The pain carved on their faces is perfectly preserved in time, their eyes devoid of any sign of life. Kali looks above us for any signs of attackers.
“I think they’re long gone.” Bending down to examine the bodies, under their armour, are Zury colours in the form of blood red tunics. No weapons are left lying around, whoever attacked them must have cleared them out.
If anyone asked, I would say I was terrified, not knowing who the killer is or where they may be lying in wait, but secretly, I wanted to thank them. These arseholes have been hunting me for too long.
Good riddance.
The world is a better place without them. I can hear Mum’s voice clear in my mind, reminding me not to tar everyone with the same bristled brush. But how can I not? When every soldier I have met has revelled in torture and torment.
In each of their faces, I see Toothless, or the captain who paraded me in front of everyone to bear witness to my misery. Tearing off my clothes and beating me for the fun of it. Ripping off my necklace, leaving me with a faint scar around my neck like a choker.
I spit on the corpses at my feet and move on.
Stepping over bodies is not what I planned, but here we are. I almost feel sad for one guard—he is so young, barely older than Elana. He had the rest of his life ahead of him, yet he chose this life. Chosen to become one of these brutes.
Does that mean he deserved this fate? Where has my compassion gone? Mum would be bitterly disappointed in my callousness. She always taught us from a young age the importance of being nice, you never know what someone else is going through. But then, these soldiers would feel no remorse in handing me over to Adrian, would they?
Something glints under his body. I grab hold of his frozen armour, ice nipping at my fingers as I heave him to the side. Coated in blood is a snapped, braided necklace with a silver circle pendant. The circle is engraved with strange markings,one of which I have never seen before. Something about it draws me in. A rustling from Kali snaps me out of this trance.
I pocket the necklace and dodge the bodies to reach Kali.
Scrutinising the shrubbery, she picks and smells weeds, tossing some behind her, grunting and groaning to herself, “Nope, not that one. Uh, no, no, yuck.”
“What are you looking for?” I ask, ducking as another weed’s thrown at my head. “You hoping to find some pre-cooked food back there?”
Kali rotates around, narrowing her eyes at me. “No. I’m looking for crow garlic, or hedge garlic. Three-cornered leek would be good too.” I stare at her, blinking repeatedly like she is speaking a different language. “Uh, just wait there, I’ll find some for you.” She’s crabby when she’s hungry.
“Ah ha. Here come pick some of this.” She hands me some long green stems. “Crow garlic. It's edible, it doesn’t look like much, but it tastes so good. I’m going to look for more. Only pick plants that look exactly like that, I don’t fancy getting poisoned.”
I carry on picking the crow garlic that Kali pointed out. Holding it up to examine its long, thin cylinder shape. I’m sure I’ve seen some of this grow in the meadows near our cottage, can’t say I ever thought to try eating it. Doesn’t look appetising, although it does have an onion-like scent. I trust Kali, so I will eat it and imagine it’s cooked salmon or a large chunk of ham. My stomach rumbles so loudly it echoes around me.
Stop thinking about food, Andi.
As we’re gathering the last of the weeds to take back, Kali stumbles across a plant she calls Burdock. She hands me her pile of greenery and starts yanking the Burdock out of the ground. Voices echo off the walls of the mountain, and we stop in our tracks, pausing to listen to the growing voices from behind us. I turn around and see shadows on the wall. Kali and I duck behind a large rock.
“There’s nothing here. You’re sure he said this is the spot?” a deep voice asks. Peering around the side of the rock, I can’t see faces, just plain dark clothing. Whoever they are, they’re not wearing any armour or the blood red of Zury.
“Yes, I’m sure. Unlike some people, I know how to listen,” a young male’s voice answers. “We can’t leave without his trinket.”
Slumping back behind the rock, I slide the necklace from out of my pocket, looking at the weird markings, wondering if this is what they're looking for. I shuffle to my knees, tying the pendant around my wrist.Kali holds her finger up to her mouth and holds her hand out, telling me to wait.
Soon, the voices fade away, and footsteps no longer echo throughout the pass. Kali waits while I peek around the rock, signalling to her that the coast is clear, and we ease out of our hiding space.
Kali lets out a muffled scream as someone grabs her arms, holding them behind her back and one hand over her mouth. I stumble backwards, a huge man dashing towards me.