Chapter 44 #2
“Then why does it feel like I did?” He muttered. His gaze swept over my face even as his right palm fisted, as if he wanted to reach out and touch my cheek, but settled on caressing me with his eyes. “You were gone when I woke up.”
“I’m sorry. I really am.” I gripped the book closer to my chest, like a shield. “I just…I’m scared.”
It was the closest I could get to explaining something I didn’t fully understand myself. Just that this sensation was familiar.
Like I’d been transported back into the awful week after I discovered Waden’s betrayal, only compounded with the numbness which had taken over me after Orion’s attack.
“Just give…give me a few hours,” I forced myself to say. “To get myself together. We’ll talk then, I promise.”
“I take promises seriously, Allie.”
And that was one of the things I liked about him. “I do, too. And I promise .”
Ryker opened his mouth, but swallowed whatever he had to say. Instead, he nodded grimly.
“Very well, take your time.” There was sorrow in his words, maybe even doubt, but he remained steadfast.
The air rushed out of my lungs in one relieved sigh. “Thank you.”
He nodded, once, before jerking his chin at the palaver book. “Taking a keepsake with you?”
“Dax promised he’ll reach out today.” I tightened my grip, the cover’s leather grooves digging into my skin, as if that would make me feel closer to him. “I need to be on alert.”
It was also worrisome Dax hadn’t reached out yet, but I told myself it was too early. Dax simply didn’t want to wake me up, it was all.
But even as I said it, my breath stuttered, strangled by the fear once more.
Until I got myself in check, today would be awful.
“Then let’s hope he does it soon.” Ryker reached out behind him and produced a beautiful dagger. Steel blade that didn’t look like it had sliced through anything yet, but sharp enough that it would slash through bone. Its pommel had been sculpted out of deer antler, sleek and curved.
But it looked almost ridiculously small in Ryker’s palm.
“I know you prefer arrows, but a blade never hurts when used properly,” he said, uncertain. “I had it made for you.”
“Me?” I asked, voice shaky, like a youngling presented with a flower from the first boy she fancied.
“Don’t know any other Huntress.” A corner of his mouth ticked up, even if it looked tense. “To replace the knife you sharpened on the balcony.”
My eyes widened. “You heard that?”
“I was waiting for you to swallow your pride and ask for a proper weapon. I hadn’t quite understood your pride back then.”
He handed me the dagger and I took it gingerly, like the grand gift it was. The pommel fit perfectly in my right palm. I balanced it on my pointer finger–it didn’t sway an inch.
“Thank you.” I gave him the first real smile of the day, though small and weary. “Now to find a place to hide it.”
“I’m sure that beautiful mind of yours can concoct a place nobody would think to check.”
I nodded at his baldric, still devoid of weapons. “Where do you keep yours?”
“You’re not the only one with secrets, Huntress.” A muscle twitched in his face; a smirk, but not quite. “Best get ready, today will be a long journey.”
My shoulders quaked as a shiver raced up my spine. I remembered the journey all too well. “I doubt even war horses could make the trip twice in a day.”
The honey cart hadn’t exactly moved at a wind’s pace, but the distance was a full day.
Ryker raised one of his brows at me as the entrance to the fortress crowded with the warriors setting off on the journey with us. “We don’t use horses in Solkar’s Reach.”
He tensed his lips and pressed two fingers against them, whistling hard enough to shake the snow off the closest pines.
A second later, heavy paws thundered against the pavement. On instinct, I pressed closer to Ryker, watching in amazement as packs of those wild hounds rushed toward us, tongues wagging.
Each dozen of them were harnessed to long sleds covered in furs and supplies.
They all halted in the same row, right by the stairs, wagging their tails as if their brethren hadn’t hunted me and Nadya down the streets weeks ago.
“You’re kidding,” I dead-panned. “These vicious beasts are taking us there?”
“ These vicious beasts are so well trained, not even Nadya fears them.”
Judging by the way Nadya’s gaze was throwing daggers at their wagging tails, I seriously doubted it. Ryker must have sensed it, because he flicked his fingers and all the wolf-hounds sat down on their bellies in perfect synchronization.
That eased some of the apprehension, but not all of it.
“At least you’ll be on the same sled as me,” I said, then quickly looked up at him. “I mean, I assume–”
“Don’t worry,” he said gently. “And no, I’m leading you by foot.”
Right. Because he could move as fast as the wind.
“I can’t drive a sled.” I’d be better off jumping on one of the wolves’ backs and taking my chances with the gods of death.
“Luckily, Nadya can,” he said. “Best way to tackle a fear is to face it.”
I gulped. “You sure do love your tough love in this crater.”
“It’s worked for centuries. And don’t worry, all you need to do is lounge around among the furs and try not to fall off.”
I pursed my lips up at him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“You really do need to hold on tight.” He tilted his head toward me and winked, dissipating more of the tension. “And I will be right by your side.”
I looked into his eyes, so bright and trusting, and nodded. He wouldn’t let me get hurt, that I knew–even as those hateful whispers in my mind tried to convince me otherwise.
The warriors dissipated between the sleds, and fuck me if the hounds moved a single muscle until Ryker flicked his fingers again and they all jumped on all fours, tails wagging again.
Now that was magic.
Some of these big, bad warriors crouched low and patted the wolves’ heads, squeezing their fuzzy cheeks, and even scratching their bellies. No sign of fangs and not even a hint of a growl.
Maybe the beasts weren’t as dangerous as I feared.
Or maybe Ryker’s presence had tamed the monsters.
But that didn’t mean my steps weren’t as slow as possible as I neared Nadya while Ryker went to talk to the tallest guard. Vylkor, if my hazy memory was to be believed.
“Have you ever driven one of these before?” I whispered to her.
“Aham.” Nadya didn’t move her eyes from the only remaining sled. She didn’t move, period, frozen on the last stair, same as me.
“How was it?”
“Short.”
“Maybe we can both scootch underneath the furs and have someone else–”
“No.” She clenched her jaw, just like Ryker did. Honestly, they truly were like brother and sister. “A warrior never backs down from a challenge.”
She rolled her shoulders back and marched up ahead.
“No, they just find the least dangerous way to win,” I called after her, but she was already passing the hounds and patting her axe at her side, as if they could understand the implicit threat.
If Nadya could march up to them, so could I. But before I took another step, I opened the palaver book. No smoke, no shimmer, and no Dax.
“He’s probably still sleeping,” I muttered to myself, even as a part of me began to fret.
I closed it with a loud snap. Patience. I needed patience .
Mercifully, the wolves didn’t so much as sniff my way as I approached. They were even bigger than the ones who’d run after us, the tops of their ears almost reaching my shoulders. And underneath all that fur, I saw the way their muscles bunched and flexed, readying for the trip.
Killing machines, if left to their own devices.
Nadya stepped behind the sled, grabbing hold of the wooden handles with the outward confidence of someone who’d done it a thousand times before, while I sat down underneath the piles of furs.
Near my feet, my boots met crinkly bundles of dried branches for fires–so we were stopping for the night–and the metal clinks of more weapons.
We truly were ready for anything. Though I prayed we wouldn’t have to face anything but the wind and the long road.
To my surprise, Geryll stepped behind one of the sleds, while Vylkor sat down. He was comically large for the sled’s bed, his shoulders wider than the entire wooden frame.
I raised my brows at Ryker, who watched Geryll fuss over the handles.
“They need to learn,” Ryker mouthed my way when I caught his eye. Or maybe he caught mine.
It seemed our gazes always found each other wherever we were.
A spike of pure adrenaline shot through me as I watched him march in the center of our little group. Instantly, everyone quieted; the hounds didn’t even dare whimper.
“Today, we’re setting off toward the most secret, sacred, and strategic point in all of Solkar’s Reach,” he announced, voice like a whip in the stillness. “If you see anything amiss, you let me know. Nobody outside the fortress needs to find out about this. Is that clear?”
Everyone nodded at the same time. A strange sense of anticipation coated the air.
“Then may the gods have mercy on us today.” He raised his right hand high in the air. “We will return victorious.”
“Victorious,” Nadya murmured.
His arm fell in one slashing movement.
In the next breath the sled lurched forward, pushing me violently back against the wooden frame.
The jolt was so powerful, the palaver almost slipped out of my grasp as we flew over the icy roads and straight into the snow-covered field outside the city.
But I held onto it with a vice grip, tugging it underneath the furs.
Behind me, Nadya shouted at the wolves, her voice almost drowned out by the crisp wind which made it almost impossible to breathe.
“Are you okay?” I yelled back. I might as well have whispered with the cold gust slashing at my cheeks.
“Yes!” she howled back.
In all fairness, all we had to do was hold on for dear life, just like Ryker had said, as the wolves carried us further into the wilderness. The sled bounced and thudded against any indent in the snow, my spine taking the brunt of it.
I never imagined I’d ever miss hiding in that rickety carriage.
All around me, sleds raced forward, a united front against whatever strangeness awaited us on the other end of the crater, just like the explorers of ancient times had explored unforgiving valleys and unflinching mountains.
A moment later, a blur appeared right in front of us, leading the way.
I barely saw him, but I knew it was Ryker, opening up the horizon for us. If any danger awaited us, he would face it first.
My heart leaped. It had nothing to do with the jarring motion and everything with the man steering all of us forward.
To protect his realm and all of us.
I didn’t know what we’d find at the crater’s rim. But I could swear I heard that strange hum shouting after us–a warning or a farewell, only time would tell.