CHAPTER 39
Cap
Cap was grateful for the tiny bit of magic in his token that still pointed toward the clearing; without it, he would have been completely lost. It was dark, and he’d never hunted this far south.
Stumbling forward on weary feet, he focused on the slight tug and adjusted his course again. Jean-haut had sent him much farther away than he’d realized. Either that, or the magic had become scrambled when its owner lost contact.
Cap shook his head. The magic in the tokens kept working when Jean-haut fell asleep. It should be the same no matter how he lost consciousness. Or even if he…
A fallen tree limb caught Cap’s foot, tumbling him into a prickly bush. He simply lay there for a few minutes, too tired and bruised to free himself from its clutches.
What was the point? His friends might all be dead. Any who survived would be prisoners destined for execution. The cursed forester that he called a friend had sent him in the opposite direction, so he had no hope of finding them before they reached the capital.
He had failed them in the worst possible way.
“You’re allowed to make mistakes.”
Margit’s alto voice drifted through the back of his mind as he lay there, suffering from a dozen sharp pricks. As he’d told her then, his mistakes could cost lives. And now they had.
“Not everything is your fault, Cap,” her memory chided. “You don’t have to bear everything alone.”
But he did. He was alone. And it was his poor choices that had put him there. From the day he fled to the woods until tonight, he’d made one decision after another that put his friends in danger until now, they were in General Valentin’s power.
“You shouldn’t have sent me away, Jean,” he muttered into the bush. “I should have to bear the consequences this time.”
And he was so tired of running. Of fighting an impossible fight.
“Dummkopf.” The fire in her eyes when she said it.
“I needed you to keep moving this time.” The understanding in Jean-haut’s.
Digging deep into his energy reserves, Cap maneuvered his hands under his chest and found a branch with enough resistance to let him shove himself free. He heard the ripping sound as the thorns tore free from his clothes, but Rouge could scold him later. If he ever found her.
“That’s enough,” he told himself as he dropped to the ground next to a tree trunk. “It’s just the fatigue talking.” And his voice. He was so exhausted that he was talking to himself. “The wind is never gone, it just needs to rest sometimes. Even the wind…needs to rest…”
His head settled back against the tree trunk. “Just for a few…minutes…”
He let his eyes drift closed as his hand slipped off his knee, and he was asleep before his hand hit the ground.
~
“I never thought I’d see the day. A defenseless Cap, sleeping like a rock with no one standing guard. In the middle of the day, no less.”
Cap’s eyes flew open, but the sword point on his chest kept him from shooting to his feet.
Lifting his eyes to its bearer, he scowled. “What are you doing, Rouge?”
She smirked and sheathed her weapon. “Having a little fun. I expected you to wake up before I got that close.”
Cap stood up and brushed himself off. A few members of his band huddled together nearby, their eyes wide. But not, he suspected, because of Rouge’s games.
“You must have fared better than I expected,” he commented lightly. “To be poking fun at me.”
A shadow crossed her face. “The General’s men captured some of my people.” She examined him, then stepped forward and swiped her fingers across a cut on his cheek. He jerked away with a wince. “What about you? The only other stones I can find are all north of here.”
“I don’t know.” His right hand reached for his arrows’ fletching. “Your brother removed me from the battle.”
He could still feel the despair of the night before, but it was weaker after a solid… He lifted his eyes to the treetops, trying to judge the sunlight filtering through the barren branches. It was almost noon. No wonder he felt better.
“Jean isn’t with you?” she asked quietly. “But I thought—”
“You already observed that I was alone and unguarded,” Cap replied. He searched the ground for his pack before remembering he didn’t have one. “Can you not tell where he is?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t been replenishing the magic in his stone since we were traveling together. I assumed he escaped with you.”
The look on her face was so different from her normal fire that Cap decided not to tell her about Jean-haut’s magic cutting out. Maybe later.
But not now.
“What do we do now, Cap?” Rouge glanced over her shoulder at the young women and boys lurking behind her. “The rest of my group is at a spot I found last night. We have enough supplies to last for a while, but what about everyone else?”
Cap gripped one of his arrows and stared off to the north. He couldn’t leave the noncombatants unprotected. But he couldn’t abandon the others, either.
Especially when two of his favorite people were missing.
“Have you been back to the campsite?” he finally asked. “Is there anything…anyone…left?”
“I didn’t want to risk it if they left guards.” She looked back again and lowered her voice. “And I didn’t want them to see…” She gulped. “I wasn’t sure what state the clearing would be in.”
Dragging a hand down his face, Cap checked the location stored in his token. The clearing felt close. “I’ll go look.” He pulled out his stone and handed it to her. “If you put the location of your new camp in here, I’ll find you after.”
His trip through the rest of the trees was tense, but he didn’t spot any guards.
The clearing itself was littered with belongings.
Cap grabbed his pack and his tent, then made a quick search of the others.
It didn’t mean much. But Jean-haut’s pack was still lying next to Cap’s. And Margit’s satchel was missing.
After exploring the trees in a hundred-foot radius, he determined that none of his people had been left for dead. That was something, even if it was no guarantee they were alive.
He hiked back to Rouge’s temporary camp with a heavy heart. Tracking the General’s men felt like the right thing to do, but could he free his friends by himself? Rouge’s magic and swordsmanship could help, but then the noncombatants would be defenseless.
Unless he took them someplace safe first. But would that make him too late?
Rouge didn’t pester him, accepting his brief report silently and then settling down to pound some bread dough. It wasn’t like her to not fight.
Cap didn’t like it, but what was he supposed to do?
~
“Are you going after them?”
The morning sky was pink with the beginnings of sunrise as Cap stood in the middle of the trees, head tilted back to watch the stars disappear. He loved the woods, but it would be nice to be home again, out from under the canopy.
Rouge stepped around so that he could see her hands on her hips. “Cap? Don’t tell me you plan to give up on my brother,” she said fiercely. “And Margit?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. His night had been restless, to the point where he’d spent the last several hours of it standing here wrestling with himself. Staying to protect the noncombatants meant abandoning his friends to their fate. Leaving Margit in danger.
But pursuing them would likely mean his own capture and death. And he couldn’t help anyone then.
Yet what was the point of protecting a handful of people if it meant letting the entire kingdom suffer, including his best friend and the woman he…
His head dropped. It was killing him to not race after her again. But he had time to think this time, and his indecision had him paralyzed. Acting on impulse might be the reason he and his friends were in this mess. Was it wise to give in to his feelings and chase her down now?
“Rouge.” He finally opened his eyes. “If we can find a safe place for the others, will you come with me?”
Her brown eyes glowed. “Absolutely.”
“It may be a lost cause,” he cautioned. “We may be captured in the attempt.”
“I don’t care.”
“I can’t go home, but you could,” Cap said quietly. He met her eyes. “General Valentin doesn’t know you’ve been with me, let alone helping on the raids. Your family doesn’t have to lose both you and Jean-haut.”
For a moment, her gaze skipped away from him. But it came back almost immediately. “If my brother was captured, the General will assume that I was here with him. And he would happily convict me on less evidence than that.”
He nodded slowly. “Then let’s pack up camp and head north. They are still headed for the capital, aren’t they?”
Rouge closed her eyes, one hand twisting into one of her signs. “They’re stationary right now, but I think they’re in the right area.”
Her hand started to lower, but then she froze. “Wait!” Her voice grew excited as her eyes flew back open. “One of the stones is traveling south. Someone is headed our way!”