Chapter 19 #2
Once across, she led them through more forest. Ravi saw something out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked, there was nothing there.
He could’ve sworn he saw movement. Mountain Elves lived among the Dangerous Peaks, but few saw them.
They were the rarest of all the elves. So much so that he had never seen one.
As far as he knew, they never left the mountains.
Sea Elves came into the cities sometimes. Even Dark Elves came up from underground. But never their mountain kin. Ravi wondered if they had gone extinct like the Desert Elves. Would anyone know if they had since they kept to themselves?
After he crossed the river, Ravi halted before running into Yasmin’s back.
He looked over her head to see why she had stopped.
A huge, white animal stood before them. It nuzzled the snow as if looking for food.
Yasmin pushed against him, tapping his leg.
He got the hint. Ravi walked backward, glancing behind him to make sure nothing was there.
He wrapped an arm around Yasmin when he reached a tree and tugged her behind it with him.
They both leaned out to keep an eye on the creature.
He bent low until his mouth was by her ear and whispered, “What is that?”
“An ostoose. Let’s hope it doesn’t pick up our scent.”
“We could run.”
She shook her head. “It’s too fast.”
Ravi looked up at the tree branches. “We could climb.”
“It can, too. We have to wait.”
He realized he still had a hold of Yasmin.
He didn’t care that layers of clothing separated them.
He knew what her flesh felt like. She didn’t push him away, so he remained.
They stood in silence, barely breathing as they watched the ostoose search for food.
The animal began walking away, but Yasmin didn’t relax until it was far out of sight.
“We need to get out of the valley,” she said.
He loosened his arm when she stepped away from him and it fell to his side. The instinct to pull her back against him returned. He fisted his hands and lengthened his strides to catch up with her.
“There’s much you need to know about Shaldorn,” she said into the silence.
To his surprise, she began talking about the fortress.
She described hallways, tunnels, and stairways.
She spoke of stairs that led nowhere and passages that someone could become trapped in.
He learned about the rooms the staff knew as the dungeons.
It was where they were taken and punished.
He didn’t need to ask if Yaz had been there.
He heard it in her words as she described the rooms in detail.
She paused when they came to the end of the woods. Anyone looking would be able to see them when they crossed the last part of the valley. He got a look at the ascent up the slope. It was rockier, and the angle was steeper.
He barely had time to glimpse it before Yaz started walking again. She picked up where she had left off in continuing his education of Shaldorn. When they got back, he needed to get all of this in writing. If she would cooperate. It would also give him a reason to see her again.
Before he knew it, they had reached the edge of the valley.
Yaz was the first to start the trek up. The incline was so steep they had to lean over and use their hands.
She talked all the while. He now knew there was a back entrance to Shaldorn, but there were also secret doorways few were privy too.
She gave him those locations, and he filed it all away for later.
Halfway up the slope, Yaz began asking him questions about Shaldorn to see how much he had retained. He was able to answer over half of them correctly, but it wasn’t enough. So, she repeated the information. And the next time she tested him, he passed.
She held out a hand once they reached the top of the mountain and helped him over the edge.
Their gazes met. She was the first to look away.
Ravi turned and looked back at the valley.
It had almost been his last resting place.
But that was why he wanted to remember it.
For him, it was where something had shifted with Yaz.
Every mission held danger, but this one was even more treacherous.
And they hadn’t even reached Shaldorn. He turned back to find Yaz with her hand on another rock, her gaze distant.
He followed her line of sight to the next peak.
There, nearly on the top, he could just make out the roof of a building.
Shaldorn. The stronghold rose out of the rock and snow to dominate even the peaks.
He slid his gaze to Yasmin and studied her profile.
He didn’t need to ask what she was thinking.
It was written all over her face. Dread.
Anger. Trepidation. Ravi started to grab her hand and give it a squeeze before he remembered that she didn’t like to be touched.
He thought about how easily she had slept against him, but would she welcome his touch now?
He didn’t have any words of comfort. What did someone say to another who had to return to such a place?
There was nothing he could say that would make it better.
“I’m sorry you have to be here,” he said.
She drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. “We all have to do things we don’t want to do. It’s just a place.”
It was more than that. It had been her prison, and inside it, her tormentors. No matter what she did or didn’t do, what had been done to her or hadn’t been done, Shaldorn had left its mark, fashioning her into the person she was now. She had an inner strength he had never seen before.
Yasmin swung her head to him. “It will be tricky from here on out. Stay close.”