27. Maddy
Chapter 27
Maddy
I feel sick when Erik stands up at breakfast the next morning.
Everyone falls instantly silent, as they always do now on Friday mornings.
"Rooks," he calls unnecessarily, "we have a volunteer for the Oskorela today." Muttering begins, then dies as he carries on. "Madivia," he says, and I swallow hard as I stand.
"What in the name of Odin?" says Eldith from next to me. Twenty-five pairs of eyes stare.
"And going with her will be?—"
I send up a silent prayer for it to be someone who doesn't distrust or dislike me.
"—Navi."
Shit . My stomach twists.
Not only will Navi not help me look out for a feather, I'm not sure she'll even pause to save my life if I get into trouble.
She stands slowly and looks over at me.
Eldith touches my arm, and I look down at her. "Why are you volunteering?" Her eyes are wide, and her green wolf is sitting beside her, panting slightly. "You don't need to prove anything!"
I shake my head. "No, I need something from out there. To help my friend."
She looks at me doubtfully, then sighs. "Be careful, Maddy."
"I will. Thanks."
Kain is watching as we reach the boundary. Harald and Valdis have walked us here, and we're in a large patch of forest at the rear of the Bird Wing.
"Good luck." Harald beams at me.
"Thanks, hersir ."
"And to you, Navi," Valdis says.
She touches the hilts of her sword and staff and nods.
"Featherblade has hidden something out there for you both. You will know when you find it. Bring it back," Valdis says. Her eyes are tight with worry, and I wonder if it's because Navi has no val-tivar yet. Others have been out and survived without their magical animals, though, and they aren't nearly as good at fighting as Navi.
"Go," Valdis says.
With a deep breath, we both step into the dense woodland.
"Why did you volunteer?" Navi doesn't look at me as she asks the question. We're both on high alert as we move, trying to keep unnecessary noise to a minimum. The denseness of the foliage hasn't let up at all, and I'm glad I wore a thick, long-sleeved shirt under my leather wrap.
"I need a shriek feather."
This makes her glance at me. "What would you need one of those for?"
"I just do."
"You'll forgive me if I hope you don't find it," she says dryly. I glare at her, and she shrugs. "I don't want to see a single reminder of a shriek while we're out here."
"Nor do I, but they must drop them. If you see one on the ground, I'd owe you one if you point it out."
She gives me a long look. "I think we should split up."
"What?"
"Your bear may be able to defend you, but she's going to get me killed."
I turn around. Thyrvi is magnificent, but I wouldn't describe her as stealthy. There's a trail of destruction in her wake, and her teeth clack as she bites at all the small bugs that keep buzzing around her. It sounds like a whip cracking.
"She'll defend you too. Won't you, Thyrvi?"
"No," the bear answers in my head without looking at me.
I sigh, but don't share her answer.
"I'd rather take my chances alone."
"Navi, that's the opposite of what we've been learning in all our combat lessons. We're stronger as a team. We're supposed to help each other."
"You're a liability."
I stare at her, trying to contain my frustration. "I thought we talked about this? I thought you took that back?"
"No, I took back that you are weak . You're out here for the wrong reasons. You're not looking for the spoils of the Wild Hunt, you're looking for a feather from a dangerous opponent, and drawing a massive amount of attention to yourself."
As if on cue, a squawk sounds in the distance. A chill runs down my spine, the awful boat journey here flashing through my mind.
Navi glances up, shakes her head, and starts to turn away from me.
"Wait!" I say as quietly as I can. "Nobody has split up out here—this is a really bad idea!"
"Not interested," she says, then starts to move quickly through the thick undergrowth.
I hesitate a second too long deciding whether to follow her, and by the time I think I should, I can't see her.
"Thyrvi, you've got to try to be quieter," I say, turning back to my bear.
She freezes, something that I think is a toad squished in one paw, halfway to her mouth.
I close my eyes. "You have to take this seriously."
There's the sound of chewing. "I am. I will eviscerate all enemies."
"And toads?"
"I was hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"So would you be, if you were as mightily proportioned as I am."
I can't argue with that, so I look out at the forest. "Will you be able to retrace our steps and get us back to where we started?"
"I can sense Featherblade in numerous directions," she tells me, and I relax a tiny bit. We won't get lost out here.
Navi might, though.
I force away the thought. It wasn't like I could've tied a rope to her and kept her with me. She is her own fae. She can do what she likes.
And she sort of has a point. Without her, I can concentrate on my own agenda.
I steel myself for my next question. "Can you scent shrieks?"
"I can sense large, rotten creatures."
"That's probably them. They're birds," I tell her.
"That makes sense, as their scent is very"— Thyrvi pauses and sniffs the air—"spread out."
"Will you be able to scent a single feather?"
"No. The scent is everywhere—one feather is too small to pick out."
"Okay." Be brave, Maddy. "What about a whole bird?"
Erik's words come back to me.
"You go out there and you find a shriek nest. My recommendation is to get one that has already fallen, rather than facing the beasts."
I bite my lip. "Or maybe a nest?" I whisper.
"You wish to fight?"
"No! Can you find an empty nest?"
She swings her big head. "No. If the scent strengthens, I can tell you. No more."
"Then that will have to do. Come on."