Chapter 4 Ayden #2
I wasn’t uncoordinated and did not lack strength, but the forest floor was a new experience all its own.
Where Declan strode forward with confidence, I tested and prodded each step before taking it.
More than a few times, the forest floor rose to greet me.
Twice, I’d been gazing at some bird or plant, and a tree limb smacked me in the cheek or head.
Thorned brambles snared my legs. I didn’t want Declan to think me weak or unfit, so I played each incident off as some intentional act, as though I was testing the snap of a branch, and received a welt for my effort.
He merely grinned, and I was sure he knew better. He didn’t rub my foibles in my face, but neither did he miss an opportunity to enjoy them.
He truly was an infuriating man.
As darkness descended over the mountains, we’d still seen no sign of deer, ribbons, or anything useful. We passed the entrance to a small cave, and I suggested it might be a good place to hole up for the night.
Declan snorted. “Do you know whose home that might be?”
“Home? Someone lives out here?”
His grin widened. “Oh, certainly. Many, many call this place home. We talked about them already. Bears and boars and whoever else. That cavern likely houses a few critters you wouldn’t want curling up next to you in the night. Even if they aren’t big enough to spot right now,
you wouldn’t want to end up with a snake as a bedmate.”
My eyes widened as I stared at the opening. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
Declan shook his head. “Come on, Ranger Byrne, let’s find a safer place to camp.”
Ranger Byrne? Not little lordling or Lord Byrne? It was a tiny thing. He might not have even realized it had slipped out, but I took it as a step in the right direction.
I thought it odd when he chose an open area where the trees were spread farther apart, but who was I to argue?
We slept on bedrolls under the leaves and stars—on opposite ends of the clearing.
I only glanced over at Declan a few times, maybe ten . . . okay, twenty.
He made a tiny “puh” sound with his lips when he breathed out.
That made me smile.
Still, sleep evaded me most of the night.
We were in the middle of the woods on a mountain near the border with another country.
One of us probably needed to stay awake and on watch for bears or enemy soldiers.
No, Melucia and the Kingdom had not invaded each other or even been hostile in nearly a thousand years, but enemy soldiers could, possibly, by some act of rebellion or whatever, cross the border and attack us while we slept.
In the darkness, with the sounds of the forest hammering my ears, that reasoning seemed perfectly sound.
I was most definitely not staying awake because the thought of Declan Rea sleeping nearby made my skin tingle. I refused to believe something so vile.
Although, the way his hair—
“You’re awake?” Declan rubbed bleary eyes.
I looked away, as though those enemy soldiers had snapped a twig and were about to attack.
“Did you get any sleep? What time is it?”
I stood from my bedroll and stepped to the edge of the clearing.
Darkness shrouded the trees, though a hint of the morning to come peeked through the uppermost leaves of the canopy.
All around, the forest lay quiet and still, as if nature herself refused to wake.
I breathed in the crisp air, savoring the scent of pine as it drifted to me.
There was peace in these mountains, one I had not known in the capital.
“The sun hasn’t risen yet, but she’s close,” I said as I stretched. The beauty of the forest may have been comforting to my mind, but it lacked anything resembling proper bedding, and my back ached.
“Ugh. I’m going back to sleep. Wake me if somebody attacks.”
“Are you trying to make me nervous out here?”
He groaned. “I’m trying to sleep.”
Then he rolled over and covered his head with his blanket.
Great. Now what am I supposed to do?
We slept in our clothes, which I assumed was the normal thing to do when on patrol in the mountains.
I rolled up my bedroll and attached it to my pack, then stood and stretched.
The pressure on my bladder demanded attention, so I stepped out of the clearing.
The stream we’d found the day before ran close to our clearing, so I picked my way through the brush, gripping every tree I passed for balance, until I stood before a large pine only a couple of paces from the brook.
“Lose some water, refill the water,” I mused aloud as I set my canteen on an outcrop of rocks and turned to face the tree.
I was midway through relieving myself when a twig snapped in the distance.
The forest was still dark, though morning’s light was beginning to filter through the leaves. I peered around the tree. There was nothing ahead. A quick glance to my left, then right, also found nothing amiss.
A rustle of leaves sounded some distance behind.
I wheeled around, spraying the ground as I turned. Nothing appeared. The rustle didn’t repeat itself, and no animal came charging out of the brush, which was a good thing because, if there had been a bandit or boar, the only weapon I had at hand would have done little good.
Relieved—in more ways than one—I fastened my trousers and took a step back.
That’s when sounds exploded around me. I dropped to the forest floor, keeping only my head up to see.
A blur of brown as tall as a man shot by some twenty paces to my left.
Branches rustled, and two more figures raced by on my right.
Then I heard Declan cry out.