Chapter 4 Hanne
HANNE
He brought several sets of clothes. Traveling apparel, which I put on, and evening clothes to wear in the cabin. There were also underwear and socks, made of cotton so thin, a slight tug would tear it.
But I didn’t dare complain.
We left the island and rowed back to the land from which we’d come. I helped him row, and he didn’t ask me to stop. And when my arms gave out, he rowed us the rest of the way until we reached the other shore.
He held the torch at his side. “Do you know what to look for?”
I nodded. “I know what the leaves look like. Most of these crops grow in cold, dark climates just like this, so they could be literally anywhere.” The circle of light from the torch reached twenty feet, and then everything else was dark.
“Any other prerequisites you can think of?”
“They like damp soil, which means they might grow around a lake, so I’d say we’re in the right area.” I gestured to the torch. “Can I carry that?”
He gave me a quick glance over. “You’ll burn yourself.”
“Why do you assume that?”
“Have you carried a torch before?”
“Well, no.”
“I’ll be right behind you.” He nodded to the left, telling me to get to work.
I swallowed the annoyance because at least I had a sword. It was across my back, and it was heavy because I’d never carried one before. My father had had me learn the sword, but I’d never had to carry it with me anywhere.
I got started, leaving the bank and heading farther inland because the soil right by the water would be too wet. This area didn’t have a lot of foliage. There would be a random grouping of boulders and then a couple trees, and then there would be nothing for a while. “This is gonna take some time.”
“Everything does.”
I continued ahead, surveying the brush and bushes that grew, finding the same thing over and over. I turned back to where the lake was, picturing the land we’d sailed to, even though I couldn’t see it. “Is your camp on an island? Or is that another part of this same land?”
“It’s an island. Why?”
“The vegetation is different there.” I looked at the shore, seeing the water gently moving up and down again even though there was no moon. “Have you been to the other side of the lake before?”
“Yes.”
“Would you say it’s similar? Because there’s not much here.”
He came closer to me with the torch, his hard features and shadows highlighted in the flames. “Yes, it’s similar.”
“Then I think we should look there.”
He didn’t raise the torch and lead the way. He stared at me for a while longer before he turned to look at the land he couldn’t see. “I have to warn you. It could be dangerous.”
“Why?”
“There are a lot of things that live down here.”
“Oh…” If I were to have left the castle and wandered into the wilderness, that would have been dangerous too. The same circumstances should apply here, even more so because of the darkness.
“It’ll take many hours just to get there. And once we’re there, we won’t be able to speak.”
“What about the light from the torch?”
“We can’t do without it, obviously. If something happens, you’ll need to be my light so I can fight. I can fight in the dark, but it’s harder.”
“Can you see in the dark?”
“No. But I can hear well.”
“Like…how well?” His kind had been here for generations, so perhaps they had adapted to the lower light exposure.
“I’ve fought multiple opponents and won—multiple times. I can hear their steps in the dirt, hear their breath as it moves past their teeth. There will probably be coyotes scavenging there.”
“Like those big-ass wolves we saw?” I would not want to get anywhere near those again.
“No. Though the coyotes are a kind of wolf, they are small. But they can easily overpower you if you don’t take them seriously. If the glowing flowers are there, we might be able to skip the torch.”
“That’s right. Firefly petunia.” I could see their light from the garden in my bedroom on the darkest nights when the sky was covered with clouds and the moon was invisible. “If those are there, I can work with that.”
“The journey will take us many hours to make. We’ll sleep before we proceed to the forest.”
“We’re—we’re going to sleep out here?”
“We’ll take turns on watch.”
“And watch for what?” I asked. “We can’t see anything.”
Instead of flashing me his annoyance, he seemed to sympathize with my fear. “I’ve lived my whole life in the dark, and this is what I’ve learned—if you can’t see them, then they probably can’t see you.” He took the torch in his hand and led the way. “It’ll be alright.”
It was clear he really did know these lands well by the way he moved, the way he was able to tell me how close we were without any identifying clues. I checked for root vegetables along the way but found none.
“We’ll stop here.” He stopped near a set of boulders that would be at our back, while we faced the water.
He stuck the torch in the ground, so it continued to burn with the boulder to shield the light from the rear.
He dropped his pack and sat on the ground with his back to the rock.
He handed me a canteen and a ration of food, dried meat with some herbs.
I handed it back. “I’ll take the water, but you can have the food.”
He didn’t take it, his eyes elsewhere.
“Morco.”
“I’m fine.”
“No.” I set it down beside him. “You didn’t eat earlier, so I won’t eat now.
Then we’ll be even.” I was hungry, but there was no way I was as hungry as he was.
Nearly a foot and a half taller than me with thick arms and shoulders, he needed it more than I did, especially since he was the one who would have to keep us alive if we encountered trouble.
I stared at the water, and in my peripheral, I watched him take the food and eat it. My back was to the rock and my arms were around my knees, the flicker of the torch and his chewing the only sounds.
I could see some of the water, and the surface was still and lifeless. “Is there anything else in there besides fish?”
He finished eating, inhaling his food quicker than I’d drunk that watery stew. “None that I’ve seen.”
“I wonder where the fish come from. There must be a waterfall or something.”
“Yes, I’ve seen them.”
“Do you know how to get back to the surface?” If there were a path, they probably would have left to flee the Knives, so I already knew his answer before he gave it.
“No. I don’t think there’s a way.”
“Have you looked?”
“No, but the rocks are slick, and even if you managed to climb that high, it’s impossible to know where the openings to the surface are. You can’t see them from this far below. The only way to the surface is to fly.”
“I haven’t seen any birds down here. Are there other things that fly?”
This time, he hesitated before he answered. “Yes. But none that can be tamed.”
“Like what?”
He continued to stare at the water, his arms on his knees. “I’m sorry that you’re here, but the sooner you accept your new reality, the easier it will be. Because there’s no way you’ll ever make it back to the surface. If there were a way, I would have found it already.”
I hadn’t had much hope to begin with, but whatever I’d had left died.
“I’ll take the first watch.”
“I’m not tired,” I said. “I don’t think I can sleep out here in the open like this.” Outside the ring of light, anything could linger. Just watching us. “You’re the fighter and know the terrain, so you’re the one who should be rested.”
I expected him to persuade me to rest, but he didn’t. “I only need a few hours.” He grabbed his pack and adjusted it to prop up his neck before he lay down. He removed the blade from the sheath and placed it beside him so he could reach it instantly.
He immediately lay down and closed his eyes, like he could go to sleep by will alone.
I stared down at him, seeing the way his hard features softened slightly as he relaxed. “You trust me?” Just a day ago, he said he didn’t trust me, but he seemed to think I was capable of keeping him alive.
“Like I said, I hear well.”
I thought he might open his eyes, so I stared at the water, watched it rise an inch up the bank before it receded again, hardly moving.
Then my eyes shifted back to him, seeing him lying there with his big arms crossed over his large chest, one knee up while the other leg was flat.
His hair was so dark, dark like the earth, almost as dark as the night itself.
I knew I’d stared long enough, and I forced myself to look at the water again, to listen to the silence as the small flames flickered from the torch.
My thoughts drifted, and my past became my present.
I wondered how Vulgaris had intercepted the crow, if I’d been set up from the beginning and he’d outsmarted me the whole time.
If I’d never had a chance to begin with.
It was hard to gauge the passage of time without the movement of the sun.
The torch was about to burn out and plunge us into darkness, and that told me it was probably time to wake him up.
Once that flame flickered out, I didn’t know how we would relight it if we couldn’t see an inch in front of our faces.
I reached for his arm, and my fingers felt the fabric of his clothing first before I felt…
hardness. It was like gripping a tree branch on a climb, thick, hard, and warm.
My hand immediately retreated like I’d stuck my hand directly into a blazing fire.
It was a simple touch, but I felt like I’d violated his body, felt like I’d crossed a line.
He inhaled a deep and slow breath before he opened his eyes and stared up at nothing.
“The torch is about to extinguish.” I grabbed it from where it was positioned in the rock and held it out to him.
He sat up and dug in his pack for supplies. He grabbed a small vial of a purple substance and placed a few drops directly into the flames. The flames rose higher, hissing like a pissed-off cat.
“What is that?”