Chapter 34 James #3
Quit thinking about Ahnna’s legs and focus on the fact you’re being hunted by a bad man, he silently chastised himself, and the thought of Carlo did well to drag him from lust to misery.
Though the weather was infinitely milder here than in the mountains, he was soaked and freezing, which contributed to his sourness.
Hooking a foot around the food basket, he drew it closer and investigated the contents, eating a bit of the bread and cheese.
Wind rustled the branches above him, the river gurgled, and all the small animals of the night called out to one another, which meant it was impossible to hear the cadence of Ahnna’s breathing.
Yet he knew she was still awake. Could feel the tension seething from her beneath the branches and leaves, so he said, “When I’m back in Harendell, I’ll make Taryn’s freedom my priority. Her imprisonment is my fault, but I know you feel partially to blame.”
Ahnna was silent for so long that James half wondered if he’d been mistaken in thinking she was still awake, but then she said, “Why do you say that?”
James opened the bottle of spirits that the old woman had included in the basket and took a large mouthful of something that burned all the way down.
“Because you blame yourself for everything. You can’t help but think if you’d done something different, Taryn would be free.
” He took another mouthful. “But the fact of the matter is that if you’d gone to them, I’d have caught you and Taryn as well.
If I’d caught you then, you’d have already been tried and executed, and Alexandra still would have found ways to blame Ithicana in order to gain support for this war.
” Another sip. “Sometimes you need to accept that your enemy bested you in a battle, because dwelling on the heartbreak of loss when there are more battles to come only ensures you’ll lose the war. ”
“I know who the enemy is,” she muttered.
“You were the one who struggled to grasp the truth.” Then she made a noise of exasperation.
“I’m sorry. It feels as though the truth is this ever-changing beast, and the moment I think I understand who is behind each scheme, each lie, each strike against those I love, the facts change.
It’s easier to be angry at everything and everyone, myself included. ”
God help him, but James understood that. Yet he also had seen what succumbing to rage turned him into, and how those who did not deserve his anger fell victim to it anyway. “Get some rest, Ahnna. This might be the last chance.”
Ignoring his own exhaustion, James rested his back against a tree and watched the shadows, ears peeled for any sound of Carlo and his soldiers.
Clouds grew in the sky, blocking out the moon and stars, the wind rising.
It whipped through the trees, making them moan and shift, branches scratching against one another.
Whether she was too exhausted to notice or too Ithicanian to care about wind, James didn’t know, but Ahnna didn’t stir as the hours passed.
James was readying to wake her to switch shifts on watch duty when he saw flickers of light in the distance.
And heard the bark of a dog.
He gently touched her shoulder. “Ahnna.” She jerked awake and lifted her blade.
“Shhh,” James whispered. “They’re here and they have a dog. We need to hide.”
Ahnna reacted without hesitation. She snatched up the basket of supplies and began hurling the remaining food items toward the river before catching hold of his hand.
“Step only on the tree roots so you don’t leave tracks in the dirt.
With luck, the dog isn’t well trained and will be lured away by food—otherwise we will have to fight. ”
Ahnna led him through the trees, nimbly stepping from twisted root to twisted root, her balance superb. Only her grip on his hand allowed him to do the same.
“Down here,” she whispered, and pulled him through a tangle of bushes into a hollow he’d never have known was there.
It was small, which necessitated her sitting on him as she gently rearranged the brush to better hide them.
Their proximity was necessitated by the direness of the situation, but it was impossible not to feel the tension between them.
Impossible not to notice exactly where her body pressed against his.
Ahnna rubbed her hand into the dirt and smeared it over her face before twisting to do the same to James. “When they get close, squint or shade your eyes,” she murmured. “It’s always the eyes that give people away.”
He’d known the Ithicanians were masters at camouflage, especially when it came to ambush attacks, yet it was another thing seeing it in action.
And not a moment too soon.
Flickering lanterns came closer. Far more than there should have been, given Carlo’s much-reduced force.
James understood why as he caught sight of the weapons they carried. Scythes and sickles and pitchforks, because they weren’t soldiers.
They were civilians.
“Search carefully, my friends!” Carlo’s voice cut through the darkness.
“For Harendell’s bastard is not a man to be trifled with.
He will cut you down as sure and true as he did your countrymen.
For the sake of stealing a boat, he burned an entire village and slaughtered everyone who lived there.
He will do the same to you if given the chance. Be wary!”
Ahnna tensed against him, and James felt sickness pooling in his stomach.
He’d been certain that Carlo would act with discretion for the sake of his mother’s schemes, but he’d been wrong.
Carlo had slaughtered his own people to rally the Amaridian population to join the hunt.
James’s hand tightened on his sword but Ahnna’s fingers wrapped around his, silently urging caution.
“He has the Ithicanian princess as his prisoner,” Carlo intoned as though he’d repeated this same refrain countless times already, and James caught sight of him walking with heavy strides through the shadows.
He was leading a tall horse, and James silently cursed, because it was either Maven or Dippy.
“Ithicana is our ally and Ahnna Kertell our hero for putting an end to the villain Edward’s treachery.
At all costs, she must be rescued from Edward’s Cardiffian bastard.
We cannot allow him to bring her back to Harendell, for her life will be forfeit. ”
Ahnna’s fingers tightened on his, her shock at Carlo’s words as palpable as his own.
“The bastard prince has killed our brothers and sisters in numbers beyond counting in the Lowlands,” Carlo continued. “He is merciless. He is cruel. And the princess of the Tempest Seas is injured and unable to defend herself from him or his foul advances.”
An angry mutter seethed through the line of civilians, several of them calling out threats of what they’d do to James if they caught him.
“She fled to Amarid for our aid,” Carlo shouted, drawing closer.
“She fled to us because no one knows better than we do the evil of King Edward. She has done Amarid the greatest of services, and we cannot leave her to stand alone. Search, my friends, my comrades! Hunt the bastard down! A thousand golden coins to the man or woman who delivers the princess alive! Two thousand golden coins to the man or woman who delivers James Ashford, so that he can be executed by Her Most Royal Majesty as an enemy of Amarid!”
“Death to the bastard!” the civilians shouted, and Carlo’s smile was illuminated by lantern light.
Yet as he turned his head, that same light did not pierce the shadows of his empty eye socket, the skin around it swollen. James clenched his teeth, knowing that the blow to the Beast’s vanity would only drive the man harder, and fear tightened his chest as Carlo stopped walking.
The two soldiers with Carlo paused next to him as the civilians pressed onward, holding their lanterns up to search the shadows.
The dog, a bounding retriever, raced onward and began snuffling near where James and Ahnna had been resting, right next to the hidden boat.
James flexed his fingers on his blade as the dog lifted his head, nose moving as he sniffed the air.
With a bark, he raced in the direction of the river, no doubt making swift work of eating the food Ahnna had discarded to lure him off.
Keep going, he willed the dog as the civilians moved downstream, none of them seeing the rowboat hidden with Ahnna’s skilled handiwork.
Yet Carlo remained where he was, idly tracing his empty eye socket with his index finger. “I want him alive,” he said to his men. “If anyone accidentally kills James, I will make them suffer. He’s mine. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” one of the soldiers answered.
“Each team is repeating the message to the civilians. We have vessels on the water pressing downstream, men changing out horses to get the message westward as swiftly as possible, and bands of civilians hunting the banks and open ground. We’ll get bloodhounds on the trail soon enough. ”
Carlo didn’t answer, only turned to stroke the horse’s nose.
It was Dippy.
Ahnna’s body went rigid, and James fought the urge to wrap an arm around her waist to restrain her.
“Carry on,” Carlo ordered. “Keep the people in check. Angry but not irrationally so, understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
They hurried after the chain of civilians and the barking dog, but Carlo did not follow. The Beast cocked his head as though he was listening, and it was all James could do not to hold his breath.
Slowly, Carlo pivoted, now nothing more than a shadow in the night. Hunting the darkness like some form of demon. His focus passed over the hollow where they hid, and Ahnna pressed her back against James.
“Where are you, James?” Carlo crooned. “Won’t you come out and play?”
A tremor ran through James, and he wasn’t sure if it was terror or rage. Wasn’t sure whether he wanted to melt into the mud or explode from the brush and attack.
Ahnna’s nails dug into his hand, her spine glued to his chest, and her hair soft against his cheek.
“We have a connection, you and I,” Carlo whispered, reaching a hand out in the darkness with uncanny accuracy. “I can feel you. It won’t be long now.”
He took a step closer.
Kill him! instinct screamed in James’s chest. Put him down!
Except even if he killed Carlo before he made a sound, it wouldn’t be long before the Beast’s absence would be noted. They were vastly outnumbered. He and Ahnna would be on the run with no supplies, no head start, and there would be no escape.
Carlo dropped Dippy’s reins and took another step.
The wind blew, and it carried with it the man’s scent.
Sweat and blood and smoke, and Ahnna trembled in James’s arms. Not from fear, no.
He could feel her fury, and James interlaced his fingers with hers.
Both of them warring with the desire to put this monster down.
“You have made this a true joy.” Carlo gave a contented sigh. “A hunt for the ages. But all hunts must end, my old nemesis.”
He abruptly twisted on his heels and mounted Dippy. With a few soft clicks, he drove the gelding into a trot and disappeared into the forest.
Everything fell silent, even the insects seeming to be holding their breath, the smell of blood and sweat fading.
But the smell of smoke lingered, as though Carlo left a trail of evil everywhere he walked.
Ahnna released a shuddering breath. “He killed them, didn’t he? Those Amaridians who helped us.”
“Likely.” James swallowed to clear his throat but didn’t let go of her.
“I don’t know if this plan will work. I had thought he’d keep our presence secret so word we were alive wouldn’t reach Alexandra, but his choice to engage the civilians in the hunt changes everything.
News of our presence will travel faster than we can, and with the sort of reward he’s offering, everyone will be hunting for us. ”
He could feel her thinking, the wheels in her mind searching for a sure path to escape. James racked his own brain, but as he discarded option after option, the stench of smoke seemed to thicken.
“Do you smell that?” Ahnna pulled out of his grip and eased out of their hiding place. James followed, searching the shadows as he got to his feet.
To the east an orange glow bloomed.
At first, he thought it was the dawn. But the glow was too bright. Too fierce. Too early.
As the wind blew over them, it carried with it a thick cloud of smoke and James realized what he was seeing.
“God have mercy,” Ahnna breathed, face no longer lost to shadows but illuminated by a wall of light racing toward them. “He’s set the forest on fire.”
James caught hold of her hand, anger fleeing in the face of the firestorm. “Run!”