Chapter 40 - Dae
Dae
The bloating, lifeless corpse in my mouth had lost its appeal after traveling for two days and sitting in the rain.
Unfortunately, with no wagons, my mouth was the only suitable transport.
A violent huff shot from my feline nostrils when I sensed the first sentinel hidden in the tree scape.
No matter how long I’d lived here, returning never became easier.
This camp had a way of strangling good things until they ceased to exist, and with the dangling body draped over my back, I prayed to whatever gods were listening that this worked.
“You’re massive, but you’re bony as hell.” The woman slung over my spine complained.
My lip curled upward before I masked my amusement, disguising it as distaste for the foul dead body in my mouth. “Food supply issue, remember?”
“Remind me to feed you some cake once we get out of here.”
I trampled the hope that flared at the statement she’d intended to be strictly humorous.
If things went according to plan, a plan which I still was not fully privy to, then Ro would retrieve whatever it was she came for and return to a life, safe, and far away from here.
Somewhere she could enjoy cake again. I, however, would have no such future.
I was bound to The Order, and walking away would mean death that my conscience couldn’t handle.
“We’re passing the first sentinel. Quit complaining and act unconscious.”
“Bossy.”
The bird whistle shooting through the forest might have once been a covert signal, but when birds no longer live amongst the trees, we may as well just shout words.
Val whistled in return. First checkpoint cleared.
A string of chirping patterns sounded from the first sentinel to another in a code that I’d vaguely deciphered during my years.
Never being placed on guard duty, I wasn’t taught the sequences they’d created.
Luckily, I’d been paying attention regardless.
The first sequence, two short chirps followed by a lilting long one, indicated that our members had returned.
The second with three sharp chirps was an alert of an unknown person.
Had Val or any of the others decided to use that signal, Ro would have been dead on the ground before the second sentinel position.
My plan, fortuitously, disarmed them, too.
The echoing response from sentinel two carried until sentinel three responded, carrying to sentinel four. In my human form, I wouldn’t have been able to hear past the first couple.
To my fellow hunters’ knowledge, Ro should have had clearance if Taja truly sent her and Marvoe knew about it.
Thanks to a well-timed storm and days of travel, Ro coming down with a fever and chills laid the perfect cover for her exhaustion to sweep over her before crossing the borderlines, letting her slip past the defenses under the visual impression that she was our prisoner.
Having her act in this weakened state also lowered our group’s guard.
Val and Harlson even whispered with joy that Marvoe might take one look at her pathetic condition and kill her on the spot.
Worry lived like writhing maggots in my veins over the same thought.
Last night, I’d tried again to convince Ro to leave. Tried explaining that there were too many opportunities for this all to go south—which she should be doing.
To my disappointment, she’d been determined to continue. And for some reason, I wouldn’t let her do it alone.
A single thread of unexpected trust existed between us, though neither was willing to divulge our secrets or intentions. Gods, that was the most damning thing. Drawn to a woman whom I didn’t know, with motivations I couldn’t decipher, while balancing my own priorities.
With every graceful stride down the lane, her body swayed against me.
The steady beat was like a rhythm similar to the one inside my chest. She’d come out of nowhere, full of fire and fight.
Maybe I should be questioning this natural pull and set boundaries.
But this connection, however small, was the first sign of life in the barren landscape of my existence, and analyzing it wouldn’t strip the power she held over me.
Ignited in me. I’d committed to getting her in and out alive. I would do all I could.
Until it jeopardized my own mission.
The fourth checkpoint neared after another half an hour of walking.
Each checkpoint possessed an opportunity for things to go wrong, yet so far so good.
Posted guards at the entrance ahead spotted us, and to my hopeful prediction, I could see the celebration on their faces at the catch dangling from my maw.
I needed that excitement, that desperation for food to outweigh the perceived captive slumped over me.
“Looks like we’re heroes, boys,” Harlson said through a cocky grin, his swagger bolstered to a degree I didn’t think possible.
“Part of me still thinks we should turn her in. It may give you some credit with Marvoe. If the king sent her, and you delivered her, great. If he didn’t, and you reveal a spy, even better,” Val whispered from a few feet back.
I’d started to suspect she and Harlson might have developed a romantic connection, but can two snakes even feel emotions?
A wild need to drop this boar and replace it with Val’s head sprung to life.
“And here I was thinking we’d become the best of friends.”
Ro’s comical, sarcastic intrusion fizzled my rising malice to nothing more than steam, enough that I would have smiled had we not been under constant surveillance now.
“Treat everyone in this camp like they’re cunning and exploitative. Remember, nothing you do will go unnoticed if this works.”
“You mean if I live past the entrance?”
My mouth dried as the entrance neared. Getting past the initial guards, risky, but judging from the way their hands gripped their hungered stomachs, manageable. After entering camp? All bets would be off, with no predictable outcome.
“Ready to eat, boys?!” Harlson shouted ahead, clapping his hands that showcased his bulging muscles from his torn, sleeveless shirt.
Their cheers and circling fists in the air only fueled Harlson’s ego, though Johni walked as if he knew these steps were his last. Val, me, and Dalin returned within our ordered timeframe with a kill.
Not that any degree of certainty existed when it came to how The Eleven chose to run the camp, but it should be acceptable enough to keep breathing for another day.
We made it to the guards, and I stopped short, letting the boar tumble before me.
A string of saliva stretched until it broke, earning a grimace from the posted guards.
On other occasions, I walked right in with the kill, dropping it at the chef’s tent.
This was another attempt at distracting them from the woman who tensed almost imperceivably atop me.
As always, Harlson could be counted on to preen for attention. “Isn’t she a beaut?! Leave it to my group to locate what’s probably the last boar north of the fall line.”
“Fall line?” Ro asked.
“The first town that retreated when we established our presence up here.”
“Where citizens were forced to fall back.”
I hummed, carefully observing each of the three men that should be paying better attention to their post but were struggling to maneuver the overweight beast.
“Continue to report,” one strained to say as they tugged with clipped movements.
“This is it,” I said to Ro, a new hesitation emerging that nearly stopped me from moving. The rest of the hunting crew moved toward the check in station, and only when Val glared over her shoulder did I follow.
“If this doesn’t work—,” she started to say, but the sentiment shook me to the point that I couldn’t let her finish.
“It will.”
“But if it doesn’t.”
“Ro.”
“Please make sure they don’t find Braxius. If he’s followed us up here, he won’t know about the sentinels.”
I kept my tiger’s chin held high as I strode into camp. “I will.” Unless our traveling party blabbed, then I’d be joining her in a shallow grave.
“Thank you, Dae.” The resignation in her voice nearly broke me.
“Don’t thank me yet.” We calmly walked as a group to the admin tent. The biggest opportunity for things to fail was right here, hindering on how the next minutes played out. With every inch of ground we gained, my worries mounted. In order for this to work…
The member currently posted at admin glanced up, and in those brief seconds my world started crumbling. We shouldn’t have made it this far.
The admin raised their hand, signaling nearby guards who marched over, half a dozen in tow.
They surrounded Harlson and Johni. Harlson began shouting, claiming he’d done his job.
Johni had nothing to say. They were hauled off, and before Harlson’s commotion faded from earshot, Val and Dalin reported.
“I’ll be gentle.”
“Wait, wh—”
I lowered, letting Ro’s body slip off as close to the ground as I could manage.
Before I shifted, I said, “For someone who’s supposedly unconscious, you’re scowling an awful lot.
” Her face relaxed into a more neutral pose.
Val and Dalin left the tent, the former glaring at Ro with disgust as she swiftly departed.
I bent down, pain lacing my thigh, and hoisted her limp body into my arms.
“Who’s this?” Kasia, the admin, asked.
“She hunted the boar. Instead of killing her for it, I found her sympathetic to the cause. Wanted to propose keeping her for her skill set.” I shifted uncomfortably, grimacing while adjusting my hold on her to accommodate for the weight on my leg.
“Do you know her name?” Kasia jotted down a record of what I said, completely unenthralled.
“Ro,” I answered. Best to keep the lies down to the essential ones, lest a slip up show our hand. “I’m taking her to the healer, see if she even manages to come out of it,” I said with as much indifference as possible.