Chapter 10 #2
Rowan lifted her chin. “I was angry with her at the time. I’d gotten it into my head that I was going to run away. I let Toby talk me into it, and my mother never even noticed I was gone. She’d been called to help with a difficult birth and didn’t get home until I was coming up the lane.”
“I knew,” her mother said. “Tilly stormed into the birthing room just as the head was crowning yelling about a search party. You were always good with the woods though. Toby’s father was a woodsman, and he taught you both how to survive out there.
I couldn’t have kept the two of you from the woods if I’d tried.
” A shadow crossed her face. “It was safer for the two of you out there anyway.”
“You found the fort?” the witch hunter asked.
She nodded. “It took us a week, but back then the woods were healthy. We had no trouble getting there or back.”
“What was the fort like?”
Her mouth went dry. It felt like some of the apple had gotten lodged in her throat. She took a sip of her tea, but it didn’t help.
“That bad?”
“It was just strange. Dark and quiet and still. I think there must have been a mold or a fungus there that made it smell bad. I got dizzy when we went inside. Toby wanted to stay, but I couldn’t wait to get away from the place.
The trees—” No. She couldn’t tell him that the trees had been screaming at her to run.
“It was a long time ago. We were just kids.”
They hadn’t stayed long. They’d travelled for miles in the dark to get as far away from it as quickly as possible. They’d never even talked about going back.
The witch hunter was silent as he considered that. After a moment, he said, “It’s common for people to experience strange smells and sickness on cursed ground. Were you very frightened?”
She pressed her lips together, not wanting to admit it to him. Seemed like a bad idea to show him any kind of weakness. Who knew what he’d do with it?
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said.
She glared at him. “I’m not ashamed.”
“Would you say it felt like cursed ground?”
“How am I supposed to know what cursed ground feels like?” Because she was a witch? That’s probably what he thought. “It felt wrong. We didn’t like it. We left.”
“It’s just as well that you did. Is there a road to follow?”
She shook her head. “There used to be one, but it’s all overgrown. You can only tell where it lay by the way the older trees line up. It’s on the river. There’s a pillar there that looks like there might once have been a bridge.”
“I’d like to speak to Toby to see if he remembers any details that might help.”
“Toby’s long gone,” she told him. “His father took their family south years ago. No one’s heard from them since.”
The witch hunter gave a sharp nod. “Is there anyone else who knows the way?”
She scoffed. “You can’t trust anyone in Toam to get you there.”
He was too trusting by far. George would guide him off the nearest cliff and rob his corpse.
His expression set in the determined look men got when they’d decided to do something stupid. He tapped his fingers on the wooden table. “It sounds like exactly the kind of place a witch would claim for her nest. Would you be able to tell me how to get there? Draw me a map, perhaps?”
She grimaced. “I don’t know if I could draw a map.
There were turns…landmarks I don’t know I’d recognize until I was there.
It was so long ago, the paths might have changed.
I could point you in the right direction, I suppose.
But it’s days away from here and you’re injured.
” She shook her head. “You’ll never make it. ”
“It’s kind of you to care about my well-being.”
Ha! “I don’t care what happens to you, witch hunter. It’s just a stupid plan. You were half dead last night. I put a lot of time and effort into healing you. Getting yourself killed would be a hell of a way to thank me.”
“Language, Rowan,” her mother murmured.
She huffed.
“Thank you,” he said, staring straight into her eyes with a sincerity that was unnerving. “I appreciate everything you’ve done to help me. I will see that you are paid. For your time, the supplies, lodging, food. Tally it up. You can name your price.”
She stared at him, certain he was toying with her.
No one threw money away like that. But he’d paid George a fortune just for delivering a message, so maybe he was good for it.
She wondered how much she could ask for.
She’d have to talk to him about it later when her mother wasn’t around.
Her mother had weird ideas about life debts.
He did owe them though. He owed them for so much more than a few bandages and some salve.
He’d just go stumbling around looking for his men until his wounds got infected all over again.
He didn’t know the woods. He didn’t know how to find the safe paths and which spots to avoid.
He wouldn’t even be able to find safe drinking water without using charms to clear it.
She didn’t go into the woods lightly, and she was so much better equipped to deal with it than he was.
“There’s no reason for me to sit idle while I wait for reinforcements,” he said. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I know what I’m doing.”
“What’s to stop you from getting snared like your men?”
“I have the witchstone to warn me of any spells cast my way. Holy water to anoint my eyes. Prayer.”
He was going to die.
“And if you’re attacked by another one of the creatures that nearly ripped you in half?”
“I’ll kill it.”
She rolled her eyes. “It snuck up on you once and that was when you were surrounded by all of your men. It can do it again. At the very least, you’ll have to close your eyes sometimes to sleep.”
“I don’t require much sleep.”
He still required some sleep and he wouldn’t get any without someone to watch his back.
“What if the witch comes after you?”
“It would make things easier if the witch did come to me, but it won’t happen. Demon-ridden witches aren’t stupid. Once they create a nest, they dig in. I can’t sit here for two weeks waiting for reinforcements, not when my men are in danger.”
He went to his bag and pulled out his packet of writing material. He pulled out a blank sheet of paper and slid it in front of her. He placed the pen beside her hand. “Draw me a map, Rowan. I’ll pay for that too.”
She glared up at him, wondering if she should refuse. Maybe then he’d change his mind and wait for his friends before he went off into the woods. Maybe he’d wait a day or two for his wounds to heal, and she’d be able to find him an idiot or two to go with him to help.
His wide shoulders cast a shadow across the table. He stared down at her, waiting for her to do as she was told. His jaw was set. His eyes blazed with righteous determination. With the uniform, he looked like a hero out of a storybook. Stupidly brave. Impossibly handsome.
She didn’t want him here, but she couldn’t send him off to die.
“You can’t go into the woods alone, Captain,” her mother said, holding her teacup too tightly in her hands.
She got attached to her patients. She would hate it if he ran off to die before his bandages were even off.
Casrian didn’t take his eyes off her. “Hate me if you must, but please…help me save my men.”
She felt herself softening, even though she knew she wouldn’t be doing him any favors by drawing him a map.
The woods were dying. There were whole swathes that were too dangerous to cross.
She didn’t know where they all were, and the bad parts were always spreading.
Even she had to be careful. If she drew him a map from memory, she might send him straight into one of those bad spots without even knowing it.
Before she’d made up her mind about what to do, her mother broke the silence. “You should go with him, Rowan. You know the woods better than anyone, certainly better than any other guide he might find out here. Show him the way to the fort. Help him find his men. You’re the only one who can do it.”