Chapter Thirty-Three
Andi
Sneaking past the guards was much easier than I thought. They were so intoxicated they wouldn’t have heard us if we were creeping right beside them. Their merry songs could be heard for miles after we left.
If by chance they found Lura’s house in the morning, at least the heavy snowfall during the night would have covered the tracks we left behind, skirting around the woods towards the Elyneas mountains.
The sheer size of this mountain range is unspeakable, mountain upon mountain, cradled together, hiding winding paths, caves, and tunnels.
Luckily for us, Lura knows how to navigate through them, which tunnels to take, and which caves we can rest or hide in.
The snowy weather hasn’t let up, falling thick and fast, soaking through whatever winter clothes we had.
Unfortunately, they’re no match for the elements.
“I’m sorry to say it, but we’re running seriously low on food,” Lura says as she breaks apart the little meat we have left into rations. “I doubt you’ll find any game here, especially not with this weather. Hope you’re all good with plants.” She gives an apologetic smile.
We have been rationing food for the past few days, but it wasn’t much to begin with.
Huddling around the fire in our small cave, tiredness and hunger is getting to us all.
Myles and I seem to be the only ones struggling with the cold, though their elven blood must have something to do with it.
Wyatt would know. He and his fascination with the Elven folk.
“How m-much further?” I ask, pulling the hood of my cloak over my head.
“Tomorrow, maybe the next day. The only way into the village is through the mountain pass.” Lura takes small bites of her meat, savouring the taste or hoping to make it last longer, I don’t know. I ate mine in one whole bite.
Kali shuffles to her feet. “I’ll go see what I can find then,” she proclaims, nibbling on her small piece of cured venison.
Myles wraps himself around me, trying to keep us both warm. I would use my magic, and call the flames to my skin for heat, but when I did that in the last cave, I nearly set the whole thing alight.
“I’ll help.” I need to move before my body freezes up completely. I try to push up, but Myles holds tighter to me. “I won’t be long, stop worrying.”
“Stop giving me reasons to worry, then,” Myles says, reluctantly letting go of my hand to rub his chest. “Fine, go. I’m going to get some rest.” He edges closer to the fire, shuffling around to get comfortable.
Outside the cave, the wind howls, blistering down the pass, circling us, and thrashing our hair over our eyes. Kali clings to my arm as we push round a corner away from the gust of wind. I trip over something large and hard on the ground, and Kali falls on top of me.
“Oh, that’s not good,” Kali says, rising to her feet. She reaches her hand down to help me up.
Bodies are scattered all over the ground, crimson ice pierces the crisp white snow, and they must have been here for a day, maybe two. The pain carved on their faces is perfectly preserved in time, their eyes devoid of any sign of life. Kali looks above us for any signs of attackers.
“I think they’re long gone.” Bending down to examine the bodies, under their armour, are Zury colours in the form of blood red tunics. No weapons are left lying around, whoever attacked them must have cleared them out.
If anyone asked, I would say I was terrified, not knowing who the killer is or where they may be lying in wait, but secretly, I wanted to thank them. These arseholes have been hunting me for too long.
Good riddance.
The world is a better place without them. I can hear Mum’s voice clear in my mind, reminding me not to tar everyone with the same bristled brush. But how can I not? When every soldier I have met has revelled in torture and torment.
In each of their faces, I see Toothless, or the captain who paraded me in front of everyone to bear witness to my misery. Tearing off my clothes and beating me for the fun of it. Ripping off my necklace, leaving me with a faint scar around my neck like a choker.
I spit on the corpses at my feet and move on.
Stepping over bodies is not what I planned, but here we are. I almost feel sad for one guard—he is so young, barely older than Elana. He had the rest of his life ahead of him, yet he chose this life. Chosen to become one of these brutes.
Does that mean he deserved this fate? Where has my compassion gone?
Mum would be bitterly disappointed in my callousness.
She always taught us from a young age the importance of being nice, you never know what someone else is going through.
But then, these soldiers would feel no remorse in handing me over to Adrian, would they?
Something glints under his body. I grab hold of his frozen armour, ice nipping at my fingers as I heave him to the side.
Coated in blood is a snapped, braided necklace with a silver circle pendant.
The circle is engraved with strange markings, one of which I have never seen before.
Something about it draws me in. A rustling from Kali snaps me out of this trance.
I pocket the necklace and dodge the bodies to reach Kali.
Scrutinising the shrubbery, she picks and smells weeds, tossing some behind her, grunting and groaning to herself, “Nope, not that one. Uh, no, no, yuck.”
“What are you looking for?” I ask, ducking as another weed’s thrown at my head. “You hoping to find some pre-cooked food back there?”
Kali rotates around, narrowing her eyes at me. “No. I’m looking for crow garlic, or hedge garlic. Three-cornered leek would be good too.” I stare at her, blinking repeatedly like she is speaking a different language. “Uh, just wait there, I’ll find some for you.” She’s crabby when she’s hungry.
“Ah ha. Here come pick some of this.” She hands me some long green stems. “Crow garlic. It's edible, it doesn’t look like much, but it tastes so good. I’m going to look for more. Only pick plants that look exactly like that, I don’t fancy getting poisoned.”
I carry on picking the crow garlic that Kali pointed out.
Holding it up to examine its long, thin cylinder shape.
I’m sure I’ve seen some of this grow in the meadows near our cottage, can’t say I ever thought to try eating it.
Doesn’t look appetising, although it does have an onion-like scent.
I trust Kali, so I will eat it and imagine it’s cooked salmon or a large chunk of ham.
My stomach rumbles so loudly it echoes around me.
Stop thinking about food, Andi.
As we’re gathering the last of the weeds to take back, Kali stumbles across a plant she calls Burdock.
She hands me her pile of greenery and starts yanking the Burdock out of the ground.
Voices echo off the walls of the mountain, and we stop in our tracks, pausing to listen to the growing voices from behind us.
I turn around and see shadows on the wall. Kali and I duck behind a large rock.
“There’s nothing here. You’re sure he said this is the spot?” a deep voice asks. Peering around the side of the rock, I can’t see faces, just plain dark clothing. Whoever they are, they’re not wearing any armour or the blood red of Zury.
“Yes, I’m sure. Unlike some people, I know how to listen,” a young male’s voice answers. “We can’t leave without his trinket.”
Slumping back behind the rock, I slide the necklace from out of my pocket, looking at the weird markings, wondering if this is what they're looking for. I shuffle to my knees, tying the pendant around my wrist. Kali holds her finger up to her mouth and holds her hand out, telling me to wait.
Soon, the voices fade away, and footsteps no longer echo throughout the pass. Kali waits while I peek around the rock, signalling to her that the coast is clear, and we ease out of our hiding space.
Kali lets out a muffled scream as someone grabs her arms, holding them behind her back and one hand over her mouth. I stumble backwards, a huge man dashing towards me.
I have never been more grateful for those fighting lessons with Myles.
I thrust my palm up, forcing it directly into his nose.
With a sickening crunch, he crumbles to his knees.
While the man holding Kali is distracted by his friend, she headbutts him and kicks into his groin.
He releases her arms to shield himself from further damage.
“You thieving little bitch!” The man with the now broken nose mumbles, “Stealing is naughty, you know.” He points to the necklace around my wrist.
I punch out at him again, but he grabs my arm, swinging me around with one hand wrapped around my waist. Kali kicks him in the back of his knee, and he collapses to the ground. While they are incapacitated, we take the opportunity to run.
The men stagger to their feet and stumble after us.
Unwilling to lead them to our hideout, we run past the opening and look for somewhere else we can hide.
Kali knows a bit about mountain ranges from growing up near one, but Lura is the only one who can navigate through this maze. Without her help, we will be lost.
Kali stops as we come across a passageway in the mountain, nodding for us to hide in here. I don’t know about going in there if we can’t find our way out, but the grunting and groaning behind us forces our hand.
Just as we make for the entrance, a figure steps out in front of us. An older man with more scars than wrinkles on his face sneers at us. More men stalk up behind him, all wearing the same insignia on their armour, three gold spires on a red background.
My heart sinks. How many Zury guards are in this area? I have been masking my magic. How are they still finding me?
Walking backwards, I scratch my calves on some broken branches. We’re cornered between the Zury men in front of us and the two attackers behind.
“Shit,” I hear behind us, and a whistle bouncing along the walls.
I know for sure they weren’t expecting any trouble, and yet here they are surrounded by soldiers.
Kali nudges me, nodding towards a broken log at my feet.
I kick it up, and she uses her telekinesis powers to smack the older man in the head with it.
The brunt of it makes him fall to his knees, blood pouring down his head.
His men rush out of the cave entrance armed and ready for a fight.
My body engulfs in flames, stopping everyone in their tracks, and the gasps give me a sense of pride.
Not what they expected? Throwing my arm forward, a fire rope lassos the men’s legs, hauling them along the ground.
With the other hand, I throw white fire balls, one of them hits directly on a guard’s chest. I fight the urge to stop and celebrate.
The men behind us whistle loudly again as more guards fall out of the tunnel, an echo of whistles repeats down the trail.
Kali and I look at each other, silently agreeing it’s time to go.
I throw flames across the ground, blocking the two men behind us, making them jump out of the way, while Kali launches rocks at the Zury men, keeping them at bay.
With them distracted, we run. Fighting continues between the two groups.
I feel a slight pang of guilt for the two men but then remember they attacked us first. Rushing back into our cave, Myles is sound asleep, with Lura stoking the fire at his side. She jumps to her feet, her face drains of colour as we rush in, nudging Myles awake.
“We need to go. There are soldiers out there fighting these other men. By the looks of it, they’re on a mission to kill all the guards,” Kali yells. Myles and Lura scramble around, packing away our things and snuffing out the fire.
“If the other men are killing the guards, then they’re on our side? Right?” Lura questions. Myles shrugs in agreement.
Kali stands by the entrance, keeping an eye outside, when she slinks back into the shadows of the cave, holding up her hand while footsteps run past. “Those ‘other guys’ attacked Andi and I when we were gathering plants. So no, I don’t think they’re our friends.”
Myles helps Lura gather the rest of the items while Kali and I listen for footsteps at the entrance.
Kali peers outside again, moving further out of the cave mouth, with a wave of her hand, she ushers us in the direction of the dead guards.
Lura gasps at the dead bodies sprinkled across the ground, paralysed by fear.
Myles grabs her arm, pulling her along with us, needing to get as far away from this area as we can.
The sky darkens as we walk through the pass, dead guards dot the scenery. These guys have been busy. With the exit in sight, we try to remain as quiet as we can to avoid any noise reverberating in the narrow path.
At the end of the passage, we all release a tense breath. My vision goes black with a sack being thrown over my head.