6. Jerrid #2
“I’ll give you that one with my whole heart.” He splayed a hand across his chest, over the place where that organ beat in his chest.
Where it beat a little too quickly, he noted. Why had their exchange gotten to him? It wasn’t as if he actually enjoyed her company…or her clever comebacks.
They were rather good, as far as comebacks went. He did have to give credit where credit was due, even where snobby dark elf maidens were concerned.
I like Meat Pasty.
The thought forced its way unbidden into his mind.
He reared back physically. Well, you can’t have her! Go back to sleep!
Dragon chuckled darkly and slunk back into the recesses of Jerrid’s subconscious. Hopefully, he would stay put. The last thing he needed right now was Dragon coming out to play with Ava, when they were already in a hard spot.
Echo needed him to get to the ruins, scavenge the place for every useful thing it might have, and get back to that clearing.
He didn’t have time to fool around.
“We’re going to go south, then,” Ava declared.
Jerrid would have liked to disagree just for the sake of riling her, but he compressed his lips and gave a curt nod instead. It was better to capitulate and keep his mouth shut. Bickering wouldn’t help Echo.
He spun on his heel and made his way down the incline to the south, hoping that Talos had wandered far in another direction. Maybe he was lying wounded in a pile of ferns, bleeding out. That would be even better.
They picked their way around the crest of the ravine for ten minutes before Jerrid found a place that looked promising.
The drop wasn’t quite so steep—still steep enough they would have to be careful not to roll head over teakettle down to the bottom, but not so steep they couldn’t manage it if they were careful.
“Think you can handle this spot?” he asked.
Ava peered down the slope with another wrinkle between her eyebrows. “Probably. I’ll go first. I don’t want you looking up my skirts.”
He flushed hotly. “I would never—”
“Your dragon side had no such reservations,” she replied tartly as she crouched, flopped onto her belly, and then wiggled her body over the sharp edge of the slope.
She wormed herself into position and tested her footing before releasing the long grasses at the upper edge. She began to work her way down the ravine, painfully slow and cautious.
Jerrid waited until she had a reasonable head start before following her. Lots of roots and rocks jutted out of the ground, providing great handholds to guide them in their descent. Behind him, Ava huffed frequently, occasionally even drawing in a gasp that sounded like pain.
He had noticed the bruises all over her face and arms, as well as the way she gingerly picked her way along.
A stab of remorse pierced his heart. It was terribly ungentlemanly of him to harass the poor maiden when she’d been through a brutal ordeal. It wasn’t her fault she’d gotten herself kidnapped. That blame fell all on Talos, curse him.
He rather wished Dragon had made a meal out of him the night before. At least, he wouldn’t be around to pick on any more defenseless girls.
Although he wasn’t quite sure he’d call Ava defenseless. She’d managed to outwit Dragon the night before, after all. And she had a quick tongue and a fiery spirit.
All good qualities for a girl, he had to admit.
The maiden in question gave a sudden squeal of distress. Jerrid twisted to look below him, holding on to a gnarly root with one hand just in time to see her slipping out of sight over a rocky outcropping.
“Ava!” he bellowed.
But it was too late. She disappeared from sight to the cacophony of rocks tumbling over rocks. Had she set off a rockslide?
He released his hold on the root and dove after her as quickly as he could. When he reached the top of the boulder where he’d last seen her, he had a clear view of her sliding down a muddy embankment. She came to a halt at the bottom, half immersed in a massive mud puddle.
She pushed herself up with shaking arms and glared up at him as if the accident had been his fault.
“Are you all right?” he called down, trying to suppress another grin at her expense.
He really did enjoy this lass. She was amusing, and shades knew he could use a good laugh in his life now and again.
Her mud splattered cheeks went dark with embarrassment. “I’m perfectly fine. Just…filthy.”
That must have been the understatement of the decade. He eased himself over the edge of the boulder and slid down the mud bank more gracefully than she had to join her at the bottom. As she struggled to her feet, her boots sucked and slurped at the mud.
He couldn’t help himself. He laughed.
She sent a fiery glare in his direction. “Oh, shut up and get over here and help me. My foot is stuck in this stuff.”
He laughed harder as he inched across the squashy ground to the edge of the puddle where she had landed. He held out a hand to assist her.
He realized his mistake a second too late because she slapped a very muddy palm into his, splattering his forearm with mud.
He gave a gentle tug, and her boot yanked free of the muck with a horrific gurgling sound.
She splashed through the puddle to join him on firmer ground.
Hand in hand, they slogged around the mud pit and across the base of the ravine to the other side.
Only then did she give him a foul look and yank her hand out of his.
He lifted his hands defensively, palms outward in a placating gesture. “I was just trying to help.”
“You’ve been very helpful,” she muttered. “I should have let you go first so that you were the one who took the mud bath.”
He chuckled and tipped his head back to study the opposite side of the ravine. The ruins loomed over them now, the tallest tower casting a long, dark shadow directly over the place where Ava had taken her bath. The slope was steep, but not as bad as the opposite side of the bank.
They could make it, although Ava might have trouble in her sopping, muddy boots. The path ahead of them was interspersed with a large number of boulders and rocky slabs.
He leaped onto the lowest slab and trotted up a couple more levels. The smooth rocks spread out ahead of him, almost like a set of…
Stairs.
He froze, an itch tingling on the back of his neck.
Stop, Dragon hissed. Danger.
Jerrid craned his neck to thoroughly study the terrain around them. Something definitely felt off. The way forward beckoned with its deceptive simplicity.
“What’s wrong?” Ava asked at his elbow.
She too observed the makeshift stairs winding up the far side of the ravine. A cool breeze whistled through the massive gap in the forest, sweeping over them before continuing south. And for a moment, just one single moment, he thought he caught the whiff of woodsmoke…
Seconds later, movement exploded from all sides. From behind every boulder and hidden crevice, figures burst into view, flooding toward them.
Jerrid grabbed Ava and tucked her behind him, trying to shield her from the flash of sunlight on metal. A feral-looking creature with dirty blonde hair shoved a dagger beneath his throat.
“Move one muscle, and I’ll slit your throat,” the creature hissed.