Chapter 3 Ayden #3
“Fine. You’re right.” Declan stared down at the owl and blew out a sigh. He reached his hand toward the owl, but just as he was about to touch a feather, her bright eyes flew open, and she leaped back, stumbling on his leg and falling to the ground.
She righted herself, shook off her feathers, and glared.
“Good morning, Miss Owl.”
The bird hopped twice and blinked.
“Okay. Okay. I’m getting up.” He braced himself to rise, but before he could stand, the owl hopped back onto his leg, scurried up his torso, and perched on his shoulder.
He looked to me, only moving his widened eyes.
I shrugged. “Looks like you have a passenger.”
“We can’t take her with us. This is insane.”
“No more insane than two Mutes seeking a mystical cave so you can go find magical help for a war that has yet to be declared.”
Declan rolled his eyes again, then turned his head slightly and spoke softly.
“Miss Owl, it’s been a pleasure, but we need to get moving.”
As he kneeled to lift his pack, the owl hopped off his shoulder and into the hood of his cloak. He craned his head and laughed as she pecked his earlobe.
“Ow! Stop that,” he told her. “Where I’m going, you can’t follow, little one.”
She peeped a long series of chirps.
“Did you piss her off?” I asked.
Declan closed his eyes and smiled wryly.
“I suppose you can ride back there a while. It’ll be nice to have someone to keep me company in these lonely woods. You’re a much more interesting conversationalist than our other companion.”
She peeped twice and nuzzled his neck before settling into the deepest part of his hood.
I chuckled as I handed him his quiver, bow, and pack. It took both of us to figure out how Declan could carry everything without disturbing our new guest, but we were soon on our way.
As we hiked, brisk wind, colder than before, whipped through the trees. The sun brushed back her blanket and shone brightly for a brief time, painting the forest in hues of the last of autumn.
We made good progress down one mountain and up the next, though the trek took longer than Declan had predicted.
Atikus’s map might have been artfully drawn, but its scale left something to be desired.
The owl emerged a few times to perch on Declan’s shoulder, but seemed to grow cold and fled back into the warmth of Declan’s hood.
As the sun began her descent behind the mountains, the sounds of someone approaching halted our progress. We found a hiding place among some fallen logs, and I nocked my bow. The owl stirred, poking her fuzzy head out of the hood, but remained quiet.
Tense moments passed before three men in blue Kingdom tunics stomped through leaves and over limbs with confident indifference. They were spaced roughly fifty paces apart and scanned as they trekked. Each carried a loaded crossbow that moved to either side with their gaze.
As the search line passed our hiding place, one of the men stopped and held up a fist. His head swiveled as he inhaled deeply. The others paused and watched their partner’s actions. A moment later, he shook his head and signaled for the team to continue.
We remained still and hidden no less than a half an hour after the scouts vanished.
Declan turned to me and whispered, “What was with the sniffing?”
“Some Gift, I’d wager. He might be able to smell magic. Most Rangers have a Gift, so that would track.”
“Two Mutes on a mission,” he whispered ruefully. “We can never tell Atikus about this. He will claim he knew all along.”
I grunted and patted his shoulder.
The owl peeped softly from the hood.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about all this.”
As darkness fell, we came upon a huge rock formation that reminded me of a giant hand giving a thumbs-up to the world. It looked natural enough, and the boulders were far too large and heavy for men to move, but I couldn’t shake the feeling they were arranged in that formation somehow.
Declan stopped and rechecked the map.
“This is the last major landmark Atikus drew.”
He scanned the area, and I followed his eyes to a trail leading from the base of the rocks up the mountain.
“That’s my trail.”
“Your trail?” I crossed my arms. “I thought—”
“If you don’t go any further, I will have kept my promise. The cave is . . . it’s part of all this. It’s the beginning, really.”
“You don’t want—”
Declan stepped forward and stilled my words with his lips. His hands found the sides of my face, and my knees buckled as he poured himself into the moment, holding nothing back.
“I want you with me, Ayden Byrne, always.” His words were echoes on a distant wind. “But I have to do this alone.”
I brushed his hair back and pressed my forehead to his, wincing at the thought of our parting.
“I miss you already,” I said without thinking.
His hands gripped me tighter. “Spirits, me, too.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, holding tears back.
“I’ll make my way farther south to avoid the scouts, then double back once I’m out of the mountains. It will take longer, but—”
“You have to stay alive,” he said in words that speared my soul. “To report what we’ve seen, you have to stay alive.”
I nodded, feeling his head move with mine. “Yeah, for that, too.”
We kissed again, and I felt a part of me pull away as our lips separated. Not trusting my voice, I brushed his hair one last time, then turned south and walked away.