28. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
They climbed over tumbling rocks and clusters of thorn bushes until Alena spotted an alcove in the grey mountain rock—the entrance half-hidden behind a wall of ferns and vines.
“Wait here.” She sat Leukos atop a moss-covered boulder and approached the opening with caution.
Nothing stirred in the dark, but just to be safe, she threw a handful of stones inside and waited, dagger in one hand and heart thumping. When nothing happened, she pushed aside the green cascade of leaves and entered.
The small cave was empty, save for a few dried leaves strewn across the rocky ground. It was spacious enough to fit two people and exactly the kind of shelter they needed to hide in and recover from their wounds.
When she reached for Leukos again, his head drooped, strands of midnight hair hiding his face. His hand slipped from his wound, dropping the bloodied cloth.
“Leukos!” She grabbed him before he collapsed.
His eyes were unfocused, and his breathing was shallow. She helped him to his feet, her back and arms burning from effort as she tugged him towards the cave. As soon as he stepped inside, he lost consciousness and toppled over.
“Leukos!”
He was drenched in sweat, his chest smeared with fresh blood, and for a beat, Alena saw her father’s bloodied chest after the hunting accident.
She froze, her mind spiralling into panic. What if she couldn’t save Leukos? What if he died and she was left all alone? How would she ever find Katell then?
But her father had taught her well, so she focused on her breathing until she regained control of her thoughts. Her attention shifted to Leukos’ wounds, and a glimmer of hope emerged. He wasn’t as badly hurt as her father had been. She could save him.
She would save him.
He’d taken a beating for her, risked his life for her, and now it was her turn to help him. But to do that, she would need a fire, boiling water, and medicinal herbs to stop the bleeding and any consequent swelling of his skin.
Grabbing her spare tunic, she tore it up into bandages and patched Leukos’ wounds as best she could. She tucked the cloak around his bare chest, then left. Keeping an eye out for the remaining wolf, she took a different path down to the forest and gathered as many dry twigs and grass as possible. Peat moss grew all over the hillside, and she grabbed fistfuls when the first drops of rain fell from the overcast sky.
The wolf was nowhere in sight. The fox had either killed it or chased it away. Putting it out of her mind, Alena returned to the safety of the cave and got to work.
First, she built a fire within a ring of stones, then pulled away Leukos’ torn tunic, wincing at the sight of his bruised chest. The Blood Wolf hadn’t spared him. She inspected the split skin and gashes dripping blood with a discerning eye, then proceeded to check for signs of broken ribs or internal bleeding.
Outside, the sky grew dark, and rain poured down in buckets, clattering on the rocks and drowning out all other sounds. Alena filled her pot with rainwater and boiled it over the fire. She washed strips of tunic and moss in the water, as her father had taught her, then cleaned the blood from Leukos’ chest and dressed his cuts. Luck was on his side—none of his wounds seemed deep enough to require stitching.
Leukos remained unconscious through it all, groaning and shivering. Hours passed while Alena cleaned his wounds, emptied and refilled the pot of water, and kept him warm. The cut along his ribs became angry and swollen, and dread filled her gut. When she touched his brow, it burned beneath her fingers.
Curse the stars!
Snatching her satchel, she rummaged through every herb and plant and spotted willow bark tucked at the bottom. She almost cried in relief—it would help fight the fever. She quickly boiled a new pot of water, keeping an eye on Leukos, who lay on his back, drenched in sweat and jaw clenched.
The wind swirled around their shelter, almost extinguishing the fire, and he curled up in a ball, shivering against the cold. Alena wrapped the cloak around him again and covered his legs with her spare clothes. The small blanket they’d traded at the village was gone, so she rearranged the wet entanglement of vines and leaves hanging outside as best as possible to shelter them from the wind.
The boiled water turned a dark yellow from the steeping willow bark, and she poured the tea into a wooden cup from her satchel, letting it cool down.
“Here, drink this.” She lifted his head in her lap, struggling to rouse him to consciousness. When she brought the cup to his lips, his face crumpled at the smell. “Trust me, it will help with the pain.”
He drank one warm cup and then another, and his shivers receded. Outside, the downpour softened to a pleasant pitter-patter. Alena sat by the entrance, tending to the cut on her face while ignoring her pangs of hunger.
At least they were safe—for now.
Once she was satisfied the willow bark was fighting the swelling and the pain, she threw the remaining dry twigs into the fire and curled up next to Leukos.
He was still unconscious, but his features were smooth as his chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. His usual guarded expression was gone, replaced by a vulnerable one that made him look younger. Despite his apathetic behaviour and harsh words, he hadn’t hesitated to protect her against the Blood Wolf.
“You’re a strange man, Leukos, son of Antigenes,” Alena whispered, brushing locks of hair from his sweaty skin.
She tried to imagine him, the son of a Silver Shield, at the King’s palace, dressed in fine clothes and surrounded by flatterers and beautiful women. Somehow, the image didn’t fit the man lying beside her. Was he as unpleasant and cold with other people as he was with her?
Picturing him brooding at a feast while everyone else enjoyed themselves brought a smile to her lips, and she soon fell asleep beside him.
A kick woke Alena up with a start.
She blinked, taking a moment to adjust to the soft light of the fire’s dying embers. Beside her, Leukos thrashed and groaned.
“No, no…” His arms flailed out, hitting her shoulder.
“Leukos.”
His face twisted in pain, and he kicked again beneath the cloak. “Let me see them! Let me see!”
“Leukos!”
She tried to wake him from his nightmare, but his eyes remained shut. Only his lips moved.
“Please. Please.”
His voice cracked, and the fragile plea took her by surprise.
Leukos was strong and proud. She didn’t recall ever hearing him say please, and he certainly didn’t beg.
“I’m here.” She pulled him close, stroking his sweat-drenched hair. “Leukos, I’m here.”
Tortured, black eyes snapped open. “Save them. Please.”
Her heart broke a little at his words. Was he reliving something from his past? Or was it a nightmare?
He continued to mumble and thrash, but her touch and voice soothed him back to sleep.
Daylight broke beyond the wall of vines, pink and orange streaks bleeding through the purple starry veil. The storm had passed, and the day promised to be warm again.
Boiling the remaining water, Alena cleaned the worst of Leukos’ wounds. She tugged the woollen cloak from his legs and a flash of ice blue caught her attention.
His Mark.
About the width of her hand, it was etched on the outside of his left thigh. Her gaze traced the smooth symbol, a pattern of glittering swirls that stood out against his sun-kissed skin.
Alena frowned at it. Leukos had withheld his Gift from her. Even though she knew nothing about its nature, she couldn’t help but imagine how differently their escape from the slavers could have gone if he’d been honest.
Perhaps they could’ve saved Katell.
With a sharp huff, she threw the cloak over his legs again and grabbed her satchel. She needed to get away from the cave and clear her head. And, hopefully, find some food. With a final glance at Leukos, Alena rearranged the curtain of vines and leaves and left.
The rocky hills were quiet in the early morning, except for a lone hawk circling above. Below, the forest remained unchanged, its verdant leaves swaying in the crisp morning breeze.
Alena searched for willow bark first, picking berries and roots along the way. She stumbled upon a pond where the trailing branches of an old willow tree dipped into the water. Relieved, she cut off young twigs and stashed them in her satchel.
A rustle in the underbrush made her whip her head around.
Her pulse sped and she crouched down, hiding among the drooping branches, listening.
Had the Blood Wolf returned?
If he found them now, there was little chance of surviving another confrontation.
Instead, a mud-brown furry tail sailed above the bushes, followed by a long nose and pointy ears.
The fox.
Alena stepped away from the willow, and the animal stopped, a dead rabbit in its jaws. It was the same fox, with a familiar white paw instead of black, its snout and chest spotted with blood.
She knelt, observing its fiery coat. Its eyes were a light shade of gold, and just like the Blood Wolf’s, they glimmered with magic.
A prickle of unease crept down her neck. Where did the fox’s magic source come from? Had it been sent by a Gifted or a deity?
She cleared her throat. “Thank you for saving us yesterday. Without you, we would have been lost.”
In response, the fox lowered its head and dropped its prey.
“Is that for me?” Although the rabbit’s head flopped at an odd angle, the rest of its body seemed intact. She reached out with caution, her fingers brushing the soft fur.
It was still warm. A fresh kill. And there was enough meat on it for Leukos and her, once she roasted it over a fire.
She couldn’t believe her luck and placed the rabbit inside her bag. A warm meal would give Leukos the strength to recover from his fever and get back on track to Bruna.
Smiling, she glanced back, ready to thank the fox once again. But it was gone.
It took two days before Leukos was strong enough to travel. Two days of waiting, cleaning his wounds, bringing him food and water from the forest, and feeding him like a baby. Two more nights of waking up to his kicks and screams, and soothing his terrors away.
Alena had heard enough of his pleas at night to understand that the Megarian was haunted by his past. Something terrible had happened to his friends or family. He’d failed to save them, and the guilt of that failure was palpable in his feverish sleep.
Once the fever broke and his wounds began to mend, he improved remarkably. On the second day, he sat against the wall and chewed on roots and berries while Alena prepared supplies for the road.
He was more reserved than usual, his shoulders rigid since he’d woken. The forbidding aura about him made it clear he didn’t want to talk, but Alena needed answers to the questions that had plagued her for days. And, frankly, she was too tired to care about what he wanted.
She settled down across from him. “So, how much of the attack do you remember?”
His body tensed, and after a long silence, he answered, “Not much. One moment, I was keeping watch; the next, a pack of wolves surrounded our camp. I knew right away it was the Blood Wolf. He seemed surprised to find you as well. I guess he expected me to be travelling alone and perhaps that’s what saved us. He tied me up, beat me, and then dragged you before me. I don’t remember much else.”
The image of a bloody Leukos hanging from the tree wasn’t something Alena was ever likely to forget. “He said he knew right away you weren’t who he was tracking because you didn’t fight back.”
“And because you gave him a convincing lie.” A new awareness entered Leukos’ eyes as he studied her. “I had my suspicions when I heard you speaking in the slavers’ camp. Why didn’t you tell me you and your sister were Freefolk?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your magic?” Alena shot back. The words came out fiercer than intended, but she didn’t stop. “If you were Gifted all along, then why didn’t you help Katell? Why didn’t you do more against the slavers?”
Clicking her tongue, she jumped to her feet and paced the alcove. She had bottled up her frustration for days while he recovered, but now it poured out of her like water from a broken dam. “We could have beaten them. We could have escaped, all three of us. My sister could be with us right now!”
“If I’d used magic, Kurush would have blocked it and my identity would have been revealed.” His face betrayed nothing, although his voice held a hard edge. “The Blood Wolf didn’t recognise my Mark, but the slavers would have sold us to the legions—or worse. We never would have made it out alive.”
“You don’t know that!” Her temper flared. “You chose to save yourself and never even tried when, for all I know, you’re just as powerful as my sister.” She knew she wasn’t being fair. Leukos had saved her from the slavers when he could have left her behind, but that didn’t excuse his silence. “Tell me about your Gift then. What does your magic do? And if you weren’t blessed by the Sea God, then by whom?”
“That’s none of your business.” He shot her a withering glare and got to his feet. “Don’t be so na?ve, Alena. I’m not about to share my secrets with a girl I barely know.”
His words cut through her like a dagger. The boy who had pleaded for help and clung to her at night was nowhere to be found in Leukos’ forbidding expression.
“I can’t believe you were lying to me this whole time.”
A muscle in his jaw tightened, and he closed the gap between them, his muscled frame towering over her. “I didn’t lie, you foolish girl. I hid the truth from you to keep you safe. You should thank your precious Moon that your sister picked me to look after you. Another man might have left you for dead in the river—or worse.”
She held her ground, refusing to be intimidated by his imperious tone. They stood close enough that she could see the shards of icy blue flecking his obsidian black irises.
How could such beautiful eyes belong to such an ungrateful man?
“I may be na?ve.” She balled her fists, fighting to keep her voice steady. “I may not view the world as you do, but this foolish girl saved your life. Perhaps you should remember that.”
His expression wavered, but before he could say a word, she grabbed her satchel and stormed out.
Leukos muttered a string of curses behind her. “Alena, wait!”
She ploughed up the hill, refusing to let him see how much his words hurt. She’d hoped nursing him back to health would have brought them closer, but clearly, she was wrong.
Foolish girl, indeed!
Gravel crunched beneath her sandals until she stumbled upon an outcrop of rocks and hid behind a boulder. Taking deep, shaky breaths, she fought to suppress her tears. She furiously wiped her eyes, thinking how Katell always chastised her when she cried.
Perhaps Leukos was right. Perhaps she was too na?ve for the world.
Their encounter with the Blood Wolf had been proof enough. She’d been terrified and unprepared. And yet—if it hadn’t been for her quick thinking, the tracker would have killed them both.
She had saved Leukos. Not only from the Blood Wolf but from his wounds as well.
She deserved his trust. She had earned it.
In a fit of frustration, she lashed out and kicked her bag, causing its contents to spill out. The cup and bowl rolled out, reminding her of the two miserable days she’d spent caring for a feverish Leukos, which irked her even more.
As soon as they reached Bruna, she’d find Katell, trade their mother’s necklace for her, and ditch the insufferable Megarian. His attitude was proof of the preachings Camp Bessi’s married women had often shared: handsome on the outside rarely bred kindness on the inside.
“Alena!”
She gritted her teeth. What did he want with her now? Hadn’t he said enough?
“Alena, please! Where are you?”
She huffed and after a moment’s hesitation, called out, “I’m here.”
Leukos soon appeared, clutching his side, brow beaded with sweat from the effort.
She scoffed. “What’s the matter? Are your injuries bothering you?” She bent down to fix her satchel. “Finding yourself in need of a foolish girl’s help?”
He frowned, guilt washing over his features before he stroked the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to be so harsh with you.” He exhaled a long breath. “My past is complicated, and I don’t trust anyone easily anymore.”
She picked up her bag and settled it across her shoulders. Its light weight gave her pause.
“It was unfair of me to treat you so poorly,” he continued as she dropped to her knees and rummaged through it again. “You didn’t deserve that. Even more so after you saved my life.”
She half-listened to him, her attention focused on the one item missing from her bag—the golden torc.
Her gut twisted into knots.
“I didn’t mean to—Alena, are you even listening to me? I’m trying to apologise.”
“If you’re here to apologise, then a simple ‘sorry’ will suffice,” she quipped, patting down her spare clothes.
He knelt before her and pulled her hands into his. She stilled, warmth spreading up her arms. His touch was surprisingly gentle.
His familiar scent of firewood and pine trees, with a hint of spice, infiltrated her senses and eased the tension that gripped her chest.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Truly.”
“I know,” she whispered.
A half-smile tugged at his mouth, and her heart pounded faster. His unwavering eyes locked with hers. They held an enigmatic darkness—two midnight jewels tinged in azure blue that lured her in until she felt like she might lose herself in their depths—
“My mother’s necklace,” she blurted. “It’s gone!”
Leukos blinked. “What?”
“My mother’s necklace.” She tore her hands away to resume her search. “It’s a torc, from the Western tribes, made of gold. I was going to trade it for Kat, but it’s gone!”
“Are you certain?” He helped her sift through the pile of herbs, willow bark, and spare clothes, careful not to cut himself on the dagger.
“No, no, no, NO!” She scooped everything back into her bag. “I need to search the cave again.”
She ran off before he could stop her, ignoring the cold breeze sweeping along the shaded hillside that stung her bare arms. Once she reached the alcove, her fears were confirmed. The hideout was empty, save for the stones and ashes of their campfire and a bundle of dried leaves.
Her throat constricted, and she paced the small space, clutching her head with trembling fingers.
Had it fallen while they were running from the wolves? Had she left it back at their last camp in the forest? She’d thrown everything inside the bag in such a hurry, she hadn’t even thought of the necklace.
I’m just searching for something worth my time and then I’ll be off.
The image of a wolf clutching an object in its jaws came to mind. While the Blood Wolf had tormented them, his wolves had searched the camp for valuables.
Leukos pulled the vines aside, flooding the alcove with soft morning light.
She whirled around, panic rising in her throat. “He took it. The Blood Wolf, he took the necklace!”
A string of curses shot out in her native Freefolk tongue before she buried her face in her hands.
She’d lost her mother’s necklace. Her only hope of saving Katell and she’d lost it! She’d doomed her sister.
Warm hands clutched her wrists, tugging them away.
“I can’t save her.” Her voice cracked. “The necklace was my only plan and without it…”
Leukos’ features softened with understanding. “It’s all right, don’t lose hope just yet. Once we reach Bruna, we’ll come up with a new plan.”
“We?”
He slipped the strap of her satchel back over her shoulders. “I’ll help you save your sister. I owe you that much.”
She held his gaze, his words dissolving her fears and making her heart thrum.
“I promise you, Alena. We’ll save her.”