Chapter 7
For a group of trained soldiers, they bitched more than a bunch of women talking about their husbands.
They rotated watch during the night, two on each side of the hollow, and the whole time, they spoke among themselves.
It didn’t seem to bother the other soldiers. I was sure the captain had a lovely, cozy night, as he was the only one who didn’t rotate.
Not that I could complain, they never asked me to stand watch either. But maybe that was because they were content to keep me awake most of the night with their constant jabbering.
I wasn’t sure they noticed, but I definitely noticed that one of the mercenaries kept watch too. Their rotations were longer than the others, and Baxley was the only one who sat up, his back to a tree, during his watch.
I saw him shake Larana awake as he went to lie down, and she merely shifted into a semi-reclining position. I wasn’t sure she’d be comfortable, but I’d traveled with enough soldiers over the past few years to know they could sleep anywhere they found a moment.
The one called Nicco never changed his position at any time, and I doubted that he was doing his turn, until halfway through the darkest part of the night, I realized I was being watched.
I hadn’t moved, but my eyes had darted everywhere, until the only one that I thought was awake would be him.
It was on the tip of my tongue to challenge him, but unlike my companions, I respected the time to sleep and didn’t want to disturb anyone who was actually sleeping.
I tried to sleep, but I could feel the weight of his stare, and only by forcing myself to focus on my breathing did I drift off.
When I woke up at the next shift change, the area the mercenaries had chosen for their night’s rest was empty.
I sat up slowly, my eyes already scanning the horses and the wagons. Nothing was out of place. Where had they gone?
I stood, not drawing attention to myself, but I knew one of the soldiers noticed and turned, rather obnoxiously in my opinion, to watch me.
They probably thought I’d run when they were sleeping.
I didn’t blame them. It’s something I may have done, but I’d taken the coin, and after seeing how so utterly unprepared they were for a journey north, my conscience wouldn’t allow me to walk away now.
The next town? Maybe.
I’d been sleeping near the horse. He was gentle, and there was some residual heat from him. I’d helped brush him down, and both the soldier who looked after the horses and I were jealous of the thick blanket that the horses had.
The horse nickered as I approached, then I scooped up some snow, held it for a moment, ignoring the cold in my hands as I let my body heat melt it a little. I gave it to him to drink. It was more slush than water, but it was better than nothing.
I still could see no sign of the three mercenaries.
Maybe I had misunderstood the dynamics of them after all. Maybe she was a bedwarmer, and they’d slipped away for some privacy?
With that thought making my cheeks flush, I moved closer to the fire and saw that the watch hadn’t done a good job of keeping it going.
Only some of the wood they’d collected was any good. How in the name of the gods had they thought they could march to the north of Crystallese when they didn’t even know how to collect firewood properly?
“They seem a bit green.”
My scream of surprise was cut off when his warm hand covered my mouth.
“Shh, you don’t want to wake the ones who can sleep.”
I pushed myself away from him, turning to glare at Nicco.
“What the fuck are you doing, sneaking up on me?” I hissed at him, my voice low.
His wraps were around his mouth, but I could see his eyes, and he was laughing at me. He tugged his wraps down, and I wished he hadn’t. His smug smirk just made me dislike him more.
“Thought someone with your hearing would know I was coming up behind you.” He picked up a stick, inspected it, and with a grunt, tossed it away. “Amateurs.”
“I didn’t hear you,” I muttered, as I crouched down to the fire.
Why? Why hadn’t I heard him? The night was quiet apart from the low murmur of the soldiers awake on guard.
I looked behind him and saw that his companions weren’t back.
“Why are you awake?” I avoided looking at him as I sorted through the collection of firewood.
“Why are you awake, Trailfinder?”
I raised my eyes to meet his, and he grinned again. “I’m an early riser.”
He laughed at me. “Or the gossiping soldiers are too loud to let anyone actually sleep well.”
He hadn’t whispered it. He had spoken at full volume, and the rest of the camp went quiet, as the ones awake shut up, and their sleeping companions were roused.
I shook my head as I heard the grumbling protests. “You’re a dick.”
He looked down at me. “Yeah.”
He left me there as several pairs of eyes, mostly unfocused, found me by the fire, and assumed I was the reason they were awake.
“Asshole.” I pushed to my feet, threw some wood on the fire that would actually catch and burn properly, and headed out of the camp.
I jumped when a shadow broke away from the trees, and Baxley revealed himself.
“Where are you going?” he asked me gruffly.
“For some privacy,” I whisper-hissed at him. “Why are you... lurking?”
Even in the dark of the night, I saw a flash of his white teeth. “Keeping watch.” He pointed to the left of us. “Rana went there earlier.”
Blushing, I scurried to the thicket of gorse and bushes, carefully making my way around it. It was a good spot, but the way they could blend into the night like that left me unsure where Nicco or Rana was.
I hurriedly took care of my business and washed my hands in the snow. I watched every shadow as if it were one of them. I wasn’t worried about the soldiers. They sounded like a herd of wild caribou.
When I returned to camp, more than half the soldiers were awake, and most of them were glaring at Nicco and Larana, who were both back in their spots.
Baxley followed me out of the trees, and I saw several soldiers quickly reach the wrong conclusion, which was quite insulting.
“Women pee,” I snapped at them all. “Get your heads out of your breeches and have some respect.”
That outburst woke the captain, who sat up, shook his head, and looked around, wondering why everyone was awake.
“What is happening?” he asked, and if I weren’t so pissed off, I would have appreciated that he looked quite adorable, freshly woken.
“Your men put two and two together and got six,” Nicco drawled from where he was relaxing against a tree as if we weren’t in subzero temperatures, and life was his for the taking. “They thought the trailfinder was getting busy with my good friend.”
Good friend? Who spoke like that?
Captain Marson glowered at his men. “You’re awake for that?” he asked them in a mix of doubt and disgust. He looked over at me. “Do we need to be awake?”
I didn't bother looking up. The cloud cover was thick. I hadn't seen the moon for days, but I knew in my bones that the others had a good stretch of sleep left before they needed to wake.
“You can go back to sleep,” I told him honestly. “If your men can keep from whispering like children in corners, then maybe we can all rest before we start.”
My not-so-subtle dig made a few of them mumble apologies, and with a huff, I rolled myself back into my blankets and ignored Nicco’s low chuckle from across the hollow.
I willed myself to sleep, knowing I wouldn’t get deep, restful sleep, but I managed to doze off. As expected, when I got up and prepared to move out, I was irritable and grumpy. Somehow, the dark-haired mercenary laughing at me every time I glared at him seemed to be the source of all my anger.
I watched the soldiers coerce the wagons out of the trees, and I went on ahead to find the trail.
The wind from yesterday had died down, the snow was falling gently, and it was truly peaceful to look out over the snow-covered land. Not a sound could be heard except the gruff orders from behind me, but in front, the land stretched out in a blanket of white.
“Pretty.”
My heart was in my throat.
“Could you three please make some noise before you sneak up on people?” I demanded as Larana’s lips twitched.
“It wouldn’t be sneaking if we made noise.”
“You don’t need to be sneaking up on me.” My curt tone made her smile.
“Nicco says you’re the only one we need to sneak up on.” She looked down at me. Why was she so tall?
I straightened, pushing my shoulders back, but I was still several inches shorter than she was.
“Nicco says more than his evening prayers,” I grouched. “I’m not your enemy. Stop scaring me half to death by appearing out of nowhere.”
She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I walked up from behind.”
“Well… don’t.”
I knew that I sounded unreasonable, but I didn’t care. I scanned the snow in front of me again and closed my eyes.
The gray sky had paled to a bluish gray, but the clouds were still too full of snow to allow me any sign of the sun.
I turned to look for the captain. Spotting him with the horse, I walked over to him.
“You need to leave the wagons and the horses in Skallfen,” I said bluntly.
“It’s a three-day journey from here if the weather stays the same.
” I didn’t give him a chance to speak. “It won’t.
This is a rare day for this time of year.
I figure we’ll have two days like yesterday if the weather stays clear today. ”
“So enjoy it while it lasts,” he said with a hint of a smile.
“Basically.” I took the reins of the horse. “What’s his name?”
The captain looked at the horse and me. “Horse?”
I scoffed as I turned around, urging the horse to come with me. “Sounds right.”
I walked past Baxley, who looked like he was choosing to walk today. He had a large bow across his back.
“You hunt?” I asked him as I passed.
“Of course.”
“Snow rabbits are fast, almost impossible to spot. Their red eyes give them away. If you see any, shoot to kill.”
“It’s the only way I shoot.”