by Imogen Elvis
“Kade? Can you hear me?” Briar shook him. No response. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t. She had to get him out of the river, heal him. Briar grabbed Kade’s shoulders and dragged him off the outcrop and back into the water. Her boots found a tenuous hold on the soft mud of the riverbed. She swayed, but stayed upright, just.
Step by step, Briar hauled Kade’s dead weight through the water. Step by step, the water grew shallower. Now it was waist high. Now knee deep. And then the flooded river gave way to a thick sludge. Kade’s limp body carved a deep channel through the mud as Briar dragged him further and further from the water’s edge until it was barely visible through the trees. Only then did she drop to her knees beside him, eyes closed, chest heaving.
Still alive.
But the rain still thundered down from the sky, and the roar of the river only grew louder. There was no time to rest. Briar heaved herself back onto her feet and twisted her fingers through Kade’s shirt again. They had to get away, find someplace safe. Grimly, she trudged onward, just her, the rain, and Kade’s limp body, sliding slowly through the mud.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The pouring rain sent icy tendrils creeping into Briar’s very core. The folds of Kade’s shirt slipped through her numb fingers. She rubbed her hands together and blinked. So tired. At least they were beyond the reach of the river at last. But what now? Briar’s mind turned slowly. Rain. Cold. Shelter. That was what they needed most right now, somewhere to hide from the storm. But where to find cover out here?
Kade still had his pack. Maybe there was something useful stashed away in there. Briar stripped the bag from his shoulders, and let him fall limp again. Her arms shook with the effort of rolling Kade’s unconscious body. She unbuckled the top of the pack and dug through its contents. Lumps of soggy travelling bread, crumbling at her touch. A spare shirt, sodden from the river. The map, balled up in a corner, water beading on its waxy surface. At the very bottom, a folded bundle of fabric, also waxed. A length of thin cord. Kade’s small, flat tin holding his flint and tinder. Briar stared at the array of items in her lap. With the fabric and the cord, could she possibly make a tent? It was worth a try.
Briar dragged herself over to a couple of trees, which grew close together. She struggled to wrap the end of the cord around the first tree. Time and time again, she almost had it fixed in place, only for it to slip through her fingers. Briar let out a soft growl. Please, just work. Gritting her teeth, she tried again to fix the rope in place. Her clumsy fingers fumbled but somehow managed to knot the ends at last.
Strands of hair stuck to Briar’s face, but she couldn’t find the energy to push them away. She shook out the bundle of waxy material. It was much larger than she first expected. The wind caught it, snapping the fabric out and filling it like a sail. The edge slipped through her fingers, flying off to wrap itself around the trunk of a tree a little way off.
Was it even worth chasing after it? Briar wasn’t sure it was. But the rain still fell, and Kade still needed shelter. So she gathered the dregs of her energy and battled through the mud, one aching step at a time, her eyes fixed on the cloth. The wind riffled the edges as if, at any moment, it might blow their tent away again. Just as Briar reached it, the wind snatched at the waxy material, dislodging it from around the tree. She threw herself at the tent, pitching over to land face down on the cloth, pinning it under her body. Safe. Briar’s eyes slid closed. She could sleep right here in the mud. It was so tempting. But Kade needed her help. There was no resting just yet. Gritting her teeth, Briar staggered to her feet, gathered the cloth in her arms and trekked back to their meagre campsite.
Getting the tent over the rope was the next challenge. The wind blew the cloth back into Briar’s face as soon as she tried to throw it over the cord, but eventually, she hung it in place. At once, the wind blew the two sides together, sticking them with the clinging mud. Well, at least it couldn’t fly away now. All she had to do was weigh down the sides. Briar stepped back and fell over a rock. She sat there staring at the stone for far too long before the thought occurred to her that she could use them to hold the sides out.
One by one, Briar heaved the stones over to the tent, lining them along the edges of the fabric so that the sides stood out taut. The rain poured down, but the tent held firm. There. Shelter. Briar stumbled back to Kade and dragged him towards the little tent. He seemed heavier than before. Or maybe it was the exhaustion settling deep in her bones. Briar’s eyelids drooped.
Inside the tent, the ground was completely sodden, but at least they were out of the rain now. Briar dropped down beside Kade and let out a heavy sigh. Almost done. But she couldn’t sleep yet, not while Kade was still injured. She took Kade’s hand and listened for a life song. Nothing. Her heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t be. He wasn’t dead. Briar focused harder. Wait. There it was. A tiny thread, just clinging on. She needed to warm him. Healing Kade wasn’t going to do anything if he was just going to die of cold. But all the wood in the forest was wet. And the flint and tinder were still in Kade’s pack. It was so much effort. But she had to try.
Back out into the rain to rescue Kade’s abandoned pack. Briar dragged it into the tent and fished out the small tin, levering it open. Flint. Tinder. A little dry kindling. With that, even wet wood could burn. She just needed to gather the sticks.
Briar couldn’t even feel the cold now, though her hands shook so that she could barely hold the wood she collected. One armful. Two. She made a small stack just inside the tent. Was that enough? She couldn’t face a third trip. It would have to do for now.
Laying the lid of the tin on the ground, Briar stacked the kindling in it to keep it dry. If the kindling got wet too, there was no way she could build a fire. She struck the flint. Nothing. Again. A few tiny sparks sputtered out, vanishing almost immediately. Briar blew on her cold fingers and tried a third time. Strike. Strike. Strike. More sparks. They fell in a shower on the tinder. Briar cupped a hand around the first flickers of life, coaxing the baby flames with her breath. The kindling smouldered, then caught. Success.
The tiny fire hissed and popped as Briar fed in small pieces of damp wood, the heat drying the sticks. But slowly, the flames blazed brighter, warming the air in the tent. There. Shelter and warmth. Even if their tent was quickly filling with smoke from the fire being inside. It wasn’t the fanciest camp, but at least they weren’t sitting in the rain anymore.
The fire would help with the cold, but Kade’s skin was still so pale, and his life song was a mere thread. He needed healing and quickly, or he might go beyond what even she could heal with her magic. Briar closed her eyes, drawing on what little strength she had left. She’d never so much as considered healing when she was so tired, not even in Osman after the attack. But Kade needed her. She had to try.
The worst part was that there wasn’t much pain to receive from Kade. Yes, there was a dull ache in her head, but mostly all Briar felt was an overwhelming numbness, a feeling of being untethered. He slipped away, slowly but surely. But she could still save him. Briar poured her heart and soul into the song. She filled the notes with all the warmth and life she could muster, calling Kade’s life song back. Magic flowed through Briar and into him. She couldn’t have stopped if she tried. And slowly, as she sang, Kade’s song strengthened, humming with life again. Achingly beautiful, beautifully alive. He was going to live.
Exhausted, Briar pulled herself from the song. Her head spun, and she braced her hands on the ground, breathing deeply until the world settled again. Only then did she look Kade over anxiously. His eyes were still closed, but a hint of colour touched his cheeks. Dried blood crusted his cheek, but the gash on his temple was closed, leaving nothing but a tiny white scar to show where he’d been injured. Kade still didn’t look well, but he was going to be alright now.
Briar’s head drooped, her eyes too heavy to hold open any more. There was nothing else she could do now except wait. She spread the single blanket over Kade and crawled in beside him. Even whe
n damp, the bedding was better than nothing. All that mattered now was getting warm, and resting, just for a little. Her eyes slid shut.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Briar woke to a grey, weary world. The rain still fell outside the little tent, not thundering down anymore, but in a steady, soaking stream that suggested it wasn’t likely to stop anytime soon. Her damp habit stuck to her skin, but Kade’s back pressed against hers was warm at least. But that reminded her. The fire. Briar rolled over, suddenly wide awake. The cheerful flames she’d worked so hard to light had sunk to glowing embers, which winked at her as they faded. Briar shot out from under the blanket. No, no, no. They needed the fire. She fed a couple of relatively dry sticks into the campfire, coaxing the flames back with her breath. They flickered, snapping greedily at the twigs until the air steamed. Only then did Briar sit back with a sigh of relief. But just a small one, because the stack of wood was finished, and that meant another trip out in the rain.
Kade rolled over and slowly sat up, leaning on one elbow. “Where are we?” he croaked. “What happened?” He rubbed his temple, right over his tiny new scar.
Briar moved quickly to his side. “You hit your head while we were crossing the river.” She tried to keep her voice light, as if he hadn’t been seriously injured only a little while ago. “We got across though.”
“Oh.” Kade shifted closer to the fire, his eyes heavy and unfocused. Briar moved to wrap the blanket around his shoulders but held herself back at the last moment. Kade probably didn’t need her fussing over him. Her hands shifted awkwardly.
“I… I’m going to get some more wood.” She ducked out the back of the tent and into the steady rain. It soaked through her instantly. But what else was new? Briar gathered as many sticks as she could hold. Judging by Kade’s drawn face, they’d need to stay a while longer, which meant they needed to keep the fire going too. But not too long. She’d lost her satchel, and the river destroyed all Kade’s food. They wouldn’t be going anywhere today, even if he was well enough to move. Evening was closing in already. But tomorrow, they had to leave, or starve.
Briar gathered firewood until the cold became too much to bear. Then she crawled back inside the tent, shivering until her teeth rattled. Kade crouched next to the fire, the blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders. He shuffled to one side, making room for Briar to huddle next to him. She held her hands out to the blaze, wincing as her numb fingers thawed. Water dripped from the end of her braid. Was this rain ever going to end?
Kade wrapped part of his blanket around her shoulders and Briar crept closer. Outside, the wind whipped up, bringing with it those unearthly screams again. But inside at least, there was warmth and a tiny bit of comfort. Briar stared into the fire. The shrill wails held no fear tonight. More real was the uncomfortable fact that they were stranded with no food. There was nothing to be done but wait for morning and pray they reached Trava soon.
Overnight, the rain quieted to a thick drizzle. It wasn’t pleasant, but by this point, Briar was more than ready to move on. The Erisu Woods might not actually be filled with ghosts, but they would haunt her forever. She hunched over the fire, watching the dawn fade, and feeding the occasional twig into the hungry flames, too tired even to sleep. She turned away from the blaze as Kade woke.
“How do you feel?” Briar asked him.
“I’m alright. You?” He looked more alert today.
Briar just shrugged. She wasn’t the one who nearly died.
Kade stretched. “We need to keep going.”
“The sooner, the better. Our supplies didn’t survive the swimming any better than we did.” Briar tried to keep her voice light. “How far are we from Trava, do you think?”
“A day? Maybe? With all this rain and mud though…” Kade pushed the blanket away. “I’ll strike the tent if you can put out the fire.”
Briar nodded, and Kade went outside, leaving her to fold and repack the blanket and other belongings into his bag. She missed her own little satchel. It wasn’t nearly as big, or as well-stocked as Kade’s, but it was hers. Without it, she felt so small and insecure. Briar closed her fingers around the medallions and stone that hung around her neck. At least she still had these. She dropped her own medallion inside her habit where it clinked against Mistress Rhosmari’s, settling cold and hard against her skin. They’d be safe in there.
The rain would probably do a better job of putting out the fire than she could, but Briar dug up handfuls of wet earth and dumped them on the little blaze anyway. What would burn out here? Everything was so wet it oozed. The fire hissed and died with a final, pitiful sputter of smoke. Briar heaped dirt over the campfire until there was not even an ember left. Then she crawled out of the tent, dragging Kade’s pack with her.
It was disheartening to see how easily Kade stripped down the shelter she’d fought so hard to build. As he kicked away the last of the stones that had pinned down the edges of the tent, the final trace of their little camp disappeared. Briar wiped her muddy hands on the sides of her habit, wrinkling her nose at the streaks they left.
“Ready? Kade asked.
Briar nodded and fell into step beside him as he set off through the trees, map in hand. The sooner they left this forest, the better. Ghosts or no ghosts, she never wanted to come this way again.
Time didn’t seem to pass in this grey, silent wood. Briar hugged her arms around herself and stumbled through the mud. The drizzle had a knack for seeping through her clothes, leaving her a wet, shivering mess. Eager to get to out of the Erisu Woods, they pushed on hard throughout the day, regardless of rain, mud, hunger, or fatigue. Briar might be so tired she couldn’t walk in a straight line, but stopping meant trying to rest in this sapping rain. Not an appealing prospect.
Slowly, the light began to dim. The sun must be heading for the horizon. Briar squinted at the trees ahead. Was it her imagination, or had the forest opened out a little? She glanced up. Between the tightly woven branches, she could just make out a patch of cloud. Heavy and grey, it was still the most encouraging sight she’d seen all day.
“We must be nearing the edge of the wood.”
Kade nodded but didn’t offer a response. He strode ahead of Briar, wrapped in his own silent thoughts.
The trees thinned out further, and the wood lost some of the oppressive atmosphere Briar had become accustomed to. With evening approaching though, the air chilled quickly, all the colder for their wet clothes. Briar rubbed her arms and shivered. A campfire would be nice right now. Maybe some hot food. Hopefully, they would find somewhere suitable to set up camp soon, though there was nothing to eat. She peered through the gathering gloom. Wait. Up ahead, was that… a road?
Sure enough, a wide path wound its way between the trees just ahead of them. Even slushy with mud, it was a beautiful sight. Briar pushed strands of wet hair out of her face. If they were on the road, surely they had to reach a town eventually. But not soon enough for them now, it seemed. Evening fell quickly, and there was no sign of even a cottage.
“It’ll be dark soon.” Briar’s voice was lonely in the quiet. “Should we make camp?”
“Let’s keep going a little longer.”
“Kade-”
“Please, Briar.” There was a note almost of desperation in Kade’s voice.
Just a little further then. Briar’s feet dragged. Everything ached. But Kade kept going, and she kept stumbling on after him. If they didn’t make camp soon, it would be too dark even to gather wood for a fire. But if they did stop, it meant giving in to another night spent in the mud. And yet, even that was starting to appear like an attractive prospect.
Lifting her eyes from her feet, Briar followed the line of the road as it rolled away, at least as far as she could see in the gathering dusk. Up ahead, something twinkled through the darkness. A light, faint, but gleaming cheerfully. A house maybe? Briar’s heart rose.
“Look.” She pointed.
“I see it.”
Briar fixed her eyes on that one little gl
immer of light and grimly pushed herself towards it. Maybe it was a cottage, with kind people who would give them food and shelter. If she could just reach that light, everything would be alright. She just had to believe hard enough and keep going a little longer.
Another light joined the first. Then another, and another, until they twinkled like a multitude of fireflies. This was no cozy little house. It had to be a small village at the very least. Briar thought about asking Kade where they might be, but couldn’t quite muster the energy. What did it matter where they were, as long as they were somewhere?
Buildings rose out of the dark, streets of houses with light spilling from their windows. Briar walked along the centre of the road, dazzled by the fact they managed to make it to a town. Voices floated from an open doorway, so human and comforting after the stillness of the woods. In the street, passing carts had churned the mud into deep ruts. Water pooled in the furrows, glinting as it reflected back the house lights. A scattering of people hurried past, heads down, probably heading homeward.
“Where are we do you think?” Briar asked.
“Trava, with any luck,” Kade said. “Look out for an inn.”
It seemed impossible that they could have reached Trava already. Their luck couldn’t have been that good, surely? The thought that they might have finally arrived brought a new spring to Briar’s step. She searched the buildings around them eagerly, looking for any sign of an inn. That had to mean a meal at the very least. Her stomach growled at the thought of warm food. Or any food for that matter.
“There.” She pointed to a large stone building up ahead. “Is that it?”
The faded sign above the door proclaimed it to be ‘The Pig and Whistle’. A flaking picture of a lopsided pig wearing a curly wig while playing a pipe and dancing unsteadily on his hind trotters accompanied the title.