by K.N. Lee
It drove the breath from my lungs. I looked up into Casimir's face. An enormous tree branch crashed down behind us and his weight pushed me into the dirt. He looked up at the monster, the muscle in his throat cording, as I gaped at the branch that could have killed us.
"Move!" He dragged me to my feet, and it was as though I could think again.
Screams echoed behind us as a pair of the king's huntsman drove forward with spears. The sharp steel-tips couldn't penetrate the volgur's enormous shaggy hide, and it swiped them out of the way. One crashed into a tree trunk with a steely splat and fell to the ground, where he didn't move.
"How do we kill it?"
A strange light-headed feeling swept through me. "What?"
"How do we kill it?" Casimir repeated grimly.
"You don't!" I racked my brain. "It's impervious to iron or steel, and its hide is so thick you won't cut through it." What did the old stories say? "Grave dirt! If you throw grave dirt at it, the volgur will retreat!"
"Sadly lacking any grave dirt!" Casimir snapped.
And spinning around on one foot, while hopping. No. That seemed ridiculous... I wasn't even going to mention that. "Fire can't burn it. There's too much water in its fur. It lives in water."
Hence the moss.
The volgur turned, lashing out with its reptilian tail. I screamed and slid to my knees, the tail whining past my nose as I hit the dirt again and rolled under it.
A horn sounded, its base notes shivering through the clearing, before it started climbing higher. Hussar's face turned red as he blew out the note, drawing the volgur's attention to him and the pair of archers at his side. I distinctly remember asking for archers, and only seeing one hand rise, but here were two more.
"Now!" Hussar roared, and steel-tipped arrows flashed as the archers loosed.
The volgur stumbled back, turning its bear-like face away from the arrows. One drove into its nose, and its eyes flashed red in fury and pain. Then it charged the archers, crushing through them.
"Come on, Neva! Give me something I can work with!" Casimir yelled, grabbing hold of my upper arm.
"I don't know!" I yelled. "It's supposed to be an old tale, nothing more!"
"Fine." He drew his sword and turned to face the volgur grimly. "We've got to get it away from the prince."
"It didn't like Hussar's horn."
"Start yelling then."
"Hey!" I bellowed, waving my arms and trying to catch the creature's attention. "Hey bear-face!"
The volgur bellowed again, its head turning toward us.
"Keep yelling. The second it attacks, I'll lead it away," Casimir said grimly, pushing me into the safety of a small thicket, and darting forward, directly into the center of the clearing.
"Casimir!"
He stared up at the enormous volgur, his shoulders straightening. "Come on, you cursed bear. Come and catch me!"
"Cas, don't!" Evaron yelled, but I threw a rock at the beast for good measure.
Its eyes flashed red as they locked on me. I'd seen that sort of look before, when a mercenary tried to grope me in the inn, and my father pushed to his feet across the room, his teeth baring. That was the equivalent of, 'You. Me. Outside.'
Shit. I started scrambling through the undergrowth, thorns tearing my skin. My unstrung bow caught on a sapling, and I forced my way past, yanking the bow clear. "Cas!"
"Coming!" he yelled. "Don't you dare stop! It's locked on you for some reason!"
An enormous crashing sound loomed behind me.
"Not planning on it!"
I strung my bow, leaping up over a fallen tree trunk. Branches whipped past as I sprinted, the forest a blur of white, brown and the few flashes of evergreen trees... The volgur simply plowed through the trunk, sending shards of it ricocheting past me. Something stung my ear but I didn't dare stop. Too close. It was right on my heels. I could barely breathe, my lungs working furiously, and the hot rasp of its breath steaming across the back of my neck in a fog of stink that made my gut clench.
Grabbing an arrow, I nocked it in one smooth motion. Another fallen branch barred my way as I sprinted toward it.
"Neva!" Cas yelled somewhere behind me, and I knew I'd never make it.
Launching sideways off the branch, I twisted in mid-air, catching a glimpse of those reddened eyes and enormous head turning toward me, even as the volgur's body slammed through the branch and crashed onward. Time seemed to slow. I could feel my heart skip a beat as I stared down the shaft of the arrow and loosed.
Steel flashed. The feathers waved at me as my arrow buried itself in the volgur's eye, its scream piercing my ears. Then its rump clipped my feet, and time smashed back into the world.
I hit hard.
A tree. The ground. The world blurring around me as I tumbled head over heels. There was a moment where I lay there breathlessly, trying to figure out which way was up.
Then pain stabbed through my right shoulder. The scent of blood filled the air.
Casimir slid to his knees at my side, grabbing me by the left arm and hauling me up into a sitting position.
"Ow!" I shoved at him instinctively. A tree branch had speared in me in the shoulder.
"It's getting up," he said, and hauled me to my feet.
Getting up? "What?" I'd shot it in the eye.
"I think you really pissed it off now, Neva." He shoved me in the back, and my thighs ached as I forced my tired legs into a run.
Grabbing my bow, I looked for the arrows that had spilled from my quiver, but they were all over the leaf litter on the floor.
And the volgur bellowed behind us, its roar shaking the trees themselves.
Run!
I didn't need to be told twice.
This time Casimir was beside me, forcing me at breakneck speed through the forest. My wretched human body couldn't keep up with him, and my lungs couldn't fill quickly enough. I fought to find the peace I felt within the forest, trying to force my legs to run as tirelessly as they had the other day. And suddenly energy streamed through me, my stride lengthening to match his.
Casimir shot me an incredulous look, but then I was passing him, leaping trees and ducking beneath branches with my useless bow in hand.
Light bloomed in front of me. I shot out through a pair of enormous trees, my boots finding flat ground, and a glittering clearing of snow.
And then the world seemed to run out of ground.
A waterfall roared, and I scrambled across a jumble of rocks, coming to the edge of slate gray waters that sped past me. Two hops took me halfway across the rapid river, and then I was stuck. The edge of the waterfall fell away beneath my feet. My vision swayed as I peered over it, but all I could see was the churn of white water far below me.
A roar thundered through the air behind me.
Casimir caught up to me, and we both turned to stare as the volgur smashed into one of the trees, slowly uprooting it.
The beast paused, its foul breath steaming around it, and its flanks heaving as it sighted us again.
"What are we going to do?" I gasped. One of my arrows was sticking out of its eye, but the volgur only seemed infuriated by the attack, not wounded.
Casimir grabbed my arm, and we leapt to an enormous rock in the middle of the river. My boots slipped, and my arms windmilled. I lost the bow, and it vanished over the edge of the waterfall. I could no longer hear the volgur bellowing. Only the crash of millions of liters of water.
"Cas!"
The volgur paused at the edge of the river, pacing. It dipped one cloven hoof into the edge, and then looked up, and I swear, it almost seemed to smile.
"Jump!" Casimir bellowed, and shoved me over the waterfall.
7
I surfaced with a gasp, the sheer shock of icy water seeming to shrink my lungs three sizes.
The heavy drag of my fur cloak threatened to submerge me again, and I kicked my legs desperately, trying to tear at the metal clasps that bound it in front of me. Water covered my face, bubbles streaming fro
m my nose. I could swim well, but not wearing so much weight, and my limbs were sluggish from the cold.
Managing to surface for one blissful breath, I went under again. It was getting harder and harder to keep kicking. The cloak felt like it was getting heavier—or perhaps there were grasping hands deep beneath the water, trying to drag me down. Panic bloomed, hot in my chest. I thrashed out, trying to find purchase, but there was nothing to grab onto; my eyes felt tight with pressure, my lungs heaving for sweet air and finding only water, and the surface seemed so far away—
A hand suddenly plunged through the water and locked in the collar of my cloak and shirt. It hauled me to the surface and suddenly I could breathe again, water spewing from my lungs as I hacked and coughed. Was this how my father felt, day after day? Unable to purge the heaviness from his chest?
"I've got you," Casimir said, dragging me into the circle of his arms and kicking for the shore.
I barely felt him haul me out. My bones were as heavy as lead, and all I could do was suck in the sweet, bitter air.
I'd nearly drowned.
Then we were safe on dry ground, collapsing in the snow. Hands tugged on my clothes, stripping my fur cloak free. I vomited a mouthful of water as Casimir turned me onto my side, tearing my leather jerkin open in sharp jerking movements. The wind seemed to slide straight through my wet tunic and wool undershirt.
"We need to get you out of these clothes," Casimir said, trying to rub heat into my arms.
My teeth chattered. "That seems... rather desperate... of you."
The gold of his eyes met mine. Then he laughed faintly. "I prefer my women a little less drowned rat."
"You're not... cold?"
His eyelashes were spiked together with water and trails of it slid down his tanned cheeks. "My blood runs hotter than yours does. In the winter, my kind swims in pools of water like this. It's invigorating."
"That's one word for it." I sank my head bank into the snow. Everything hurt as blood rushed back into frozen limbs. It felt like thousands of needles were stabbing into my fingers and hands.
"You need shelter and a fire." The smile was long gone. "Try not to protest too much."
And with that, he dragged me up into his arms and stood.
My mind seemed to be moving as sluggishly as my blood. "The volgur?"
"Gone. It clearly wasn't hungry enough to pursue us off the edge of the waterfall."
"L-lucky us."
"Or perhaps it sensed easier prey."
I could sense the rawness in his voice. "You think it heard Evaron and the others?"
"They weren't far behind us."
"There's more of them," I pointed out, resting my head against his shoulder as he carried me up the steep banks of the river. "And they have axes and bows. He'll be safe."
A quick flash of his eyes. "It's not him I'm worried about."
That earned a faint flush of heat through my cheeks.
Sweet Vashta, I could barely keep my eyes open. I opened my mouth, but he shook his head, and shouldered into the forest, swinging me in his arms. "Save your breath. You'll need your strength."
It seemed like a mighty fine idea.
I closed my eyes, and let him carry me, dreaming of a fire and some of father's mulled wine. Some part of me wondered if I'd ever be warm again.
I awoke to crackling flames, lying wrapped in soft fur.
Fire licked at the pile of wood in front of me, burning so hot it was almost white. Where was I? I groggily sat up, the fur slipping from my naked shoulder. I grabbed it before it could fall too far, my fingertips gliding over the silky softness. The fur was dry and soft, the fine silver ruff of a wolf's pelt.
A shadow finally resolved in the darkness, and a set of stark yellow eyes met mine. "I went back for the packs," Casimir said, sitting with his back to the tree across from me. "There's no sign of the others, but I found the volgur's blood trail. Looks like it retreated back the way it came. And Evaron's no fool. He knows I'll find him, when I can. He'll have set up camp somewhere."
"I'm naked," I blurted, noticing my shirt, leather leggings and boots all propped nearby to dry by the fire. Steam curled off my tunic.
"I didn't look."
That didn't make me feel any less bare. I wrapped myself in the fur, only just noticing he wore his still-damp tunic, and little else himself. The shock of seeing his bare toes and hairy legs captured my tongue, and he slowly smiled, as if amused by the sudden furious heat in my cheeks. The tunic hung halfway to his knees, but there was more than enough thigh revealed for my liking.
"You still undressed me."
"Should I have let you freeze?" He snorted. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, and I made sure the fur was covering as much of you as possible. You wouldn't wake. I did try."
Fine. Common sense dictated he'd done the right thing. The miller's son fell through the ice when we were skating once, and it wasn't as though I'd been thinking anything untoward when I stripped him bare.
"Besides, if I was actually trying to get you naked, I'd have asked first," Casimir said, and his voice came out rougher than usual.
My cheeks burned for another reason indeed. Insufferable wolvren. "The answer would be no. Just so you're aware."
He snorted. "As if I'd ask."
"As if I'd—" I'd already said no. Grr. My mind was still working slowly tonight.
Cas arched a brow. "Come, slay me with your wit."
"I'll slay you all right." I growled, reaching for my slightly damp shirt.
He looked away once again, smiling to himself, as I smuggled the shirt beneath the furs. I usually bound my breasts, but there was no sign of that convenient strip of linen, I noticed. And I wasn't about to go searching for it.
"Here," he said, reaching toward my damp clothes and tugging it free.
I grabbed it, and then contemplated the logistics of trying to manage everything while I hid beneath his fur. "Can you turn around?"
He sighed, and did, the firelight highlighting his back. "I'm not going to look."
I made short work of dressing, trying not to look at the way his shirt clung to his broad back, and his leather breeches kissed the curve of his ass. Maybe he didn't want to look my way, but I couldn't help looking his.
Stupid. He was the prince's man. I was a village girl. A hunter.
He didn't even like me.
Or so it seemed.
And I certainly didn't like him.
I couldn't help picturing the gentle way he stroked his horse's neck, murmuring under his breath to her. Nope. Not likable. Not at all. An image of his lashes guarding his eyes last night, when he told me about his past sprang to mind, as if to negate me.
"Are you all right?" he growled. "You look constipated."
I swear to Vashta's holy entrails I was going to drown him the next time we came across a pool of water.
Casimir laughed, as if he had a direct connection with my mind.
He could have left you to drown. "Thanks. You saved my life today."
"Twice," he pointed out, and took his seat again.
"How did you get the wood to burn?" Most of what I'd seen in our travels was damp.
"Magic."
Magic? I suddenly noticed my own pack was open, the contents rifled. Any heat that had made headway through my body suddenly vanished, and my gaze jerked to his. Suddenly the sheer fury of the fire made sense.
"Keeping secrets, are we?" he mused.
"You found the feather."
"A firebird's feather," he said, turning his attention back to the flames. "Packed away in your bags in some sort of glass tube. You must have forgotten to mention it."
"My father found it in the woods one day, and gave it to my mother as a wedding gift. I didn't— I didn't want Evaron to take it away. It's my father's."
I reached for my bag, checking to make sure everything else was still inside it. There were dry clothes inside, and I hauled my unmentionables and a spare pair of leather leggings out, giving him a slightly
raised-brow look.
Casimir turned away in surrender. "I'm not going to tell him. The feather's yours."
"Thank you." Dragging my leggings on beneath the furs, I wriggled around, trying not to flash too much skin. It wasn't as though he hadn't seen it all, but there'd been no way around that then.
There was now.
He stared into the flames, clasping his hands in front of him. The firelight lit the stark line of his cheekbones. "It wouldn't start. I was searching for flint, as mine is missing. Where did he find the feather?"
"He'd never say," I said, with a sigh. "Just that he'd found it within the heart of the forest."
"So someone has been through those thorns."
"He didn't talk about that either." I frowned. It wasn't as though my father had any secrets to keep but... It was weird, now I thought about it in hindsight.
"If we can't find the firebird, then at least the feather might assuage the king's fury," Casimir said quietly.
"No."
"Look, I'm not going to say anything. And I know its yours, but you don't know the king—"
"No. I'm fairly certain if the king sees the feather, he's not going to rest until he gets the rest of the firebird. The woods will be crawling with soldiers."
"Fine. Your decision." He held up his hands. "Your consequences."
I stared at him. It couldn't be that easy.
"What?" he demanded.
"I'm finding it difficult to believe that if push came to shove, and the choice was between Evaron's life and keeping your secret, that you wouldn't tell."
Casimir had a way of looking at me that felt like it stripped me to the bones. "I'd hope you would make the right choice if it came down to that. I know what its like not to be able to make your own choices. I wouldn't take yours from you."
When balanced against a man's life, what was a feather? I sighed. "Prince Perfect would know you'd kept it a secret from him."
"Maybe." He flickered a curious glance my way. "Prince Perfect?"
"Breathe a word of it and I'll tell him you knew about the feather," I muttered, though it was a lie.
I wouldn't be the one who was punished for this secret. Your secret, my secret, I said silently, and he nodded, seeing it in my eyes.