‘Wolfgang,’ I whispered. ‘Can we shield ourselves as we ride?’
‘We could,’ he said, ‘but we would need to continuously shift the spell. It wouldn’t be long before we were exhausted.’
I rode in silence while I thought about that. ‘What about if we didn’t try to exactly match our surroundings, but just camouflaged ourselves? That way the spell would shift with us.’
He scratched at his beard as he considered my words. ‘It wouldn’t be perfect.’
‘But it would be better than nothing,’ I said. Anything had to be better than walking around totally exposed.
Aethan held up his hand and we pulled our horses to a halt. An area of extra-dense trees stood off to our side. I tried hard not to think about the guranthas that could be hiding there.
‘We need to get some rest,’ he said. ‘If we encounter goblins tomorrow with little or no sleep we won’t stand a chance.’
‘Brent, you and Wolfgang sleep first. You too Ebony.’
I slipped off Lily and rubbed her down, apologising as I replaced the saddle. She whinnied and pushed her head into my hands as if to demand an ear scratch as payment for the inconvenience.
Aethan and Isla had already set up watch to the north and south-east, so I moved to the south-west of the camp. A cool breeze raised goose-pimples on my arms. The warm weather was coming to an end.
‘Let me know if you hear anything boy.’ I bent down and scratched Scruffy behind the ears. He pushed into my hand, twisting his head from side-to-side and letting out a satisfied rumble.
I let my eyes relax as I stared off into the darkness, trying to be alert for any movement that would indicate trouble. Stamping my feet and shaking my head, I pushed away from the trunk I had been leaning against. My eyelids felt far too heavy to make myself comfortable tonight. I would never hear the end of it if Aethan found me asleep on my watch.
Or dead with my throat ripped out by a brolonta.
That thought woke me more than any other could. Part of me wished I had never found Cedric’s book. But the rational part acknowledged that we would all be dead if I hadn’t. That didn’t help with the fatigue from the fear-derived sleepless hours the book had given me.
It seemed like forever before Brent came out and told me to hit the sack. I grabbed my blanket and dream-catcher from my saddle and headed in the direction Brent had pointed. Ebony was still asleep, her blanket wrapped tightly around her. I lay down next to her and pulled my blanket over me, closing my eyes and trying to relax.
Exhaustion claimed me more easily than I had thought it would and it felt like only moments later that the early-morning light woke me. One more day. We only had to make it one more day before we would be back in faery territory.
I sat up and rubbed at my eyes, looking around to see where everybody was.
Isla appeared before me, her skin wet and face clean. ‘There’s a small brook a few hundred yards that direction.’ She pointed off to the north.
‘Do I look that bad?’ I climbed to my feet and arched my back.
‘It’s not so much the look.’ She grinned at me. ‘It’s the smell.’
I poked my tongue out at her and picked up one of the empty water bottles. ‘Come on boy,’ I said, heading off in the direction she had pointed.
After my initial blind approach, the low murmur of the water led me the rest of the way. I knelt by the stream and filled up the water bottle, then I undid my sword belt, pulled my fur vest off over my head and started to remove my shirt. Ebony’s voice stopped me.
‘Oh look at you. You’re so cute.’
A quick glance showed me Scruffy sitting on the bank, far enough from me that he would have advance notice if I decided he should have a bath as well. So who was she talking to? Aethan?
I pulled my shirt back down.
‘Where’d you come from? Can I pat you?’
I slid my sword out of its sheath and followed the brook around to the right. I paused at the start of a bend and peered toward Ebony.
Wet hair cascaded down her bare back, finishing at the junction where her tiny waist flared into her hips. Her full breasts hung like perfect pendulums as she leant forward, extending an arm out in front of her. She was glorious in her nudity, innocent of the way the light danced over the water sprinkled across her skin.
If it had been Aethan she was talking to, I’m not sure what I would have done. But it wasn’t. Instead, a fluffy animal about half the size of Scruffy, sat just beyond her reach.
‘There, there,’ she said. ‘I won’t hurt you.’
‘Ebony,’ I whispered. ‘Stop.’
She froze in the act of moving a foot forward.
The animal started at my voice, small wings fanning out on either side of its body.
‘Oh, don’t be scared,’ Ebony cooed as it backed away.
Huge eyes stared up at us and it trembled visibly as I moved to Ebony’s side. A long tail curved around its four feet and floppy ears fell to each side of its snout. It was totally covered in black fluffy fur that just begged to have fingers plunged into it, and yet every cell in my body was screaming at me.
‘It’s a narathymia,’ I said.
‘A narawhatty?’ Ebony took her eyes off the creature and turned toward me, and that was when it attacked.
It thrust its wings out as it launched itself at her, the claws on its legs extended like twenty tiny knives.
‘Stop.’ I threw an arm out and it froze, hanging suspended an inch from Ebony’s face.
She gasped and stumbled backwards, her legs and arms cartwheeling almost comically in her attempt to get away. ‘Kill it,’ she gasped.
I stared into the creature’s eyes and the sadness I saw there almost overwhelmed me.
‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘It’s acting under duress.’
‘I don’t care what it’s acting under.’ Ebony thrust her head through the neck of her dress and shimmied the material down her body. ‘It tried to kill me.’
I watched its reaction carefully as I said the next words. ‘They have her child.’
It shook its head frantically as it mewed. I wrapped my arms around her and released my spell. ‘There, there,’ I said as I rocked her. ‘We’ll get your baby back.’
She let out a high-pitched cry and buried her face under my arm as her body shook. Then she looked up at me as if seeking the truth of my words in my eyes. ‘I can’t promise we’ll succeed,’ I said. ‘But I promise we will try.’
She blinked a few times, wriggling higher up my body till she was wrapped around my neck. Then she looked down at Scruffy and hissed.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Bad narathymia.’
She licked a paw and started to clean her head as I walked back to get the rest of my things.
Ebony walked beside me as we made our way back to the others, her wet hair reminding me that I hadn’t had time to wash.
‘Ah Izzy, ‘ Wolfgang said, ‘I was thinking about what you suggested last night and I… is that what I think it is?’
I bent down and grabbed my blanket. ‘Ahuh. A narathymia.’
‘But it’s so friendly.’
‘It tried to kill me,’ Ebony said, ‘and she saved it.’
I turned to look at her. ‘You know that makes no sense right?’
‘It’s adorable. What’s its name?’ Isla put her horses hoof back on the ground and skipped over to me.
‘Mia,’ I said.
Isla held her hand out to Mia, letting her smell it before she proceeded to stroke her back. Mia lifted her head into the air and purred. ‘I saddled Lily for you,’ Isla said, scratching Mia under her chin.
Brent pushed through the thick trees into the clearing. ‘Safe to go,’ he said.
We mounted and followed him out in single file.
‘You’re really taking that thing with us?’
‘Her name is Mia.’
Ebony pulled a face and moved her hagon away from me. ‘She’s dangerous, that’s what she is.’
I re
sponded by poking my tongue out at her departing back. I may have found some respect for the woman but it didn’t mean I had to like her.
‘Making friends?’
I jumped and turned guiltily towards Aethan. ‘I never promised to be her friend.’
‘I think what you said, and correct me if I’m wrong, was that you were looking forward to painting each other’s nails.’
Damn the man and his bloody memory.
‘I was being facetious.’
He snorted. ‘Anyway I wasn’t talking about Ebony.’ He held out a hand toward Mia. ‘Will she let me pat her?’
Mia stopped her grooming and looked at Aethan’s outstretched hand. Her lips pulled back from rows of tiny, razor-sharp teeth.
‘Careful.’ I was never going to hear the end of it if she bit off a finger.
She pushed her nose towards his hand, tentatively sniffing. Then she looked down to where Scruffy sat nestled against my chest, growled, and jumped onto Aethan’s hand, scampering up his arm to curl around his neck.
‘She prefers to be a single child,’ I said as she set about grooming Aethan’s neck.
Isla appeared off to our left. She jogged over to where her horse trotted behind me and patted his nose. ‘Brent said to head further south,’ she said.
‘Goblins?’
She nodded and turned, disappearing back into the trees within a few paces.
We adjusted our course and rode in silence, the four of us listening for signs of pursuit. When another ten minutes or so had gone by Wolfgang rode over to my side.
‘I think we can make it work,’ he said quietly.
I stared at him for a few moments and then shook my head. ‘Sorry. No idea.’
‘That idea you had last night, about camouflaging us, instead of shielding us.’
‘Oh.’ In all the excitement of the morning I had forgotten about that.
Isla reappeared just long enough to hiss, ‘Further south.’
‘Do you think we should try it now?’ I craned my head to search the trees around us. The fear of being found was starting to wind my nerves tight.
‘We could try.’
‘What do we need to do?’
‘Similar to what I did last night, but instead of blending ourselves into the static background and pinning it down, we make ourselves look like a piece of the landscape.’
Huh. ‘I couldn’t actually tell what you did last night.’
‘Hold onto my hand this time. Sometimes skin-to-skin contact helps.’
I reached across and grasped his hand, closing my eyes to better feel what he was doing. I could feel the shape of us in his head like cardboard cutouts; Aethan, Ebony, Wolfgang and I riding, with the packhorses and Brent and Isla’s horses trailing behind us. Isla and Brent ran ahead of us as they searched for danger.
Wolfgang reached out and it seemed like he smoothed the edges of the cutouts. Suddenly they weren’t so much like cardboard, but more like Play Dough as he squished. Hard, finished edges tapered thinner and thinner until they blended into the surroundings.
I opened my eyes and looked over at Aethan. I could make him out because I knew he was there, but it looked as if tree trunks, shrubs and grasses moved through the forest.
‘Cool,’ I said, holding my arm up for inspection. Foliage and shadow danced across the surface of my skin.
‘Yes,’ Wolfgang said. ‘I think that will do quite nicely.’
‘Please tell me one of you did this.’ Isla’s voice came from beside me.
I jumped and stared in the direction of her voice.
‘Wolfgang’s a genius,’ I said.
‘Hmmm,’ she didn’t sound convinced. ‘How are we meant to find you if we lose track of where you are? And if all hell breaks loose and we have to fight, how can I be sure I’m not going to put an arrow into one of you?’
Aethan snorted. ‘She’s right.’
‘I’m always right.’ I couldn’t see the look on her face but I knew which one would be there.
‘Yes, I see.’ Wolfgang said. ‘I will remove it at once.’
I felt him reach out and take the nicely-blended edges and tuck them back in until the cutout feel was back.
Isla pushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and then held her arm up for inspection. ‘Much better.’ She disappeared back into the forest.
We rode in silence until Brent appeared. ‘You need to head north,’ he said. ‘There’s a goblin village straight ahead.’
We adjusted our course but a few minutes later Isla reappeared. ‘Where are you going? If you keep on this course you’re going to run straight into a patrol.’
‘Brent told us there was a village the direction we were heading.’
She swore gently. ‘Well then, head further south.’
Aethan shrugged before turning Adare’s head the direction she had pointed. Mia hissed and wound her way around his throat, clearly unhappy about being disturbed.
‘Sorry girl.’ He raised a hand and patted her head and her hisses turned to purrs.
Over the next couple of hours, Brent and Isla appeared more and more frequently. We rode in silence, every one of us affected by the stress of weaving our way through enemy territory.
The sun was heading toward the horizon when Isla burst from a thick stand of trees and sprinted towards us. Brent was right behind her.
‘Do it again,’ she hissed, waving an arm at us. ‘Make us invisible.’
I reached out towards Wolfgang, my mind clanging into his. I felt his slight admonishment before he joined with me. Together we pushed at the cutouts in our head, smoothing the edges.
Isla and Brent reached us, vaulting into the saddles of their horses moments before we had finished.
‘They’re everywhere,’ Brent whispered. ‘Massing near the border.’
‘We need to get through to warn Rako,’ Aethan said.
A group of goblins trotted through the trees off to our right. They pivoted their heads from side-to-side as they searched for us. I heard Mia hiss, but apart from that we were totally silent.
I felt naked and totally exposed as their eyes passed over our group. Sweat dribbled down my face as I stared at them. It wasn’t that I feared them – I knew we could easily take that small a group. It was more the fear of being totally outnumbered. Again. That hadn’t been working out so well for us. The first time we had taken a swim, and the second, well… let’s just say that the fear I would reach for black magic to save us, outweighed my fear of the goblins.
As the goblins turned their attention away from us and trotted into the trees, a hand the same colour as the surroundings reached out and took mine. ‘It’ll be okay.’ Aethan’s murmur was so low only I could hear him.
I stared sideways into his midnight-blue eyes.
He squeezed my hand. ‘You’re good.’
‘How did you know?’ My voice trailed off as he ran his thumb back-and-forth over the skin of my hand.
‘What you were thinking?
I nodded my head.
‘It would be your worst fear, wouldn’t it? Becoming like him?’
‘Like Santanas. Yes.’ I nodded my head. ‘He was good once too.’
‘He crossed a line. You won’t get anywhere near that line.’ He squeezed my hand once before he released it.
Dodging groups of goblins, we crept towards the border. Heavily-forested hills rose around us, tapering down into a long, meandering valley. If we could just get down that valley we would be back in Isilvitania where Rako would be waiting for us.
I thought my heart would burst from the waiting and the creeping. Standing silent while goblins’ eyes passed over us was harder, much harder than fighting. Sweat dribbled down my spine as I fought the urge to rip my sword out of its holster and attack.
They knew we were there and they searched, yelling to each other in their guttural language. We walked the horses, moving as slowly as possible so that our camouflage was not discovered.
One hour passed, then ano
ther as we mimicked field mice hiding from a cat. My jaw ached from clenching my teeth and my muscles trembled with nervous energy. The hills rose steeper and steeper, funnelling us down the valley. The goblin groups grew more numerous as the topography drove us together.
Walk, walk, freeze. Walk, walk, freeze.
The agony of waiting to be discovered grew till I thought I would fly apart with the suspense.
‘Not much further,’ Aethan whispered as we hid amongst a stand of trees. ‘One more corner and then the valley flattens out.’
‘Home,’ Isla sighed. ‘If we make it, I won’t even mind Mother yelling at me.’
A goblin, taller than the rest, pointed up the sides of the hills. A score of them broke out of his group and scrambled upwards, their daggers drawn as they searched for us.
We crept through the trees, trying to keep as much foliage between us and them as possible. I hung onto Aethan’s words as we went. Only one more corner. It felt like forever since we’d left and suddenly I longed to be home. I missed Sabby, I missed Grams and I wanted Mum so badly a deep ache started in my chest.
I snorted softly and shook my head. The last thing I needed to be thinking about at that moment, was sitting in the kitchen eating Mum’s lemon cake. There were goblins all around and the chance of one of them bumping into us was increasing dramatically. I had to concentrate on the problem at hand – staying alive.
In single file we hugged the edge of the valley. I could feel my breathing accelerating. My heart beat a rugged dance in my chest. Around the corner we went, stopping once to avoid collision with a group of goblins. The valley narrowed even further as it curved, and then suddenly it was opening up in front of us, the mountains sweeping away from each other.
I looked out towards the plain, towards Isilvitania, towards home. Somewhere there Rako was waiting for us. There was just one problem. The goblins that had been travelling down the valley were spread out on the plain in front of us. And while the camouflage was working with the trees all around us I didn’t think it was going to cut it on an open plain.
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