by Avril Sabine
“I can’t.”
Carson grabbed a hold of her hands to stop her from retreating. “You have to.”
“Why me?” Shadow asked in a small voice.
“Because you’ll go after your brother. They’re in the same fortress.”
Shadow looked worried. “What if I can’t do it?” What she really wanted to ask was what if she couldn’t go on alone? What if she couldn’t go on without him? The thought of something happening to him made fear race through her.
Carson pulled her close and stared down at her. “You’re the one who stands the greatest chance of getting them out.”
“Why?” Shadow asked softly.
“Because you have elf sight. The rest of us have about as much chance as a deer in an open paddock with a hundred hunters surrounding it.”
“I’m scared.”
Carson wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. He pushed her head against his chest and she heard his voice rumble from inside him as he spoke. “We’ll look out for you as long as possible. If we’re no longer there, you’ll manage. You have plenty of courage, and you’re tenacious.”
“Even though I’m a woman who doesn’t belong in the army?” Shadow couldn’t help asking.
With a chuckle, he pulled back to look down at her. “You might make a soldier yet.”
“I don’t want to be a soldier. I want to get my brother back and find somewhere quiet where I can live my own life,” Shadow protested half-heartedly. The words sounded false even to her. How could she return to a quiet life after all she’d seen? Would it bore her senseless?
“Really?” Carson ran his fingers along her cheekbone. “I saw you yesterday when you got over your initial shock. I actually think this life is starting to suit you.”
Shadow stared up at him, her lips slightly parted. She was torn between denying his words and rising onto her toes to press her lips against his, but she couldn’t find the words for the first or the courage for the second. Instead she shook her head.
Carson’s fingers trailed to her chin and tilted her head up slightly. His thumb ran across her lips, warm in the chill air. “You came alive. I watched you.”
She felt alive now and wished she had the courage to do something about it. She rose slightly onto her toes.
Carson smiled down at her and pulled away. He steadied her with a hand, then let his arms fall to his side. “Come. We’d better start moving.” He turned away.
Shadow felt cold and rejected. She glared at his back. If he wasn’t interested, he shouldn’t have stared at her like that. Or caressed her face. She watched him move away.
Carson glanced over his shoulder. “Come.”
Grumbling, Shadow followed Carson back to camp and found Roper waiting with her horse saddled and ready to go. Shadow glanced around the camp and saw all the soldiers waited for them. Embarrassment flared.
“The area’s clear,” Carson said. “Mount up. If you want anything to eat today you’d better look for game.”
Relieved by Carson’s comment, Shadow swung herself onto her horse. She fell in line behind him and quickly looked around to make sure his comment of the area being all clear was correct.
By midday, Shadow’s stomach felt like it was plastered against her spine. It had long since stopped grumbling. All she had was melted snow to drink out of her leather canteen. Taking another swallow of water, she hung it back on her saddle and looked around again. Smiling, she moved her horse forward to come alongside Carson, all the time readying her crossbow.
Carson turned towards her, his hand going towards his own crossbow. He stopped as Shadow shook her head and took the crossbow she handed him.
“Food.” Shadow pointed to a deer ahead and to the right.
Carson held up a hand to halt as he brought his horse to a stop. He quickly aimed and shot at the deer. While he was doing this, Shadow had readied his crossbow. The deer staggered and leapt forward. Shadow took her crossbow from Carson and handed him his own. He urged his horse forward.
“Follow!” Carson called.
All the men had their own crossbows ready and raced after the deer. They were hungry since the bit of dried food in their saddlebags was being saved for that night in case they didn’t catch anything.
The deer was slowing and the soldiers gained on it. Roper shot at it, but missed. All of a sudden, the deer veered to the right and started to come back towards them.
Chapter Sixteen
Shadow looked ahead and screamed, “Stop! Ravine!”
“Shoot the deer!” Carson yelled at her.
Shadow had been well behind them and had stopped her horse the moment she’d seen the magic hid ravine. She fumbled for her crossbow. The deer came closer. She aimed. It was almost upon her.
“Shoot the damn thing!” Wardell bellowed. “Even a toddler could make that shot.”
Shadow loosed the bolt and winced as it struck the deer. Her horse sidestepped as the deer fell towards it.
“Yes!” Perrun raced forward and leapt off his horse. “Food! Hey, it’s got a rope around its neck.”
“A tethered deer and a magic hid ravine. They knew we were coming,” Carson said.
“They couldn’t have known the deer wouldn’t break the rope before we got there,” Clem said.
Perrun looked up from the deer. “The rope was strong enough to hold unless the deer panicked.”
“How could they know the deer would head for the ravine?” Wardell asked.
“The deer was on the correct side of the trail that if she was panicked she’d run in this direction,” Carson said.
“Do you think we should eat it? It might be poisoned.” Clem dismounted.
“No poison would have let it run that far,” Perrun said. “Not without collapsing long ago.”
“Might be magic poison.” Clem nudged the deer with the toe of his boot.
Shadow shook her head when all eyes turned to her. “I haven’t seen any.”
“Cut it open. Let’s make sure the magic isn’t on the inside,” Carson said.
Perrun made quick work of the deer and then looked up at Shadow. She shook her head. Perrun grinned. “Guess we’ve got food after all. Someone want to get a fire started? I’ll slice it thin so it cooks quickly. It should last long enough in this weather.”
“Do it quick as possible. I want to cover more miles today.” Carson looked to Shadow. “Come. Show me the ravine.”
Shadow nodded and urged her horse forward, taking the lead. The ravine was not far from them. Shadow dismounted and Carson followed.
“Here.” Shadow knelt and put her hand over the edge of the ravine.
“It looks like you’re pushing your hand into dirt.” Carson knelt beside her.
“Try and touch it to see what happens.”
Carson put his hand over the edge and then quickly drew it back. He frowned. “How can you hold your hand in there?”
“What do you mean?”
“That chill. Can’t you feel it?”
Shadow shook her head. “It doesn’t feel any different to me. Just like I can see straight through it.”
“What does it look like?”
Shadow shrugged. “It’s hard to explain. Sort of like looking through thin gauzy material. It has a slight glow or shine to it and like someone sprinkled shinny bits of gold flecks over it. When I was younger, I could only see the glow and glitter. As I got older, I could see the illusion as a sort of haze over the reality.”
“I wish I could see as you do.”
Shadow shook her head. “We had a travelling wizard come to the tavern one year. He created all sorts of illusions to entertain everyone. All I saw was the bits of gold flecks and I had to pretend the whole time I could see what everyone else saw. Their expressions as they watched him were amazing. I wanted to know what they saw, but I couldn’t ask anyone. I was the only one who couldn’t see it. Oh and Pa of course. He grumbled about what a waste of time it was.”
“Why did you have to prete
nd you could see the illusions?” Carson asked.
“Because my Pa threatened to kill whichever of his children were born with elf sight.”
“I’m sure he was joking.”
Shadow shook her head. “When he was sober he never lied. If he said it, he meant it, and he’d do it too. He thinks it’s a curse. One he never wanted to pass on.”
Carson reached out and took Shadow’s hand. He drew her away from the ravine he couldn’t see. “I won’t let him near you.”
Shadow smiled slightly. “And what if you don’t make it? Who’s to stop him when he finds out?”
“I’ll write a letter for you to give to the King and he’ll protect you.”
Shadow laughed. “What makes you think the King will listen to you?”
“He will. He always listens to me.”
Shadow’s laughter died and she pulled away from Carson. “You know the King?”
“Your father has met him too.”
“Yes, but you know him. Don’t you?”
Carson nodded.
Shadow stared at him. “Is your family very important?”
“They are to me.”
Shadow frowned. “You know what I mean.”
Carson smiled. “Come. Looks like that fire’s going. I want the meat cooked quickly so we can keep moving.”
Shadow slowly followed him. His lack of reply was an answer in itself. Once she reached the fire, she was ordered to help slice up the meat.
Several hours later, they were fed and the meat was cooked and cooled enough to pack into saddlebags. Once this was done, Carson led the way back to the trail they’d been following. By late afternoon it had started to snow again.
“Mad being out in this weather,” Roper grumbled.
“Nice tavern, warm fire and a friendly wench,” Wardell said.
“I’d be happy with the fire at the moment,” Perrun said.
“I’d be happy to feel my toes again,” Gwyn grumbled.
Carson glanced around. “Another hour and we should be able to set up camp.”
“If we can see by then,” Wardell complained as the snow began to fall heavier.
“If it gets much heavier we’ll stop sooner,” Carson said.
“Now I don’t know whether to pray for heavier snow or be happy we’ll have a fire in an hour,” Perrun said.
Shadow was silent. It didn’t feel right to join in the conversation. She never had before. The soldiers had never felt completely comfortable with her, probably because of her necessary silence. They had gambled and joked with her brother. The only one who’d befriended her was Iain and the taciturn man hadn’t been much of a conversationalist. Thinking of him, she hoped he was safe. She hoped Iain and the other soldiers would find their way to the foothills. Shadow shivered as a snowflake landed on her face. At least they’d be warmer down there.
The next hour seemed to drag by and Shadow almost shouted in relief when Carson called out halt. He quickly assigned jobs to the men and took Shadow with him to scout the area.
“Can you see things that are magic hid in this weather?” Carson asked.
“They’re easy to see because of the gold sparkly bits.” She glanced around as they walked a large arc around the camp. “It shows up well against all the white.”
“That’s good,” Carson said.
“You never answered if your family are important.” Shadow was determined to get a proper answer to her question, even though she was certain she knew it.
“You’re worse than a dog with a bone.”
“And you’re slipperier than a snake,” Shadow retorted.
“I’m wounded by your comment.” Carson pressed a hand to his heart and grinned.
Her own heart gave a leap, but she ignored it. “Are they important?”
“Why do you need to know?”
“I guess I don’t really,” Shadow said.
“Why?”
“Because you’ve already answered me.” She turned away from him, unable to continue the conversation, disappointed he wouldn’t answer her.
“No I haven’t.” Carson tugged on her hand so she spun to face him.
“You wouldn’t have sidestepped the question so much if they were unimportant. If you didn’t want me to know, why didn’t you lie to me?” When the silence dragged out, Shadow asked, “Well?”
“See, tenacious.” Carson fell silent then smiled wryly. “I didn’t think you deserved a lie.”
“Even though I lied to you?” Shadow asked.
“Well, actually, I don’t recall you lying to me. Your brother did. You remained silent.”
“Isn’t that as bad as a lie?” Shadow asked.
He stared at her silently for a moment. “Nearly. Come. We need to return to camp. You’re getting a blue tinge to your face.” He ran his thumb across her lips. “It’s worst here.”
Shadow’s lips parted under the caress. Her eyes met his and the cold seemed to fade. Warmth filled her. She held herself still, not wanting to have him turn away from her like earlier, but it was inevitable.
His fingers trailed across her cheek until his hand cupped the side of her face. “We need to return to the fire. To get warm.”
Shadow swallowed the words she nearly said. She was already warm.
“Come.” Carson strode back to the camp. She hurried to keep up with him.
Chapter Seventeen
That night, they huddled in pairs when they went to sleep. Back to back to warm each other. It was too cold for only the blankets. One man had sentry duty and swapped throughout the night with the other four soldiers. Carson ordered Shadow to bed down next to him. She didn’t argue, she didn’t want to risk anyone finding out her secret in the night. She pressed her back against Carson’s and was glad of his warmth.
The next morning, Shadow slowly woke. She felt surrounded by warmth and snuggled in, her eyes still tightly closed. The warmth around her tightened. Shadow’s eyes flew open and she saw a chest in front of her, the top few buttons of the shirt that covered it were open. She tried to pull back in surprise, but it was impossible. She felt like she was held by iron. A surprisingly comfortable band of iron.
“Morning,” Carson whispered near her ear.
Shadow relaxed as she recalled she’d gone to sleep next to Carson the night before. His warmth surrounded her and she snuggled in close. She felt Carson tense.
“We’d better get up. We’re wasting daylight.” Carson’s breath tickled her cheek.
She was tempted to move her head slightly so his lips would be against hers rather than her cheek. “Oh. Yes. Of course.” Shadow moved away from him. This time his arms relaxed and let her pull away.
“You’d better be careful, Captain,” Perrun said from beside the fire when he saw them wake. “People’ll be saying you like lads.”
“Dolt.” Wardell whacked Perrun on the head.
“What was that for?” Perrun jumped to his feet.
“Enough fooling around. We should make it to the fortress today,” Carson said.
Shadow froze in the middle of sorting out her bedding. She looked up at Carson who still stood next to her. “Today?” Her voice came out as a squeak.
“Buck up, Shadow. Don’t you want to find your brother?” Carson asked.
“Yes.” Shadow’s stomach flipped. I just don’t want to go into the fortress to do it, she thought. She forced herself to return to sorting out her bedding. Anything to keep from dwelling on what would happen when they reached the fortress.
The camp was packed up in minutes and they were on the trail, chewing on venison for breakfast.
“Keep your eyes peeled, Shadow,” Carson said from in front of her. “There are sure to be men guarding the trail closer to the fortress.”
The venison Shadow swallowed sat heavy in her stomach. The rest of it was forgotten in her hand.
“Remember. Them or us, Shadow,” Roper said from behind her.
Shadow nodded. She forced herself to keep eating, knowing she’d
need the strength to get through the day. She looked around again. The snow lay thick all around them. The pine trees’ branches were heavy with snow and the ground was like a white untouched blanket. Only where they had travelled was it marred. The forest was quiet. It seemed that even the birds and animals knew better than to come into this area.
“Anything out there?” Carson asked.
“All clear,” Shadow answered.
“If you keep speaking like that everyone’ll think you’re a soldier,” Roper teased.
Shadow turned towards him and smiled faintly before she faced the trail again and noticed a glow ahead as they crested a rise in the ground. “Magic,” she hissed.
“How far?” Carson asked.
“About eighty feet away,” Shadow said.
“Perrun, Roper, go through the forest on the left. Clem, Gwyn, to the right. Wardell, beside me. Shadow stay behind us.” Carson snapped out the orders.
The men readied their crossbows and moved into position. They kept riding towards the magic hid army.
“What can you see?” Carson asked. “I only see an old man on a donkey being led by a scruffy kid.”
“He’s their captain. But the magic seems to come from a man behind him to the right. You can only see about half his body behind the image of the old man,” Shadow said.
“I’ll get him, Captain,” Wardell offered.
“Hold off. I’ll take first shot. You finish him if needed,” Carson said.
“Yes, sir,” Wardell said.
In one fluid movement, Carson raised his crossbow, aimed and fired. The magic hiding the army seemed to waver. Wardell shot at the wizard Carson’s bolt had hit. The magic evaporated. The twenty men marching along the road pulled out swords and readied crossbows. Eight of the men braced their crossbows and aimed at Carson, Wardell and Shadow. The men wielding swords came bearing down on them.
“Take to the trees, Shadow,” Carson ordered. “To the right.” Then he bellowed, “Attack!”
Bolts flew from the trees and embedded in three of the men with crossbows. Carson hooked his crossbow on his saddle, drew his sword and kicked his horse forward. Shadow leapt off her horse once she’d gained the trees and readied her crossbow.