“Your mind is like a bird not wanting to land.” He points to the stars above. “No princess of mine will be helpless in the face of an enemy.”
“I’m not your anything. As for landing, if I allow my thoughts to settle, I fear I may drown in grief.” I trudge ahead of him. Still, I get his logic. We have no idea what dangers lurk among the wild Russian lands. Will has said he once saw a bear attack a vampire. It did not win but being unprepared would not be smart.
He begins by teaching me blocking strategies. I use my spear as a rod to keep his limbs from making contact. The exercises work my legs, and the only relief for my sore muscles comes from the cool streams.
“Punches,” he starts after I’ve mastered defense. “The aim is to disable your attacker, maim them so you can escape. If you have a weapon, aim for soft parts. If not, aim for breakable appendages.” He jumps to a branch, flips, and then lands on the ground. Before I know it, he’s inches from me. He reaches out and runs his finger along my chin. Temporarily mesmerized by his fluid motion, I meet his gaze.
“Don’t touch me.” I swing my elbow at his nose.
He catches my arm. “Nice idea, but you have to be faster. “A trained fighter would expect that.” Resuming his path ahead of me, he details where I should aim my punches—jaw, nose, shoulder, ribs, stomach. “If you’re kicking, go for the groin or knee. A foot can break under a good stomp.”
Switching to placement of weapons, he tells me to land a knife or spear in the eye, neck, arm, stomach, or leg. In a blink, he races to me, wrapping his arm around my waist, his teeth at my throat.
A growl erupts from my vocal chords. I push with all my might but only manage to hold him at arm’s length. “I said don’t touch me.”
“Training is useless without someone to spar against. Use me, your hatred for me. I was Erik’s strongest fighter. If you can best me, you can escape anyone.” He pushes his chest into my palm.
I double my effort to hold him at arm’s length. My muscle trembles as my mind searches for an out. In a flash, I propel my body up to a tree branch. I can feel his heat on my heels, and I jump upward until the circumference of the limbs start to give way under my weight. Spreading my legs between two branches, I look down.
“See, princess,” he pats my foot, “you only need to be strong enough to get away. Your reflexes and intellect will get you the rest of the way.”
Anger bubbles under the surface of my skin, and I jump to a higher branch. “I told you not to touch me.” My lungs ache for breath, and my chest heaves air in and out. Lowering myself to the branch below, I sit down, letting my legs swing in the air.
“If you were his strongest fighter, why did Erik let you leave?”
Will is silent for a full minute. When he looks up at me, his eyes are like pools of black in the dim light. “From the second I saw you, I knew I could never be a killer again. Erik saw that too. I was useless to him.”
“Stop with your pity. I don’t need your concern.” I launch my body off the branch to the ground.
With a thud, he lands beside me. “It’s not your grief that attracted me to you. It’s your strength, princess.”
His breath is warm on my cheek, and I shiver. Smiling, I swing my leg and catch the back of his knees, causing his ass to hit the hard ground. “Don’t ever call me your princess again.”
“Fine.” He jumps to my side. “When you are Queen, I shall name you so.”
The heat from his body, his scent, somehow a mixture of his own and Alec’s familial musk, hangs in the air between us. I roll my eyes and race ahead, clearing my thoughts.
“You’ll be mature in maybe four months, yes? Will you ever love again?”
“Why do you incessantly bug me? And how would you know when my birth date comes?”
He sniffs the air between us. “Any male for miles will know your scent.”
“I’m tired of talking.” I push ahead of him. Still, his assessment of my future intrigues me. “Tell me why you think I will be Queen.”
“Beings see it in you. I’m not sure what to call it. Your heart, your soul, that of a crusader. It is rare for a vampire to be so idealistic, unselfish, compassionate. Vampires have survival skills, instincts like no other animal that walks upright. But we’re also more passionate than humans are. But, it’s not a civilized passion. We love harder, hate deeper. You seem to see all of it and want to embrace it, celebrate it. Many tribes hide in the far north, where they can avoid dealings with humans. But you think differently, like we could be free from running.”
I shake my head. “Why do you keep saying things like that to me? I only want peace.”
“I’m going to keep saying it until you own up to who you’re meant to be.”
“Right now, I’m hungry, I want real food, blood, meat. Let’s pray to Mother Earth we’re allowed to hunt past the boundary.”
As we continue on, my brain swirls with Will’s words. Am I crusader? A leader? It’s hard to focus when I’m hungry, but my stomach grows more accustomed to the diet every day. Still, my body craves blood. As a distraction, I question Will, but he knows little other than what Erik told me.
In five days we catch the scent of a tribe, and at daybreak of the next, we reach their border, strong with the musk of others. We stand and wait to be greeted. With a swoosh of air, ten vampires appear before us. Will positions himself between them and me. With dark hair, but light eyes, their coloring seems strange, and I wonder about their lineage.
One steps forward. “These are our lands. Where do you come from, and what do you wish?”
Will extends his chest and stands tall. “I am Will, and this is Anne of Scotts. She wishes to speak with your leader about the history of your tribe.”
“I am Felik, son of our leader, Igor. We do not wish to make enemies but are not used to such requests. It’s nearly day, and everyone will rest. We can escort you to an empty dwelling for our leader to decide at dusk.”
“Thank you.” I step forward to stand beside Will as the ten circle around us.
Will pulls his spear from his back, and the ten draw theirs.
“Please.” I thrust out one arm towards Will, and it lands on his chest. Holding my other palm out to Felik, I lock eyes with him. “We mean no harm. Will has sworn to protect me, that is all.”
“And who are you that he would swear such a thing, Anne of Scotts?”
I square my shoulders. “I’m a girl whose family was murdered by witches and whose fiancé by a vampire.” Swallowing hard, I lift my chin. “I come from no one and belong nowhere.”
Felik’s forehead creases. “I do not understand you.”
“Forgive her, she was raised with humans and seeks knowledge of our people.” Will repositions his spear on his back.
“And who are you, Will?”
“I am Will of Alaric of the Norwegian tribe of Erik. I killed her mate.”
Pulling Erik’s medallion from underneath my cloak, I hold it up. “Erik gave me this as a symbol of his friendship.”
“My father, the leader of our tribe, will not entertain you. We have no need for friendship beyond our borders. We will escort you to the other side, so you may carry on your travels.” Felik starts to run.
Sandwiched between the ten, we keep pace with them. At sunset we stop. Felik points to a copse of trees. “The border is on the next knoll. We will watch till you leave our land.”
“So be it.” I dip my chin to him, and then Will and I take off.
The next hill is heavy with the scent of another tribe. I slow to a walk. “Why did you tell them I was raised by humans? You make me look weak.”
“Shh.” He circles his finger in the air. Leaning towards me, he whispers in my ear. “These people have not seen human civilization for generations. They live off the land. Your words are too complicated for them to comprehend. Life and death are as natural as breathing. They have no need for politics. You saw the village as we passed. Those twelve mud huts? They don’t want to be connected to ot
hers.”
His breath on my neck makes me itch with the need for space and cool air. I back away from him. “You rest, and then I will.”
“Need to think a bit, do you? Realizing how crazy you are?”
“I’m not insane.”
“No?” He reclines on the ground, a smile forming on his face. “You’re traveling with your mate’s murderer, and you’re starting to like him.”
“I don’t like you.”
“You were ready to protect me from those warriors. You touched me of your own will.”
“I hit you. It’s in my best interest to keep you alive. Let us rest.” I squat in front of a large boulder, pick up two sticks, and start to rub them together.
Will snatches them from me. “You are crazy. I need rest, we can’t attract attention now.”
“Fine.” I jump atop the rock and sit down.
Am I insane? Have I accepted Will as a friend? What does that say about me and honoring Alec’s memory? I picture him in my mind, light curls hanging lose around his eyes, his tentative smile hiding raw confidence. My brain bounces through our year together, but as an owl calls out, I shut out the mounting grief.
Refocusing on my job of protecting Will, I watch his chest rise and fall. Scent of deer wafts to my nose. Will must smell it too, for he rises and rotates his body, nose to the sky.
“Do we risk it?” I ask.
“I need food.”
“Me too.”
With Will on my heels, we track in the direction of the scent. Seeing a herd, I run and catch a doe with a few bounding leaps. I lock my fangs on the animal’s neck. My stomach isn’t used to having much in it and fills within minutes. I offer the animal to Will, and he has his fill. Once he’s done, he starts to skin the animal.
“Find leaves and vines. We should take all the meat we can carry.”
I watch as he carves the animal, making note of his technique and choice of parts. We pack our bags full and drag the empty carcass to a stream. Next, we wash ourselves of the evidence.
With the extra fuel, my muscles feel strong again, awake and alive, and I keep pace with Will. After an hour running along the border, I slip my spear out and grip it with both hands. “I should train.”
“Now you want to spar?” Flipping his weapon from his back, he tosses it between his hands.
“Yes.” I charge him.
It feels good, to let go, to pour all my energy into something, and I don’t hesitate to give it everything I have.
“You’re different, why?” He blocks a shot.
“They could have killed us.”
“Didn’t I tell you that before?”
“You told me a lot of things. I lose track.” I laugh and swing my spear at his chest.
He ducks. “Like how these tribes don’t care about politics.”
“It was one tribe. We’ll reach the next by daybreak.”
I don’t want to admit to feeling dejected and focus on my muscles and making them strong. We hunt again in the buffer zone and just before sunset approach the next border. Members of the tribe block our entry onto their lands and follow us as we skirt around their boundaries by day. We run through the next night, finding a copse of trees to rest in while the sun follows the horizon.
Wildlife is sparse the farther inland we go, and a couple of rabbits is all we’re able to catch. Will decides we should hug the coast, and while I hate losing time going north rather than east, I follow his judgment. It takes us a day to get to the sea, and I’m anxious about finding the next border. We find a caribou herd and take down an older animal.
The distance between tribal lands spreads out, and I have no luck in gathering histories or friendships over the next twelve days. We gather enough information to alert us to our location on the continent, but not much else. By the first of August, we’ve spanned a third of the way across the Asian continent into Siberia.
“We need to go south,” Will says as we start our trek the first night of August.
“One more tribe,” I insist.
“You’re so human.”
My hands go to my hips. “What does that mean?”
“I watched the humans that you and Alec lived with for days before I struck.”
Shivers run down my spine, as I think about how I came to know Will. I swallow hard but do not prevent him from continuing.
“Humans have this emotion called hope. Most vampires, especially the wild ones, do not have it and are not aware they should. They live meal to meal with no knowledge that another way exists. Tomorrow, progress, hope. Those are out of their realm. One could say ignorance is bliss.”
“It’s not like I’m a prophet or messiah of some sort.” I resume my pace.
He grabs my bicep and pulls me to him. His breath is hot on my forehead, but I don’t resist. “But you are. I get that you don’t ever want another being to experience your pain. But your efforts are fruitless here. We need to go south. Vampires living closer to civilization will get it.”
I hold his stare. “You don’t understand. My mission is to learn of every vampire tribe I can. Map out our people. I mean to cover every inch of land on the earth. We keep going east to the coast and then go south.”
Hating that I like the feel of his hand on my arm, the warmth of his body close to mine, the smell of devotion wafting off his skin, I slide my arm from his grip. I trudge away, leaving him frozen in his spot for several seconds.
In a flash, he’s next to me again. “You didn’t say anything about the whole world. That will take us years. I thought you wanted a home.”
“What happened to convincing me that I’m a queen? Are you starting to doubt me? The first time I don’t follow your plan, you abandon me. I do want a home, but I need to do this first. Go back if you have given up on me, Will of Alaric of the Norwegian tribe of Erik.”
He looms over me. “Winter comes. Cold here is like no other. Polar bears freeze on the ice because they can’t find food.”
“So, we’ll make coats of caribou skin and shoes of rabbit hides.”
“Insufferable woman,” he mutters under his breath and runs away.
September – Siberia
Will teaches me to clean hides, preserve furs, and to make sinews into thread. For the first time ever, I’m glad Elizabeth made me learn to sew. Within a week, we have vests of wolf fur, hats and foot coverings from rabbits, coats of caribou, and leather from deer for our pant coverings. Will helps me carve a small knife from the leg bone of a moose.
With these successful hunts, we are well fed. I twist my arm, noting bulging bicep and forearm muscles, and then examine my thighs and calves.
“Do you think my muscles are too large?” I ask as we approach a meadow.
“Worried about your womanly figure? What a human thing to think. Right now, you need to focus. This is a large tribe.” Will sniffs the air as we reach a boundary.
Even with my rants to Will about staying the course, I feel disheartened. “That is good.”
I barely get the words out as we’re greeted by a pack of six large warriors.
“You must be Anne of Scotts.” The front male approaches.
Scanning the group, I raise my chin. “I am, and this is Will of Alaric.”
“I’m the first son of the leader of this tribe. He has instructed me to answer your questions and see you safely to our borders.”
We trail him to the village. Will is right about the size of the tribe, there are at least fifty buildings. The center one is a large round log structure, and we file inside. There’s a large fire in the center. Along the walls, groups of vampires sew clothes and prepare animals. One plays a flute, and children run through the spaces.
I note their dark skin, hair, and eyes. Seeing the level of artistic talent, begin to hope that I shall be welcomed as a friend. As we make our way to the middle, the room grows quiet.
Beyond the fire, a stooped male wearing a fur hat is helped to a standing position by a wrinkled female. We aren’t introduced to an
yone, only allowed to observe. The son answers my questions, offers us blood and meat of a reindeer just before sun up, and escorts us to the border of his tribe.
“Why don’t you look happy? He gave us sustenance, answered your questions,” Will whispers in my ear as we walk east across the tundra.
“I’m not sure we’re welcome.”
“More so than by Bjarke.”
“Perhaps.” I refocus on the path ahead. “But, the human population is ever growing and advancing. They strive to inhabit all the land. England sent ships across an ocean to discover a new world. These civilized men aim to have dominion. Witches will carve out their own place in this new order. I don’t want our people to be overrun, chased to the edges of the land, to deserts, to the poles where it’s so hard to live there is no joy. We have shared this earth, been stewards of our motherlands for as long as humans have. Why not ensure our children can enjoy its bounty?”
Will stops and stares at me. “These tribes are not going to understand you. They have no words for what you speak of. Winter is coming. We should go south.”
“Is that all you have to say to me?”
“Is it true, the humans have discovered a new land?”
“It’s hard to explain.” I relate how Columbus sailed west and found a new land mass, about the theory of a round planet, and colonization.
“From the stories I hear, it has always been in our best interest to hide our nature, stay separate from the humans.”
“That’s not true. In the early years we lived as one species, the humans, vampires, and witches. The witches turned the humans against us, called us pagans, and flooded the Earth to rid it of all who paid reference to our spirituality. We have been running since the days of Noah. It’s time we stopped.”
“Have you ever tasted human blood?” Licking his lips, he swallows as if just the mention of the red liquid makes him hungry.
“No.” I push around him.
He grabs my arms and twists me to face him. “Do you know how Amaud, Erik’s witch, smelled? Like the most delicious thing you could ever taste? Raw meat from a deer, honey, beer, berries, and wine all rolled into one.” His eyes seem to sparkle despite the near blackness around us. “Human blood tastes better than that.”
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