| |
She struggled against her bonds as her mind raced. There were wild werewolves on the way.
She looked up at the stars and prayed to the gods that something would save her, that somehow she would escape. But there was nothing. Only silence as Lord Arnkell disappeared into the night. Only the crackling pop of her dying fire. Only the whisper of a cricket singing his lonely song.
And then she heard the baying dogs in the distance. They would be upon her at any moment. She struggled again, but the ropes were too tight. She screamed and strained against them, but it was futile. She hung her head forward and began to cry in fear and frustration. She looked back up again. No, she would meet this death bravely. She would face it unflinching.
And then she felt the ropes begin to move. She looked behind her. Finn! It was Finn! She would have cried his name aloud, but the gag in her mouth prevented her.
The ropes fell and he pulled her away, leaving her to remove the gag as they ran. There was a shallow river and Aein and Finn splashed through. The sound of the dogs still followed after.
"Lars is leading the group upstream. Remember, we only need to stay ahead of the werewolves until the dawn."
"They took my sword. I cannot protect anyone," Aein said.
Finn looked back and gave her a sparkling grin full of life. "Then we run."
And so they did. Upstream through the water. She could not imagine that the sound of them splashing through would not alert the dogs which direction to head. Then Finn grabbed her arm and hauled her up the bank. She slid in the mud, desperately trying to find a toe-hold. It almost seemed as if Finn's strength as an animal was beginning to bleed into his strength as a man. He did not seem to tire. He pulled her up behind him like she weighed nothing. In the far distance, there was the sound of footsteps hitting the water, the sound of baying.
Aein froze. Surely there was a tree they could climb. A defensible embankment. A hovel hole. Somewhere they could hide.
"Run," instructed Finn again.
And that was all she needed to tear on after him. This time they remained wordless, trying to put as much distance between them and the river. Finn pushed Aein one direction as he ran the other so that their paths parted and then met up again farther down the road. Perhaps that might delay the dogs, thought Aein. They did it again. And then kept running. The baying seemed more distant, but they did not slow.
"Here!" said Finn, pointing to a grove of trees. A low fog hung around the base.
Aein pulled back, realizing what it was. "No," she whispered, pleading.
"There is nowhere else," Finn replied, placing his hands upon her back and pushing her into the forest.
Only it wasn't just the forest. It was the swamp. The swamp had grown. Its borders had become amoeba-like, stretching around the solid lands like a sickening embrace. The moment the fog touched Aein, she felt the panic begin to rise again in her throat.
"It is just a little farther," Finn urged. "I promise. Just a little further."
Aein felt a spider web fall across her face, and she quickly brushed it off, the sticky threads being too much after the ropes which just bound her. Her feet began to sink in the mud. Finn was not faring any better, but he reached back to steady her and they continued on. The howling of the dogs sounded like they were coming through a dream, but they were coming, and they were coming closer.
"Get in here!" said Finn.
The fog was so thick, she had not even seen the huge hillside. There were massive rocks in front of it. Between two of them, there was a small opening, just barely enough for a person to squeeze through. But Aein did. She pushed her body through the boulders and felt like there should have been a popping sound when she emerged. Huddled together in this makeshift stone circle were all the others who escaped from her camp, but no Lars.
"Where is Lars?" Aein asked, spinning around.
Finn squeezed after her. "He's fine."
It didn't reassure her. "Then why isn’t he here?" she asked.
At that moment, the werewolves were at the boulder opening. But they would step forward and then retreat, yipping in pain, before coming back to attack again.
"What is going on?" asked Aein.
Finn grinned as he caught his breath, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Silver ore."
"What?"
He pointed at the floor, at the rocks. "Lars led us here, but when he tried to enter, he couldn't. Just like those werewolves. We're safe."
Aein leaned her hands on her thighs and looked up. She could see the sky overhead. If the werewolves figured out how to scale the boulders they would be dead. Lars was now out in the swamp alone...
"I will save my celebration until we see the morning," she said.
Finn placed a reassuring hand upon her shoulder. "They are hunting us, not him. He will be back with the sunrise. He's been laying false tracks the entire time you and I were running. It was the only way that we survived."
Yet again, she owed her life to a man she left abandoned in the swamp.
Finn saw her shift in mood. "Come," he said. You're alive. You must tell us everything that happened between the time we left and I found you tied to a tree."
And Aein realized that she owed her life to Finn, too. If he had not been there to cut the rope. If he had not come exactly when he did, instead of abandoning her as she had told him too... she hated to think about where she would be right now.
Her face gentled as the fear begin to fade away. Finn pushed back a muddy strand of her blonde hair. "There. If we cannot laugh in the face of our own deaths, what can we laugh at?"
"I would take a court jester any day of the week," said Aein.
"So tell me a joke about those that invaded the camp."
Aein tried to ignore the relentless sound of the rabid werewolves trying to get into their sanctuary. She told them all about Lord Arnkell and his betrayal. She was glad that there was almost no light so she did not have to see the look of shock on their face. She told them of how he was going to use the werewolves to attack the Haidra lands, that she saw at least eighty, forty men and forty werewolves, among his company. She also told them that Lord Arnkell had captured the Princess Gisla.
Aein noted it was the news of the princess's fate which seemed to bother Finn the most. Finn had his back against one of the boulders and was seated in a crouch. When Aein finally ran out of words, she heard him sigh.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"We must go to the Haidra lands and warn them," said Finn. "We must tell King Haidra that his daughter is lost."