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Aein choked back the bile as it rose in her throat. She needed to be strong for Lars, she told herself. She fixed on him, but as their eyes locked, she realized he was telling himself the same thing.
The campground was littered with bodies. Their heads were twisted on their necks and their stomachs had been ripped open by something with sharp claws. The doors had been ripped off the wooden sleeping shacks to get at the people inside. They had been dead for some time. The stench of the rot sat heavy in the air. Flies and maggots were making a meal of these guardsmen, these loyal people who had faithfully served Queen Gisla. They had not been killed by some wild animal for food, they had been killed for the joy of death.
Finn sat on his haunches, unable to stop himself, and lifted his muzzle to the sky, letting out a plaintive howl. He had known them all, Aein realized. He served with these men and women. He would have been the one to send them to this doom.
She ran forward and wrapped her arms around his body as he continued to cry in the only way his form would allow. She glanced up. Lars was picking his way through the carnage. He opened his hands and placed them against four evenly spaced slashes in the tree. He could not spread his fingers wide enough to fit in the marks. It was a monster who had done this, something so huge it could rip into the trunk of a tree with a swipe of its paw.
Aein thought of what Finn and Lars had been before they’d eaten the berries. They had been driven by this same instinct to destroy. Whatever did this was not just some animal, it was a creature of the swamp.
Lars tied the horses to a far tree, giving them enough lead so they could eat what they could of the sparse grass. Finn finally stopped howling. He leaned his whole weight against Aein, whimpering with every breath. Lars crouched down beside him. "We have to burn the bodies before the sun goes down," he said, his emotions masked beneath the stone surface of duty. "Bodies in the swamp have been known to rise."
She brushed back Finn's filthy mats of muddy fur. "I need you to find safe water for us to clean ourselves in. We will handle this," she promised.
Finn wobbled away, as if each step caused him pain.
"Come on," said Lars to Aein. "We have to do this."
They began gathering wood and got the pit started. Once the fire was crackling, there was no putting it off any longer. Aein and Lars, picking up and pulling what they could, drew the bodies to the fire. It had been so long since they died that some of the body parts fell off as they carried them. Aein had to stop to empty the contents of her stomach several times. The stench of charred, rotting, human flesh was one of the worst things she ever endured. Lars continued on with a grim stoicism. Here she thought she would need to be the one to lend him strength, and he was the one taking it most in stride.
Finn returned, but they did not acknowledge him until the last body was on the fire. The sun was hanging low in the sky by the time they were done.
Aein and Lars grabbed clean clothes from their packs and then followed Finn to a spring which they were both already very much aware was there. They just needed to give Finn a job while they handled his friends.
Aein and Lars stripped, helping each other out of their armor and all three of them dove into the pond. Between the muck from the bog and the filth Aein did not want to contemplate from the camp, the water was soon murky and brown. Aein kept an alert eye for creatures who might try to sneak up on them. By the time they were clean, it was almost time for the transformation. Aein climbed out of the water followed by Finn and Lars. They dressed in silence. None of them made a move to go back to the campground.
The shift came. It was a gentle ripple. One minute, Finn was in wolf form, and the next he was human. His eyes were full of tears, his face full of grief.
"Thank you for saving me in the bog," said Lars, coming forward and gripping Finn's arm. The man nodded his head in acceptance.
"We must decide what we need to do next," said Finn, his voice cracking. "What is your recommendation?"
Lars rubbed his hands through his wet, red hair. "That we set fire to this entire swamp and call it a day?"
Finn laughed a harsh, sad chuckle. "I shall be the first with a torch."
"We have to leave two here on the border," Lars stated. There was a resigned finality to his tone. He knew he was the best choice to stay. "If we don't, more of what caused this will come through. We have to hold the swamp—"
That was all they had time for. Just as Lars was about to continue his sentence, he faded. Frustration crossed his face before his emotions were lost behind his muzzle and fur.
Finn rested his hand upon Lars's powerful shoulder. "We shall hold the border," he promised. He directed Aein. "You will need to ride as quickly as possible to Queen Gisla—"
Aein cut him off. "You mean you need to ride as quickly as possible to Queen Gisla."
The silence between them was charged with energy. Even the birds stopped singing. Finn turned back to Lars and asked, "Would you give us a minute?"
The wolf got up quickly, as if he wanted no part of this discussion. He trotted off towards the camp without pausing to look back.
When he was out of sight, Finn came back to Aein. "I cannot leave you here in the swamp," argued Finn.
"This swamp is a part of the land which I belong," Aein pointed out. "If a soldier from Lord Arnkell's stronghold shows up here and sees you, he'll kill you. No questions asked. It will be a sign of war and end whatever truce, uneasy as it might be, between Queen Gisla and Lord Arnkell. At least if I stay, there's a chance it might be someone I know and can talk some sense to them."
"That's not an option—" Finn began.
But Aein would not give. She held up her hand and ticked off the points on each of her fingers. "You are the only one who knew these men and women and you owe it to them to deliver this news to their families. You're the only one who knows what size an army needs to be brought back. You're the only one who can organize the troops. And finally..." Aein glanced away. A strange lump rose in her throat. "I cannot lead a war." She shrugged apologetically. "If I came across Lord Arnkell marching with a battalion of guards, I do not know if I could tell Queen Gisla's army to attack my old friends. Please don't make me kill my people until I absolutely have to."
Finn gripped her arms, pleading, "I cannot allow you to stay here. If I come back and find you slaughtered like that—"
"Finn, Lars needs me. You and he might be able to live because of the shift, but he needs me to help keep him sane. I am the only one who knew what he went through."
And then, without a word of warning, Finn bent down and pressed his lips against Aein's, his stubble rough around her mouth. His arms engulfed her, wrapping her so tight, she wasn't sure where her body ended and his began. She felt herself melting, the heat chasing away all the horrors of the swamp. The kiss was desperate and urgent. It devoured her whole. It was as if he needed to fit a lifetime of regrets and passion into that one moment. It was as if he didn't trust she would be there for him to ever touch again. When they parted, he rested his forehead against hers. "Don't you dare die on me. Don't you dare be the one I find in a heap, slaughtered by some monster because I wasn't fast enough getting back. Live."
Aein flung her arms around his neck and held him close, the thinness of her linen shirt allowing the heat of his body to seep into her skin, allowing the beating of his heart to play against hers. She pressed her lips to his temple so that her words would rumble in his bones. "I promise," she said. "I promise. Now, go."
Without another word, Finn turned and made his way back to the camp. She picked up the discarded armor and slowly made her way back, picking her way through the tree stumps and rocks. The fading twilight made it hard to see her way. Somewhere along the line Lars found her. She gripped onto his fur and let him guide her through. He made no indication that he saw what passed between her and Finn, but she was sure he could smell Finn all over her.
By the time they reached the camp, Finn had loaded up one of the horses with the few provisions he would need to get back to the Haidra kingdom. He turned back to Aein and Lars, that lapse of passion now hidden behind his duty. "You take care of her. I am leaving her in your care and will hold you responsible if anything happens." His eyes locked with Aein's and she knew his words were meant for her. "I will be back. I promise, I will be back. I will fly as quickly as my horse will let me and I will return."
Aein raised her hand in goodbye as he mounted and was gone, disappearing into the darkness. They stood there long after the sound of the hooves faded and the still silence returned to the swamp. Aein stared down at Lars as Finn's final words looped in her head. She tried to force back the memory of the time she had been the one on horseback, the time when she had been the one to leave the swamp. She had made the same promise not so long ago.