36

When they’d gathered enough wood to start building a fire, Amber went back to the clearing with their first armful. In the meantime, Cam continued looking, all the while keeping an eye out for danger and for food. Both habits were second nature to him. Their meager stock wouldn’t last long but fortunately, foraging was something he did very well.

He felt very protective of his new companions.

Spying a cluster of mushroom caps growing amid the roots of a large hornbeam, he knelt to inspect them. They weren’t any kind he recognized, so he reluctantly left them where they were. He’d seen how quickly the wrong kind of mushroom could kill a man. Cam considered offering them to Simon. The thought made him smile. If the man ate them with no ill effects, no harm done.

And if they proved fatal?

Well, at least he would’ve done something useful for the group.

Cam left that happy notion behind, along with the mushrooms. He wouldn’t do it, of course. True, he didn’t like or trust Simon, but the man hadn’t done anything to warrant such treatment. Besides, poison was the weapon of cowards and Romans. If he ever killed Simon, it would be face to face.

A crackling of branches caught his attention. Instinctively, he slipped behind a tree until he could see who—or what—was making the noise. A figure stepped into view. Cam peered cautiously through his screen of leafy branches. His eyes narrowed.

Simon.

Cam had no great wish to greet the annoying man at the best of times, so he decided to remain out of sight. Simon strolled casually with a little smile on his face, that of a man without a care in the world. Cam looked behind him for the woman, Alex, frowning when he didn’t see or hear her. What possible reason could she have for staying behind?

As Simon drew closer, Cam noticed worrisome signs. The man sported a bloody gash on the side of his forehead. His clothing was torn and encrusted with mud, along with other, darker stains that spoke of something more sinister. Yet he didn’t wear the look of a person who had run into trouble. If anything, he looked pleased with himself.

Cam also noted that he didn’t have any water. Hadn’t they left with a bucket? Was Alex following behind, carrying it? He shook his head, watching Simon saunter by. Why had he saddled her with all the work? Why had he left her unescorted in the woods? He had no doubts about Alex’s courage or strength, but what kind of man would ramble off and leave a woman behind to fend for herself?

His dislike continued to grow.

Cam waited a few minutes to give Simon time to go past him and out of sight again, staying concealed while he kept an eye on the woods to see if Alex would appear. When she didn’t, he quickly headed back to the clearing.

* * *

Back in the clearing, Amber stacked the bundle of firewood she’d gathered. Sweat dripped between her breasts and trickled down her back, and her shift was damp under the corset.

Oh, for a hot shower, she thought.

She shed the buff coat, but left the breeches and boots on for the time being, along with the Han Solo jacket. The soldier’s boots fit her well and were surprisingly comfortable, the leather supple and well worn.

Guess people really were smaller, back in the day.

“That’s a nice look,” Nellie said, grinning at Amber’s new outfit. She’d changed out of her stolen uniform, too, so that she was in her original garb—a dark blue two-piece traveling dress made of broadcloth and camel-hair trim. Over that, she wore a Scotch ulster overcoat and a jaunty matching ghillie cap, both of black-and-white plaid.

“So glad to be back in my real clothes!” she sighed.

“Where did those come from?” Amber asked in amazement, admiring all the vintage wear.

“This was the bundle I brought when I came to rescue you. I couldn’t bear the thought of being stuck in those horrid peasant clothes a minute longer!”

“You know, that cap makes you look like Sherlock Holmes.”

Nellie laughed. “What? Cheeky girl! I’ll have you know, this is the height of fashion. At least it was a few days ago. Does no one wear hats in the future?”

Amber gave her a tired smile, and sat down to wait for Cam to return. She felt a little guilty that he was still foraging without her help, but mostly grateful for the chance to catch her breath and rest for a bit.

Still, she couldn’t help but worry about their pursuers. The risks increased with every moment they stayed in one place. She wasn’t sure how far away they’d have to travel to shake off the fanatical Roundheads, but she doubted they’d gone far enough yet.

The day’s events played over again in her mind’s eye. Nearly tortured. Nearly raped. Nearly burned at the stake. Any one of those “nearlys” could have turned out so much worse, but that didn’t help her relax. She wasn’t sure she’d ever relax again.

She felt better knowing Cam was keeping an eye on things, and that Merlin had his drones flying on patrol. She wished that Alex and Simon would get back with the water though, if only to stop Professor Harcourt griping about it.

“Why do you suppose they’re not back yet?” Harcourt asked again. He turned to Merlin. “Didn’t you say it wasn’t far at all?” He phrased it almost as an accusation.

Merlin and Nellie ignored him. This left only Amber. She wasn’t hard-hearted enough to blow him off. She wished she was, but she wasn’t.

“It may not be that far,” she said, “but they had to make their way through trees and who knows what. And a bucket full of water is heavy, so it’s going to take them longer to walk back.” She smiled at him, face hurting from the insincerity. She would have gladly thrown him back to the megalodon to shut him up. “I’m sure everything is fine.”

At that moment Simon burst out of the trees, limping heavily, blood running down from a gash on his forehead.

“Jesus! I couldn’t do anything…”

He took a few more stumbling steps, then dropped to his knees.

Amber jumped to her feet and ran forward, Nellie close on her heels. Merlin—sitting Indian style as he concentrated on directing the rovers—looked up in surprise. Professor Harcourt followed a few steps behind, as if making sure it was safe before getting too close.

The first to reach Simon, Amber steadied him as he started to slump forward. She struggled to hold him up, but managed to stop him from doing a faceplant in the grass.

“Simon! What happened?”

“We—” He stopped, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps. He had a full water skin slung around his shoulder and she quickly uncorked it, lifting the spout to his lips so he could take a drink. He nodded his thanks, taking another draft before continuing.

“We found the water,” he said. “We’d filled the skins and the bucket. Alex… she wanted to rinse off a bit, you know? Clean herself. Said she felt mucky. She was leaning down there at the water’s edge, splashing water in her face, so she didn’t see it when it came out of the water.”

“Oh my god!” Amber covered her mouth.

“When what came out of the water?” Nellie hunkered down next to her.

“Ah fuck, I dunno.” Simon shook his head as if to clear it. “It was some sort of giant scorpion thing. The one that grabbed Alex was as big as the wagon. Bigger, maybe. Another one—a smaller one—attacked me before I could do anything. I had my knife, stabbed it in its eyes…” He trailed off, swallowed, then looked up, his eyes filled with pain and regret.

“By the time I got away, it was too late. The fucker had stung her, ripped into her. She wasn’t moving.”

Nellie looked at him in disbelief. “Do you mean to tell me that you left her there?”

“Well, I—”

“You left her there, without checking to see if she was still alive?”

Simon shook his head in denial, tears streaking through the mud and blood on his face. “You weren’t there,” he insisted. “Jesus, I barely got away myself. Do you think I would’ve left her if there had been anything I could’ve done to help?”

Nellie shot Harcourt a quick condemning glare. “Not everyone does what they can.”

Harcourt flushed a fiery, shamed red and stayed unaccustomedly silent.

“Merlin,” Nellie called out urgently. “We need to go see if there’s anything we can do for Alex.”

A sudden movement caught Amber’s attention and she looked up, startled. Cam stood at the edge of the clearing, at the same spot where Simon had emerged. He watched them in intense silence, his face unreadable as stone. The fury burning behind his eyes terrified her.

“Cam, what—” she began.

* * *

The Celt suddenly stormed forward, grabbed Amber by the arm and hauled her to her feet. She yelped in shock. Simon tried to hold on to her and Cam shoved him back, hard. He hit the ground with a wince and a whimper of pain, then glared up, furious.

“What the hell, mate?”

“Cam, what the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you see he’s hurt?” Amber pulled away from him and turned back to Simon.

Cam gave a frustrated growl and ran over to Merlin. The doctor sat with eyes closed, deep in concentration. Cam hated to risk disturbing the wizard if he was in the middle of spellcasting, but he had to warn them.

“Mo thiarna asarlaí…” Cam began.

My lord sorcerer…

Merlin shook his head and held up a hand to silence him.

“We have contact from the rovers!” he called out to the others. He put a hand to his ear, even though Cam couldn’t see anything there. “A Roundhead horseman has dismounted and is entering the forest to our north and advancing. May just be a scout, or he might be the first of many.”

“How much time do we have?” Harcourt gasped.

“No time. They’re coming our way. We need to pull things together now and leave.”

Cam threw a brief, almost pleading look at Amber, then took off at a dead run back into the forest.

* * *

“Cam!” Amber turned to Nellie. “I think he’s going to look for Alex. He shouldn’t go off alone.” She started after him, but Simon grabbed her by the arm.

“You can’t go off by yourself,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Let go of me!” Amber shook his hand off her arm and ran after Cam.

Simon turned to the rest of them. “You lot take care of whatever’s coming. I’ll take care of Amber.”

“Just get them and hurry back!” Merlin said. “We can’t stay here for much longer.”

Simon nodded and vanished back into the trees.

Harcourt shook his head. “That one never struck me as a heroic type.”

“Something has our boy Cam riled up,” Nellie said worriedly.

“I’ll talk to him as soon as I can,” Merlin said. “Right now we need to get out of here. Load up!”

* * *

Cam sprinted through the ancient forest, charging between the trees with reckless speed. He hated to leave Amber, hated that he couldn’t explain his outburst, but there was no time to waste. He was frightened, but his fear was for the woman, Alex, not for himself.

He feared it was already too late for her.

Daylight was almost gone, though a full moon had risen, adding some illumination as it filtered through the trees. Following the route Simon had taken, he ran straight until the foliage changed, and he could detect the scent of water ahead. He burst out between two fern trees, coming to a skidding halt to avoid stumbling into the middle of a nightmare.

He was too late.

Giant clawed beetle-things, half a dozen or more— some the size of badgers and others larger than wolves— scuttled about at the water’s edge, fighting over the mutilated remains of a human body. Cam recognized Alex by the clothing and a brief glimpse of her face, frozen in an expression of dazed horror.

No one should die this way, he thought. A warrior with as much courage and heart as this woman should leave this world with honor and the keening of her loved ones to send her on her way.

One of the smaller things sat on top of what was left of her chest, chewing at one shoulder with its disgusting mandibles. Then another clawed horror—at least three times the size of the one that was feeding—smacked it away with furious chittering sounds. The little creature tumbled into the claws of a yet another larger relative, only to be snatched up and swiftly devoured while it squirmed and wriggled to escape. The biggest monster proceeded to drag Alex’s corpse into the water. As it did so, her head lolled back drunkenly, giving Cam a good look as the red line in her neck opened like a second mouth.

As Cam stared in horror, her body slid into the water, vanishing along with the monster. The smaller creatures regrouped and scurried toward him with purpose. He backed away from the creeping, scuttling nightmares, his mind reeling with horrible realizations. Any doubts were now gone.

If Simon had truly witnessed her death in the clutches of these chittering abominations, he could never have looked as carefree as he had in the forest. The show he’d put on for the others was clearly false.

Simon was lying.

Alex’s throat had been cut, not torn by the coarsely serrated claws of these beasts, but with a sharp metal blade wielded expertly.

Simon was a murderer.

And he had just left Amber and the others in Simon’s company.

Cam turned to race back to the clearing, praying to all the gods he worshipped that he would not be too late this time.