As she vanishes in the distance, one of the Murkovin splits away from the pack and follows her trail. Sending a shiver down my spine, the shape torpedoes through the dark with more velocity than any Murkovin I’ve ever seen. Whoever it is would need to match Sash’s traveling speed to cover so much ground in so little time. My first guess—my only guess—it’s the woman who Sash fought.
After the long, flat ground gives way to more hills, Larn arcs into a narrow valley. Roen and Jeni stay on either side of us as we weave between the series of uneven hills. Larn aims up the slope of one and slows a little as we near the top of the hill.
“Look behind us!” he yells.
When I check over my shoulder, I see that the Murkovin are still in pursuit. We’ve put half a mile between us, but they’re not willing to give up the chase.
“Still on us!”
Larn sails over the peak and uses the downslope to open up his throttle. With Jeni and Roen close on either side, we forge a path straight towards the Delta. The sting of rain begins to recede and murky rays peek through the edges of the slowing clouds. As Darkness ends, Larn surges forward in a new bloom of light.
After an hour of wasteland falls behind us, Larn navigates towards a high, steep hill. He slows up the slope and comes out of his blend. As soon as we reach the top, he slams to a halt and spins to look behind us. Jeni and Roen exit the beams halfway up the hill. Thankfully, they’re the only living creatures in sight. Larn and I continue to search the wasteland until Jeni and Roen stop on the crest.
“I think they gave up,” Larn says between huge gulps of air.
“I’ll keep watch,” Roen replies. “You need a rest.”
“Any wounds?” Larn asks him.
“I’m fine.”
I slide off Larn’s back and land on my good leg. Exhausted from carrying me, Larn drops to all fours and then rolls to his back. While Jeni rubs sap on the slash in her arm, I limp to a large stone and sit down.
“How could you let her go?” I angrily ask Larn and then direct my fury at Roen. “And why didn’t you stay with her?”
Roen doesn’t say anything, but Larn bolts upright and answers me with the same incensed tone that I used. “Tell me one person who can stop her when her mind is made up.”
“Calm down,” Jeni says to both of us.
I hate to admit it, but Larn is right. Better than anyone alive, I know how bullheaded Sash can be. I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on Larn and Roen, but I’m so concerned about Sash right now that I’d saw both of my legs off if it would bring her back safely.
“I’m sorry, Roen,” I say. “I’m sorry, Larn. That was uncalled for. I’d be a corpse right now if it weren’t for all of you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Roen replies.
“Thanks for giving Sash your canister on the way out,” I say to him.
“There wasn’t much left,” he tells me, “but it was something.”
My eyes wander to the drab terrain to the north. “I can’t believe she took off alone.”
“She’s doing what she thinks is right,” Larn says evenly. “Roen couldn’t have kept up with her. You know that as well as he does.”
I look down and examine my leg. Blood is still oozing from the divot in my thigh. After I pour what little sap I have left on it, the wound finally begins to scab. Since the rain has ended, it gives me at least a little hope that Sash will be able to stop her bleeding.
“It’s the Murkovin woman that’s bothering me so much,” I say to Larn. “You saw them fight. Sash couldn’t kill her. That woman is every bit as good with a spear as Sash is. When Sash headed north, one of the Murkovin followed her and was just as fast. It had to have been that woman.”
“You need to trust Sash’s judgment,” Larn replies.
“Maybe we should go after her. She was heading north.”
He shakes his head. “You know better than anyone how difficult it is to find someone in the Barrens. We’re almost out of sap, you can’t travel, and Jeni is wounded. Even if we could find her, I’m not sure we’d be much help.”
“How’s your leg?” Jeni asks me.
“It’ll heal,” I answer. “How’s your arm?”
“It’ll heal,” she says.
Larn stands from the ground. “Do you see anything?” he asks Roen.
“Not a thing,” he answers.
“I never thought I’d be so grateful for two people disobeying an order.”
Jeni stabs her spear in the dirt. “You didn’t really expect us to go back to the Delta until we knew you were safe, did you?”
“I expected everyone to stick to the plan,” Larn tells her.
“The plan fell apart,” Roen says. “Jeni and I had a back-up plan.”
“And it was well devised,” Larn replies. “You caught the Murkovin completely off guard. Sash, Chase, and I would all be face down in the mud right now if it weren’t for the two of you.”
“We’re honored to lend a hand,” Roen says.
Jeni takes a swig from her canister and then hands it to Larn. After a couple of sips, Larn holds it out to me.
“None for me,” I say. “You three need it more than I do.”
Larn, Jeni, and Roen finish the last of the sap. After helping me stand up again, Roen takes my spear from me and lifts me onto Larn’s back. The four of us sail across the Barrens in the direction of the Delta.
As hours of wasteland go by, all I can think about is Sash. When we were trying to get away, the wound in her stomach had an obvious impact on her ability to fight, and she was losing a lot of blood. Even with sap, if she has internal bleeding
