The tharuk was on her again. Marlies cringed into the icy mountain face, cowering before the tharuk; a risky move, but a risk she’d take. As the snarling beast prowled closer, she gripped the rock and kicked out with both feet, sending the tharuk backward over the mountainside.
Marlies landed on her backside, her blood splattering the snow. She reached into her pouch and wrapped a strip of bandage around her arm. She had to go before more troops came. Retrieving her gear, and cradling her injured arm, Marlies stepped over the dead tharuk and started up the steep slope toward Devil’s Gate.
Weathering the Storm
Lovina’s nightmare kept them both up, talking quietly until dawn. Only then had she fallen into an exhausted sleep by the fire. Tomaaz dozed most of the day, half an ear open for intruders.
When he woke, he checked the snare, not expecting to find much after checking a few times the day before, but they’d been in luck. The fat buck soon ended up in the pot.
Tomaaz stirred the rabbit stew with a stick, then threw another handful of bear leek into the pot. His stomach grumbled, protesting at the wait. They’d exhausted the cache of dried food last night before they’d fallen asleep. He gave the stew another stir.
“It’s a starry night. I think the storm has passed.” Lovina was at the cavern mouth, peeking out the side of the blanket.
He nodded. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.” There wouldn’t be any fresh snow to cover his tracks outside. To stay any longer would be dangerous.
Lovina moved back toward the fire, wincing as she walked.
“I’ll check your arm after we’ve eaten. How’s your head?” The gash had healed well, forming a clean scab.
She shrugged her uninjured shoulder. “My head’s fine, but if we open the bandage on my arm, it’ll probably just get dirty. It’s not as if we have clean cloths, here, or cleansing herbs.”
“Good point. We’ll check it as soon as we’re back at the cabin.”
He didn’t dare mention his worst fears. Pa hadn’t found them, and neither had the dragons. Each time he’d gone out yesterday to check the snare, he’d scanned the skies. Once he’d seen a distant dragon, and jumped and waved, but it hadn’t seen him. He hadn’t dared call out. Another time he’d seen a flash in the sky, but it had only been an eagle. Was Pa alive? Were the dragons still here? Or did Pa think they were dead?
And what about Ma, traversing the realm on her own?
Tomorrow they’d strike out and try to find the cabin, although in this vast forest, it was like seeking a thimble on the ground in a crowded marketplace. And if they found the cabin, what would they be facing? Pa’s dead remains? A slew of slaughtered tharuks? Or Pa fighting beasts? He didn’t want to burden Lovina with his worries, but if they couldn’t find the cabin, what then? They’d be stuck, far from anywhere, stranded, without adequate weapons or food.
One step at a time. First, they’d eat, then sleep. The morning might bring new possibilities.
Lovina brought their mugs over. “I’ve searched for bowls in that chest, but this is all we have.”
“They’ll do fine.” Tomaaz smiled, trying to put her at ease. “Unless you want to eat straight from the pot?”
“Without spoons or forks?”
He poured the thick stew. They held their mugs, blowing on the steaming contents.
Lovina’s stomach growled.
“Sounds like a bear, sniffing out the bear leek,” Tomaaz quipped.
She grinned. “If you’d told me two weeks ago that I’d be sitting in a cave today, free of Bill, eating rabbit stew, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
“You’re safe now,” he said.
“Tomaaz,” she used his name again. With her accent, it sounded so exotic.
“I know you must’ve traveled all over with Bill, but where are you from, originally?”
Lovina ducked her head. “Monte Vista.”
“Where’s that?”
“Northwest of the Flatlands, near the foot of the Terramites on the very edge of the Great Spanglewood Forest.”
Tomaaz shrugged. “I’ve heard of the Flatlands, but—”
Lovina laughed.
It took his breath away. Musical and clear, he couldn’t remember any other sound giving him such a light carefree feeling in his chest. He grinned. “What?”
“Lush Valley bumpkin!”
His grin grew wider. “Yeah, I know, I’ve never been out of Lush Valley.”
“You’re lucky. It’s must’ve been a beautiful place to grow up.” Her smile faded. “That’ll all change now that tharuks have breached the pass.”
“We have to stop them.”
She nodded. “Zens’ tharuks aren’t kind, even to the littlings.”
She’d suffered so much. She had no idea how brave she was.
After their meal, Tomaaz took down the blanket hanging above the fire and passed it to her. “It’s nice and warm, a little smoky, but it’ll be better than sleeping on the cold stone again.” Would she sleep tonight? Or would her nights always be plagued with the terror of remembering?
She held the wool to her cheek. “I can’t let you sleep on bare rock.”
“Can’t be helped. If I take down the other one, someone might see our fire. Or the smoke.” With the entrance blocked, the smoke was funneling up through fissures in the cavern roof, getting lost in the mass of stone above them.
Lovina stared at her feet, her voice breathy. “We could share. It might help my nightmares go away.” She looked up, her forget-me-nots pleading. “Please.” Her voice quivered, a whisper sliding inside him, melting his heart.
An ache built in his chest. “Of course,” he whispered back, stroking a strand of hair from her face. “Of course we can share.”
They nestled near the fire, Lovina on her left side facing the flames, and Tomaaz
