She didn’t like it, that much was obvious. But Celia was smart, too.
“Besides, I need you to stay at the gate. All of you. If it goes bad, you need to pull me back.”
“Pull you back?” Friedrich asked. “From where?”
“You said that people started slowing down out there pretty quickly. That’s when the rats came. We’ll tie a rope around me and if I start slowing down, you guys pull me back quickly.”
“Have to be an awfully long rope,” Friedrich muttered.
“Agreed,” Solomon said. “Know where we can find one?”
Friedrich shook his head, so Solomon turned in his seat.
“How about you guys?”
The kids grinned and nodded. “Might have to tie a few together,” Christoph said.
“Good enough.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Again, the kids were good to their word and a short time later they had several lengths of rope coiled in Greta and Friedrich’s house.
“Where’d you say you got it?” the older man asked, running a length of it through his hands.
“Probably better not to say,” Christoph replied.
Friedrich nodded. “Yep. I understand. When this is done, we’re going to return it where we got it, right?”
Christoph said nothing, until Friedrich looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Then the boy nodded. “Sure. We can do that.”
“Good man,” Friedrich said, and Solomon was glad to see the pride that quickly crossed the boy’s face.
“What’s the plan?” Celia asked.
“Simple, like I said,” Solomon answered. “We go to the gate and tie the rope around my waist, good and snug so it won’t slip off. Then, I take off running as fast as I can. If I start faltering, or if I yell, you pull me back, as fast as possible. Hopefully, it will be too quick for the rats. If not…well, I’ve survived a bite before. Two of them, as a matter of fact.”
“Maybe you were lucky, then,” Christoph said.
“I was. But this time, I know where to go. If I do get bitten and you can pull me back, then take me to Doc Mia. She knows what to do.”
“Let’s assume you make it,” Celia said. “What then?”
“When I reach the end of the rope, I get rid of it and keep going. I get to the Mar-trollid camp, then…well, then we’ll have to see.”
“And how do you get back here?”
“That part should be easy. There’s no problem with coming here, just leaving. At least there wasn’t last time.”
“Last time you got bit,” Friedrich reminded him.
“True, but last time I stopped to see what was going on. This time, I’ll be moving as fast as I can.”
“You know,” Celia put in, “we don’t even know that’s where the hunters were headed. They could have been going anywhere.”
Solomon nodded. “Very true. And I hope we’re wrong. They’ve got a long head start and they’re probably there already, if that’s where they were going and if the Mar-trollid were still camped in the same spot. And if the hunters were going elsewhere, it’d be good to know that, too.”
“And if you can’t find them?”
“I come back here anyway. I’m not leaving for good. Only long enough to make sure the Mar-trollid are safe, help them if they need it, and find out what I can about the hunters.”
“Don’t travel at dusk or dawn,” Greta said. “Hide during those times. No one can fight that many hunters at once. If you meet them coming back, they’ll take you.”
“Promise. I’m not going to fight unless I have to. Anything else?”
Solomon waited, and even though no one appeared thrilled with his plan, no one objected anymore either.
“All right then.”
“Wait,” Celia said, “before we go, I’d like to talk to you.”
She held out her hand and led him into the small bedroom that she was using, the one that belonged to Lyssa.
Once the door was closed, she turned to him, studying his face, but saying nothing.
In the quiet of the room, Solomon could hear his own heart beating. He wanted to embrace her, hold her tight and let her feel how much he loved her. But for one of the very few times in his life, he wasn’t sure of what to do.
Finally, Celia sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. Solomon sat next to her.
“I don’t hate you,” she began, her voice low. “But I can’t look at you without seeing the man responsible for my father’s death.”
Solomon said nothing. He understood. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t blame himself for letting his feelings for Celia dictate his actions. If he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been taken by the spirit, Solomon wouldn’t have been exiled and maybe he could have stopped the Soul Gaunts.
“And that’s not fair,” Celia continued. “It’s an unreal expectation that anyone, even you, could have stopped what happened.”
He was grateful for her words but could see that there was more to come.
“The thing is,” she continued, “is that I don’t know where to go from here. Knowing that my feelings are unfair to you doesn’t mean that I don’t have them. I love you. I probably always will. But I don’t know that I can be with you.”
His heart sank. After all this time, thinking she was dead, then finding out that she wasn’t. He had put off coming after her to do what he considered to be his duty to his people and his land, and even, yes, to her father. Now, to find her and lose her again so quickly.
“I understand.” He said it out loud this time.
“Do
