“Kull.” I said his name quietly. “Are you sure that your subjects wish for your father’s return—and not you?”
He swallowed before speaking. “We all wish for his return, but perhaps I wish for it more than anyone else. I pray for his return every moment of every waking day. My people are suffering, and I don’t know how to stop their pain. If my father were here, he would know what to do; but as it is, I am lost. I will never be the king he was.”
“That’s not true. Your people already admired you before you became king, and Heidel tells me that you have negotiated with the elves to avoid an all-out war. You’re not as lacking as you think you are. I suspect all you need is confidence.”
He eyed me. “Confidence?”
“Yes.”
“But even you have accused me of frightening my own men. I fail to see how more confidence would do any good.”
“Then perhaps you ought to stop being their enemy and be their friend instead. I’m not suggesting you let them take advantage of you, but how often do you listen to their suggestions? You’re not alone as king. There are many who are willing to help you. Be confident in their abilities. They knew your father almost as well as you did. They will help you if you let them.”
He stared at his hands, not speaking, until he finally looked up. “I’m not sure if they want to help me. Not anymore.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you’re the only person bold enough to challenge me, and, as you said, they’re afraid of me.”
“Then perhaps it’s time to change.”
For a brief moment, his eyes met mine. “Do you believe I will fail?” he asked.
“No. I believe you will succeed at whatever you do. I have always believed that.”
He nodded, not answering as he finished wrapping the gauze around my leg. His hands, no longer clenched with anger, became gentle as he unrolled and positioned the fabric.
When he’d finished, he smoothed the creases, his fingers warm as they lightly touched my skin. I’d forgotten how gentle he could be, which made me remember other things I’d forgotten—the first time he kissed me in my apartment; when he’d told me he loved me.
Oh boy.
Heidel entered, carrying three carefully balanced bowls of steaming broth. Kull moved away from me to help his sister.
“I’ve got good news—the soup is not nearly as bland as usual. Instead, it tastes only of salt. We’ll never be able to eat Eugrid’s meal packages after this journey,” Heidel said as she passed two of the bowls to her brother. “I would suggest we look for game, but I’m not sure what we’ll find in this accursed forest.”
“After the creatures we encountered last night, I wouldn’t trust anything we caught,” Kull said.
He handed me a bowl of soup. I stared at the dark brownish liquid. It had the faint scent of boiled onions, and although I was hungry, I had to force myself to take a sip, my mind still lingering on my conversation with Kull.
Some memories I knew I would never forget, no matter how much I wished to be rid of them. Would I ever be free from him?
“We’ll pack up as soon as we’re finished with our meal,” Kull said, “and then we’ll follow the map as far as it will take us. After that, we will have to search for the blight that the unicorn spoke of, which will hopefully lead us to the heart of the forest.”
We finished our soup and packed up, but my body hardly felt ready for another day of travel. The wound in my leg throbbed as I hobbled out of the tree. I found a stick to use as a cane, but as we set off, I knew I would be pushing my limits.
Of course, when Kull asked, I lied and told him I was peachy, even bouncing up and down a few times to prove my point—which turned out to be an extremely dumb move.
Thankfully, he said nothing.
It didn’t matter. I refused to let Kull see my weakness, so I pushed through the pain and followed the Wults deeper into the unicorns’ forest.
The lack of sunlight was beginning to wear me down. Dense foliage grew along our path, and several times we had to backtrack to find the right trail.
When mid-afternoon approached, the wind picked up, putting a chill in the air the deeper we traveled into the woods. We ate a quick meal of dried biscuits and a few berries we’d managed to forage along the way, then set off again.
As the sun began descending toward the horizon, we stopped at a drop-off. Below us ran the small river we’d been following since yesterday, but up ahead, the river widened and turned into a thundering waterfall.
With the rush of the water loud in our ears, Kull showed us the map. “We will have to find our way down. The river runs out of the forest, so we will no longer be able to follow it. We’ll have to follow the streams instead, which won’t be easy as there are so many of them—”
“What’s this?” Heidel asked, interrupting her brother. She stood by a tree that had lost its leaves and its bark was crumbling off. After stabbing her knife into the wood, Heidel retreated as greenish pus oozed from the tree.
“It looks like the poison in my leg,” I said.
“Yes,” Kull answered. “It might be the blight the unicorn spoke of. Look for more evidence of it as we go.”
Heidel and I followed him, and soon we found a slope that descended to the gorge’s bottom. The foliage made it difficult to see what lay below, and mud slicked the bottom of my boots as I followed the Wults down the trail. I bit my tongue against the pain in my leg, though it seemed every time I moved, the soreness increased.
Water droplets splashed my face and hands as we edged
