“We should camp for the night. It’s getting dark.” Hakken ran behind them while she clung to Regn’s back after switching for a breather. Hakken paraded a very meaningful scowl.
Regn didn’t even turn to look at him. The smile in his voice came out irritating enough. “We still have at least an hour of sunlight, but if you can’t go on, I guess we will have to—”
“I can go on for the entire night if I wanted to! I’m worried about Maeve!” Hakken growled back.
These men were exasperating, and the heat wasn’t helping to ease their moods. Maeve groaned. “I’m all right, and I’m certain you two can still run for a while. Hua said we would get there tomorrow afternoon, we should stop for today. Anything could happen on Astika’s palace, so we will need to arrive rested and focused.”
They set up for the night, lighting a small fire and roasting the meat they caught while traveling. Finn told her about edible berries in the area, and Maeve got a handful to accompany her dinner that night. She missed her little orchard.
As they ate in silence, the weight of what might happen tomorrow plagued her thoughts. “Will this work?” Maeve asked.
“Do you mean, will that snake agree to help us, or will we be able to make the horde fall asleep?” Regn replied.
“Both.”
The young half-breed wiped his lips. “Well... he will most likely agree. Ending this conflict is good for everyone in the Forest. We can’t tell how far this will spread if we don’t act now.” He took a moment to stretch. “I guess Astika is the only one who can tell us how reliable this sleeping magic is.”
Maeve rubbed her arms. She wasn’t cold, but all that uncertainty made her feel anxious, and a nasty chill crawled over her skin. A calming hand caressed her back, soothing her nerves. Even while entranced by the fire, Hakken kept a watchful eye on her.
“There’s no point in worrying about it now. We will have those answers tomorrow.” The twinkling flames shone on Regn’s eyes. “What we should think is what we can do if none of this works.”
“We kill them.” They both turned to Hakken, startled by his foreboding tone. “We fight hard, and we free them from that cruelty.”
Hearing those words, Maeve’s spirit plummeted, but they couldn’t hide from that possibility. Hakken would never say something like this lightly, but hearing it out loud was disheartening. His eyes searched the flames, lost in painful memories. “We beg for forgiveness after it is all over.”
The next morning they set out early in hopes to cover a long distance before the merciless midday sun hit them. The last stretch of their journey lay before them; a long and narrow ravine. Hua told them that right at the end, Astika’s palace would be like a beacon of pomposity, impossible to miss.
As soon as they entered the natural corridor, the wind ceased, and the heat became unbearable. Here, the vegetation grew different; abundant, and with vivid colors, a green so bright it was almost surreal. The humidity in the air soon had them covered in sweat.
“You can put me down Hakken, you can’t run here anyway, and you’ll get tired.” Here she could keep their pace. The thick branches proved difficult to cut, so it forced them to walk instead of run.
“It’s probably for the best. I can cut these vines faster.” He set her down on the ground. “I’m sorry, beautiful.”
Maeve gave him an encouraging smile and focused on walking while staying close to them. The high temperatures were so irksome. It took all her energy to move forward and avoid getting stuck on the thorny bushes.
Perhaps for that reason, they didn’t notice the Forest’s restlessness. Birds and critters fluttered around, alarmed. The heat caused Maeve to sway, woozy by the oppressive atmosphere and heedless of her surroundings. Hakken and Regn looked as groggy as her.
They didn’t hear him until he jumped right over them.
Regn led their march, so both Maeve and Hakken caught the blur of a large body slamming hard against him, sending him flying to the side. Hakken leaped in front of her, so fast the movement could only be fueled by instinct. But the mountain warrior grabbed him by his clothes and threw him away as if he were weightless.
Maeve now faced a deranged mountain half-breed. In a blink of an eye, she recognized how damaged he was, his body covered in deep wounds the dust could barely heal, and a leg so swollen it had to be broken. Whatever pain he must have been in didn’t seem to matter since he moved under the dust control, and he acted to kill.
Urging her body to escape, Maeve tripped and fell to the ground, terrified and defenseless. The man took a step towards her before Regn held him from behind, locking his arms into a tight grip.
“Do it! Free him! I’ll hold him!” He hollered, struggling to keep hold. With no time for fear, Maeve jumped to action, standing right in front of the man and holding his face with both hands, reaching to find his will. It didn’t take long. Like Flyg, this man struggled to be free, and Maeve found his resolve almost immediately. But his body was still attacking. Maeve watched in horror how he released his arms from Regn’s grip and shook him off his back. It took every bit of courage in her to keep her hold on his face.
But now she stood defenseless and right within his grasp. Her own dread threatened to make her lose the grip she had on the man’s emotions, and for a second, she feared this was the end.
He would kill her.
She considered letting go of his face and escape, but the look of despair in his eyes forced her to find her courage. Would she crumble at the first trial? It was her responsibility to save them now.
Maeve gritted
