Page 26 of A Land So Wide

I t took Greer nearly an hour to drag Lachlan out of the Hunting Grounds.

Darkness had claimed the sky, and, without a lantern, navigating their way through the brambled wood was nearly impossible.

Lachlan was no help, leaning so heavily against Greer’s side it was a struggle to keep him upright.

She wondered if he’d slipped into shock, if seeing a Bright-Eyed had somehow jarred his mind loose.

Finally, Greer spotted the bright dots of dozens of lanterns, lined up just beyond the gate, warming the area and holding back the night. It seemed the entirety of Mistaken was waiting for them.

“I see something!” cried the small voice of a child. “They’re coming! They’re coming!”

As they approached the fence, Lachlan staggered forward, caught on a tree root or perhaps his own foot, and grabbed Greer. “What was that? Is it the monsters?” he gasped, sounding panicked.

Greer tried to shove him away but his hold was firm. “Stand up,” she hissed. “We’re nearly home. Nothing is after you.”

“Greer?” Hessel cried out, lost somewhere in the sea of glowing lights. “Is that Greer?”

“And Lachlan…I think.” Greer recognized the alto of Imogene Davis—Lachlan’s mother.

Hessel fought his way to the front, swinging open the gate. “They’re back!” he confirmed, sounding happier than Greer could ever recall. “Are you both all right? When Third Bellows sounded, and you’d not come back…”

The words left unspoken pricked at Greer.

“We’re all right,” Lachlan said, even as his grip tightened.

“No,” Greer began. “Ell—”

Hessel clapped his hands, drawing the town’s attention. “The last of the couples have returned. Our Hunt is at an end!”

Greer looked sharply to Lachlan, still clutching her arm. Sensing the weight of the town’s eyes upon him, he’d straightened, and his hold now looked more protective than needy. She turned to her father, protest bubbling from her diaphragm. “We are not a couple. He did not claim me!”

Hessel slapped a proud hand across Lachlan’s back. “Well done, son.”

And Lachlan…smiled.

Greer gaped as the curve of his mouth deepened into a wide grin. More men stepped forward, offering out handshakes and their congratulations. It seemed their adoration for the town’s favorite son overrode any reservations they held for Greer.

“Lachlan didn’t find me,” she reiterated, raising her voice. “Lachlan, tell them. Tell them what we saw!” He ignored her. “Father,” she said, turning to Hessel and pulling him from the crowd. “Something horrible happened out there. Ellis is gone.”

For one terrible moment, Hessel did not react. He only stared at her, listening for more, as if her words were not news but confirmation.

He knows . He already knew .

“Gone?” Hessel finally asked, carefully schooling his tone.

“Just after Thirds, Ellis crossed over the border and went into the forest,” she said anyway, wanting to watch him hear it. “He wasn’t thrown back.”

“That’s not possible.”

“I thought that, too, but it happened all the same. And then…” Greer paused, her throat tightening as she remembered the thing in the sky that had followed. “And then a Bright-Eyed went after him.”

She expected him to deny it. She expected him to say she’d misunderstood or imagined what she’d seen. Hessel surprised her by doing neither.

“You’re certain? It was a Bright-Eyed?”

Lachlan, suddenly aware of Greer’s absence, turned to join them. “I saw it as well. It went after Beaufort.”

Greer marveled at Lachlan’s composure, as if he’d not spent their return journey cowering from every strange noise, every looming shadow. He pantomimed the Bright-Eyed’s girth, the width of its wingspan, then curved all his fingers, approximating talons.

It had four toes, not five, Greer silently corrected, remembering when she’d first seen it swoop out of the clouds. Not two .

“Well.” Hessel let out a long breath. “Beaufort made his choice.”

She let out a short, choking laugh. “What choice? No one just leaves Mistaken. Not after sunset.”

Hessel frowned at her outburst. “It must have happened before sunset. The Bright-Eyed took him before Third Bellows.” His tone was even and reasonable, as though they were disputing nothing more than the price of wheat at market.

Greer shook her head, anger filling her jaw and urging her to snap and bite.

“No. No. That’s not how it happened. Ellis left after the Bellows.

I saw him. I heard the last horn, and he stepped over the border, and the Stones did not throw him back.

And the Bright-Eyed…” She shuddered. “The Bright-Eyed didn’t take him.

It stalked after him. Ellis is still alive!

Lachlan!” She looked to the young man, waiting for him to confirm what they’d seen.

Instead, he rubbed cloying circles across her back. “She has a right to be upset.” Lachlan glanced to Hessel. “It was all terribly confusing.”

She squirmed against the patronizing strokes. “Get your hands off me.”

“The sun had set, and it was so cloudy,” Lachlan went on. “So many things going on. Ellis being snatched up. Me claiming you.” He tried to take her hand, but she jerked from his grasp. “It’s no wonder she’s confused.”

“That’s not how it happened, and you know it!” Greer snarled. “Ellis is out there, in the woods now, with that Bright-Eyed tracking him. He needs help.”

Hessel made a sound of disbelief. “How exactly do you propose we offer it?” He gestured toward the hill behind them, up to where the Bellows lay. “As you say, it’s after Thirds. We can’t cross the border. Not as Mr. Beaufort did. Apparently,” he added.

Greer clenched her fingers. “At sunrise. We need to go after him at sunrise. We should ready our packs now. Food and water and medical supplies. Ropes. Weapons. Maps!” she exclaimed. “I’ll get every one I have, and we’ll divide them among the search parties.”

Hessel’s expression softened, turning to pity. “If what you saw was truly a Bright-Eyed, then there’s no need to go after the boy,” he said, picking his words gently. “There won’t be anything left to find.”

“He’s not dead!” Greer said, bristling.

She didn’t think he was dead. She couldn’t imagine a world in which he was dead.

I’d know if one half of my heart had stopped beating. I would.

“Then where is he?” Hessel asked, looking around the crowd as if he expected the young man simply to step forward. “The Bellows have sounded; the sun has set. If the boy was alive, he would have been tossed over the town line. Those are the rules. So where is he?”

“He’s out there!” Greer shouted, pointing toward the forest. “Somehow. He’s out in the wilds, and we need to help him.

Please. Someone must believe me.” She scanned the cluster of people gathering to listen.

Their faces ranged from curious to indifferent to skeptical.

Her hope withered. She would find no assistance here. “Fine. I’ll go after him myself. I’ll—”

Greer stopped short as she caught sight of one of Ellis’s brothers, standing at the outer edge of the group. His freckled face was shadowed with worry.

“Rhys!” she exclaimed, and pushed her way to the boy. Even as she grabbed hold of his upper arms, she knew she was using too much force. He looked terrified, not of the situation, but of her. Greer tried to rein in her rising panic. “Where is Louise? Is she all right?”

Wildly, Rhys glanced around, trying to find help, but no one stepped in to save him. “She…she’s at home. Taking care of Ma.”

“She was supposed to be in the Hunt. Why wasn’t she in the Hunt?” Greer demanded.

He shrugged helplessly.

“When did you last see Ellis? When did—”

“Greer.” Hessel’s hand fell heavily upon her shoulder. “You’re scaring the lad. Leave him be.”

“Why didn’t Louise hide in the Hunt? You said she must, but then she didn’t. She didn’t, and now Ellis is gone. It doesn’t make any sense. None of this day has made any—”

Hessel made a gesture, and Ian Brennigan and Michael Morag stepped forward to break her hold on the younger Beaufort.

“Let me go!” she demanded, thrashing against the Stewards, trying to catch her father’s gaze. She knew she was making a scene, making the situation so much worse, but no one would listen to her. “You spoke to Ellis; I know you did! What did you say to him? What did you do ?”

Hessel clucked, shaking his head. He looked toward the rest of the town, his face unreadable even to Greer.

“It has been a long and strange evening. In light of the…unexpected events of the past few days…I think it best to hold off on the Joining Ceremony until tomorrow afternoon. Let us meet at Steward House before sunset, to celebrate the blessed union of so many happy couples.” He nodded, as if convincing himself as much as the group. “We will meet tomorrow, Mistaken.”

“Tomorrow?” Lachlan repeated, sounding on the verge of pouting.

Hessel turned to Lachlan. “Don’t worry, son. She’s exhausted and not thinking clearly. She’ll be ready for you tomorrow.”