Page 10

Chapter Ten

C hasing an owl through the woods—an owl carrying the prince of the land—isn’t how I imagined my first night camping in the woods going. Luckily for us, Kai is yelling at me the entire time:

“You didn’t warn me about owls!”

“It’s going to drop me and I’m going to die!”

“Elowyn, if I don’t make it out of this, I always loved you!”

“El, I’m going to kill you!”

I wish I had time to dwell on the fact that he loves me. It’s not like I didn’t have a feeling he did, or that I’ve entertained the same feelings, I just never thought he would admit it.

Unfortunately, the owl isn’t deterred by Kai’s shouts, and if it weren’t for his noise, I would never be able to follow the otherwise silent owl.

“Keep yelling!” I shout up to Kai.

“What happens if it eats me? Ah!”

Unfortunately, the brightness of the moon doesn’t pierce through the tree leaves, and I’m running practically blind. I’ve also got my attention focused on the shadow I catch now and then, which means I am not paying attention to where I’m going. I trip and fall, landing hard on my hands and knees. I hiss as my left hand gets torn up on something thorny, but I pick myself up and continue running.

“I am really tired of being a frog!” Kai shouts in desperation. His voice has turned to my right and it’s getting further away.

I shift direction. “Little owl!” I plead. “Wait! You have my friend!” I don’t realize I’ve run through a bush until it tears at my skirts and catches the toe of my left boot. I let out a shout of shock as I tumble down an unseen steep and stony incline. My ribs explode in agony and white flashes through my vision. “Slugs of the earth!” I lie on the ground a moment when I stop rolling, arms and legs sprawled.

“That was graceful,” a light voice floats down from above.

I tilt my chin up and see the owl resting on a branch in the tree I’m now looking up into. Her golden eyes reflect the moonlight in a shocking bright yellow.

I slowly sit up. “That frog isn’t dinner. He’s my friend.”

The owl clutches Kai in one taloned foot. His poor little frog body bulges above and below the foot as he’s squeezed. She turns her head and blinks large eyes. “Frogs are food.” She hoots as if to make a point.

I stand and clutch my ribs. “Not that one. He’s the prince.” I don’t even know if owls have a clue what a prince is, so I shake my head. “He’s important to me. He’s mine.”

“I caught it.”

Knowing owls are also sometimes predators of opportunity, it does me no good to say I caught him first. I’m lost for words and I can hardly breathe. “I can help you catch something else.”

“Mine.” It pecks at the top of Kai’s head, making him scream.

Garrett shows up, holding up a chunk of raw pinkish meat in his hand like it’s a torch. “I’ve got something better!”

The owl tilts its head. It blinks. Looks at Kai. And then drops him to swoop down and get the meat from Garrett, who apparently brought it with him.

“Help!” Kai shouts as he drops.

I run and fall on my stomach, sliding with my arms outstretched to catch him before he hits the ground. He lands in my hands and I close them around him. “Gotcha!” I pant and look over my shoulder. “Is it gone?”

Garrett is wiping his hand on his pant leg, looking into the darkness. “Think so.”

I groan as I sit up. It takes three gasps for me to fully get up to my knees and open my hands.

Kai stares at me, breathing hard.

I feel my lips tugging.

He closes his mouth.

I burst into laughter. After a moment or two, Garrett breaks into a smile before he joins me in laughter, resting his hands on his knees as he doubles over.

Kai doesn’t laugh at first. “I nearly died.”

“Oh, that’s going to be a funny story to share with your family,” I say.

“ You fell down a cliff,” he counters. But either from relief or because he finally sees the humor in the situation, Kai releases a chuckle.

I push myself up to my feet. I must look ridiculous, covered in twigs, leaves, and whatever else the forest bestowed on me when I fell down the hill. “How do we find our way back?”

“Considering you fell down a hill, I recommend climbing back up it,” Kai suggests.

I roll my eyes. “That much is obvious.”

“It’s a pretty steep hill, the way you came,” Garrett says. “I recommend going around it.” He points his thumb over his shoulder. “The way I came.”

I hear Kai huff.

“Winds, are you jealous?” I whisper to him.

“Clam up.”

I grin and walk to Garrett and then gasp. “I completely left Acorn on his own!” Worry grips my chest.

“Acorn is in the wagon,” Garrett says. He turns and begins leading the way he came from. “I put him in there when I got the meat. I don’t think he was very happy about it because he was screeching like I was killing him.”

I can’t help but smile because I can very much imagine Acorn yelling that he wanted to come and didn’t want to be left behind. “Thank you for making sure he was safe.”

“We wouldn’t have found that owl if you couldn’t speak with it.” Garrett glances over his shoulder at me.

“You couldn’t hear Kai waking up the entire forest?”

“I wasn’t waking up the entire forest” he objects. “And even if I was, good! How else would you have chased down the owl?”

“I wouldn’t have.” I tighten my hands around him and pull him closer to my body. “That thought crossed my mind.”

“Careful with this log.” Garrett steps over something large and black.

“How can you see anything?” I step over the log after Garrett.

He speaks over his shoulder. “My eyes have adjusted to the darkness. Have yours not?”

I glance around. “I can make out basic shapes, but I don’t exactly spend time running through the woods at night.”

“You don’t? It’s my favorite pastime.”

“He’s joking,” Kai explains from my hands.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “I gathered that. I’m not entirely dense, you know.”

“It’s a soldier thing,” Kai expands. “We do a lot of tracking at night while the enemy sleeps.”

“Oh. That actually makes sense.” I watch the back of Garrett and notice he’s holding his cloak over his arm so it won’t snag on anything, which gives me the perfect view of his back. And backside. Which I notice only when he begins climbing over a large stone.

I pause on the other side and blink.

He holds out his hand. “What?”

“You couldn’t go around it?”

“I suppose I could have, but the path is right here.”

I raise a brow.

“There’s a cliff to your left. Want to try that instead?” He nudges his head.

I look to my left, which appears to be adorned with bushes...until it dawns on me that those are actually tree tops, and to my left is actually a ravine. “I didn’t realize we went up and down...”

“Can I help you over the boulder now?”

I reluctantly accept his hand. “Only because I have Kai and can’t grip the rock like I want to.” I feel the need to explain this because I am not holding his hand.

“Mm-hm.”

I take his hand. It’s warm and rough from constant use, and it completely envelops mine. He holds just tightly enough to offer me support, but there is gentleness in his grip. When I land on the other side, Garrett lets go and I find my heart drop with his hand.

The dying campfire comes into view, then the shape of the wagon, and my momentary disappointment is replaced with relief.

I grimace and rub my side, my ribs starting to ache as my adrenaline ebbs. “Dinner is going to be mushy.”

“Well, at least it will be done.” Garrett glances over his shoulder at me. “I’m sure it will taste fine.”

“Elowyn, is that you?” I hear Acorn’s voice yell from the back of the wagon.

“Yes! And we have Kai.”

“And you left me out of it! Why don’t I get to go on adventures?”

“What do you think we’re on right now?” I go to the wagon and open the back door.

Acorn scrunches his face at me. “This is a boring adventure.”

“Not to me,” Kai counters.

I hold my hand out to Acorn. “Let’s get out some of those caterpillars for you both to eat. I imagine Kai isn’t feeling up to trying to catch flies right now.”

“I’m not feeling like caterpillars either, but here we are.”

I return to the fire and set the two animals down. Garrett has removed the pot from the fire and stoked it back into a warm glow. With the light, I can now assess Kai’s head where the owl poked it, and there’s luckily only a tiny cut. To him, it probably hurts terribly.

“Garett, will you keep an eye on him while I get some poultice?”

He nods, but Acorn stands beside Kai and makes his prickles stand out.

I return to the wagon to get the ointment. My ribs pang with pain as I pull myself into it, and then scoop out a tiny bit of the ointment with the back of my fingernail to carefully apply it to Kai’s bare amphibian head.

“That should help.” I screw the lid back on. “It will take away the pain and you’ll be nice and scabbed by morning. Maybe even healed.”

“You make the best poultice.”

“You’re welcome.” I turn my attention to Garrett.

He lifts up a bowl. “Ready to eat? It’s not bad. Little mushy like we expected, but it tastes great.”

“Good.” I accept the second bowl and take a bite. The flavor is there, but the texture makes me gag. “How can you eat this?”

Garrett spoons another mouthful. “I’m not picky. Good food is good food.”

I shake my head. With nothing else to eat, I’m going to have to suck it up too. When I look down at Acorn handing Kai a caterpillar, I realize things could be much, much worse.

Garrett finishes and stands. “I’ll go rinse out the dishes in the river.”

“I brought blankets. The wagon is a little tight, but if—”

“I have a bedroll. You sleep in there.” He accepts my bowl and nods to me. “Good night, Elowyn.”

“Th-thanks,” I stammer.

“Your hand is bleeding,” Acorn points out.

I look down at the palm of my left hand. It’s already scabbed. “I’ll be fine. It mostly stings. I must have landed on a thorn bush.” I carry the two of them into the wagon and can’t help but look back at Garrett as he disappears into the trees.

“At least he’s pulling his weight,” Kai comments.

“Mm.” I close the door, set them down on the counter, and remove my boots. “It’s cold out there. Will he be warm enough, Kai?”

“He’s an experienced soldier. I promise he’s been in much colder weather. If he’s worth half his salt, he has a good bedroll and blanket and will be plenty warm.”

“He’s got the fire too!” Acorn chimes in. “But if you want, I can keep his toes warm.”

I don’t miss Acorn’s mischievous smile or how he bristles, and I giggle. “I’m positive he would love sleeping with your poking warmth.”

After setting the blankets on the floor of the wagon, I pull my hair from its braid, letting my long black hair cascade down. It gives me a chance to massage my aching scalp and pull out the leaves and twigs that have lodged themselves in my hair. My hands freeze, my eyes widen, and my stomach drops. “My hat!”

I throw the door open and jump out.

Garrett is in his bedroll and props himself up on an elbow. He’s draped his cloak on top of his bedroll as a second blanket. “What is it?”

I can’t see it anywhere. It is the only gift I still have from my mother, other than my pathetic grimoire. “My hat,” I repeat. To anyone else, it might be a simple inconvenience to replace a hat. But it’s not something I can so easily replace.

The camping area shows no trace.

“I must have lost it when I fell,” I say. I bite my bottom lip and awkwardly face Garrett, then flash a smile. I hope he can’t see my sadness behind it. “It’s not...a big deal.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I have an extra blanket.” I point my thumb at the wagon before awkwardly turning to get one of them for him.

He is out of his bedroll by the time I get back and accepts it. “Thank you.” He offers a smile.

I tuck my hair behind my ear. “Good night.”

I don’t know why I feel embarrassed as I return to the wagon and close the door. He’s not even that attractive! And yet, I can’t help but think about the confusing politeness and relentless teasing I’ve experienced all day with him, or the way my frog prince got so bothered by it. I feel the blanket being tugged up closer to my chin and the brush of a cold touch on my cheek as I finally drift into sleep.