Page 37 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

B y the time we reached Orion’s cottage, we were well into the Ether’s night. I looked overhead, watching the vibrant blues and greens dancing in the sky.

“This is one thing I might just miss,” I told Orion before we made our way inside.

“I’d most miss the tree hoppers,” he responded.

They were clever birds. And I had noticed that several in particular returned over and over to his cottage.

“How long do you think, until she gives us the signal?” I asked.

“With Death, who knows? You’ve seen her idea of a short time.

I vote we stick close to the cottage and prep some bags.

We’ll need food, water, and a few blankets.

There’s no telling how long we’ll be sleeping outdoors once we leave.

I’ll grab an extra knife.” He was already moving around the small space, gathering items. “And we’ll also want to take some waterskins along. ”

“Will you bring your new book?”

I was still dying to see it, but he’d kept it closely guarded .

Orion pulled it from the satchel we’d taken to the Meadow and set it on his bookshelf.

“Better not risk it. We don’t know what we’re going to run into in the woods. If Charon does somehow find us, well, I’d rather be concerned with items to help our survival. Not personal things that could give away secrets.”

“What do you mean, secrets? It’s not another journal, is it?” He’d told me it was a novel, like the one with his pirates.

Ry shook his head.

“No, but all the same. Charon reads into things.”

Ry busied himself with preparation, and I went out to the garden and collected some food for our supplies. When I returned he’d already packed the remainder of things we would need.

Orion was on one of the cots, leaned up against the wall with his leg kicked out. He held up a blanket for me.

“I’ll roll these into our packs when we get the signal. Something you said before, about what you would miss, got me thinking.”

I made my way over to him. He tucked the blanket around my shoulders and pulled me close so that my head was on his chest.

“Do you think,” Orion started, “that Charon is going to realize what we’ve done? We still have months left here.”

I wanted to reassure him, but I’d had the same thought.

He ran one hand up and down my arm. The comforting touch lulled me into relaxation and lit me on fire at the same time.

His hands were callused from years of work in the Ether, and I appreciated them all the more for that.

Orion was capable, and he didn’t back down from any challenge.

“I think Death has the most insight into this situation. If she’s asking us to get them now, then she must be at least somewhat confident that he either won’t go looking or that she can distract him from it.

Think about it: if he really is worried about her meddling, or another god’s, he might not want to draw attention to the locations. ”

“So he might be less inclined to visit them and check,” Orion guessed.

“Exactly.”

“But as it gets closer to the hour, particularly with this being his end goal, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t do everything he could to ensure his success. That has to include monitoring his Shades and the way to control them.”

“We’ll have to ask Death about it, once we have the items and see her again.”

The deity had indicated she’d show us what to do with the two things, and that she planned to return at least once more before the hour. When she did, we could come up with a ruse for Charon.

“If your theory is right, and I suspect it is, that means that searching the canyon and the beach is likely a very safe move. We’ll be more hidden from Charon there than his Meadow,” I said.

Orion relaxed a bit, although I could still feel his muscles where I leaned into him, strong and solid.

“Feeling tired, Starlight?” Orion asked when I almost nodded off, waking as my head fell into his lap.

“I didn’t hurt your leg, did I?” I jumped up, but he pulled me back against him.

“Not in the slightest. You’re welcome to stay right here.” He ran his hands through my hair.

“You know,” I mused, “the only thing that might improve this would be a story. I don’t suppose you’re at point of sharing that newest story yet, since you won’t bring it along?”

He laughed, and I could feel his chest moving behind me.

“It’s not finished. How about, instead, I tell you about the time I went on my last treasure hunt? My brothers convinced me there were enchanted beans in our kitchens.”

I snorted.

“You must have been very young.”

“Eleven, but I went along with it mostly because it amused them.”

He told me about the scavenger hunt his brothers had created to lead him to the supposedly magical objects, how he’d found it and pretended to cast spells, how the two of them had clapped and cheered.

Just the way he spoke about them told me how much he loved them and still missed them.

A week later, I woke in Orion’s arms, side by side on his cot and wrapped beneath a blanket. We’d kept close to the cottage.

I tried not to move, afraid of ending the moment. His embrace was reassuring and warm, and even knowing what we had to do, I longed to stay there.

Lightning struck the ground inside the cottage, not burning anything but leaving familiar white smoke.

“If I pretend to be asleep, will you stay with me, or will you worry my leg’s finally finished me off?” Orion whispered against my hair.

I laughed, twisting in his arms to face him.

“It is nice being here like this, but we should go. We made Death a promise.”

I tried to rise, but Orion kept his arms tight around me.

“I warn you, Starlight, I think you’ve utterly ruined me for spending the night alone ever again. ”

“Then I’ll simply have to stay until you grow tired of me,” I teased.

He released me with a smile, and my heart lurched, watching the blue flecks in his eyes.

Everything he’d said, and everything he’d done, told me Orion was dependable.

Even so, I couldn’t help feeling a small flash of doubt.

He hadn’t had his own life in Emrys for a hundred years.

If he got his estate back, depending on whether the rest of Emrys found out the truth about his situation, he’d be incredibly busy as the duke again.

If he didn’t, then he’d be rebuilding an entire life.

There was always the possibility that he found something, found someplace, or even found someone that drew his attention. After all, in the Ether I was his only option.

“Something on your mind?” he asked as we got up.

He handed me my satchel and slung his own pack over his shoulders. I saw that he’d stuffed our blankets inside.

“Just thinking about going back to Emrys.”

“Then let’s get moving. This will take us one step closer.”

There was no point in bringing up a worry so far in the future. We had so much else to sort through first.

The canyon was mere hours from Orion’s cottage, but getting to the bottom was another matter entirely. Purple and orange lights danced above us as we stared over the edge.

“I can see some areas where we could climb down, but I’d guess it would take a full day or more for the climb, and who knows how long for the actual search.

Getting up again is also another matter, although I’m hoping we’ll find whatever Death said would help with my leg.

That would speed things up considerably. ”

I knew he would reject it, but I wasn’t going to let him risk himself without at least offering.

“I could go down, and you could wait up here. Especially since Death said she’ll be trying to keep Charon distracted, so we’re not likely to see him, and I’ll be safe.”

Orion shook his head.

“No. I would never stop you from going, but I’m going with you. Charon may not be our biggest worry at the moment, but all the other things in the Ether could be.”

“I know your leg still hurts after too long on your feet. We’ll take more frequent breaks on the way down.”

He frowned down at his leg, looking offended at the appendage.

“I can make it down. But if something does go wrong before I’m fully healed, you need to run. Don’t let me slow you down.”

“Come on, we should get going,” I responded, walking to the rim of the canyon.

“That’s not agreement.”

“No, it’s not,” I tossed over my shoulder. I wasn’t going to lie to him, and I wasn’t going to leave him behind.

We had to walk quite a bit of the way around the canyon rim before we found a good spot to begin our descent. Along the way, Orion had pointed out signs indicating the great bears had been through the area.

“Looks like they’ve been through here as well.” I gestured, pleased to put some of the things he’d taught me to use. “See? Broken branches, rooted-out vegetation at the base of the trees.”

“It might be great bears. Although the brush boars also like to do that,” Orion warned .

“And those are? Hopefully something friendly and cuddly? But by the sound of your voice, I somehow doubt it.”

Orion let out a laugh that fell flat.

“Brush boars are large swine-like creatures with skin that’s pale pink under a coating of wiry, silver hair.

It glints like metal, and it can pierce like metal, too.

It’s more spike than hair, really. I’ve hunted them before, but I pick off one at a time.

You have to be careful if there’s a sounder. ”

“Sounder?”

“A whole group of them. They often travel in groups.”

Both gods save us. If we had any luck at all, they’d have passed through ahead of us and wouldn’t notice our descent.

What I wouldn’t have given for tree hoppers. That was an animal I could support. Friendly, clever, and had never once tried to kill us. Or even the squirrels. Not particularly useful, but also not aggressive.

“Brush boars also have enormous tusks that extend from both their upper and lower jaws,” Orion added as we started making our way down the interior wall of the canyon.

“Then why risk hunting them?”

“They’re just as tasty as Emrys’ bacon.” He winked, and my stomach fluttered.

I could think of several things I’d prefer to be doing rather than climbing down a canyon wall while avoiding predators, but given our situation I didn’t feel safe enough to engage in any of them.

We had already made one hairpin turn, but we were mere feet below the rim of the canyon when a tree hopper swooped down from above.

“Hello there, my friend,” I crooned to the bird. It clacked its beak. “Don’t worry. I didn’t forget you.”

I took a handful of dried fruit, seeds and nuts Orion had packed and scattered it on the ground. Soon four more tree hoppers had joined the first. They cawed and snapped at the little banquet.

“You’re spoiling them,” Orion warned with a smile.

“I wish I could take them with us to Emrys,” I admitted. “You don’t suppose Death would add on a few birds to the deal?”

“We could always ask.”

I couldn’t imagine the deity agreeing to such a request, but I liked his idea better than giving up on the comforting creatures.

The birds swooped and hopped behind us for a while, clacking and cawing. At one point my foot slipped on a loose bit of rock, and I clung to the canyon wall. One of the tree hoppers dove, pulling at my hair.

“A valiant attempt at rescue,” I told it with a smile, trying to hide from Orion how much the slip had shaken me.

“Do you need to rest?” Orion was already digging through his pack for food.

“No. I’m all right. At least I’m dressed for a walk.” I gestured to my attire—yet another set of his borrowed clothes—with a grin.

“Do you plan to go back to dresses?” Orion asked when we made our next turn on the route.

I scoffed.

“Not if I can help it. I’ll just be known as a wild woman.”

He chortled.

“And I will defend you from any naysayers. You and your army of birds.” He pointed, and I saw the treehoppers were still swooping above us.

When we reached an outcropping that was flat and wide, we sat for a rest.

Orion grimaced and rubbed his knee. The birds landed with us, and one poked at his injured leg .

“I’ll be all right,” he assured the bird, tossing them all another piece of fruit. “We’ve got a plan.”

I pulled a waterskin from my own satchel.

Thank both gods, and I suppose whichever others weren’t awful, that Orion had bothered learning enough when hunting to figure out how to make the things.

I’d have been desperately lost on my own.

I tilted the skin, taking a long drink and then passing it to Orion.

In exchange he handed me a strip of dried meat and some berries.

I chewed furiously, trying to take my mind off our precarious height, intermittently tossing a stray berry to the birds, who swooped and dove to catch them in the air.

The largest landed and began preening his feathers.

“Bravo!” I applauded him.

“I like seeing you happy. Death will find your father, I have every confidence. And if he’s in danger in Emrys, or anywhere else, we’ll go after him as soon as we’ve returned home.”

I reached over and placed a hand on his arm, reveling, as always, in the warmth.

“My valiant knight,” I teased.

After our short break we hiked for a few more hours, then stopped on another ledge to sleep.

We began moving again when the orange and purple lights danced above our heads once more. The birds had slept in a leafy branch that grew from the cliff wall.

“Do you think they’re just following us for the food?

” I asked, somewhat disconcerted. The tree hoppers were more intelligent than any birds I’d ever seen.

Perhaps even more intelligent than Pellix, not that I would tell the stallion so.

I imagined they had ulterior motives. They visited often, but they’d never stuck close for so long before.

“It’s possible they want to know what we’re after. They’re very observant, and they’ve probably noticed that I’ve never come down here before.”

After another lengthy session of hiking, we reached the base of the canyon. It was covered in a gritty sand, with a stream running through its center. We were near the apex of the canyon on its northern edge. I could see the arc of the canyon wall where the cavern must be.

All the water came from the direction of the cavern entrance. As we approached, the water grew calmer. Farther downstream from the cavern’s entrance, it became deeper and more erratic, growing from a small creek to a raging river. In the distance I could hear rushing rapids.

No matter; we’d stick to the shores and the cavern and hike back up the canyon walls.

At the cavern’s entrance, the water was as smooth as glass. It was crystal clear and no deeper than our knees.

“How could it be so calm here, and grow so rapidly as it leaves the cavern?”

Orion glared at the water. “Charon. His realm. His rules. It will not move like any normal river, and we’ll want to be on our guard. Stick close to me while we’re inside.”

I kept my hand in his as we waded into the water and entered the cavern.