23. Twenty

Twenty

" W hat is our next move?" Lily asked from behind Asher.

He cleared the way, holding the branches along the narrow trail so she didn't get scratched or have to duck. They'd been walking on the opposite side of the river for hours, their clothes slowly drying and doing nothing to help either of them feel comfortable. They had continued eastward on their side of the river, but at Lily's question, Asher stopped.

"We have to get back to the other side of the river. I don't know of a way back into Vasha from this side. When the humans took us, I didn't see any bridges, and from what I know on our side of the mountains, the passes are too steep or difficult to get to on this side."

Lily heaved a sigh.

Asher looked over his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I don't mean to complain," she said quickly. "I'm just...tired. I'll be fine." She smiled and it actually reached her eyes, so at least she wasn't completely miserable yet.

"When we get to the other side, we can set up a camp and eat."

"That means we have to get wet again, though." She looked down at the rumbling water with a scowl.

"Maybe not." He pointed to a log reaching across the river. "If we're lucky, that log is steady enough to cross." He leaned to his right so Lily could look past him.

She gave an audible sigh of relief, and he couldn't blame her. He didn't like the idea of getting wet either. As they'd walked, his wet boots had rubbed his feet sore, and he knew Lily felt the same hot spots.

When they reached the felled tree, Asher felt confident they only had to worry about getting across the river. He hadn't seen or smelled any sign of the vipers for the last several hours.

"Why don't you go first?" Asher suggested, holding his hand out to her. She was lighter and had less of a chance of falling through, unless the log was severely rotted and he didn't know it.

Lily apprehensively took his hand and allowed him to pull her up onto the log. She looked down at him, unsteadily balancing with her free arm out. "If I fall, you'll jump in after me, right?"

"Try not to fall. Neither of us wants to get wet again, and more importantly, neither of us wants to have to spend hours walking back here again. Right?"

Her lips tightened. "That does nothing to help my anxiety. You're just supposed to say yes." She took an uncertain step.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I was trying to keep the mood light."

"By threatening me with getting wet again?" She cast him a look over her shoulder.

Asher placed his hands on his hips. Maybe she was just really nervous about crossing the river. "Don't worry. You'll make it across. Just...pretend you're walking on one of those magical symbols on the floor of the wizard tower. If you step off, it's just tile beneath your feet."

Her lips tightened and she paused walking to look down at her feet, then straight across to the other side. It must have worked, because she walked with more confidence than before. As the other side drew closer, she quickened her pace. Finally, she jumped down on the opposite shore, placed her hands on her knees and took a big breath.

"See? I told you that you could do it," Asher called.

Lily straightened and turned to him. "Now it's your turn. It creaks a bit toward the end. I think it's where the roots might have been. It's hollow," she pointed out as she bent over to examine the log.

Asher hopped up onto the tree. Even if it was hollow and old, he had the delicate walk of a feline and knew how to distribute his weight accordingly. He made it to the other side just as Lily straightened.

She frowned when he landed beside her. " That is not fair."

"What?"

"How you can just prance across the log as if it's nothing. I thought I was going to lose my life!"

Asher couldn't resist a laugh. "You wouldn't have died. Just gotten wet."

"I know, but...still." She looked around the riverbank, crowded by trees, bushes, fallen branches, and weeds. She chose a direction to begin walking.

"I was raised doing things like this. That is the difference between us," he explained. He pressed through the undergrowth at Lily's side to move a branch away from her head.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye and relented a smile. "Next time you teach me something, perhaps we will be able to do it less perilously."

"Again, the worst that would have happened was you falling back in the water and us having to walk all over again." He shrugged, and they stepped out onto the path they'd been on earlier that day. He paused, though, and stopped Lily from entering the path.

He sniffed the air.

Even though it had been hours, he could still smell the faint scent of the horses and his father's blood.

Lily remained silent, clearly aware of what he was doing.

There was no sign of the vipers, and their scent was just as old. He finally nodded and stepped aside to allow Lily to step out onto the trail.

"When we get to Vasha, will you teach me to swim?" Lily asked.

"Certainly." He nodded. He then paused again. His ears perked to the familiar thunder of a waterfall. "Do you hear that?"

Lily stopped walking and pinched her brows together in concentration. "It sounds like...horses' hooves."

"It's a waterfall."

"A real one?" Her eyes brightened.

Asher resisted the urge to tease her and licked his lips, tasting the air as he did so. "It shouldn't be too much further away. If I recall on our way to Rencheston with the humans, there is a clearing near the falls where we can rest for the night." He began walking again at a much quicker pace.

Lily hurried after him with her much shorter legs. "I read in my books that raspberries and strawberries grow in forests. Maybe we can eat some of those tonight."

"Then you can be in charge of the berries," Asher said. "But watch out for any poisonous plants."

"Yes, sir." She saluted him as if she were a soldier.

Asher shook his head.

They reached the clearing within the hour, and Lily immediately walked to a nearby bush. "I see some! They're nice and ripe." She grabbed a handful before Asher could stop her.

He sprinted over and grabbed her wrist. "You need to drop those and wash your hands immediately. They're thornberries. Poisonous."

"They're berries," she replied incredulously.

" Thorn berries," he repeated, pointing to the inch-long thorns.

"How...but they look just like blackberries!" She ran over to the river and began scrubbing her hands together to try to get them clean. "Am I going to be all right?"

"You should be fine. The poison is in eating them, not on the outside. I couldn't risk you bursting one and getting it on your fingers and then accidentally eating it. That small amount won't kill you, but you'd get terribly sick." He walked to her side. "The last thing we need right now is me dragging you back feverish and hallucinating."

She rubbed her hands on her pants and then examined them for any trace of purple juices.

Feeling the need to offer her some comfort, Asher reached out and brushed his knuckles against hers. "You'll be okay. You didn't ingest it."

"I feel so out of place," she admitted softly. "I've always wanted to adventure in the woods, and yet I can't swim, can't get on a horse, and can't even identify the difference between what is poisonous and what is not."

He studied her defeated expression. "Considering this is your first day, I think you're doing decently well. You'll learn how to swim, riding a horse takes practice, and if plants were obvious in showing whether or not they were poisonous, no one would eat them and they would cease to exist. They would no longer have a purpose."

She turned her green eyes to look up at him.

A heat burned through him. She was beautiful, but her eyes did something to him. "Why don't I show you some things about plants I know?" he offered.

Lily's eyes sparkled and she grinned. "Yes, please!"

He stood and offered her his hand. She accepted it and he helped her stand.

He and Lily wandered the shoreline with Asher pointing to yellow flowers they could eat that tasted like cinnamon. He pointed to clusters of soft, long-leafed plants called lamb's ear. And then he stopped and pointed to the base of a tree. "That's poison oak. If you brush up against it, you'll get a painful rash. They look just like normal saplings, but if you look carefully, you'll see they have clusters of three leaves."

"Wow. I truly can't tell the difference." She crouched and looked carefully.

"Something good to know is if you do get stung by poison oak or poison ivy, just grab a leaf of lamb's ear and rub it on the spot."

She looked up at him. "Lamb's ear must have medicinal properties."

Asher quirked a grin. "Correct. Poison oak leaves have oil, and the fuzziness of the lamb's ear helps wipe it off."

Lily straightened. "I love plants." She suddenly grinned and walked around the tree. "Fox grapes!" She plucked a handful of the plump little purple grapes. "There are raspberries too."

Asher's heart softened a little. She had grown up without a family, without even the chance to run and play in the free and long grass, practiced all day and did chores. How could she possibly relate to him?

She began gathering the raspberries in one hand while Asher gathered the grapes. They even found a small growth of strawberries. Once they had a good helping of berries to eat, they munched until they found a clearing.

Asher looked up at the dimming sky. A frigid breeze ran through the forest, and with it, he sensed the storm. "We may get rain. I think it is safe to make a fire tonight. We'll need it for warmth, if nothing else. If you can get one started, I'll catch some fish."

"I might be able to find some herbs around here. I think I saw a basil plant. The cook teaches me... taught me some tricks." Lily paused and looked him up and down. "You are going to fish as a tiger, right?"

He nodded. "I'll admit that hunting fish as a tiger is actually pretty difficult. I have to sit in the water until the fish realize I'm not a threat and get close enough I can catch them. I could try to make a spear, but that's also difficult, and we're running out of daylight as it is."

Lily looked up at the sky, clearly confused because it was still bright. But the sun was leaning far to the west already, and Asher knew that gave them about two hours before the sky was dark.

Asher pulled off his shirt so it wouldn't get wet and unbuckled his pants, but glanced at Lily. "Do you mind if I remove my pants so I can keep them dry?"

Her head shook before the words must have registered, because her eyes widened when Asher began to pull his pants down. Lily spun around, clamping both hands over her eyes, and he could see her cheeks were red beneath them.

Asher grinned. He had seen her take in his muscled body before she turned away, and he couldn't deny it made him feel good, even if it hadn't been his original intention. He transformed. When he was in his tiger shape, he made a little rumbling noise to draw her attention, since he knew she wouldn't be able to hear him speak through their minds. It was a trait only the people in Vasha shared.

Lily parted her fingers to peek and then lowered her hands. Her eyes sparkled. "I still can't believe your people are real. You're beautiful."

Asher closed the gap between them and nudged her hand with his head, encouraging her to feel his fur.

She apprehensively set her hand on his head and then reached out with her second and began feeling his ears. It was a bit intimate, allowing someone to pet him, to feel his animal ears, face, neck, and shoulders in a way they wouldn't if he were in his human shape. But Lily needed to trust him, and he needed to forgive her. She was gentle as she explored him, and the childish excitement radiating from her made him feel just as happy. Her green eyes soaked in the moment, as they had done with every moment since leaving her home behind.

Asher finally turned and walked to the edge of the river to focus on the fish hiding in the crevices of the rocks hidden in the bed of the river. He knew hunting at this time of day was ideal, but it still required precision, and it had been some time since he'd fished as a tiger. Perhaps he should have done a better job sniffing out other game, like rabbits or even deer, but they were experts at sensing him too.

Lily watched from the shore.

Wanting to show off his skills, Asher moved through the shallow banks of the river and into the deeper section, where the fish would be. Luckily, the river split into two sections, and this side was the one with slower flow of water.

Asher balanced on the slippery rocks with his large paws and looked down into the water until he spotted a fish swimming still in the crook beside a large rock. It was the perfect size to eat but would be tricky to catch because of the rock. Slowly, he moved his paw through the water to take another step, attention locked on the fish to make sure it didn't move.

It didn't.

He leaned his head down until his chin touched the water, and the fish darted away. Asher had suspected it would, so he didn't move. Agonizing seconds turned into endless minutes, and his neck began to hurt. Until a fish slowly slipped into the crevice.

Asher didn't hesitate.

He plunged his face into the water, jaws open, and clamped down. When he lifted his head out of the water, the fish flapped in his mouth. Proudly, he carried it over to Lily and set it by the fire.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"

Of course. She must not have known how to gut a fish. So he transformed into his human form, naked and wet, and grabbed a nearby rock.

"Asher, you could warn me!"

He looked at Lily, who had her face turned away and hand up to the edge of her eye so she couldn't see him.

"I can't tell you because I can't speak to you while I'm an animal unless you're a Karasha. Besides, I wanted to kill the fish so you didn't have to." He slammed the rock on the fish's head, killing it instantly. I'm going to catch another fish, so if you ca...We have no knife." He heaved a sigh. "Let me catch the other fish and then I'll gut them you can cook them."

Lily didn't turn back to him until she heard him splashing in the water. Fortunately, catching the second fish was much faster. The water was freezing and the wind had picked up.

Asher killed the second fish before he transformed back into a tiger and shook off the water the best he could. He wouldn't be able to get completely dry before he put his clothing back on, but he was grateful for the warmth of the large fire Lily had made.

She sat with her back to him.

Once he was dressed, he took the fish by their tails and sat beside her. "Sorry you had to see me without my clothes." He wasn't completely sorry, but he said it to see what she would say.

She played with her hair. "You needed to stay dry."

He made one of his tiger claws extend out from his knuckle. It was slightly painful without fully transforming, but necessary as he sliced it through the fish's belly and removed their insides. "Did you find herbs?" he asked as he worked.

"I did."

"How did you learn to cook?"

"I began cooking for Wester when I was probably...ten years old? The cook taught me. There are some things I'm familiar with, but I've never had to clean the fish. So thank you."

"You're welcome." He retracted his claw.

Lily stuffed some green leaves inside the bellies and set them on a stone in the fire. "I found the flattest stone I could, since we don't have a pan. Do your people have cooking utensils?"

Asher smiled. "Yes. We aren't completely animal-like."

"That's not what I meant," she replied.

He nodded and held up his hand before she could continue. "I know. I was teasing."

When the fish were completely cooked, the two sat and ate. Lily had done a good job cooking.

The wind had stopped, making the evening quite pleasant. Asher leaned back on his hands and looked up at the stars but watched Lily from the corner of his eye.

She was poking the fire with a stick, expression deep in thought.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"You're quiet all of a sudden."

"I'm just thinking is all."

"About what?"

Lily poked at the fire with another stick. She cleared her throat. "I am concerned. Your people don't like humans. Will I be an outsider like the vipers? Your father said I would be welcome in the palace, but I don't want to make your people uncomfortable just because you had to keep me alive. You can give me supplies and I can continue to another city and be their problem."

He scooted close so their shoulders touched, and she lifted her gaze. "You will never be an outcast. I haven't been kind to you. You're right. All you've done is try to help me, and I thanked you with rudeness. Can you forgive me?"

Her lips turned into a soft smile. "Of course."

He reached out and placed his hand over hers, their eyes locked, and the rest of the night faded away. It was just the two of them under the starry sky.

He was friends with girls, had tried to court a few, but Lily's eyes were filled with kindness and goodness in a way he'd never seen. Even with mud streaked on her cheek, and the mess of her hair from traveling and swimming, she was beautiful. He could have sat and stared into her eyes all night.

Lily's cheeks grew red and she straightened. "It's chilly tonight. I can put a bunch of wood together, but even magic fire will burn out without a source to consume."

"We will have to lie close to each other." He pushed another log into the fire before he met her gaze. He meant it to keep them both warm, but he would be lying if he didn't admit he wanted to be close to her.

"What if your people don't like me?" she asked softly.

He didn't mean to, but he laughed. "Lily, you don't need to worry about any of that. You will be considered a hero."

"Hero?" She raised her eyebrows with the smallest smile playing on her lips.

He leaned into her shoulder so their faces were close. "The greatest hero there ever was."

She laughed lightly. "I don't know about that."

Asher chuckled.