Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Keera

I squinted at the boulder Erix had disappeared behind, but he did not reemerge. For some reason, his sudden disappearance grated at me, although I should be grateful for the moment alone to gather my thoughts. It seemed like a retreat, but from what, I could not say.

He didn’t return until I was out of the water and dressed in the second set of clothes Neven had packed for me. The ones I had worn during the days of riding dried on a flat rock after I washed them.

Erix didn’t say a word when he returned, only turning to his bundle, and beginning to set up camp. I chewed my lip, halfway wondering why he didn’t bathe while mentally shrugging. He must want to wash his clothes and cool off in the crystalline water, but apparently his insistence on being covered head to toe extended to when it was just the two of us.

For some reason, that irked me too.

I rolled out my sleeping mat on a soft patch of earth, and he did the same. We were both quiet as we went about our evening activities, him sharpening his weapons and me working on mending a rip in my shirt I had acquired when Erix tackled me to the ground the night before. We had been mostly quiet as we rode as well, but for some reason the silence now seemed thicker.

After the sun had set, Erix laid down on his mat on the other side of the fire—I had left the lighting to him—and I squinted at his outlined form. He was still fully dressed, including his gloves and the strange mask. I still hadn’t been able to puzzle out its purpose.

“I won’t look,” I found myself saying.

A rustle sounded on the other side of the fire, but I stared straight up at the sky to prove my honesty.

“At what?”

“If you want to take your mask off, I promise I won’t look at you.”

There was a moment of stillness, and then a slow, deliberate rustling. I hoped he had taken advantage of my offer, but true to my word, I didn’t look over to check.

His words drifted across the fire so quietly that I thought I might have imagined them.

“Thank you.”

I rolled onto my side, facing away from the fire, to avoid the temptation to look into those striking metallic eyes of his. Instead, I found them in my dreams.

My eyes fluttered open, and my muscles filled with the languid energy that only comes from a long, restful sleep. I stretched luxuriously, keeping my eyes closed against the pale light that indicated dawn.

Movement that I felt in my bones more than heard made me look around for the source of the flowing energy. A way away along the bank of the oasis stood Erix, flowing through his forms just as I had found him several nights before. I watched for only a few moments before grabbing my own saber from where it had lain at my side as I slept.

He didn’t react as I joined him. I fell into rhythm with his movements, breathing his breaths as if they were my own. My movements flowed even more easily than before. Part of me kept waiting for the swell of power within me, a fraying of the edges of my identity, but it never came. Out here in the quiet of the wilderness, kept company only by the light morning breeze, my soul remained calm.

We finished in unison, ending in the traditional pose with our hands clasped on the hilts of our sabers before us, tips pointed directly at the ground. Finally, Erix looked over at me, and we stood together in perfect stillness for a moment.

In an instant of pure instinct, I rapped my knuckles to my brow as I would in respect to Aderyn or another teacher. I froze, but to my surprise, Erix returned the gesture. Then he turned toward our makeshift camp, moving to pack up and tend the horses.

“We should hunt before we go further,” he said by way of good morning.

I nodded. In my haste, I had only taken what meager supplies Neven had gathered for me. After months of regular meals, the thought of going without made my heart quicken.

We walked back to our small camp, and Erix grabbed the bow I had seen him use during the hunt in the Trials from his packs. fished out my sling and a pouch of rocks I had gathered. Erix stared at the crude weapon in my hands, but I shrugged.

“Rocks are easier to come by than arrows.”

“I’ll teach you how to use a bow,” he offered.

“Once again, you volunteer to teach a warrior who is to be on the opposite side of a war from you. I wonder if you are as effective as all the tales say,” I observed.

“And once again, I say you might end up joining the clans by the time I am done teaching you.”

I looked away from him, turning to count the rocks in my pouch. The truth of the matter was that, while I loved Kelvadan, and I found myself missing Neven and Aderyn dearly, being back out in the wilds was a balm to my soul. Under the stars, with Erix the only other human around for miles, I’d slept the best I had in months.

“Let’s get hunting so we can move on,” I urged, not wanting to continue down my mental path. With that, I tucked my sling into my sash and slung my saber across my back.

We both mounted our horses, Daiti seeming happy to stretch his legs without the chafing of packs tied to his back. Without a word, we set out. We would not have to go far to find prey, as they would be drawn to the water of the oasis, even if we had scared them away briefly with our presence. Erix’s falcon joined us, perching familiarly on his gloved arm before flying off in search of small game .

We made our way toward a rock formation where nooks and crannies would give wildlife a place to make their homes. The air here was thick, and an odd earthy scent raised the hairs on my arms. We hadn’t gone far when we heard it—an eerie hissing and spitting like a caracal in heat.

I whirled around, but it was too late.

“Keera!”

Daiti reared, turning on his back legs to avoid the black and white blur that leaped from a nearby boulder. I slipped backward but managed to squeeze my legs tight enough at the last second to avoid falling to the ground.

The feline shape skidded to a stop on the far side of me, fixing me with glowing purple eyes, before changing direction with supernatural speed. Before I could draw my saber, a dark mass hurled itself between me and the attacking creature.

Erix charged at the animal, meeting it mid-leap. He slashed his saber where its body soared through the air, longer than any caracal I had ever seen, but it twisted out of the way. A tearing sound ripped the air as its claws raked Erix’s sleeve, but if he had been injured, he paid it no mind.

He was already charging again, trying to take the creature off guard while it was recovering from its last leap. As Erix swung his saber in a brutal downward cut, the creature swiped at him with paws the size of palm leaves, claws digging into where his leather tabards draped over his thighs.

Erix’s strike slashed the creature across its shoulder. It still managed to pull him from his seat with its massive paws as it reared back with a hiss. Erix toppled to the ground, head hitting the rocky earth with a sharp crack that echoed loudly enough, it might have been my own skull taking the blow.

Breaking free of the surprise that had paralyzed me, a ragged cry tore from my throat. I watched the creature open its maw to take a savage bite out of Erix’s shoulder. He lay unmoving on the ground. I flung my hand forward, palm open, power pulsing through me.

A thud and a crack filled the air as the boulder from beside me rammed the creature into the rockface behind it. I panted in the ensuing silence, staring stunned at the rock that was easily the size of me. I had flung it through the air without even a thought. After hours of trying several nights ago, I had been unsuccessful, and here I had done it in a moment of panic.

Erix.

At the thought I slithered down from Daiti’s side with no grace, darting to where Erix lay in a heap on the ground. He hadn’t moved.

Dread filled my belly at the copper tang in the air. Falling to my knees next to him, I gently lifted his head, fingers coming away wet with blood that had soaked the back of his head. I reached for the end of the cloth that wound around his head and shoulders, but my fingers hovered above the fabric for just a moment. I shook myself. Then I set my jaw and began unwinding the length of gray linen. He could cover himself all he wanted, but I doubted he would thank me for leaving him to bleed on ground without aid.

As I peeled back the layers of his hood, I revealed a mess of dark waves, ones I had only seen hints of peaking around the edges of his mask. I had the sudden urge to plunge my fingers into them, but I focused on the task at hand. Turning his head to look at the back, I found his hair matted down with blood. The source seemed to be underneath one of the leather straps holding his mask in place.

My fingers danced over the buckles for a moment of indecision before I started unfastening them. With the straps loosened, the mask fell to the ground with a clang that felt far too heavy for its size. I carded through his hair to find his wound, the strands silky against my fingers even as blood soaked as they were.

I located the cut quickly and found it to be shallow, although it bled profusely as cuts to the scalp often do. It seemed like his hood and mask had cushioned most of the blow, and his skin was merely split. The bump under my finger indicated nothing more sinister than a bruise.

With that, I turned his head back, letting it rest in my lap. Even though it felt like a strange violation, I looked my fill at his face.

Before me were the features I had looked at so often in the statue of Kelvar, a strong brow over high cheekbones. Long lashes rested against cheeks pale enough that it was easy to believe he hadn’t removed his mask in the light of day for years, even though he would probably tan well. Even as the features were the same as the statue’s, I catalogued small differences, from the slight indent in the center of his chin to the hair that waved and curled where Kelvar’s had been long and straight. Unconscious like this, Erix’s features were smooth, and the realization that he appeared to be a man that hadn’t even reached his thirtieth name day ran through me with a jolt.

Without a thought, I reached out, running my fingers in a featherlight touch over his temple and down to his square jaw. I felt, more than heard his breath catch before his eyes fluttered open, fixing me with a bottomless stare.