Apprentice (The Black Mage, #2)(59)

The prince cracked the barest of a smile and then his eyes fell to our interlocked fingers. My heartbeat stilled. I knew I had overstepped my bounds - that I should let go before it became more than a friendly reassurance - but then I saw his expression: not anger, not longing – grief, the same look he had worn during the funeral pyres in Red Desert.

Darren wasn't thinking about me. He was thinking about all the lives we had lost in the rebel attacks.

"It wasn't your fault," I whispered.

The non-heir didn't say anything. The only indication he had heard me was the tightening of his hand.

Just tonight, I decided, I would let it remain.





****





We had been traveling all day with relatively no rest. Our pace was slower than the day before, but not by much. Mira was convinced the Caltothians would be flooding the forest at any moment.

We had just settled into to a quick break to finish off the remains of our water when the low crunch of leaves alerted me of approaching enemies.

"Cast now!"

My warning came just in time - the rest of the group threw out a barrier. Arrows began to rain down from above, hitting the magicked barrier and then falling harmlessly to its side.

Someone groaned to my right and I saw Andy had not been so lucky. One of the enemy's missiles had got to her before the casting. I started forward to help but Cethan grabbed my arm and pointed to Tamora, grunting. Our first responsibility was to the mission, not a comrade. Still, I hesitated a moment longer until I saw Darren approach Andy.

Mira shouted for us to run – that she, Darren, and Andy would hold the Caltothians off as long as they could. When it was safe they would follow - if they could. "Remain with the ship as long as you can," she shouted, "but if the enemy arrives you must leave us behind. The fate of Jerar depends on this mission!"

So I ran.

The sun was already setting. Bright shards of light were shooting through the trees and blinding me as I followed Cethan and Flint along the trail. I could hear the shouts, the pounding of footsteps, the whistle of things cutting across the air, but I ignored it all and focused only on the girl in my arms and Flint's breathless direction.

We must have run for an hour before the sounds of fighting finally subsided from hearing. It made me anxious, scared for the others. How was Andy faring with her injured arm? Where was Darren? What would happen if our leader, Mira, was dead?

Cethan, Flint, and I slowed down our progress to double check the landmarks nearest.

There was a snap in the brush behind us and I swung around ready to cast—

It was only a deer.

Cethan grabbed my arm and we continued our trek, more careful not to leave a trace now that we were close to the ship. Flint followed behind, scattering needles and dirt over our path so that it wouldn't be quite so obvious which direction we had taken.

Finally, after forty more minutes of cautious hiking we located our ship. I handed Tamora over to Flint and he and Cethan loaded the small paddleboat with the two hostages and our supplies and then paddled out to our ship anchored deep in the waters a quarter mile beyond the shore. I stood guard at the beach, scanning the tree line beyond it for any sign of an enemy – or the others - approaching.

After the first half hour of waiting Cethan returned. Flint had chosen to remain on the ship with our prisoners but Cethan, like me, was concerned for the others. I knew he and Andy were close and had served many missions together, and while he didn't say it, I was pretty sure he cared for our harsh leader as well.

"You can search the woods, if you like," the man told me quietly after the first hour had passed. It was too dark to see anything past the rocky beach now. Both of us were growing anxious as the minutes wore on, and when I glanced up at the large man I detected fear in his gaze. Mira would have wanted us both to guard the ship but it was evident the man's thoughts mirrored my own. He cleared his throat, "I'll stay here in case anyone…"

A small glow of dim orange light cut its way along the shadows and I saw two dim figures limp slowly onto the open beach. Cethan and I watched warily, ready to cast at a moment's notice. My heart was choking my lungs, the pound of blood so heavy and frequent I couldn't hear anything over my racing pulse. Please, I begged, please be the others.

As the figures drew closer, Andy and Mira's faces materialized in the darkness.

Cethan let out a long, ragged breath. The big man ran forward to help Mira, while I went to Andy and half-carried her to the paddleboat Cethan had left in the sand. The green-eyed mage was barely holding on – her knees seemed to give out the moment I set her down. Her face was streaked with sweat and dried blood.

A moment later Cethan placed Mira down beside her. Then the two of us glanced back to the tree line. Where was Darren?

"Did the prince make it back before us?" Andy croaked.

My heartbeat froze and my hands dropped the oars I'd been about to hand to Cethan.

Andy swore as she realized my reaction.

"I'm going to find him."

Mira's stern gaze met my own defiant one. "We will wait for him, apprentice. You must remain on the beach. The prince knows where to find us and I need you here to serve as a look out, not a hero."

"What if Darren's lost?" I blurted out angrily. "What if he's injured and can't make it back on his own?"