The Glass Arrow(91)

Hastily, we unhook the bulging leather sacks straddling the horse’s back, and Tam and Nina, smelling rank and slick with sweat, poke their heads out. Despite my relief, it hurts inside to see that Nina’s face is wet with fresh tears.

I kiss her cheeks and then round to Tam, who doesn’t even look at me as I set him on the ground. He tears his apron off, stomps it into the dirt, and walks away.

A part of me will always hate Salma for this moment.

*

WE ARRIVE AT THE plateau just before sundown. A brook halves the clearing, and on the opposite bank a half-crazed Daphne is poised, aiming a loaded bow at us. She drops it with a clatter. Before I know it, she’s sprinted across the short distance and is hugging me hard.

“Were you going to shoot me?” I ask as the air is squashed from my lungs.

She starts to laugh, but there’s a hiccup in there too.

“I don’t even know how to use it.”

I’ll have to remind myself to teach her later. If she’s going to live out here with us, she’ll need to know how to hunt and defend herself.

I stop myself, shocked that I’ve come to expect that Daphne’s going to live with us. The thought of her moving on to a town like Marhollow bothers me. I think back over the last weeks, but cannot pinpoint the moment I started thinking of her less as a half friend and more as a half sister.

An instant later I’m tackled by Brax, who pins me to the ground with his giant paws. He licks my face and nuzzles his wet nose against my neck. I giggle despite myself and bury my fingers in his coat. Silently, I thank him for giving me hope all these months. For making me remember what’s important.

“Ooh!” yells Nina. “Aya’s got a wolf, Tam!”

He only shrugs.

“You want to meet him?” I ask. Tam shakes his head and stalks to the edge of the stream alone. I rise to follow, but Kiran stops me.

“Give him some space,” he says.

I cast him a narrow look. “You don’t know what he needs. He’s just a kid.”

“Doesn’t look like he’s been a kid for a while.” Kiran removes his dirty shirt to launder, and replaces it with another from his saddlebag. My eyes trail over the bandages on his chest and the bruising that leaks out from beneath them. I look away, embarrassed, and catch sight of a green bottle in his pack he stole from the pharmacy. With a flash of fury I think of Salma.

As much as it pains me, Kiran is right. My little cousin has permanent shadows beneath his eyes. His youth has been stolen by the terrible things he must have seen in the city. I wish I’d been there to protect him.

We sweep the area clean of our tracks and leave at once. The strongest riders take the twins. Nina with Lorcan on the palomino. Tam with Kiran on Dell.

Daphne and I follow on foot. A warm, reckless feeling is expanding inside of me, but I refuse to let it loose. Not yet, I tell myself. There will be time to celebrate once we make it to the mountains. Time for the children to heal. But I think I might erupt as the miles between us and the city add up.

*

AFTER A WHILE NINA trades places with Daphne. She walks beside me, her little warm hand in mine. Every once in a while I catch her looking up at me as if to make sure I’m really here, and when she does, I kiss her head and tell her how brave she is. Behind us, Lorcan leads the palomino while Daphne rests her feet and rides in silence.

As the night darkens, I hear Kiran talking softly to Tam.

“… so Mother Hawk says she’ll give a glass arrow to the first beast to make it across Isor, and whoever wins it won’t ever be hungry again. The bear takes the lead…”

“It wasn’t a bear.”

These are the first words Tam’s spoken since the pharmacy. I slow, but am careful not to turn around and ruin this moment. I’m surprised Kiran remembers this story; it was the one I told Daphne while he was passed out with fever. Hearing mention of it now reminds me of the way my ma used to tell us not to worry because she had the glass arrow. I wish I could tell her I’ve got it now. I’m going to make sure they’re safe and healthy. I’ll do whatever it takes.

“I’m glad to hear it,” says Kiran. “I’m not so keen on bears these days.”

I wince quietly.

“It was a fox,” says Tam. “And a deer.”

“And the fox wins?”

“The deer wins. You talk funny.”

“Not nearly as funny as you.”

“Neely,” copies Tam.

I can’t help it, I laugh into my sleeve.

“Great,” grumbles Kiran.

I want to hear Tam’s voice again. I want him to laugh too, but I realize Lorcan, taking up the rear, has pulled up short. At this warning we all grow very still. The darkness seems to thicken, making it impossible to see more than a few paces away.

Brax backtracks, curving silver tail the last piece of his sleek body swallowed by the night. I wish I could see through those ice-blue eyes to what lurks behind us. To hear what he does, instead of the pulse echoing in my ears.

“Clover?” Daphne whispers, frightened. I hush her.

An instant later we see the narrow beams of the searchlights cutting through the trees.

Trackers.

“Run!” I shove Nina towards Kiran and Tam. He reaches down and pulls her in front of him, and with only a quick, concerned glance my way, turns Dell and sets her galloping into the dark.