Warrior of the Wild(61)

“I’d make it up the tree house a lot faster.”

“Just think of how much more you’ll get done every day with the extra four seconds you save climbing the tree house.”

He smiles, but then his eyes catch on something over my shoulder. Soren launches himself at me. We both go down on the ground, hard. At least he gets an arm beneath my head so it doesn’t crack on the rocks below. Still, his weight nearly knocks the wind out of me. My armor clinks against the rocks, so if we’re hiding from something, I have a hard time believing we did a good job.

Soren puts a hand over my mouth, but one look at my incensed stare has him lifting it off and using that hand to take some of the weight off me. After several seconds, he dares to peek over the fallen log I now notice is blocking us.

His head shrinks back down almost as soon as it clears the wood.

My heart beats rapidly at the unknown danger. Is it the god? Could he be up here?

And then I notice just how close Soren is to me. I can feel every point on his body lined up with mine as he’s lying on top of me.

Soren isn’t looking at me, though. He takes another look over the log, and I push against his stomach, trying to get him off me.

He doesn’t budge, and a second later, a blur of brown vaults over the log we hide behind. I catch a glimpse of the underbelly. Tree-bark skin like the gunda, but unlike the gunda, it has four long legs that end in clawed paws. A tail whisks out behind it. It hits the ground several feet ahead of us and takes off running. Another goat ahead looks up from the stream in time to see the enormous cat and bolts with the feline close at its heels.

When they’re both long out of sight, I say, “Next time, get off me so I can help you fight it.”

“Sorry, I was too busy thinking about how I would get my ax off my back without it noticing.”

I shake my head. At first, I think to be angry with him, but then I realize I would have done the same thing. I would have protected whoever was next to me first.

It’s a warrior’s instinct.

“I vote we put some distance between us and that thing.” Soren stands and reaches a hand down to me.

I take it.

“Did you know cats could get that big?” he asks.

“No,” I answer. There are a few kinds in the wild, but they’re small, preying on rodents and valder. Some would even dare to come into the villages at night. They’re harmless to people unless they feel threatened.

As we take to hiking once more, Soren looks over his shoulder frequently.

“If it caught the goat, it will be detained for some time, I’m sure.”

“It’s probably not the only cat on the mountain.”

Seemingly without even thinking about it, Soren reaches for my hand.

And this time, there is no overthinking. This time, there is only a rush of heat where our hands meet.

With Torrin, everything was new. My skin tingled at his touch, a giddy sensation would take over my stomach. I was so eager to experience everything for the first time.

But Soren …

He put his own life at risk to help me get away from the god. He brought me food when he knew I must be close to running out, even showed me how I could obtain more on my own. He recognized that I didn’t like accepting help from others, and he challenged me.

I like that.

I like him.

It’s not about giving in to the first boy who ever acted interested.

It’s about being interested in the boy who is finally worth it.

Soren was interested in me from the first time we met. He made that clear, but once he realized how that made me uncomfortable, he stopped. He found less obvious ways to be near me, to help me.

And now I find myself wanting to be for him what he is to me.





CHAPTER


18


As the day grows later, we decide to stop and figure out how  we’re going to best survive the night.

“Climbing up a tree won’t help us this time,” Soren says. “Cats clearly love heights.”

Eventually, we find a section of the mountain so steep, it’s practically a wall, and it serves as an excellent cover for our backs.

“This will work great,” I say.

Soren and I get to work on building a fort similar to the one I first built in the wild. We use our axes to cut and shape tree branches. We prop them against the rock wall, leaving a small hollow underneath. It takes only an hour to get everything just right, piling on the branches so thickly that very little light can get in. It will certainly keep any animals from spotting us. A thick strip of fallen bark serves as a makeshift door. Bless the wild for all the sturdy wood.

I cover the rough ground inside our shelter with as many leaves as I can find, using only the ones from trees I recognize to be safe. Some leaves in the wild sting to the touch. Others give off an aroma that attracts bugs. And some release their pigment and stain the skin. Since none of that is ideal, I stick to what I know.

Even after that, the ground is still so very hard.

“Maybe we should lie atop the blankets,” I suggest.

“The night will grow too cold.” Soren pauses. “We could share. Put one blanket below both of us and the other on top.”

“All right.”

We eat a dinner of dried meat and berries outside before turning in for the night. Our lean-to is cozy. There’s barely enough room for us to lie side by side. It’s so much more practical for us to share the blankets than for us to each have our own.