LITMIR.BIZ

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to my satisfaction, and I was growing weary of it.

      He stopped.

      “How do I find the others?” Without the sun, my sense of direction failed. I wasn’t sure if I could find my way back to the clearing, much less to the castle on my own.

      “Just follow this path.” He pointed in the direction the wagons had come from. “I managed to shake them off my tail before I caught up with you. The soldiers were heading southwest; they’re probably staking out this trail. Technically, that’s the best strategy.”

      Valek jogged away along the path. I watched him go. He moved with the light grace and speed of a deer, his muscles rippling under his formfitting camouflage.

      When he was out of sight, I crunched my feet on the loose stones of the trail, making noise. Twilight robbed the trees of color as darkness descended. Uneasiness settled over me. Every rustle caused my heart to jump, and I found myself peering over my shoulder, wishing Valek was here.

      A shout pierced the air. Before I could react, a large shape rushed me, tackling me to the ground.

      16

      “GOT YOU!” SAID THE MAN sitting on top of me.

      Even with my face pressed into the stones, and my mouth full of dirt, I recognized his rough voice from earlier in the day. He yanked my arms behind me. I felt cold metal bite into my wrists as I heard the snap and clink of manacles.

      “Isn’t that a bit much, Janco?” asked Janco’s partner.

      Janco moved off me, and I was hauled to my feet. In the semidarkness, I saw the man that held me was thin, with a goatee. He wore his dark hair buzzed in the typical military style. A thick scar ran from his right temple to his ear. The lower half of his right ear was missing.

      “She was too damn hard to find. I don’t want her getting away,” Janco grumbled.

      His companion was about the same height but twice as wide. Thick, sculpted muscles bulged through his camouflage uniform. Small, damp curls clung to his head, and from this distance his eyes held no color except the black of his pupils.

      I wanted to flee. It was almost dark; I was manacled and alone with two strange men. Logically, I knew that these were the Commander’s soldiers, and they were professionals, but that didn’t stop my pulse from racing.

      “You made us look bad,” Janco said. “Every soldier out here is probably going to be reassigned. We’ll all be cleaning out latrines ’cause of you.”

      “That’s enough, Janco,” Colorless Eyes said. “We won’t be scrubbing floors. We found her. And take a look at that getup. No one expected her to go camo, that’s why she was so hard to find. But, still, the Captain’s gonna shit when he sees this!”

      “And the Captain’s back at the castle?” I asked, trying to prompt them in that direction.

      “No. He’s leading a line farther southwest. We’ll have to report to him.”

      I sighed at the delay. I had hoped for a quick trip back. “How about you send Janco here to find the Captain, while we head to the castle?”

      “Sorry, but we’re not permitted to split up. We’re required to travel in pairs, no exceptions.”

      “Um…” Janco started.

      “Yelena,” I supplied.

      “Why are you so anxious to get back?” he asked.

      “I’m afraid of the dark.”

      Colorless Eyes laughed. “Somehow I doubt that. Janco, take the cuffs off her. She’s not going to run away. That’s not the point of this exercise.”

      Janco hesitated.

      I said, “You have my word, Janco. I won’t run if you take off the manacles.”

      He grumbled some more but unlocked the cuffs. I wiped the dirt from my face. “Thanks.”

      He nodded, and then pointed to his partner. “He’s Ardenus.”

      “Ari, for short.” Ari extended his hand, giving me an honor. If a soldier offered his hand, he was acknowledging me as an equal.

      I shook it gravely, and then the three of us headed southwest to find their Captain.

      The trip to the castle was almost comical. Almost. If my stiff and sore muscles hadn’t protested my every step, and if the bone-deep ache of pure exhaustion hadn’t pulled at my body like a stone cloak, I would have been amused.

      Janco and Ari’s Captain fumed and blustered when we caught up with him. “Well, well, well. Look at what our two sweethearts finally found,” Captain Parffet said. His bald head was beaded with sweat that rolled down the sides of his face, soaking his collar. He was old for a Captain, and I wondered if his surly disposition was the reason for his lack of promotion.

      “I’m supposed to have the best scouts in Commander Ambrose’s guard,” Parffet shouted at Ari and Janco. “Maybe you can enlighten us as to which procedure you followed that took you over seventeen hours to find the bitch!” Parffet continued his verbal bashing. Even in the darkness I could see his face turning purple.

      I tuned him out and studied his unit. A couple of faces smirked, agreeing with their Captain, some were resigned, as if used to his tantrums, and others wore bored and tired expressions. One man, who had shaved his entire head except for his bangs, stared with an uncomfortable intensity at me. When I made eye contact, he jerked his glance to the Captain.

      “Nix, put the bitch in manacles,” Parffet ordered, and the man with the bangs pulled metal cuffs off his belt. “I see our two prima donnas can’t be bothered to follow this unit’s standard procedures.”

      As Nix approached, I searched for a chance to slip away. My promise to Janco had only extended to a “hands free” trip back to the castle. Ari, sensing my frame of mind, placed a large hand on my shoulder, anchoring me to his side.

      “We have her word, sir, that she won’t run off,” he said in my defense.

      “Like that means anything.” Parffet spat on the ground.

      “She has given her word,” Ari repeated. A low rumble in his voice reminded me of a huge dog growling a warning.

      Parffet grudgingly allowed procedure to be modified, but savored his bad temper by harassing the rest of his soldiers into formation, initiating a fast march back to the castle.

      I walked wedged between Ari and Janco like some prized trophy. Ari explained that the Captain didn’t handle surprises well, and had been frustrated by my daylong romp in the forest.

      “It doesn’t help that we found you. He didn’t promote us to his unit like the others. We were assigned by Valek,” Janco said.

      Parffet’s mood turned blacker when the dog team overtook our procession. Chaos erupted as barking dogs and more guards tangled together. I experienced a moment of panic when the canines rushed me. As it turned out, they greeted me with wagging tails and licking tongues. Their pure joy was infectious. I smiled, and scratched their ears, stopping only when Parffet scowled and shouted for order.

      The dogs wore no collars. The kennel master was part of the tracking team. The dogs reassembled on Porter’s command, following his orders without fail. The commander of the dog team seemed disappointed that Porter’s dogs hadn’t found me first, but she took it with better grace than Ari’s Captain had. She introduced herself as Captain Etta and walked beside me to ask questions about my “run.” I liked her easy, respectful manner. Her mop of dark blond hair pushed the limits of military regulation.

      I stuck to the truth as much as I could during our conversation. When it came to questions regarding where my scent had disappeared, I lied. I explained that I had walked northward in the water for a while before heading east.

      Etta shook her head. “We were so focused on you heading south. Parffet was

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