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It was a remarkable beast. Magical.
“Don’t. Fucking. Move,” a coarse voice rasped to my left.
I turned to find Irving standing behind Calandra with a sharpened stick to her neck and his other hand over her mouth as he tugged her back.
A yelp escaped me in surprise, wrapping my fingers around the metal rings. “Irving, think about what you’re doing.” I stepped toward him.
“If you even think about coming any closer, I’ll stab her!”
I paused, holding up my hands. “Okay, I won’t. I won’t. Tell me what I need to do, so you’ll let her go.”
“I want her knives!” His eyes blazed with anger. “I won’t let her go until she’s dropped all of them!”
“Why do you need all her knives, Irving?”
“Because I have nothing! Don’t you get it? I’ve seen how many knives she has. You can share, can’t you, Calandra?”
Calandra bucked in his grip, tried to dislodge the knife from her sleeve, but he pushed the stick further into her neck, drawing blood.
“We can work together, okay? This isn’t necessary. The king wants us to turn on each other?—”
“I don’t care!” he yelled. His face was pained, like he was trying to tune out his thoughts. The wind. “How am I supposed to get a stag to obey me if I have no way of getting it to submit? Why does she get to keep all the knives for herself, huh? What makes her better than us?”
“No one thinks she is better than anyone, Irving. I didn’t get any weapons either,” I lied, trying to talk him off the ledge. “I get it. But this isn’t the way to go about it.”
Irving seethed. “Spare me the bullshit. If you think for one second she’s befriended you for any reason other than?—”
Calandra pulled a knife out of her waistband, stabbed it into his hand, and forced him to release her.
“Screw you bitch!” he cried out as she jumped from his grip, kicking him hard between his legs. He dropped to the ground; a hand cupped his groin.
“Hurry! Go,” she urged, and we raced into the clearing.
The wind ripped through my hair. My adrenaline pumping.
The stag whipped its head in our direction.
I skidded to a stop, putting an arm out in front of Calandra, motioning her to take my lead. “Shh.” I held a finger to my lips. “Move as quietly as possible. One wrong move and it’ll run.”
She nodded and stepped back, letting me take the lead.
The stag bleated as I approached, and I dropped the vines to show it my hands. “It’s okay, don’t be afraid. We’re not here to hurt you.” I inched closer.
“What brings you here, then? Why all the vines?”
I blanched, twirling around to make sure Calandra was still standing in the same spot, her face unreadable. I sucked in a breath. Never would I get used to hearing an animal’s voice inside my head, hearing its thoughts as if they were my own.
I looked back to the stag, speaking low so Calandra wouldn’t hear. “The trials. King Harkin demanded we find and tame a wild stag and bring it back to the center of the forest or we’d be eliminated.”
The stag huffed. “King Harkin is not an honest ruler.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. But either we follow his orders, or he won’t let us go home.”
I took another step. And another. Until I was less than five feet away from the majestic creature. It towered over me—my neck craning as I took it all in—we’d need a ladder to climb onto its back.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” it said. “You’re in grave danger. If King Harkin discovers the secrets you’re keeping, he’ll have you killed.”
“What? I don’t have any secrets.” A million questions flooded my mind, like how I could talk to animals, for one. But I didn’t let on, not wanting Calandra to see my distress. I stood straighter, wiping my palms on my pants.
