AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He takes off running into the falling snow. The screams are now from one person, a man bellowing at the top of his lungs. Niles whips his head around to gawk at me. “We’re not going to listen to him, right?”
And before I can react, Ruth and Chekiss are on their feet, waiting for me to make the first move of disobedience from Dessin’s direct order.
I rub my face to wipe the tiredness away. “Okay. But we stand back to see if he needs us.” As we exit the cave, the screaming is coming from the tall pine trees to our far left. I expect to see groups of armed men and Dessin fighting them all with DaiSzek by his side. But it’s just Dessin staring at a tree. A tree on fire. He nods once as if taking directions from someone and takes a few steps to the right, digging in the snow with his bare hands.
I nod to Niles, Chekiss, and Ruth. We sprint through the snow, lifting our knees to our chest with each stride like we’re jogging through water. Attached to the burning tree is a man.
“Get him loose!” Dessin barks at Warrose. The man is screaming as the flames lick his boots and pants. Warrose yanks a dagger from his belt, sawing through the ropes that bind the poor man. I look up and the victim has curly black hair and arctic-blue eyes that are filled with welling tears.
“What are you doing?!” I shout over my shoulder to Dessin.
“His friend was buried alive!” he shouts back.
Flames are getting too close to Warrose’s hands, so I sneak a knife from his belt, circling to the back of the tree to help him cut off the restraints. I hear Dessin panting as he digs deeper into the ground. He stops, grunting as if he’s pulling someone from a grave. A woman begins to whimper.
“Are you hurt?” I hear Dessin ask, followed by the woman breaking out in hysterical sobbing.
We cut the man free and he falls to the ground with a sigh of relief. His eyes look up immediately. I follow his stare and see the woman’s arms around Dessin’s neck as she continues to cry. Her friend doesn’t move. Doesn’t stand to check on her. Just stares with tears streaming from his pink cheeks.
Dessin’s arms stay suspended in the air around her quivering body. Unsure how he should react to her outburst. I have the urge to smile, but I don’t. It would be inappropriate, we don’t even know what just happened. It’s just… I remember the first time I hugged Dessin. He was in shock. His persona doesn’t do well with emotions or human interaction. I can only imagine how uncomfortable he is.
I greet the crying woman with my hand on her back to help Dessin out. She looks up at me from the center of his chest, gazing at me through hot tears still hanging loosely from her long lashes, making clean streaks through the mud all over her fair face. The woman’s golden-copper hair is covered in dirt, standing in wild waves all over her head. Her eyebrows knit together and she jumps from Dessin to me. Thin, frail arms choking my neck. Dessin raises his eyebrows at me with a thank you for the assist look.
“What happened?” I ask her.
The man steps forward, touching her arm in reassurance. “I don’t know if you remember us… but the two of you found us in the woods a few months ago…”
“I remember,” Dessin says through his teeth. “And you only have a minute to explain before I tie you back to that tree.”
The man opens his mouth to speak.
“—And before you think about lying, I’ll know. I don’t like liars. I burn liars.”
The man blinks several times with eyelids stretched to his eyebrows.
“What’s your name?” I ask, still holding the frantic woman.
The man looks at me nervously. It’s now I realize he holds more boyish features than manly ones. He might be a couple of years younger than me.
“Niklaus,” he answers hesitantly.
“How old are you, Niklaus?” I ask again, the girl finally gaining enough strength to part from my arms.
“Twenty-one.”
Dessin takes a step forward, probably to do something rash. I hold my hand up to him, signaling him to let me keep talking. He stops midstep.
“Niklaus, my friend here has many gifts, but patience isn’t one of them. I need you to tell me why this is our second run-in with you two, and I need you to be honest.”
The wind carries the scent of smoke from the burning pine tree. I notice Ruth, Chekiss, and Niles still standing back. Waiting to see if we’ll need them.
Niklaus takes a breath, careful not to look at Dessin. “We’re being chased by people who think we are in cahoots with the two of you. We just broke out of where they were keeping us. They followed us here and you saw what the end result was.”
“Why would they think we’re affiliated?” Dessin steps forward.
“They said they saw us with you that night. I guess they had eyes on the two of you.”
Dessin begins to pace. “No, that’s not right. Demechnef wouldn’t have taken people we only had a random interaction with once.” He narrows his eyes back to Niklaus. Suspicion forming new theories in his mind.
