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When Njall returned, arms piled with sticks, he dropped them on the ground and furrowed his brow when he noticed me laying out lengths of rope I had brought with me.
“What’s the rope for?”
“It’ll help hold us so we don’t fall in our sleep,” I said without looking up at him.
“And why do we need to be concerned with falling in our sleep?”
I looked at him and gave an innocent smile. “Because the best place to sleep is up there.”
I pointed to the limbs above me. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the idea and I generally avoided being in places, like trees, where I wasn’t able to feel with my terbis. But seeing as I couldn’t use it anyway, it seemed like the most logical place to be while we were vulnerable during sleep.
Njall pursed his lips and blinked slowly, looking to the branches above.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights? You had no problem of climbing that tree earlier,” I said playfully.
“Just because I can climb a tree doesn’t mean I want to sleep in one. And I’mnotafraid of heights, I’m afraid of falling from them,” he stated defensively.
“Hence the rope.” I gestured to the lengths on the ground.
He didn’t argue any further. He simply nodded and walked over to the base of the tree. He intertwined his fingers together and held his hands low, palms splayed out, and grumbled something about the pointless task of gathering kindling. I slung therope over my shoulder as I stepped into his hands and he pushed me up the tree.
It took some effort, but I was able grip the grooves of the bark and climb up the trunk until I reached the thick limbs. I settled onto a branch as wide as my body and tossed a length of rope down to Njall, who was resting on a thicker branch below me. We tied ourselves to the branches, and I tried not to think of how high up I was. I laid my head back and took in the night sky through the canopy. Stars began to twinkle as the sun’s final rays faded into darkness. The sound of the river drowned out the noises of the forest, and the gentle breeze cooled the sweat on my brow from the climb.
I prayed that nothing would come for us in the night as I closed my eyes, exhaustion finding me quickly as I began to drift to sleep under the star-filled sky with my hands resting on my daggers.
Chapter Twelve
Kya
Iwoke to a hand clasping over my mouth. My first instinct was to struggle and fight, but when my eyes snapped open, Njall was hovering over me with wide eyes and heavy breathing. He put a finger up to his lips and nodded down below. He released my face and I took a silent breath before turning to look at the ground beneath us, trying not to think about the fact that he was so close—and still shirtless.
A monstrous creature, bigger than any animal I had ever seen, stalked through the darkness toward the tree we were perched in. I had to squint to just barely make out its silhouette against the blackness around it. The river drowned out the sound of the beast’s steps as it grew closer and closer. My chest rose with rapid breaths and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from it.
I had read about the creatures of the Woltawa Forest, and even saw a few drawings, but it was nothing compared to reality. The beast walked on all fours and was covered in thick mangy fur. Black eyes glowed with the reflection from the water. It had small stunted ears on top of its large head, and a gaping hole where a nose would be at the end of its fanged snout—a living nightmare that I knew would haunt my dreams. Its claws, eachas long as my hand, dug into the ground as it moved past our tree and to the river.
I craned my neck to watch it drink from the bank of the river. Njall leaned in closer to get a better look, and I could have sworn he didn’t even blink, never taking his eyes off the threat for a second. I twisted to get into a better position and my boot scraped against the bark.
The beast’s ear twitched and it slowly lifted its head, sniffing the air before whipping around toward our tree. Njall ducked and pushed my head down with his hand, keeping us out of sight from the creature.
It can hear well. Better than us. Good to know.
I hadn’t noticed until now that Njall was breathing just as hard as I was, fear in his eyes as we listened for the slightest sounds. We couldn’t hear anything over the roaring water, and I prayed that its hearing wasn’t sensitive enough to hear our heavy breaths.
We waited and waited, too terrified to move to see if the beast was still there. Panic settled in my chest and I began to shake. Njall held me tighter. I was so used to being able to detect movements, and not knowing where it was filled me with an unfamiliar feeling of anxiety. But without my abilities in this place, I was grateful to be away from that thing. If it had snuck up on us while we slept on the ground… I wasn’t sure we would have been able to run away or fight it off.
Njall took a deep breath and slowly raised his head to the side to look around the branch. He released his breath and his shoulders relaxed. Curious, I twisted my neck and my own tension eased as I watched the beast walking back the way it came.
After the creature was out of sight, Njall sat back on his heels and helped me untie myself from the wide limb. At least he was decent enough to warn me. That could have gone a lot worse if he had chosen to look out for only himself.
“What the fuck was that thing?” His voice was barely a whisper as he took the rope and placed it over his shoulder.
“A beira. Very territorial and temperamental. Its claws are sharp enough to shred through bones. We’re lucky it didn’t choose to investigate because it can climb trees just as fast as it can run.” I mentally recalled the details of my readings. We had indeed been lucky. While they didn’t have good eyesight, they had an incredible sense of smell.
“How do you know that?” he asked.
“I live in a giant library with the greatest collection of knowledge in the realm. How do you think I know that?” I retorted.
“Right. Well, regardless of their climbing ability, I feel much better about being up here now. I vote we sleep in treeseverynight. I do not want to wake up to that thing in my face.” He shuddered.
