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“Oh. Well, I like it. But I suppose I don’t really have anything to compare it to. It’s all I’ve ever done.” I shrugged.
“How many Roav are there?” His eyes sparkled with curiosity as he moved a low hanging branch out of the way for me.
“How many do you think?”
Njall shook his head and sighed. “Gods, I don’t know. From the stories I’ve heard, there have to be dozens, if not more. The Hunters of Morah are legendary.”
“There are less than you think, I’ll tell you that. But our vast resources make up for what we lack in numbers. Not to mention, we train rigorously.”
Being a Roav was our entire life, and everything we did revolved around making us better equipped to do our job. Morah used to have other Roav before us but they had died long ago and the Scholars had used mercenaries until Nikan, Malina, and I came along—now, we did it all.
His jaw dropped. “There is no way there are less than twenty. You guys infiltrated and took out that clan of pillagers who ransacked all those towns in Torx.” He gaped at me.
“I can tell you that it is definitely less than twenty.” I thought about the bet that Mal and I lost against Nik. We bet he couldn’t handle them all on his own, and suggested that Malina go with him. He came back after only a month, and we each owed him a new weapon of his choice. The specifics of how he did it remained a mystery, as he refused to talk about it.
“Damn. That’s impressive.” He seemed to speak more to himself than to me.
The sun was lowering in the sky as we scouted out a tree to rest in for the night. While Njall worked on building a fire, I prepared to go out to hunt for food, but he stopped me as I turned to walk away.
“Maybe I should come?” he suggested.
“No river in sight. I think I’ll be okay. And I won’t go far.”
He nodded but was clearly unhappy about the decision. “If you get lost, just use the shadows of the trees to get a bearing on your direction. Just don’t stay gone past sunset or you’ll lose them.” He stood, wringing his hands.
Was heworriedabout me?
“I’ll be fine. I’m a Roav. Remember?” I could swear I saw a hint of pink on his cheeks as I slipped into the thicket of the forest—staying mindful of the shadows.
Njall was sitting next to a small fire, when I emerged holding a small animal by the tail—similar to that of a rabbit and was big enough for the two of us. We cooked the meat over the fire and ate as much as we could before burying the rest away from our tree, so we didn’t attract hungry predators in the night.
I walked over to the base of the tree and looked up to the branches—which were higher up than the last one. I rubbed my aching fingers together and worried about my leg.
So much for the Test of Strength. I was probably one of the weakest ones here.
“Let me help.” Njall came to stand beside me.
He smiled and tucked a loose strand of my hair from my braid behind my ear. I didn’t know what to think of the gesture, and I gave an awkward smile in return before he pushed me farther up the tree and I climbed to a branch wide enough to lay on. My calf throbbed from the exertion, and I was thankful to be able to finally rest it. Njall followed after me and took a branchnext to mine, as we tied the ropes around our waists, securing ourselves to the tree.
We decided to take shifts sleeping while the other kept a lookout for beasts—Njall taking the first shift. I stared up at the night sky, watching the stars and constellations twinkle in the inky blackness. My mind began to wander back to the riddle, bothering me that we hadn’t figured it out, and I knew it was bothering Njall too.
“So whatdoeshave a river that does not flow?” I asked, still looking to the sky.
“I’ve been thinking about that all day,” he sighed. I turned to him, his light blue eyes finding mine. “I think maybe it’s not so obvious as a river of water, but perhaps a river of something else?”
“Could be. But we need to figure out what it is before we reach the mountain.”
He hummed in agreement.
“Let’s lay it out,” I said. Njall turned to face me as I continued. “At the mountain, we can find what dies in the darkness.”
“Which is why we have to go at night. So that in the dark, we can find the path.” He nodded.
“Not exactly. This thing that has a river that does not flow willrevealthe path. That’s what we have to find. I just don’t know what that is. And I’m worried we won’t find it, since we don’t even know what we’re looking for.” I hated having a half-assed plan but I supposed it wasn’t any different from my job as a Roav, not knowing where I was going until I had worked through my resources. My lips pursed, and my eyebrows creased in thought.
“Let’s hope that it’ll be obvious once we’re there and this…thing that has a non-flowing river will just…appear,” Njall stammered, his hands moving as he talked. He did that a lot.
“I feel like the answer is right in front of us. Maybe I’m overthinking and it’s simpler than it seems.” I shook my head.
