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“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“Look, this Trial is supposed to test us in more ways than one. It’s meant to push us to the edge and set us apart from all the others. Trust yourself. Don’t doubt now,” he uttered softly.
“It’s testing my patience for sure,” I huffed, my irritation earning me a quiet chuckle from him.
“Let’s just get to the mountain and see what the night reveals. Then we—”
A horrifying wail echoed through the forest. I whipped my head in the direction of the sound and my breathing stopped as my eyes widened.
That was a contestant.
I quickly untied myself and sat up, panic and fear taking over. For the first time, I didn’t want to be alone. I made to move to Njall’s branch, but he was already next to me, his sword drawn. I pulled out my bow and nocked an arrow. I looked to Njall, his tattooed chest rising up and down with his quickened breaths, and his eyes met mine. Adrenaline coursed through me as the spine-chilling wails continued for what felt like hours.
Njall settled with his back against the tree, legs hanging off due to the lack of room. His eyes were hard and searching the surrounding forest. He touched my back then quietly patted his chest, pointed to me then pointed his finger in a sweeping motion to the right. I nodded in understanding. Keeping my gaze to the right side of the tree while he kept his to the left. I rested my back against his chest, surprised that I felt comfortable in this proximity. This forest had my skin crawling. Both of our weapons were drawn as we waited, hoping we would make it through the night.
Chapter Thirteen
Kya
“Wake up, Roav.”
Hot breath ruffled my hair as a calloused hand brushed down my arm. I stirred against something soft, nestling farther into the warmth against my face. A throat cleared and my eyes flew open.
The second dawn.
Daylight was just starting to appear through the trees. I moved to sit up more and hissed at the soreness of my muscles. My ass was killing me but at least my leg felt better. I was leaning against Njall’s chest, his sword resting beside him. We had stayed up for most of the night, listening to the sounds of the beasts prowling and the squelching of their meals.
Mercifully, the wailing had stopped after a while. I spent the night thinking about the task over and over, trying to crack the riddle. I must have dozed off at some point.
“How long was I out?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I stretched my back, my bow resting on my thighs. My leg really did feel much better. Maybe our healing wasn’t completely gone, just delayed.
“Not long. Maybe an hour,” he yawned.
“We should get moving.”
I grunted as I made to stand, balancing on the branch. Njall stood as well and stretched his arms above his head. My eyes widened as I noticed the bulge in his pants and I snapped my head to the side, looking away.
“What’s wro—” He stopped, presumably noticing what I had. “Fuck. No. Trust me, it wasn’t you. It’s morning.”
I slowly turned around, making an effort to stare him in the face, which paled when I lifted my eyebrows at him.
“I mean…not that you couldn’t. You’re beautiful. But you didn’t…ugh,” he groaned as he ran his hands down his face.
I laughed, truly laughed. This brute of a male stammering over a little erection—okay, big—had me laughing so hard I had to cover my mouth to quiet myself. Njall laughed with me.
After our fit of amusement, we climbed down the tree and continued our slight uphill trek toward the mountain—and the source of the wailing from last night.
We could see the crater at the top of the mountain clearly now, being so close. Its steep grassy slopes, barren of trees, were covered in large jagged rocks halfway to the top. I hadn’t anticipated that it would be an easy ascent, but the rocks would make it more difficult. I didn’t even know how high we would have to climb to see what we needed to—or if we even would.
I still doubted my solution to the riddle. Something at the back of my mind told me that we were wrong, a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just…knew. But without an alternative, we had to work with what we had. And what we had right now was telling us to climb the mountain.
We continued to walk in silence, still apprehensive of our surroundings and keeping a sharp eye on the woods around us. I surveyed the right, he surveyed the left. I glanced around a large tree to the side and did a double take.
“Njall.” My hushed voice broke the silence.
I crouched and drew back my arrow, Njall raised his sword as he quietly walked to me. I flicked my eyes to the tree then back to him. He nodded in understanding and took a protective step in front of me. We naturally worked well together. Even in such a short amount of time, subtle gestures were enough.
