We’re all silent as we finally settle down for the night, but I can sense that sleep isn’t coming easily to any of us.
There’s a tension rippling through the ether, and even the horses seem to sense something around us. They’re shifting and snorting as if the air has teeth.
It must be nerves from the wolves earlier, I try to tell myself. Only … the horses were still and silent while we were eating the last of our leftovers and while we were training.
So what does that mean? Is there something else out there? Another predator stalking us?
No, sleep does not come easily.
‘So where are we heading? Exactly?’Ruben asks the next morning once the horses are loaded and we’re ready to go.
‘Exactly? I’m not sure,’ I admit. ‘But deeper into the forest.’
The group looks at me expectantly, clearly needing more than that to base our route on. ‘I saw something … a vision. I saw my sister’s ring. Well, my mother’s ring, truly.’
‘A vision,’ Ruben replies slowly.
‘I don’t know if it’s a proper vision. It didn’t feel like a premonition showing me the future. It was more like … I was looking at something happening now.’
‘And that … vision … is dictating where we’re heading?’ Benny sounds less than convinced. But there has to be a reason the vision was sent to me.
‘It is,’ I say. ‘Kay lost the ring when she was in Afaven Forest during one of the trials. We need it for some reason. I feel like that’s what the vision is trying to tell me.’
‘And theyarejust visions?’ Caz asks.
‘Truthfully? I don’t know,’ I say, chewing on my bottom lip. ‘It feels like I’ve been … transported. I can smell. Hear. Feel the wind. Can you do that in visions?’
‘I don’t know,’ Caz answers. ‘But I wish you’d told me about this before we left. I could have seen if there was anything in the library to help. All Issen texts were burned, but visions aren’t overtly ice-related. It’s possible that books related to what you’re going through would have survived Korvane’s literary cull.’
If the visions aren’t Issen, then what are they? After all, they started before Etta gave me my Morathkian powers back. ‘Hopefully I’ll getsome answers soon,’ I tell her. Though there’s no denying this detour into the forest is going to slow our progress, and the guilt I feel about leaving William in danger for longer is almost enough to make me change my mind. Almost but not quite. I’m doing this for him, too. For the entire family.
We continue on. I thought the roads would be better maintained, but more than once we are forced off the potholed tracks and onto rocky terrain. How the hell carriages make it through here, I have no idea, but we carry on all the same.
The weather is almost kind, with clear skies above us, so we don’t have to worry about snow at least, but it does little to ease the tension or lighten the mood of the group. If anything, the clear sky feels like bait.
The only real discussions we have are about travelling and whether it’s better to keep going through the night, at least for a while longer, or rest and push on in the early morning.
‘I want to push through,’ I tell the group. ‘Get to the forest tonight. It’ll be more riding now, but we can take an hour or so break if the horses need it.’
The need to get the ring is itching at me. I don’t want to wait. Anything could happen and it suddenly feels absolutely vital that I get my hands on it.
Kyor shakes his head. ‘No. Elska says we should avoid the forest at night. She doesn’t like this idea of yours at all.’
‘She doesn’t, or you don’t?’ I reply, chafing at his response. I don’t want to wait. Don’t want to be sensible.
‘Both,’ he admits. ‘The less time we spend in the forest, the better.’
‘The wolf doesn’t want to go into the forest?’ Ruben frowns. ‘Isn’t Afaven the home of the dire wolves?’
‘She is a bonded wolf now,’ Kyor explains. ‘She isn’t welcome.’
‘Elska didn’t seem afraid of the forest in the trials,’ I say. ‘What’s changed?’
‘Oh, she was,’ Kyor assures me. ‘She was just more afraid that I was going to die out there after you had poisoned me.’
Ruben grins at me. ‘You poisoned the Prince of Morathka?’
‘It was an accident,’ I protest. ‘I was trying to poison someone else.’
