Page 16 of Blood & Claw

Fuck.

Her heart thundered as she scanned the hills.

It’s just a fox, she told herself. Or a wildcat.

Even so, she broke into a jog once more.

When something hissed in the darkness behind her, her courage failed, and she ran.

The cold wind tore at her cloak as she fled up the road, legs burning, lungs screaming. Only when her strength began to fail did she slow, staggering to a halt.

She bent double, gasping.

Nothing followed. Still, she peered into the darkness, eyes straining for any sign of movement.

The night dragged on, and as it did, she eventually slowed to a walk.

Her boots rubbed her heels raw, and thirst gnawed at her throat. When at last she found a shallow burn cutting across the road, relief nearly buckled her knees.

Finally, something was going right.

She drank deeply and refilled her water skin.

Refreshed, she pushed on. However, a while later, as dawn began to bleed into the sky, her belly cramped.

At first, it was a dull ache.

Then it twisted hard enough to double her over.

Swearing, she stumbled off the road and squatted in the grass.

The cramps came in violent waves.

“Idiot,” she muttered through clenched teeth. Kayla had warned her often enough about drinking unboiled water.

Another reminder of how little she knew about surviving beyond Braewall.

Eventually, the pain eased.

Ailsa cleaned herself off with handfuls of grass, rose stiffly, and emptied the rest of the water from her skin.

Then she set off again.

Her body ached, her feet throbbed, and exhaustion tugged at her limbs. All she wanted was to find a sheltered spot to lie down and rest.

But Kayla was out there somewhere.

And so, she kept moving.

The village huddled on the banks of a river edged in reedbeds. The settlement was tiny, little more than a collection of stacked-stone roundhouses with conical sod roofs gathered along the road north. Shepherds lived here, and they were taking their flocks out to graze when Ailsa hobbled in. Bleary-eyed, they whistled to their dogs and guided their flocks out of the enclosures and onto the hills.

Some of them watched Ailsa as she limped by, no doubt wondering what a lass was doing traveling alone through The Wolds.

Ailsa didn’t blame them. After the night she’d just had, she wasn’t looking forward to another on her own. From now on, she’d travel during the day and find somewhere safe to sleep at night.

Her feet dragged this morning, and her limbs felt leaden, yet she wouldn’t rest.

She couldn’t. Not yet.