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“Where to next?” Marcus asked, rubbing his hands against his thighs and doing his best to stay warm.
“The other crew is heading counterclockwise, so we’ll continue to move south and then west until we meet up with them.” Nik studied a small piece of paper with rough landmarks sketched out to help guide them in their search.
“Hopefully they’re having more luck than we are.”
“Hopefully,” Nik answered dully.
They stood after a few minutes of rest, ready to move on. They both flinched in alarm when twigs snapping sounded in the distance.
“What was that?” Marcus whispered.
Nik brought his finger up to his mouth to silence him. He listened intently, ears strained to make out a sound, any sound other than the light breeze.
Nothing.
His face relaxed. “It was probably just an animal.” He grabbed his backpack from the ground and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s move.”
But he looked back at the clearing as they continued, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were not alone.
Marcus carried on complaining for the rest of the afternoon. The air was too cold, the path too unsteady, the food they packed too bland. Nik felt the early markers of a migraine coming on. If they came up empty-handed today and had to search again, he prayed he would be assigned a different partner.
“Stop.” He abruptly threw a hand out to Marcus, who froze.
“What is it?”
Nik scanned the forest. The white snow made everything blend together. Every surface was covered in a glistening blanket. “I thought I saw something.”
Knew. He knew he’d seen something. But when he eyed the trees, nothing moved except the branches waving softly in the breeze. The shadows could’ve been playing tricks on him, but his heart raced. Something didn’t feel right. The pit in his stomach grew.
“Must’ve been my imagination.” His senses remained heightened as they continued walking through the forest.
They happened across a black creek, vibrant against the snow. Nik double checked his map and observed their surroundings. They were still on the correct path, but something was wrong.
“The water is supposed to be shallow enough to cross here.” He stared at the rushing water; it had to be at least ten feet deep.
“Your map lies,” Marcus griped.
“We’ve gotten more snow than usual…” He ground his teeth. Cold enough to snow, but not cold enough to freeze the river. And warm enough to raise the water by several feet as the snow in the surrounding areas fed the river.
“We can’t cross this. It’s too flooded.” Marcus crossed his arms in defiance, like a child. How he’d made it through guard training, Nik would never know. He complained about every little nuisance.
Nik rubbed his throbbing temples.
“No one asked you to.”
If he had to spend much longer with Marcus, he might snap. He pulled out his map again and traced their path with his finger. “We can walk downstream a bit. There should be an old bridge a few miles ahead.”
They walked along the edge of the river in silence. That feeling returned—someone was watching them. Maybe he was being paranoid, but something just didn’t feel right, and his intuition had never led him astray. But he scoured the forest and couldn’t see anything out of place. They hadn’t heard any suspicious noises in a while, either. So he carried on and kept his eyes peeled.
“Let’s move into the trees,” he told Marcus. If something was out there watching, it would be better if they weren’t out in the open.
They reached the bridge and started to walk across. The cold air felt even harsher in the open, with no protection from the woods. The wind carried a cruel tune that nipped at his ears and nose.
Halfway across the bridge, Nik stopped in his tracks. His stomach tensed and he pulled his sword out of its sheath, his knuckles white as he gripped the end.
He had definitely seen something.
Marcus stood to his side with his sword drawn as well, shooting quick glances at Nik, waiting to follow his lead. Shadows moved in the woods ahead. Nik hoped for a moment that they were fellow Rysburg guards, but when they entered the opening, he immediately knew they weren’t. He sucked in a ragged breath. This…this was what he had been wary of. This was the cause of the uneasy feeling he’d had all afternoon.
