AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jasmine
THE SOLDIERS LOOKEDfor us all night. I could stop them from getting too close, but whenever they were out of my reach, they found our tracks again.
Despite our exhaustion, we did not stop until the first lights of the day appeared over the horizon, and Brigid was forced to take a moment to cover her eyes. As she reached into her pocket and pulled a torn piece of fabric, I watched her through the fog that had settled over my mind. She was quick. She covered her eyes and did not bother to leave a gap to see through.
“Where are the soldiers?” Kieran asked me as we resumed our walk.
That question had been with us all night.
“They’re on the other side of that hill,” I told him. “They found our track again.”
“We should find a river and use it to hide our footprints,” Dearen said. “We are being reckless because we rely too much on Jasmine. We should do this the usual way, and then, they won’t be able to follow us.”
Kieran nodded.
“There is a village nearby,” Fiona said.
I followed her gaze and saw what she had seen. To our north, lines of smoke were rising to the sky neatly.
“A village needs a water source,” Dearen observed.
We started walking toward the village. Fiona and I kept our tendrils behind us and made sure no soldiers could come too close to our group. Still, beyond our reach, I could feel the soldier’s determination.
They would not stop following us.
We no longer had the horses with us because my friends had set them free before entering Terlyth. There was no use running anymore. I wasn’t even sure if I could.
We were walking and being careful not leaving any clues on our path, but a party of five was not an easy thing to hide in a forest. There were broken branches and muddy patches on the ground everywhere, and whenever any of us stepped onto one of those things, the soldiers had a new clue to discover.
Sleep was threatening me with its usual luring touch. My eyelids were heavy, and whenever I saw a patch of grass between the melting snow, I couldn’t help but wish I could just stay there and lay down.
“Why did they have an alarm on the wall?” I asked after a while to keep my mind occupied and push sleep away. “And why didn’t it catch you coming in?”
“Perhaps it only focuses on those who are trying to leave?” Fiona suggested.
“Or maybe they realized that we used a conjured door to get in, and then, they set up that alarm,” Dearen said. “I knew that alarms like that exist, but I could never guess that it could be put up on a wall that is so long and wide. You would need earth elementals all over the wall to keep watch; most nobles wouldn’t even bother hiring just one. It would be too expensive.”
“Well,” I said, “this is the queen. I assume she has the means.”
Dearen replied. “I guess she does.”
“We don’t station earth elementals on our walls back in Qam,” Fiona said. “We have sentries stationed on top of the walls to watch anyone who might try to use magic to get in.”
“The queen might not have enough soldiers,” Brigid suggested. “Perhaps she had to use the alarm instead of guards on top of the wall.”
“Maybe the army is already gone,” I said, realizing the grave consequences of that proposition only after the words came out.
Kieran’s face twisted with worry.
“Leaving the city unprotected is not a good strategy,” Fiona replied quickly. “The soldiers might be in training, which might be why she decided not to use them on the walls. It doesn’t matter anyway. The snow is melting.”
“It is almost spring here,” Kieran said, nodding.
We did not say out loud what that meant, but we all knew. Once spring settled, the queen would have no obstacles before her. She would attack the Unseelie. Silence fell over our group.
We kept walking, but it did not seem like anyone wanted to talk anymore. Exhaustion was slowly getting to us all.
“I hear water,” Dearen said after a while.
