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Her features relaxed, but her body tensed. “Will it get you out of her contract? Will her death reseat the dwarves, bring about the regular winter season, and break whatever curses she set loose on unsuspecting people?”
I sucked in a breath at the emotion swirling in her eyes as that endless gold met mine in a solemn promise of retribution. “Yes. I believe so.”
She stood slowly, ran a sweaty palm down her thigh, and nodded. “Very well. I will do everything I can.”
Her unfathomable resolve and bravery swept through me, thoroughly branding me. Even without Bereille’s words, I would protect Autumn with everything I was.
Her eyes found mine again. “I cannot do it alone, though, Sahlyn. Ineedyou at my side.”
I started. Beside her is where I would be because I wanted to protect her, but I knew that’s not what she meant. “You need no one,” I breathed.
“That's not true.” She gripped my hand, twining our fingers. “We are comrades, Sahlyn. Friends.”
The gesture undid something inside of me. It bared me to my soul and built me back up.
“I will be at your side until you command me otherwise, Autumn. Al—"
“Let’s get movin’, ye two.” Argen’s voice cut through the moment.
Autumn squeezed my hand, and we again followed the damn dwarf who was disturbingly good at ruining a moment.
“So, when do you leave us?” Autumn asked Argen.
“There’s a cave entrance at the start of the Whispering Wood. We’ll camp there and part ways at dawn.”
Argen gestured for a break.
We had a few hours until nightfall, and he insisted we’d reach the Wood by then. We all took long pulls from our waterskin as he told us more. “A century ago, Creedell made the enslaved dwarves build tunnels to get to Mondu. To trick the doorway. But the tunnels always stopped before the entrance. No one could break through the stone and into the chamber or any of the connectin’ tunnels. Whatever is in Mondu can only be reached through the door. The cave me will go in will come out right ‘fore the doorway, but if we come against a foe, we can retreat to it, if necessary, instead of goin’ back through the Wood. But only a pure dwarf can go through those tunnels and unlock them. Other blood can only exit one way and cannot enter. It's old rune magic that no one alive today understands.”
I glanced at Autumn, who was digesting this information with a placid expression. I didn’t know how she was so collected and calm.
“So, we can enter the cave from the mouth by the doorway near Mondu, but not the entrance at the Winter Wood?”
“Aye.”
“You can avoid the Whispering Wood underground to Mondu, and we can avoid it when we leave?” I gathered.
“Aye.”
“I guess that’s something then.”
He threw us a tight smile, and we moved on.
Ignore the Murmurs
Dusk settled, mottling the sky in hues of gray and mauve as we approached the wood of skinny birches, fat spruce, and broad ferns. Cairns stacked at the entrance of the enchanting forest showed a scraggly pathway. The dwarves could avoid the forest by using the caves, so I wasn’t sure when the last time anyone had entered the Whispering Wood was. We would be its first souls to feed on in a while, and the thought shivered through me. I had never heard of the Whispering Wood, but the dwarves' tales did not regard it as somewhere anyone would ever want to be if they could help it.
The feeling I got from this forest wasnothinglike how I felt with the Neverwood. It was beckoning and not in a good way.
“The cairns ‘ave been ‘ere fer centuries. Our ancestors used stones as markers for everythin’. Entrances, discovered pathways, burial grounds.”
“What can we expect in there?” Sahlyn asked as he set down his pack in front of the cave entrance.
I dipped my chin and ran my eyes over Argen. His body was tense, his features taut.
“Hopefully, nothin’. Just stick together. Ignore ev’ry whisper.”
I couldn’t help but notice that the wood was already whispering as we gathered firewood—crooning murmurs on the wind. Darkness coiled, ready to spring, and I was terrified. I tried not to show the others my panic, but dread settled in the pit of my stomach.
