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Fuck. We’re lost and injured.My thoughts only contribute to my panic, and I instinctively begin biting my nails, a nervous tic I’ve had since I was a child. Something about the feeling of my teeth chattering on the hard nails calms me but also reminds me of how nervous I am. I always wondered if it was more harmful than helpful, but as Hurion said, we have bigger issues on our hands.
“We can try to trace the water upstream,” he tells me. “If we can find the waterfall, we can find our way back to camp.”
My panic subdues slightly as he tells me the plan. When I get worried like this, and my head begins to spin frantically, it helps if someone nearby gives me firm direction. I can easily get lost in the ‘what ifs’ and ‘could bes.’
I feel grateful that he’s here and brought me back to life. I’ve gathered that he’s intelligent and well-versed in survival. If I were alone, I would have remained too nervous to realize which way the water flowed and followed it upstream.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” I chuckle. “I would have no idea what to….”
“First things first, we need to find shelter.” He interrupts me, and I quiet myself as I listen to him. “It’s getting dark, and we need a safe place to defend ourselves. These woods are dangerous at night.”
I stay silent and listen to him, feeling shut down by his interruption. I imagine he’s in a ‘fix it’ mode rather than a ‘talk our feelings out’ mindset. He turns around and stops walking, looking around at the river and surrounding forest.
I look around with him, wondering where a safe place to rest would be. Given his bossy nature, I doubt my ideas will do much good, so I pretend I know what I’m doing. Part of me wonders why I want to impress and make him feel like he’s the leader. I can’t decide if it’s because of my panic or because I keep catching glimpses of his ripped muscles in my peripheral.
I’ve always found the members of the Burning Sun clan to be attractive, not just in looks but in their personalities as well. They’ve always cared for me and treated me as an equal, something I was not used to when growing up.
Looking at Hurian, I feel a slight difference in attractiveness. He catches my eye differently. Maybe it’s his stoic nature that gives him an air of mystery, or it might be his ripped figure and broad shoulders that give me a feeling of safety.
If anything tries to attack us in the night, I have a greater chance of staying safe with him, even if we don’t have weapons, than I did trying to fight the pack of wolves with a measly knife.
Something catches his eye in the distance, and he quickly begins walking away from me. I flop my hands to my sides and roll my eyes. It’s like he doesn’t even know I’m here or that I can’t keep up with his fast gait easily.
“Hey!”’ I yell after him as I fast-walk into the woods. “Wait for me!”
5
HURIAN
Ilisten to the sound of Dana following me as I roll my eyes. I’ve been known to have bad luck all my life – Flora used to tease me about it. She would say I pissed off the gods somehow, and because of that, little mishaps always followed me.
My luck has never put me in a life-threatening situation, though; it also hasn’t placed me stranded with a human who has no idea how to survive on her own. She should have scaled a tree to escape the wolves; they would have left her alone, eventually. Instead, she thought a puny dagger would be more intimidating.
I have to give her credit, though, because her bravery and determination in such a crisis is astounding, especially for someone so small. She’s not small in height for a human woman, but her build is skinny. There’s not enough muscle on her to wrestle a cub wolf to the ground if she wanted to.
I walk quickly, aware of the dusk setting on us. We have a list of things we need to do before dark. Find a shelter that can hide our movements and scents from predators, build a fire to keep us warm and give us light, and preferably find something to eat, although if we can’t, that can be a mission for the morning.
“Can you slow down?” I hear her ask from behind me.
“No,” I reply firmly. “We have to hurry.”
“Well….” She scoffs. “I’m not going to be able to find you if you keep walking so quickly, and I lose you.”
I roll my eyes and slow my gait, listening to her breathing heavily as she catches up to me. Part of the reason I haven’t delayed is that I don’t want to think about the pain shooting through my leg, and I would rather keep my mind occupied and move quickly than take my leisurely time finding shelter.
She walks beside me quietly as I look for anything; a cave, a few large trees in a semicircle, or even a clearing where we can see in all directions. All that greets us is deep woods with spaced-out trees, and I begin to get worried that we’ll have to scale a tree to find somewhere safe to rest tonight.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a large structure sitting between two rows of trees. I veer in that direction, almost stepping on Dana as I pass her. I hear her exhale in annoyance. That’s alright because she’ll thank me once she’s safe for the night.
I make out a house in the woods. There’s no light coming from inside, but it looks mostly intact. The closer I get, I see that the door is half off its hinges and some of the windows are busted out. I look inside and see dirt on the floor and glass by the walls holding the windows.
I open what’s left of the door and go inside. I hear Dana open it behind me, and I turn around quickly and motion for her to wait outside. She closes the door slowly behind me, and I survey the house before letting her walk in.
It’s empty but has some remnants of life left. There is wood in the fireplace. Although covered with cobwebs, it looks like it can be salvaged. The house, overall, looks like whoever lived here last left in a hurry. The kitchen is mostly intact, but the smell of rotting food unpleasantly fills my nose.
I notice candles placed around the house strategically, and some are burnt halfway down, but I imagine more are stored here. I walk back to the door, open it, and motion for Dana to enter.
She walks in and steps over the dirt on the floor gingerly. I wonder how she will make it through the night if a bit of dirt bothers her. I know the house isn’t much of a home, but beggars can’t be choosers. It’ll do for the night.
