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“They’re part of our troupe,” I said, frantically grasping for an explanation. If the others knew we were Wolves, it would mean trouble. “I sing, um, and they...”
“Play music,” Hector offered, wiping his sword on his leg andstepping over a body with such a casualness that Ora’s mouth fell open.
They scanned him from head to toe, eyeing the belts of daggers around his meaty thighs. “Oh? And what instruments do you play?”
“I’m a... flautist,” Hector said.
Sadie snorted, and her brother gave her a glowering look.
Ora raised their brows at me, waiting for a better answer.
“Okay, fine,” I said with feigned exasperation. “This is my crew. We were planning on meeting in Olmdere because we heard there were crovers to be made for anyone good with a sword.”
Ora chuckled. “NowthatI believe.”
My shoulders dropped at the sound of that laugh. They’d believe a lie as long as it was a carefully crafted one. We didn’t look like musicians, but mercenaries... I looked at Sadie, picking her bloodied fingernails with her throwing knife.Thatwas a credible lie.
“We got separated along the way and I decided to head toward Olmdere on my own.” I shrugged. “I’d hoped I’d find them there.”
“Holy ebarvens,” Navin’s voice called as he dashed up the trail. “What happened?” His haunted face scanned over the bodies.
“Nothing holy at all. Rooks,” Ora said, picking up my discarded blanket and dusting it off. They wrapped it back around my shoulders and Grae took a half-step toward me. “Calla saved me.”
Mina and Malou darted across the street, holding armfuls of rocks. “This was the best we could do,” Malou panted. “By the time we got back, it was clear we weren’t needed.” The rocks thudded to the ground around her feet and she clapped me on the shoulder. “You’re a beast, Calla.”
“We helped a little,” Sadie added. Everyone’s eyes turned to her and she sheathed her knife back in her belt.
“That’s Sadie.” Hector tipped his head to his sister. “I’m Hector. We’re part of Calla’s crew.”
Calla’s crew. I liked the sound of that.
“We can’t stay here.” Ora frowned at the bodies strewn across the road. “More Rooks will come swarming through Nesra’s Pass when they hear what happened.”
“Curse the Gods,” Navin grumbled, wandering through the carnage. He stooped and pulled one Rook’s mask down, looking upon their face for a long time before moving to the next one. His body seemed to float from one to the next, hollow and vacant.
“Why are you doing that?” Sadie asked as he crouched before the last Rook. A strange sort of sorrow clouded his expression as he stared at the last Rook’s face.
“They were people,” Navin murmured. “Desperate people, but people still. They deserve to be laid to rest.”
Sadie paused, considering him for a moment, before walking over and grabbing the feet of the Rook she had just killed. “Come on. It’ll be easier than you dragging them.”
Navin’s eyebrows shot up as he regarded her. “Thank you.”
He grabbed the Rook around the shoulders and they carried the body to the side of the road.
“Hector,” Sadie snapped, his name a command, and her brother joined in.
They piled the bodies in the ditch carved into the road by heavy rains.
“Are you still riding with us?” Ora asked, turning to me.
“Yes,” I said at the same time Grae said “No.”
I glowered at him and he returned the look—an entire conversation passing between our eyes. I knew he thought traveling with humans wouldn’t be safe, and I knew we’d be safer with them.
“We can give you a ride into Taigoska,” Navin offered, giving Sadie a soft smile as he dusted his hands down his vest. “You saved Ora’s life. It’s the least we can do.”
Malou scanned up and down the steep road, landing upon their three leather backpacks. “Where are your horses?”
