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The twisting river provided us each with a spot of privacy to disrobe and bathe. Laughter fluttered downstream as the rest washed away the horrors of the past day.
I sat on the river stones, hugging my legs to my chest and watching the slow eddies of water twine through the forest. The current pushed at my back, spurring me forward toward my kingdom, my destiny. Merem. With the river. That is who I was in my soul.
Twittering birds sang in the trees, their voices nothing like the ones I was used to. The forests of Olmdere even sounded different. The mine below these golden trees was my ancestors’ dying wish. As a child, it seemed glorious and cunning to wish for such a thing. I’d been proud of my kingdom’s wealth, as if it had anything to do with me. But I gave no thought to who mined the gold. Now that I was prepared to venture below ground, it was all I could think of.
I tipped my head back into the water and smoothed my hairoff my face. I knew Grae would be watching me through the dense underbrush. He took his position one turn away from me, a guard on watch after all we had been through. We’d split with the rest of the group here, the border only an hour north.
My throat was still raw, my eyes still stung, and angry blisters had broken out on my fingers and cheeks. Once we shifted, they’d be gone, but first we had to go through the mines. I considered shifting for a brief moment then, but I knew it would be too dangerous with humans so close by. My Wolf would want to run, want to hunt, and with my mate so close by,otherdesires might supersede my good sense. Even in Wolf form, though, running through Sevelde was a dangerous idea, which was why we needed to go under it. I scrubbed a rag down my arms and over the back of my neck. At least there would be no towns tonight. It seemed every town we entered was more treacherous than the last.
“Rolling out in twenty minutes.” Navin’s deep voice easily carried through the forest.
“Aye,” the group echoed back.
With a final scrub, I wrung out my rag and stood. Droplets traced down my skin as I snatched my fresh garments off a low-hanging branch. As I yanked my tunic over my head, I spotted a flicker of light in the water. Narrowing my eyes, I walked along the bank, trying to discern what it was. A fish scale? A coin?
I bunched my trouser legs over my calves and waded back into the stream. Stooping, I reached for the object and pulled up a glimmering rock—a solid piece of gold.
I gasped, turning the nugget over in my hands. It glinted, catching the beams of dappled sunlight. Legend said the ore in the earth was what turned the trees gold. The wealth of my kingdom came from this very place. It was what drove King Nero to uphold Briar’s engagement. Whoever controlled the gold mines of Olmdere controlled Aotreas. But Sawyn had never reopened the mines after my parents’ slaughter. She had left them dormant, boarded them up so that only fleeing humans dared navigate them. Apparently a sorceress of her power didn’t need coins.
I reached for another flickering piece of gold in the murky water, feeling around the river stones and silt. I grasped the smooth, rounded rock and lifted it up. But what appeared in my hands wasn’t a rock at all—it was a jawbone.
A shriek caught in my throat as I stumbled backward, falling onto the mossy shore. The bone dropped back into the water with a splash, and I stared at the spot it had landed as if it might jump back out at me. What had happened to that person? Did that jawbone belong to someone fleeing Olmdere, trying to chance the Sevelde forest over the mines? Had they made it all the way to the other side only to fall at the border?
My mouth dried to sand. We were bathing in a river of golden bones.
The greed for gold warred with the desperate need to survive in this haunted place. A thousand stories could be told by this river alone, and I was a part of its legacy now.
If things went right, though, I could also be part of its future. A future where this could never happen again.
“Calla?” Grae called through the trees.
“I’m fine,” I lied, standing and dusting the moss off my fresh clothes.
I took one more look at the unmarked grave, certain I was headed in the right direction. I never wanted my kingdom to feel that desperation ever again.
I followed Grae up the deer trail toward the entrance to the mines. He put his hand on my arm and I halted, looking up to see Navin kneeling at the entrance, Sadie beside him. The dark tunnel into the earth was covered in timber, boarded shut apart from one narrow gap where the boards had been pried free. Trinkets lay strewn in front of Navin—necklaces, pieces of clothing, and little whittled figurines. My heart sank. It was a makeshift memorial to all those who didn’t make it out the other side.
“Be safe,” Hector said from behind us. “Don’t do anything heroic.”
“We’ll try,” I said, giving him a hug.
The rest of Galen den’ Mora ambled up from the creek, and one by one we said our farewells. I hugged Ora last.
“Here,” they said, pulling something out of their pocket.
“You made me a badge!” I looked down at the rusty red embroidered fox’s face trimmed in golden thread.
Ora smirked. “You’re one of us now, Your Majesty.”
“Just Calla,” I corrected, giving a mocking frown. “Alwaysjust Calla with all of you, please. And thank you. For everything.”
“I’ll hang on to it for you until you return,” Ora said, tucking the badge back into their pocket.
I chuckled. “I see what you’re doing.”
“You’d lose it in your Wolf form.” Ora shrugged as their lips quirked. “And if it gives you more reason to return, then so be it.”
My eyes welled and I gave them another swift hug. “Take care of the others.”
