Altered Destiny (11 page)

He’s not human.

Jaden appeared around the bend in the river, running toward her bare-chested, his shirt in his fist.
Gods, he’s beautiful
. His tattoo snaked from his shoulder down his arm and chest in graceful swirls.

Selia jumped to her feet.

He pulled the poles out of the water and glanced frantically around the forest floor. “Humans, heading this way.”

Waves of panic clenched her stomach.

Jaden threw her pack at her, shrugged his on, and pulled her toward the stream. “Into the water.” He jumped across the brook, picked up leaves and jumped back, making what looked like a sleeping hollow under the tree where Selia had sat. “Damn it, Selia. Start walking, that way!” Jaden pointed north.

She stood, frozen. “How close?”

“Close enough that if you don’t hurry, I’ll have to carry you. Go. I’ll lay a false trail. Go!”

She stepped into the icy river. The water eddied up to just past her knees. After a few steps, she could no longer feel her feet or calves, and the pebbly bed proved slippery.

The forest remained quiet except for her splashing. Farnly’s grin flashed before her eyes. What would she do if he didn’t return? She couldn’t fight soldiers off, not again.

Then I’ll take out as many as I can.

Jaden materialized at her side, his head cocked as though listening.

“They must have found the bodies. There’s no other reason they’d be in this part of the forest.” He reached for Selia’s elbow as her foot slipped out from under her, and she fell into the water almost to her waist. “Let me carry you.”

Dogs brayed somewhere behind them.

“Shit.” Selia swallowed her pride and nodded. Jaden picked her up and held her close, the muscles of his bare chest straining against her weight. His jaw, inches from her face, was smooth; no stubble. She closed her eyes and held as still as possible. To her ears, the howling of the dogs sounded louder, but Jaden didn’t alter his steady pace.

He stopped.

Selia’s eyes flew open. “What?”

His face had lost all color. “Svistra. Drawn no doubt by the sound of the dogs. Damn.”

“How close?”

“We’re downwind. We should be okay.” He resumed walking, slower this time, sniffing the air at intervals.

“Should be?”

“I don’t think the Svistra are looking for me. They’re hunting humans. They’d assume I was a scout. The false trail is mine alone and will not fool the Svistra. Yours disappears. Chances are they will assume I’ve killed you.”

She tried to take comfort in his assurances but Jaden’s pace didn’t slow.

The sun had moved into the western skies when Jaden froze, concentrating on something. “Fuck.”

“What now?”

“They’re coming.” He stared down at her. “You could run. They don’t know—”

“I’m not leaving you. Come up with another plan.” Selia may not have known him for very long, but one thing she knew with certainty—Jaden was scared.

He stared over her head to the surrounding murky forest. “There.” He set her down on the rocky bank. “You see that dead tree?”

She followed his gaze. Where the river bank rose sharply ahead, an old tree trunk lay decomposing.

“Take your bow. Go behind the tree. Don’t miss.”

“I’m not—”

“Obey me or die, Selia.” Jaden’s face set like stone.

She scrambled up the rocky bank to the tree. He walked to the center of the river and froze. A moment later, three Svistra came around the bend. They slowed upon seeing Jaden.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Jaden asked.

“Don’t bullshit us, Jaden. You know why we’re here.”

“Then you know why I’m not going with you.”

“We weren’t going to ask.”

Selia nocked an arrow and aimed. The Svistra moved quicker than anything she’d ever seen as he lunged for Jaden. The clash of knives sounded loud in the forest. When had they drawn them?

She put two arrows in one Svistra. He fell into the water. Unmoving. The Svistra not fighting with Jaden turned in her direction and ran up the rise toward her hiding place.

Her hand shook as she withdrew and arrow and dropped it.
Fuck, keep it together
. She grabbed another and nocked it.

The Svistra blocked out the sky. She pulled back the string and released. The heavy weight of the dead Svistra knocked her to the ground. She scrambled out from under him. The darkened forest was deadly still.

Selia nocked another arrow. Silence. A stone tumbled down the rise toward the river below. She pulled the string to her ear, her gaze focusing on the empty air over the dead tree trunk.

A head appeared, and Selia released.

“By the Nameless one, Selia, that’s the second time you’ve almost killed me.”

Relief washed through her body. She ran to Jaden and threw her arms around him. “I thought you were dead.”

“Thanks for the confidence.”

“I pulled the shot.”

“I know.” His laugh died in his throat when he saw the dead Svistra. “Let’s get out of here now.”

Holding Selia’s hand, Jaden led her through the forest. Her teeth chattered, and wet garments clung to her, revealing the soft roundness of her breasts, the curve of her hip. Despite the chill, Jaden’s body responded. “We can’t risk a fire. Do you have dry clothes?”

Selia nodded. “I think so. I should.”

He examined the forest. “There is a hollow, a depression in the ground surrounded by berry bushes just north of here.” He paused. “It’ll shelter us from the wind, but we still can’t risk a fire.”

Twice now they’d been lucky. Jaden didn’t want to risk a third. Three Svistra weren’t ever sent out alone. Where was the rest of the patrol?

“Are you s-s-sure about the fi-re?”

Jaden added another stick to the blaze. He wasn’t, but he was as equally worried that Selia would fall ill without the warmth. With any luck, the smoke would blend in with the haze of the Wastes. Not that he put much hope in luck.

Despite her words, Selia scooted closer to the flames. He eyed her blanket, only a finger’s width away from the fire. When he looked up, she was watching him. Her eyes captured the fire’s flames, and for a moment, he stared transfixed.

“Yes. I’m sure,” he lied.

After they’d reached the hollow, he’d asked her to take off her wet things while he started a fire. She hadn’t protested. He handed her a blanket, attempting not to stare at the bruises peppering her naked flesh.

The clothes in her pack were damp and now steamed by the fireside. His clothes had fared better. Selia had averted her gaze when he’d changed, but remained silent. Did she still think him a monster?

“You’re terrible at that, you know?”

Jaden turned from the flames’ erratic dance. “What?”

“Lying. You should practice more often or stick to the truth.”

Her stammering had disappeared. Her blood must be warming. Jaden shuddered. He would have to feed again soon.
Soon, but not yet.
He retrieved the pot he’d set at the side of the flames and poured half of its contents into the wooden bowl. “Here.”

Selia made a face.

“You might like it.”

She took a tentative sip, her eyes lighting in surprise. “Not bad.”

Pride brushed his heart. He smiled. “It will warm you from the inside.”

From under her blanket, she pointed toward the pot. “Then you better drink some too. You’re pale.”

He nodded but didn’t reach for the pot.

“I mean, you’re more pale than usual.” Selia sipped a little more. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

She was only now starting to trust him. How would she react if he told her he needed blood? It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t leave her alone that long. “The day after tomorrow we’ll cross the Wastes,” he said, sidestepping her question.

“What?” The hand holding the cup froze halfway to her mouth.

“If we start at daybreak, we should be across before the sun is far in the west.”

Selia looked to the east then back to Jaden in obvious puzzlement.

“There is a finger of the Wastes that stretches out into the forest just north of us.”

“And we’re crossing it why?”

“Alacrity is paramount, no? That’s why you risked the White Forest.”

“Yes.”

“Then this is the fastest way. The road skirts the Dead lands far to the west.”

“And we’ll elude any trackers,” she finished. “Because no one is stupid enough to journey into the Wastes. No one but us apparently.”

He met her gaze. “Even Svistra have a hard time tracking on the Wastes.”

“The White Forest idea didn’t exactly turn out the way I’d expected,” Selia reminded him.

“It did save you several days.”

“Only because you followed me.”

“And I’m with you now. You’ll be safe.”

“What are you doing?”

Jaden looked down. Without thinking about it, he’d picked up a piece of rope and was tying and untying knots. The blind magician had taught him many things; one of them was his special knot. He smiled at the memory. “After I left my father the first time, I journeyed south. I stumbled onto an old man attempting to fix a fence. His goats had wandered down by the river. To my surprise, he turned, looked in my direction and said, ‘Are you going to stand there all day watching or help an old man?’”

“What did you do?”

“What could I do? I helped him mend the fence and discovered he was blind. After we fixed the fence, I rounded up his goats, which were not happy to see me. He invited me to dinner.”

“Did he know you were Svistra?”

Jaden peered into the flames. He’d asked himself that same question many times and gave Selia the only answer that made sense. “I don’t think it would have mattered. When I went inside for dinner, it began to rain, and he put out several pans to collect the water. The next day I set out to mend his roof. When the roof was sound, he needed help with the harvest. And so it went. I stayed the rest of the summer and throughout the winter.” Jaden swallowed, veering away from less pleasant memories he’d rather avoid. He held up the rope. “He’d been a traveling magician and taught me many tricks.”

“How is it a trick?” Her dark hair had begun to dry, curling into tight ringlets that softened the hard angles of her face.

He straightened the rope then constructed a knot. “Pull on the knot to test its strength.”

She took the rope in both hands and pulled. “It’s secure.”

“Try a little harder to make sure.”

Selia frowned in concentration, pulling at either end of the rope until her knuckles whitened. “It’s no use. I’m only making the knot tighter.” She handed the rope back to Jaden.

Jaden smiled, took the rope back and with a flourish, shook out the knot.

Her mouth dropped open. “How did you do that?”

“Ah, it took me weeks to get the secret of that particular trick from Eli.”

“I don’t have the patience.” She smiled.

Or the time.
He held the rope out and with slower, precise movements retied the knot. “It’s in the way the knot is made. You were right to say the more you struggle against it, the stronger the knot becomes.” He held the knot in both hands and tugged once to demonstrate. “But when you push instead of pull,” he pushed the knot into itself then held up the unknotted rope, “the knot comes apart easily. Here try it.” Jaden tied the knot again.

After fumbling with it a few times, she unraveled it. “Can I try again?”

He took the rope and tied the knot, handing it back to Selia.

This time she undid it with ease. Her brown eyes gleamed. “Nice trick.”

“Eli told me this was the key to some of his best received performances. He’d have his assistant tie him up, say to a stake with bramble all around him. Then he’d have someone from the audience check the bonds and set the bramble on fire. After they let another person check to make sure the flames surrounded him, the assistant would herd the audience toward the front. Once the smoke had thickened enough, Eli undid his bonds and snuck out through the back, detoured around the area then joined the back of the crowd. When the crowd had begun to mumble their concern, he’d make his presence known.”

“That would have been a sight to see.” Selia’s eyes sparkled in the firelight. His fingers itched to brush a lock of hair away from her forehead.

“Yes. They made sure there was more smoke than fire and took advantage of the crowd’s attention on the fire instead of their surroundings.” He smiled. “Eli used to say the easiest thing in the world was to fool someone who wanted to be fooled.”

“Sounds like a smart man. What happened to him?”

Jaden froze, the memory of that day etched forever in his mind. He’d gone out to plow the fields and ready them for planting. When he’d returned, Eli was tied to the fence he’d repaired the summer before, beaten almost senseless and bleeding from several wounds as his father’s warriors fed. “He died.”

A flush of anger followed so closely behind a wave of dread that for a moment, Nathan wished he was in his office so he could sit. Instead, he stared at the script before him, the letters dancing then blurring together. The Svistra had attacked a village near Bain’s Crossing, but unlike the previous attacks, they’d had fun with the villagers first. The report in his hand didn’t spare him any of the gruesome details.

His stomach churned acid. He looked up, suddenly aware the messenger still waited. The man stood, impassive, his eyes focused on the men working in the garden.

Nathan shook himself. “Thank you.”

“Will there be a reply, Commander?” The man sounded weary.

He couldn’t know what the message contained. Nathan’s hands shook. “Take care of your horse then get some food and rest. I’ll give you my answer later.”

The man touched his forehead with the tips of his fingers before leading his horse toward the stables.

Nathan made his way into the fortress. Three days. That’s how long the Svistra had stayed in the village. Three days of terror. He couldn’t let it happen again. Yet he knew, unless he found a way to stop it, that it would.

As he made his way up to his quarters, he blinked, adjusting to the dim light, and breathed in the tangy smell of minerals, moisture, and smoke from the torches.

Once behind his desk, he sat heavily in his chair. The Svistra were vicious before, but they hadn’t been cruel. At least they hadn’t tortured their victims before killing them. What had changed? What happened during the Svistra’s hiatus?

He scanned his desk as if the answer lay there. His gaze settled on a piece of good news. He picked up the letter without reading it again. King Leisle had sent word that, as a show of good will, King Josiam of Darmis was sending half a battalion of men to aide the battle against the Svistra. The soldiers were already on their way.

Nathan held the two letters in either hand. One didn’t outweigh the other. He couldn’t get the villagers’ lives back but maybe with the southern soldiers to help, he could stop it from happening again. Gods knew he needed all the help he could get. His every instinct said the storm had finally been unleashed.