Page 35 of The Master and the Marionette

The jealous anger evaporates from my nervous system. For now.

“Still in the Evergreen Dark Wood. But we’re leaving now, we’re headed,”—I hold up the map—“to the North Saphrine Forest.”

I peek up at him from over the map, hoping I can catch a single detail before he has to introduce himself. I watch him take a steadying breath, soft, warm eyes roaming past the trees. His posture is casual but confident, but his brow is knitted together; he’s concerned. Perhaps about how much time he’s lost?

Kane.

He’s been gone since Runa found us.

“Hey,” I say, taking a step closer. “What’s wrong?”

Kane’s eyes dart to me for a split second before he goes back to observing the forest with dread. “What happened? How long was I gone?”

“Like a day and a half. We made some new friends!” Another step. It’s like cornering a frightened animal.

Kane touches his left arm, feeling the pain from where he was poked by the cage spikes. He grimaces at the tenderness and runs his fingers over the bloody bandages.

“What happened?” he asks again, this time with a bite of resentment.

“It’s a long st—”

But he isn’t listening to me. He’s asking Dessin. Those soft-brown eyes look down, paying attention to an explanation that’s probably faster for Dessin to give than me.

Kane nods once. Looks up at me. He releases a weighted sigh.

“You can’t let him get a rise out of you when he picks on you like that.” And with that, Kane begins walking.

I huff. “How can I not? He’s good at finding weaknesses.”

“He likes his games.” He nods and glances back at me. “How’re you doing with all of this? You’ve taken on a lot since we left the asylum.”

“I’m better now than when I was working at the asylum.” The answer comes out rushed. No hesitation. This life is much more suited to me.

We pass the time while hiking up the mountain with old folklore. Kane shares the many tales that the agronomists and watchdogs would entertain with over a big bonfire. He tells me about the time travelers in the woods. Some would claim that they’ve seen people wandering around the forests, asking the agronomist children what the date was. There were also legends that there was still one RottWeilen left alive, roaming the seven forests and sometimes would sneak into the city. They claim that this beast could carry at least a ton of weight on his back, that he kills animals higher on the food chain than himself, and eats babies.

“Babies, huh?” I laugh.

“And get shot by one hundred arrows and not die. Although, that parts probably true.” We both laugh this time.

“Where is DaiSzek, anyway?”

Kane tosses a cluster of branches to the side of our walking path. “He’s scanning the perimeter of several miles around us. He doesn’t like to be surprised.”

I bend down to tie my hiking boots. The Nightamous Horde graciously gave us packs of supplies and clothing to wear over our backs. Hiking coats, boots, hats, gloves, weapons.

“Have you ever seen him in action? Like in a real fight?” I ask.

“I have.” He turns around and crosses his arms. “And you have too from what I remember.”

“Yes.” I stand up and look at my feet, remembering. “Aurick tried to shoot him. He thought DaiSzek attacked me. But he saved me from the night dawper.”

Kane scoffs. “Aurick is very lucky that he kept his genitalia that night.”

I cringe and pick up my pace. I push at his arm while I jog past him. “You’re so slow, we could have been there by now if we didn’t have to move like snails!”

“Oh, so it’s me that has been holding us back, huh?”

I’m already out of breath from jogging ahead. “Yeah! We need to get you in shape! Have you lost all of those big muscles or something?”

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