Page 29 of To Hunt a Ruby Remedy

I grabbed the crossbow and backed up. With my hands still bound, I could barely hold the bow. When Gideon recovered, he’d knock it out of my hands in an instant. I studied him for a moment. His chest still moved. Whatever magic Ranulf had channeled into the stick hadn’t stopped his heart or lungs.

I set the crossbow down carefully and approached with the enchanted stick held out in front of me. I reached for the knife sheathed at the hunter’s waist. He twitched.

I shrieked and hit him with the enchantment once more. Then I pulled the knife free and rushed back to where I had left the crossbow. I sliced through the rope without cutting myself, and had the crossbow back in hand by the time Gideon began to move once more. My grip was surprisingly steady as I trained the weapon on him.

“I’m not bait,” I told him as he got to his feet. He moved slowly, his muscles still twitching at irregular intervals. “And you won’t be trapping any dragons here.”

I kept the crossbow aimed at his torso. I knew next to nothing about weapons, but enough soldiers and hunters had passed through the tavern over the years that I knew a person didn’t require training to do damage with a crossbow. At this distance, the bolt would even go through Gideon’s chain mail.

Not that I intended to shoot him. But I couldn’t let him think I would hesitate.

He sneered at me, but didn’t close the distance between us. I didn’t dare step closer either. His hand rested on his sword, which I had foolishly left with him. He could reach me with his weapon before I got close enough to shock him with the enchantment again. If the enchantment even had any power left.

The crossbow was my strongest defense, now.

Gideon loosened the sword in its sheath. “What’s your plan now?”

I didn’t let the crossbow waver. “Make you leave.”

“Oh?”

I took a step closer, though still well out of reach of his blade. “Start walking. The path toward Wulfkin.”

“And if I don’t? Are you really going to shoot me? Somehow, I can’t see you taking a life.”

So much for my bluff. “I don’t have to kill you. A bolt through the thigh would be sufficient. And I still have the enchantment to paralyze you. If you’d prefer, we can wait here for Ranulf’s return, but this time you’ll be the one tied up.”

It was probably the course I should have taken when I first immobilized him. But I wanted him gone from the forest. If I waited for Ranulf to return, we’d still be in the same situation. Ranulf would either have to kill the hunter in cold blood, or make him leave the forest. I refused to put him in the position of making that decision. The guilt would destroy him if he killed; the doubt would eat at him if he opted for mercy.

No, this entire situation was my fault, and I had to take responsibility. If I hadn’t wanted to see Ranulf transform . . . if I hadn’t led Gideon to the clearing . . . this was my mess, and I had to clean it up myself.

Whatever Gideon saw in my expression now, he no longer thought I was bluffing. He began to walk, but not toward the path to the village.

“Where are you going?”

“To get my pack.” He lifted a bag from the ground, shaking it at me.

He must have returned to the cottage while I was unconscious and grabbed his bag. It was nearly empty. No doubt the rope and nets strung up in the clearing had made up the bulk of his supplies. He must have always planned to lay a trap for the dragon once he discovered its lair. It explained how he thought he could bring down such a giant beast with only a crossbow and sword.

I worried about what his trap might do to Ranulf, but I had to get the hunter away before I could focus on that danger. “Fine, you have your pack, now walk.”

I followed Gideon down the path toward Wulfkin, the crossbow growing heavier with every step. For nearly an hour, I followed him, slowly letting myself fall farther and farther behind. I had lowered the bow after the first ten minutes, only jerking it back up if Gideon slowed or looked back at me. He didn’t stop walking, and eventually I had to admit that I couldn’t follow him the whole way to the village.

I might already have taken too long, leaving Ranulf to fly into the trap in the clearing. I slowed further, but Gideon hadn’t looked back for a while. How far might he go before realizing I no longer followed him? Far enough, I hoped. I was probably making another mistake. Who knew what he’d do now? But I at least had his crossbow. With only a sword, he’d have to get close to attack anyone, and a dragon could surely protect himself from such a threat. If that dragon wasn’t caught in a net.

I walked backwards for another quarter hour, straining to hear if he turned around and tried to sneak up on me. Finally, crossbow still ready in my hands, I turned around and hurried back to the clearing. I wanted to take down the ropes and nets before Ranulf returned.

It must have been past midnight by the time I reached the clearing. I was hungry, exhausted, and my head still pounded from the blow Gideon had used to knock me unconscious. Still, I wouldn’t rest until I pulled down every last bit of rope. It took a while, because I refused to set the crossbow down as I worked. I had the nets half down when I felt a gust of wind from above.

I looked up and saw Ranulf coming in to land. He spotted me, and I gestured frantically for him to land in the other half of the clearing.

Fourteen

Ranulf

I was beyond tired. A fever had broken out in Ortfel, hitting just after Grandmother left and sweeping through the village with a rare intensity. The villagers had relied on the medicines Grandmother had supplied them with during her recent visit, but within hours, the sickness had infected dozens of children. Including the infant Grandmother had just delivered.

Fevers were tricky. Even with my body-reading magic to identify the exact problem, it was hard to target the healing power to eradicate the illness. Letting the magic heal on a large scale, diminishing the worst of the symptoms, tended to work the best. With so many patients, and out of the range of the node, Grandmother could only do so much. She had sent me flying back to the edge of node lands to create as many enchantments as I could to deal with the most serious symptoms of the illness.

---