Page 12 of Captive

Chapter 3

In the morning—evening, that is—when she awoke, she was alone. The shutters were open, casting dim light across the room. Novikke looked around the space in puzzlement. There was only one pack and bedroll in the room now. The other had disappeared without a trace.

Meaning that one of the elves had left, and one had not.

Fear gripped her. She tried to remember which of them had slept on which side of the room. Was the remaining bedroll Aruna’s or Zaiur’s?

Had he finally left her with him? Was this it?

The door creaked open, and Novikke sat upright in a rush, which caused pain to shoot through her arm. She hissed through her teeth and stared at the door as someone walked through.

Aruna paused in the doorway and looked at her.

Novikke must have looked strange, because his brows came together in a sort-of-amused, sort-of-confused frown. She straightened, pulling a hand through her disheveled hair. Aruna started packing his things.

She expected Zaiur to be waiting for them outside. But when they left the tower, Aruna started down a path through the trees and Zaiur was still nowhere to be seen.

Novikke trotted after Aruna. “Where—” she began. He slowed enough to look back at her. “Where is Zaiur?”

He shook his head and pointed vaguely into the forest in the opposite direction from where they were heading. Novikke raised her eyebrows. Aruna turned and kept walking, waving for her to follow.

A wave of relief washed over her. By the Five, she was almost happy. It was nearly enough to make her forget that she was still marching toward her death.

“Good riddance,” she said under her breath.

They walked in silence for a long time, comfortably ignoring each other until they came to the top of a steep ridge. The trees had opened up, allowing them a view of the vast valley beyond.

Aruna paused there, and Novikke gazed out at the expanse of forest and fields. Moonlight glinted off a lake in the distance.

Aruna was watching the woods behind them. He glanced over at her, then nodded toward whatever he’d been looking at. Novikke stared into the blackness beneath the trees.

She didn’t see it until it moved out from under the trees and into the moonlight. It was a tall, dark shape on four legs. A deer.

Its coat was a shade of blue-violet-black and dotted with silver in an imitation of stars, with matching black antlers. The coloring was remarkably like the night elves’ night-colored skin and hair. It was beautifully alien.

It turned and wandered back into the darkness. Novikke gave Aruna an impressed look. The corner of his lips quirked up.

She started to look away again, but she found herself studying the curves and angles of his face, the unnatural luminescent blue of his eyes, the river of black that was his hair. Before, she’d been too afraid to look closely. Her eyes darted to his mouth. She’d heard once that night elves had sharp teeth like wolves. Now she knew that was an exaggeration. She’d seen plenty of Zaiur’s teeth, and they’d looked normal enough.

It took her a moment to notice that he wasn’t looking away either. That realization made the hairs on her neck stand on end. She frowned and averted her eyes. Instead, she looked past him, into the valley.

She froze, staring. She could see a light in the distance, on an old road. A torch, which night elves would never need. The valley must have been outside the boundary of Kuda Varai.

Surrounding the torch was a small group, just tiny dots from so far away. Human travelers. Perhaps even members of the army out on patrol. They were within shouting range. If she called to them, would they come to investigate?

Aruna had turned away, not looking at the road, but the torchlight would catch his attention soon enough. Novikke didn’t have long to act. She edged toward the valley.

Maybe she wouldn’t have had the courage to do it if Zaiur had been there. But Aruna? She was beginning to wonder if he wouldn’t have the guts to kill her.

She took a breath.

“Help!” she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. She ran as she spoke, putting as much distance between Aruna and herself as she could. She raised her bound arms despite the pain that shot through her shoulder, thinking maybe she could silhouette herself against the sky enough to be seen. “I’m a soldier in the Queen’s Army! I’ve been taken prisoner! Send help!”

Her shouts echoed across the valley. She had enough time to see that the group had stopped moving and were looking in her direction, and then Aruna tackled her.

They fell to the hard ground. She took the impact with her hands and, unfortunately, her chin. Aruna landed heavily on her legs and quickly climbed up her body before she could shake him off. The full weight of him collapsed over her as she flailed under him. Pain stabbed through her arm and shoulder and all the way into her neck and back, and she groaned.

“Hel—”

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