Page 15 of Captive

“Mm,” Aruna hummed with a suspicious tone. He settled again, stiffly. She wondered if he felt as uncomfortable with the arrangement as she did.

An arm’s length from him still felt very close. Her hands were pressed against his side. She could feel him move when he breathed.

The more she tried not to think about what had happened earlier that night, the more persistent the memory grew.

???

They didn’t speak for most of the next evening. Novikke was sullen and quiet, and so was Aruna. She watched his back as they walked. The back of him was becoming very familiar by then. She’d memorized the shape of his pack, the number of ties on it and the knots he’d used to secure them. She’d watched the way he walked—very straight and upright but fluid—and could have recognized him by that movement alone.

Elves had a different way of moving than humans did. You could tell one from a human just by watching them in motion for a while. They had a natural grace that humans rarely had. She would have said it was the product of cultural influence, but even elves who’d lived in Ardani all their lives had it. She guessed that their bodies were just built differently.

Watching him made her feel loud and clumsy by comparison.

She wondered how long it had been since he’d been intimate with anyone. In Ardani, scouts could be out for weeks at a time. Months even, depending on your position. She didn’t even want to think about how long it had been for herself. Her work didn’t leave a lot of time for socializing.

She rubbed her face in exasperation. Why was she thinking about things like that?

He shot a glance at her over his shoulder. Probably making sure she wasn’t creeping up behind him to smash a rock over his head.

The forest was bigger than she’d realized. They kept walking and there kept being only trees as far as the eye could see.

The deeper into the wood they went, the darker and stranger the nights seemed to grow. At first she thought she was imagining it. But then she began to notice other things, too.

Occasionally she would see flashes of motion in the dark—black shapes that moved like slithery, creeping animals, melding with shadow in a way that wasn’t quite natural. Some of them had glowing spots on them that marked their path as they ran. Most of them were small enough that they made little noise and skittered by without stopping. Aruna paid them no mind, which put Novikke at ease.

Several times now, they’d passed thick patches of ethereal black fog. It swirled without any wind, as if it was alive, shimmering when the moonlight hit it right. She had an inexplicable desire to wade into it, like it was beckoning her.

Once, she worked up the courage to approach a patch of it. Aruna sputtered something panicked-sounding and grabbed her arm before she could touch it. He shook his head at her. Novikke’s eyebrows went up. She quickly retreated from the strange fog, which suddenly looked a lot more ominous.

Halfway through the night, Aruna stopped short. Novikke stopped behind him and watched him slowly pivot, scanning the trees with eyes that shone through the dark. She realized that the forest had gone silent. The insects and birds had stopped their calls, and nothing rustled in the bushes.

“What—?” she began, and he held a finger to his lips.

Fear stirred in her stomach. She held very still, pressing her lips together. Her imagination ran wild with possibilities.

She’d heard that shades were common in Kuda Varai—vicious spirits with a strong command of illusion magic. They were known to take the form of a loved one to trick their victims into getting close, then devour their bodies and souls all at once.

There was a soft crunching of leaves in the brush near Novikke. She took a step back, and Aruna quickly motioned for her to stop as he drew his sword. She gripped her mage torch tightly in her hand, pointing it at the ground.

There was another crunch, and then a bone-rattling roar very close to her. Novikke gasped and flinched. Her light flashed up, illuminating a something out of a nightmare.

It was massive, as tall as Novikke. She thought she could see fur, but when she looked closer, what she had thought were hairs oozed and flowed freely like smoke or water. It was a wolf. An enormous, angry, supernatural wolf.

As the light flashed over it, it snarled and roared again. Sharp white teeth stood out against its black flesh. Then it lunged.

Novikke screamed. Something hit her chest and knocked her to the ground. Her light fell from her hands. The creature’s maw hovered above her for half a moment, and then it roared in protest and stumbled sideways.

Aruna had stabbed his sword into its side, all the way up to the hilt. He grimaced with effort as the beast moved. Dark blood poured over his hands.

He yanked the sword back out, and the creature whined. It backed away from Novikke, turning to face the more dangerous opponent. The sword in its side was enough to slow it, but not enough to put it down. As Novikke watched, the smoke that oozed around it began writhing around the puncture, like it was already rebuilding the broken flesh.

Novikke scrambled backward until her back hit a tree. Aruna held the bloody sword in front of him, warding off the creature. The wolf thing snarled, head low, and snapped at his legs. Aruna’s sword arced down. The creature drew back, but not before the sword sliced through one of its ears.

It withdrew a step, shaking its head and whining. It stayed there for a second, watching Aruna, as if deciding whether the fight was worth it. Aruna could have struck quickly enough to finish it off, but he waited. Novikke stared at him, afraid and awestruck. He didn’t even look that alarmed. As if this was an everyday occurrence.

Then the beast backed off, turned, and retreated into the trees. Novikke heard it crashing through brush for a short while, and then there was quiet again.

She realized she’d stopped breathing. She started again, in ragged, painful heaves.

Aruna lowered his sword. He went to her fallen light, picked it up, and held it out to her. Novikke looked up at him, terror still sparking through her veins. For some reason, he was almost smiling.

That look made her fear turn to anger. She snatched the light from him. “What do you want, a medal?” she said. “It’s the least you could do, if you’re going to tie me up and drag me into this godsforsaken forest.”

The self-satisfied look faded from his face. He frowned a little, then turned away to go clean the blood off himself.

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