Page 21 of Captive

Chapter 5

The next night, as morning was approaching again, Aruna stopped in the middle of the path so suddenly that Novikke almost ran into him.

He’d gone very still. Novikke edged closer to him, scanning the trees. There wasn’t much in these woods that worried him. If he was concerned, there was a good reason for it.

Then she heard it. Distant footsteps crunching over leaves. A soft voice somewhere far off.

They exchanged a glance. She knew he was thinking the same thing she was. He could tell the people weren’t night elves, and therefore, they might be someone who would come to Novikke’s aid.

He gave have a subtle shake of his head, staring her down.

She was about to shout to them when she saw movement through the trees fifty paces from them. She spotted a figure, which was soon joined by another, then another. There was a whole band of them. She and Aruna both squinted into the distance. In the dim light of morning, not yet bright and no longer dark, their eyesight was about equal.

The figures were tall, with pale amber skin, wearing armor of black leather, red cloth, and gold-tinted metal. One of them spoke, and Novikke recognized the Ysuran language.

She exchanged another look with Aruna. The sun elves and night elves had been at odds for as long as time could recall. But Ysurans had no love for Ardanians either, especially since the war had begun.

It was more than likely that they’d kill both of them on sight.

Novikke widened her eyes at Aruna, silently asking what they should do. It was too late to run. The sun elves would hear them and give chase.

Aruna took her wrist and pulled her behind a tree with him, pushing her back against it as if trying to make her sink into the bark. It wouldn’t do any good. The voices were coming closer. There was no way they could avoid notice. They’d both have fireballs in their backs in seconds.

But then something happened. She felt a tingle of something unnatural and uncomfortable seeping through her skin. She’d felt it before, on rare occasions. Magic.

He was casting a spell on her. Instinctively she wanted to resist, but she had no magic of her own with which to fight it. She looked up at Aruna, aghast. His wide eyes pleaded with her, and her suspicion ebbed.

His hand was still on her wrist—the point of contact through which he was extending the spell to her. They both became dark and transparent and ephemeral, like they were made of shadow.

She’d heard stories of night elves transforming their bodies into darkness itself, and she had thought it an exaggeration. It was their innate magic, she realized. Like the sun elves’ fire magic and the Ashara’s empathic abilities.

The spell enveloped them, blending them with the shadow of the tree, as the sun elves’s footsteps approached.

“Ysura,” Novikke mouthed silently, giving Aruna a bitterly smug look. He had the decency to look a little contrite. The person who’d attacked them by the river had been one of the Ysurans. What they were doing in Kuda Varai in the first place was a mystery, but they could not have been up to any good.

Very close, a voice spoke. Aruna leaned close to her, trying to make the two of them as small as possible. Novikke could feel his chest rise and fall against hers.

One of the sun elves passed by ten paces from them, picking her way through the brush with confident, graceful steps. She, like Novikke, was oblivious to the night elves’ secret paths through the forest, so she crossed through branches and bushes instead of zigzagging between them.

Aruna watched the approaching group on the other side of the tree, over Novikke’s shoulder. In the dawn light, Novikke could still see his eyes reflecting subtle rings of light. Her heart leapt in alarm. Could they see the flash of his eyes through the spell?

She put her hands on either side of his face and gently turned his head toward her. His gaze flicked from the forest back to her.

She didn’t know how to explain to him what she was thinking. She gave a slight shake of her head. He blinked at her. He didn’t try to break her hold.

Another figure passed, and Aruna leaned closer. His body pressed against her, pinning her against the tree. Their faces were on each other’s shoulders. She heard him swallow. At some point her hands had moved up and gripped handfuls of his shirt.

She didn’t have the willpower to hate the arousal that spread through her. Morbidly curious, she tilted her head, bringing her cheek just barely into contact with his.

Aruna stiffened. He risked backing a half step away. He was carefully avoiding her eyes.

Without thinking, Novikke grabbed his belt and pulled him against her again. He looked down at her, surprise and offense and interest playing on his features. She challenged his gaze with her own. He didn’t pull away again.

A figure appeared no more than a step from them. They both went as still as statues, not breathing. The figure, a tall man with predatory yellow eyes that reminded Novikke of a cat’s, paused beside their tree. He glanced in their direction, and Novikke’s heart shuddered.

But the man’s gaze did not quite fall on them. He was looking past them, into the forest beyond. He rested a hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip, glaring into the morning light.

One of the others called, and the man turned to respond with a string of quick, flowing syllables. It felt startlingly loud from this close. Finally the man kept walking, leaving Novikke and Aruna alone again.

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