Page 42 of Captive

He sighed. “Of course. Is there anything you can do?”

“I could just run and leave you here.”

He gave her a dark look.

She was, shamefully, considering it. There wasn’t much she could do for him, and staying would only get her captured along with him. The only thing that kept her from doing it was how vehemently she’d denied his predictions earlier. She would hate to prove him right.

There was a rustling in the undergrowth behind them. They turned in time to see a sword swinging toward them. Novikke ducked, hunched against the tree. There was a burst of flame. As the sword came toward Neiryn, he raised a hand filled with fire and jammed it into their attacker’s face, blasting flames into his mouth.

Novikke stared, horrified. There was a brief, muffled shriek, and then the sword dropped from the night elf’s hand. She stepped back as he fell. He was dead before he hit the ground. She caught a glimpse of his face, charred and unrecognizable, and quickly averted her eyes. She glanced up at Neiryn—who had already turned his attention to the archers behind them—with a new wariness.

Neiryn shot another round of fire at their pursuers, then ducked. He was breathing hard. “I can’t keep this up indefinitely.”

“Then let’s keep moving.” She picked up the fallen night elf’s sword. It was surprisingly short, light, and balanced—less unwieldy than the swords that were standard issue in the Ardanian army.

Neiryn leaned around the tree and shot another volley of fireballs behind them, forcing the night elves to take cover. The fire wasn’t really spreading, given that this was Kuda Varai, but the night elves took no chances. As soon as the fireballs landed, a mage was quenching the flames before they could grow.

They ran—but there were more Varai flanking them from the west. They must have been patrolling around the outpost when the alarm sounded. Shouts rang out. Many more of them were coming now.

Neiryn said something in Ysuran that sounded like a curse. He positioned himself in the cover of another tree and squared off against the closest one. Another headed straight for Novikke.

“Neiryn?” she called, backing away. He was busy. He didn’t even look in her direction.

The night elf slowed as he approached her, shouting something that she didn’t understand. She turned and ran. She yelped as the tip of his blade sliced through the back of her shirt.

Running parallel to the fence, she moved to put herself farther out of range of the people coming through the hole. The night elf’s light footsteps crunched through the brush close on her tail.

When she came to a patch of sunlight streaming between the trees, she stopped, ducking behind a broad tree. She put her back to it and circled around it, hearing the night elf rounding it just behind her. She ran all the way around the trunk until she was behind him. He whirled on her, and when he did, the rising sun glared in his eyes.

He blinked against the light for only a moment, but that was all she needed. She thrust the sword forward, aiming for his heart. It glanced off the metal plate that covered his chest and slid through his throat instead.

There was a spray of blood. Novikke flinched, then withdrew the sword. The elf struggled against death for a few moments before going still.

She quickly moved away, her hand clenched around the hilt of the sword so hard that her fingers hurt.

There was a shifting of the brush at her side. A dark figure appeared in the corner of her eye. She whirled, raising the sword. She’d had her arm tensed to thrust when she saw his face.

Aruna.

He’d stopped a few feet from her, and he carried a sword of his own in one hand. Novikke’s eyes darted from the sword to his face. She took a wary step back.

He raised his free hand in a placating gesture and let the end of his sword dip toward the ground. He gave her a hopeful look.

After a moment’s hesitation, Novikke lowered her sword as well.

Aruna nervously scanned the woods, squinting in the sunlight, as he sheathed his sword. He came to Novikke and pulled her behind a tree. She felt the familiar tingling of a spell being cast on her, and then they were shrouded in shadow.

He dug in a pocket and handed her a wrinkled sheet of paper.

“Go west from here until reach the river. Follow it upriver until you come to a cliff, then turn west again and walk until you’re out of the forest. Go quickly and don’t light any fires. I’m sorry.”

She looked up at him, her heart clenching for reasons she couldn’t really understand.

“Come with me,” she whispered.

He watched her eyes, trying to discern her meaning.

She grabbed his hand. “Come with me,” she said, pulling his hand to her chest and nodding toward the west.

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