Page 41 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

He made it back before Garros and the other one did, which made him wonder where they were and what angle they were planning to stab or shoot him from. He scanned the darkness as he strode toward Crow.

She was standing beside the fire, brushing snow from her hair and attempting to comb tangles out of it with her fingers. She’d taken her gloves off.

Vaara took her hand. She looked up at him in surprise.

They plan to kill me and sell you as a slave,he thought very loudly and clearly at her.We have to leave immediately.

He hadn’t been sure that would work, but her eyes grew wide and the blood drained from her face. She withdrew her hand from his and quickly turned to stare into the fire, her jaw tense.

She swallowed, tucked her gloves into her belt, and turned toward Garros, who was just returning from the tents. Vaara continually scanned the forest, searching for the missing man while trying not to look like that was what he was doing.

“Well, I hope I’ve done my part to keep up the crew’s morale,” she said with a surprisingly genuine-looking smile. “But we must be off, now.”

Garros made a show of disappointment. “So soon?”

Crow gave an apologetic shrug. “My employer has a deadline, and we’ve been running behind schedule all week. I’m supposed to be back at dawn.”

“Surely it can wait a few extra hours. You’d have to walk all night to get there.”

“If I’m not there on time, he’ll hear about it. You have no idea how bad it gets when he thinks I’m slacking off. Last time I was late, he sent thugs after me in case I’d run away. Really.”

She walked up to him, lightly resting a hand on his chest in, Vaara thought, an exceptionally brave move. Garros looked down at her hand, then up at her face.

“Maybe next time, I’ll ambushyou,” she said with a smirk, and tried to walk past him.

He took hold of her wrist, stopping her. “I think you should stay.”

“I told you, I can’t.” She gently tried to pull her hand away, to no effect. Vaara’s heart rate was quickly, steadily, increasing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the others getting to their feet, moving hands toward weapons.

Crow’s free hand shot suddenly toward the bare skin of Garros’s face, but he caught it before she reached him. She cried out as he tried to wrestle her down.

Vaara faded and ducked low. An arrow from behind him shot over his head, close enough for him to feel it. He backed against the trunk of a tree. The snow on the ground reflected the moons’ light to make everything brighter, but the snow that was falling around them obscured their view.

“Shit. Where is he?” one of the men said.

“Go find him,” Garros said. Crow thrashed. Garros had both of her wrists in one hand and another around her middle to hold her still against him. He tipped his head away to keep her head from hitting him.

“Vaara!” she shouted, panicked, and a jolt went through him. The binding electrified his insides, waiting for a command. But she issued none. Garros’s gloved hand moved to cover her mouth.

The others began to fan out to search for him. One of them walked straight toward him. He’d run into Vaara if he kept on this course.

Vaara watched him. Waiting. Unmoving. He noticed a small cloud puff out of his nose as he breathed, so he held his breath.

The man looked down, trying to sort out the footprints in the mess of shallow snow and twigs. He looked at the tracks and then, only a step away, looked up at Vaara.

Vaara’s fist shot out and hit the man’s nose. As the man reeled, Vaara knocked the sword from his hand, rotated it, and stabbed it back through the man’s stomach before retreating with the sword, still a shadow in the snow.

An arrow hit the tree where he’d just been standing, then another shot past in the direction he’d backed into. He stilled behind the trunk of a broad pine.

“Gods, Evanis is dead!”

Garros was preoccupied with Crow, who was thrashing with admirable ferocity in his grasp. Vaara saw her elbow him in the gut and then throw her head back to knock him in the nose, but it didn’t slow him down. Garros wrestled her to the ground and knelt on top of her.

Vaara turned to the next closest bandit. The man was swinging his sword blindly in front of him, his eyes darting from shadow to shadow. Slowly circling around the man, Vaara walked right up to him and jabbed the sword into the man’s lower back. He shouted as he went down, drawing the others’ attention.

Another arrow narrowly missed. Vaara ran backward before slowing to a stop again, letting the spell camouflage him among the trees.

“Fuck! Stay together! Don’t get caught alone!”

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