Page 39 of Spirit Trials
I laugh. “No. I’m not dying.”
She huffs. “Like you would tell me if you were.”
I smile as I close my eyes because she’s got a point. “Wake me if you hear or sense any danger.” I open my eyes and meet hers. “Are you okay to stay here for the rest of today?” She nods. “I’m sorry we can’t go any further.”
“Farrah, it’s fine. This is way better than I thought I’d be doing. I figured that by the end of the first day, I’d be in a fetal position on the ground somewhere crying.”
I smile and know that’s exactly what she was aiming for. “No, you wouldn’t,” I say softly as I close my eyes again. “You may come off as a softie, Kinsley; but you have a warrior’s heart.”
Chapter 22
I doze off and on, but it’s never a deep sleep. I’m able to know what’s going on around me. Every time I open my eyes, I check on Harper. “How come she isn’t waking up?” Kinsley asks at one point.
“It’s the heartshade. It will keep her asleep longer, but that’s what we want. The more she sleeps, the less pain she’ll be in and the more her body will heal.” I stand to my feet and stretch. “I’m going to find something we can eat.”
“Before you go, can I go real fast first?” She smiles timidly. “I really need to pee.”
“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll wait here with Harper.”
She’s only gone a few minutes. When she gets back, we switch, and I head out. When I’m a little distance from them, I pull the leaf off my hand. It doesn’t look too bad, and that’s both good and bad. Sometimes the worst venom doesn’t leave a trace of destruction until your heart stops beating. I’m definitely fighting whatever it is in my system. I can feel it making me sluggish. The first thing I do is retrace my steps back to the heartshade vine. I gather the few leaves that are left and two more stems that might have something in them and stand up. I blame whatever’s in my system that I don't hear the arrow. I jerk and bite back a scream at the piercing pain in my leg. Adrenaline shoots through me, and I duck to the ground and spin around with my bow ready. I scan the area where the arrow came from. I see movement, and stand, ready to shoot when I see long dark hair. I lower my bow and watch the girl disappear into the trees. Competition or not, I’m not going to shoot and maim or kill somebody who’s just trying to make it through thiscompetition. As my adrenaline begins to fade, the pain in my leg comes roaring back. I gather up the leaves and stems I dropped and focus on finding us something to eat. I leave the arrow in my leg, knowing that the second I pull it out, I’ll start losing too much blood. I grit my teeth as I take a step. It's not as terrible as it could be. I’m pretty sure it just hit flesh and not muscle. I focus on breathing in and out and pushing away the pain. I remember that Harper has been through so much worse, and I take another deep breath and then stand. I focus on the forest around me and listen.
In my weakened condition, it takes me much longer than usual to catch something and skin it and carry it back. By the time I get back, the afternoon is almost spent. Kinsley stands as soon as she sees me. “I thought you were gone for good this time. I didn’t—” Her eyes drop to the arrow sticking out of my leg, and she breathes out in dismay. “Farrah.” I limp over to the tree and slide down against it for support. I drop the leaves and stems next to me. “What happened?” she asks as she drops next to me.
“A girl shot me.”
Kinsley looks up at me. “Did she follow you?” I curse myself for my negligence and grab my bow and try to stand to my feet. “Don’t,” Kinsley says, putting her hand on my shoulder. “If she followed you, we’ll know soon enough, and we’ll deal with it.” She draws out a knife, and I put my knife on my lap. I’m still holding my bow. We both wait in silence. It doesn’t take long. We hear a branch crack. I stand and raise my bow and point it toward the entrance to our hiding place. I glance over; Harper is still out. Kinsley moves in front of her, blocking her from view. Seconds later, somebody pushes their way into our hideaway.
A tall girl with dark hair and a vicious snarl on her face stops just inside our little clearing. “Don’t move,” I tell her, leveling my bow at her. She keeps coming at me, and I lean to the side when she swings at me with her knife. It almost grazes the side of myface. I drop my bow and grab my knife and meet her next thrust with a jab of my own. I get her on the underside of her arm. She hisses, and I hate that I drew blood. “Leave before you get hurt,” I grunt out. She snarls at me and comes at me again, but this time, I knock her knife from her hand and hold my own at her throat. “You are going to leave us alone, or this is not going to end well for you.” The girl’s eyes meet my own, and I see the clear panic there. “If you promise not to harm us, we’ll let you go unharmed as well. But if you threaten any of us, it won’t go well for you. So, what’s it going to be?”
“If you let me go, I won’t hurt any of you, at least this time,” the girl says.
Kinsley’s eyes meet mine, and she gives me a tiny nod, because we both know that's about the best we’re going to get. I lower my knife. “Go.” The girl leaves as quickly as she came. Kinsley and I both stay alert and don’t move from our defensive positions. When it’s clear she’s not coming back, we finally lower our weapons.
I take in Kinsley’s pale face. “You okay?” She nods.
“Would you have been able to do it?” she asks quietly. I don’t answer her, and she thankfully lets it go. “We have to deal with your leg, Farrah, and your hand while we’re at it.” Kinsley’s back to business now. All the adrenaline that was pumping through me leaves in a whoosh, and I slump against the base of the tree.
“Let’s get a fire going first before night falls.” I reach into my pouch and grab my flint and steel. I’m forever grateful I didn’t lose this pouch. I add the kindling I grabbed along the way and use it to get a fire going.
Kinsley doesn’t say much as she helps me. We keep the fire small enough that it won’t be a threat to our shelter. I hand her the game I killed, and she finds a stick to skewer it on. Once the meat is roasting, she turns to me. “Okay. No more excuses.” She hands me a stick. I look at her in confusion. “Bite it,” she orders.I put the stick in my mouth and bite down and close my eyes, trying to brace for what’s coming. “I’m sorry, Farrah.”
“Just do it,” I say around the stick in my mouth. And then she does. I scream into the stick, but thankfully the stick mostly muffles it. She uses a piece of cloth and ties it tightly around my thigh. I wonder where she got it but don’t ask. I lean heavily against the tree as my vision wavers. She puts some of the paste from the stem on my wound; I grit my teeth against the pain.
“Let me see your hand.” I hold up my limp wrist. She examines it carefully. “I’m going to go wet these leaves.” She’s gone before I can say anything. I close my eyes and try not to focus on the pulsing pain in my leg. I sort of doze while I wait for Kinsley to get back. When she doesn’t come back, I begin to worry. I finally decide to go look for her and begin the painful process of standing up when the bushes rustle. I grab my knife but relax when Kinsley comes charging in. Instantly alert at her expression, I face the opening behind her.
“What’s the threat?”
“A stupid whiskerling. That’s what.”
I blink, looking back at the entrance and then back at her. “A whiskerling?” We have those in the woods by my village too. They’re the cutest little things—small round animals with twitching whiskers and large expressive eyes and soft fur. Their meat is especially tender and is great for stews or meat pies, but I can never bring myself to kill one. I can’t imagine what in the world could have happened with one of those little guys to scare her so badly. They certainly weren’t a threat.
“I set the leaves down so I could try to collect some water. It took me longer than I wanted to, and when I got back to the leaves, a stupid whiskerling was just finishing eating the last of them!” I try to hide my smile, but she notices. “It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is,” I say wearily.
“Yeah, well now we don’t have any of those leaves to help with healing.”
“It’s okay.” I close my eyes against the tree.
