Page 62 of The Lands Defying
“Who was in the cave?” I ask, looking behind me as Josh does the same.
“Trolls,” Damian answers, and my heartrate kicks up a notch. “Best not to pester them.”
“I thought they were people,” I whisper-hiss, looking back at the dark passageway.
“Definitely not people, and we definitely didn’t want to cause a bloodbath. It would alert the rest of them,” Leo says, and it makes me never want to come face-to-face with a troll in my life.
“Which way now?” I ask instead of voicing my fears.
“We follow the river and head toward where we saw the smoke,” Jerrod says. “We have to be careful of the terrain changing.”
I look over to the mountain of a man. His red central braid hangs over his shoulder, his eyes set in the direction with a fierce determination. I haven’t talked to him much, but I remember the way he was at Eridian with little Oscar and Katy. I wonder if that’s who he’s thinking off when he stares into nothing. Then again, he didn’t stop anyone from taking them.
I push the thought down. We are here now, not in the past where mistakes were made. We’re going to get them back and that’s all that matters.
“Usually it doesn’t change until the next day,” he continues, “but it has been known to be unpredictable the closer you get to the center.”
What is in the center? I wonder but don’t say aloud.
“Let’s move,” Darius says as he rummages through his pack and hands me some dried meat. “We can eat on the way.” I chomp on the meat as we begin to walk.
I watch the river rise to the right of us, and I nearly choke at seeing fish jumping in and out of the water.
Where the hell did they come from?
I look around and take in the trees, noticing the fruit growing and wonder if we can eat them. None of the others seem to go near them so I take that as anoand continue forward. Taking everything in that I haven’t seen before, I once again put it in that place to cherish for years to come.
We walk until the sun is high in the sky and the bitter cold that comes with being in here seeps into my bones. Everyone seems on alert, no doubt from the rogure and the trolls in the cave.
Josh slides in next to me, and I don’t miss the glare Darius throws his way.
I roll my eyes.
“I hope we can get to Kade after this,” Josh says suddenly, and pain spears through my heart.
Darius walks a little further ahead of us, reluctantly letting us talk, if the set of his stiff shoulders are anything to go by.
“Yeah,” I whisper, glancing at him. “Gods I miss him.” His absence has left a hole so deep, you can’t see the bottom.
Runa whines within me, and I know she’s struggling with him not being here. Just like Kade is mine, he’s hers too.
“He’s strong,” Josh says. “He will be okay, he has had you to teach him most of his life.”
“And you.” I bump my shoulder with his. “I’m scared of what my family has done, and Charles. What if he doesn’t want to come with me again?” The thought has me rubbing my chest.
“He will.” Josh sounds so certain, but I’m not.
He didn’t fully see the way Kade looked at me at Wolvorn, the way he would have done anything to get away from me.
“We will go to him after we are done here,” Darius says, not looking back at me.
Of course he was listening.
It won’t be that simple though. We all know it, we just don’t voice it.
I lift my hand and call my power, watching as it floats on my palm. If only I could control it more, I could walk in there and have a better chance of walking out with Kade, alive.
It’s hours later with my thoughts, and the sun dropping down when Darius speaks again.
