Page 33 of The War of Wings
I ripped into the package then into the meat pie, hardly slowing down enough to even taste the food. I hadn’t realized how hungry I’d been. I was sure I looked like a feral animal, but Cal didn’t so much as glance over at me as he devoured his own.
“Thank you,” I murmured, laying back against the pillowy grass when I was done, a hand over my now painfully full stomach.
He unhooked the canteen from his belt, offering me a drink before he rested it on top of our discarded parchment so the pieces wouldn’t blow away in the breeze. Then he laid down beside me, his fingers twining with mine as we stared up at the clear blue sky.
I opened my mouth, intent on filling the silence. I had so much to say, so many things to work through, so many knots to unravel and tie up again. There were things Cal needed to say, too, questions to ask and answers to find. But he leaned over, his lips pressing against my forehead. “We don’t have to talk,” he whispered, and tears sprung in my eyes. “Tomorrow will be a long day. The first of many long days, most likely. Let your mind rest.”
Saints, I loved this man. With every part of my heart and soul, I loved him. So I listened. I let a deep breath leave me, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 13
Cal
There was a good chance Miles was asleep on the horse next to me. Petra told him he could either make the ride to Taitha with her or with me. When Miles refused both options, Petra surprisingly accepted his refusal. But that was only because she had a better idea.
One terrifying glare from Petra later and Miles was slumped against Whit’s back as their horse traversed the plains outside Eserene. Whit was, of course, thrilled with Petra’s idea. I swore his face was locked in a permanent smile since we’d left camp.
The entrance to the Onyx Pass had come and gone without much fanfare. Nothing in the forest could be as terrifying as the darkness we’d already faced. My muscles ached. My eyes were heavy. I just wanted to get to Taitha. Everyone did. The single day of rest did little to quell the exhaustion we all felt deep in our bones.
Dusk had darkened the forest into deep shades of blue and violet. We’d be stopping soon, setting up camp and spending a night serenaded by screeches and snarls. But my posture snapped straight and my eyes flew wide when I heard it — the sound of nothing. The eerie quiet of a forest that was completely still.
The Onyx Pass was silent.
“Petra,” I whispered, just loud enough that she could hear me over the clopping of our horse’s hooves on the dirt path. Her eyes were weary when they found mine, dark shadows beneath them. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Exactly,” I answered. “There’s nothing.”
She blinked, and I watched as her awareness heightened and weariness turned to wariness. She looked around, her lips parting as she scanned the trees. “Commander Summercut,” she called over her shoulder to where the commander was riding a few paces behind us. “Let’s stop here for the night.”
With a nod, he pulled his horse to a stop and began giving out orders. Petra and I continued on, moving just far enough away that the crowd behind us was nothing but a low buzz. The horses were calm. It felt unnatural.
Where there should’ve been shrieks and roars, growls and hisses, there was silence. Where there should’ve been snapping twigs and huffing breaths, there was nothing. No ruffling feathers. No shadows in the corner of my vision. The forest should be alive with beasts of death right now.
There was just nothing.
“What the fuck?” she breathed, blinking rapidly, her brows upturned. “I don’t understand.”
“They’re gone,” I murmured. “How?”
Nell and Whit approached on foot from behind us. Miles must’ve been exhausted, because Whit had managed to stop the horse and shimmy off without him waking. The joy had beenwiped from Whit’s face, replaced by the hard lines of suspicion, and Nell’s expression matched.
“What’s going on?” Nell asked. “Why is the forest so quiet?”
Petra’s head shook. “We have no idea.”
Could the beasts of the Onyx Pass sense the evil that had found its way into our realm? Did they retreat because they felt it coming? The Onyx Pass was synonymous with the monsters that roamed it, and the monsters were gone.
Petra dismounted, handing her mare’s reins to Nell. She circled slowly, her hands flexing at her sides as a line formed between her brows. “I don’t like this. But we can’t push through the night and we can’t turn back.”
I met her on the ground, and Nell retreated with Whit to feed and water the horses. My first instinct was to tell it would be fine, but I couldn’t lie to her. Never again would I tell her another lie for as long as I lived. I opened my mouth, hoping I’d find the words, but then something caught my eye in the forest.
For a long moment, I stared at the spaces between the trees, at the shadows they cast. But there was nothing there, not even a breeze to rustle through the leaves.
“What is it?” Petra asked, her voice low.
A fire sparked to life behind us, the first of many that would be built throughout the camp. Shadows flickered and danced as the flames grew larger, illuminating the forest and showing me that there truly was nothing there.
