Page 49 of Blood and Fate

Kais closed his eyes and blew out a breath. When he opened them, he continued as if nothing had passed between them, “When he has everything secure, you’ll be next. I’ll take you across myself and then return to see the men across.”

Return? “Why wouldn’t you stay on the other side?”

“I can’t be safe on the other side while my men are still crossing. I’m the last one across.”

Her chest tightened at his words, a reaction that surprised even herself. She nodded.

“Bram will follow you. Then it’ll just be a matter of waiting while everyone else crosses with all the supplies,” Kais finished.

Supplies. She thought of something she hadn’t yet considered. “What about the horses?”

“We leave the hores and the tents on this side. I have men that will come and collect them to take them across in a safer place. Kais answered.

“Kay?”

She looked up and swallowed the lump in her throat at the informal way Teague addressed Kais in front of her.

Kais’ eyes met hers, and she felt the fear reflected in his deep brown irises. She felt the way his heart picked up its pace. He held her gaze, and she wished she could impart to him some sort of extra strength for the day. Why did she even care?

He answered Teague, still looking at her. “Yeah?”

“Ready when you are.” Teague looked at Satori, his blue eyes sparkling a bit. “Good morning, Princess. I trust you slept well.”

She stood, brushing her pants off. “I did, thank you. And please, call me Satori.”

Teague’s brow rose slightly, and a smile spread across his face as he glanced at Kais. “Of course, Satori.”

A flash of jealousy, not her own, hit her, and she looked at Kais, but in a moment the jealous feeling she thought she felt was gone, and instead, something warm sat there. Satisfaction? Happiness? She wasn’t sure, only that it was warm.

Teague’s voice interrupted her musings. “Ready to see the river?”

Not at all.

Satori held her breath as Luna emerged through the trees, revealing the wide banks of the river. By now, the water was so loud the men were shouting to be heard over the roaring. White water splashed and churned, charging downstream. They were crossing this? How?

Kais slowed his horse to come alongside her. He pointed to her left just a bit upstream, raising his voice to be heard above the din of the raging water, he said, “There’s where we cross. There’s a bridge and a rope.”

Horror struck her at the sight of the bridge. It was not a bridge at all; it was a ruin seemingly fortified by several fallen trees. She looked at Kais, and even if he hadn’t been able to feel what she felt, it would have been obvious she was appalled. And it looked cold.

He didn’t try to tell her it looked worse than it was or convince her she was overreacting. His eyes held hers, and she felt the sincerity seep into her as he spoke, “I’ll keep you safe, Satori. By all means in my power.”

When she looked back at the bridge, Teague was already there, no coat, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He worked, tying, wrapping, and knotting a massive coil of new rope around a large tree to which a much more worn looking rope was already tied. The old rope stretched across the river to the tree in the middle, wrapped around the trunk there and continued to stretch to the far bank. Sweat glistened on his brow and she had no idea if it was from exertion or fear. Maybe both.

Fear gripped her for certain, and when she looked at Kais, she found him watching Teague as well. Even though there was no sign of it on his face, the fear she was feeling was not all her own.

“What is he doing?”

“We use the rope as a guide,” Kais explained. “We’ll tie another rope around our waist, loop it over the guide rope, and tie it again. Then we follow the guide rope across, and if we lose our footing, we’re saved by the rope around our waist.”

“Like a pulley?”

Kais glanced at her for a fraction of a moment before his eyes were on Teague once more. “Yes, like a pulley. But the guide rope is old and there’s no way to tell how well it’ll hold up, so Teague is going to replace it with the new one as he goes across.”

“How many times has he done this?”

Kais answered her again without taking his eyes from his friend. “We try not to come this way. If we have more time we always go farther downstream where there’s an actual place to cross and the water is calm.”

She didn’t get a chance to respond because Teague’s voice interrupted their conversation. “Sir!”

---