Page 33 of Keeping the Human's Heart

I have to go back. They won’t expect me to go back. I spin again and take off, running the way I came.

A shot rings out, striking a tree right near my head. Stepping out of the trees is a familiar woman on a massive brown horse, her gun pointed at me. It’s spent, so she draws her sword.

“Don’t move,” she growls, sliding out of her saddle. I turn to run again, but more horses are already there, surrounding me. The other soldiers dismount, too, and soon there are swords pointed at me from five different directions.

“Deserter,” one of them mutters.

“We’ll take her back to town,” the woman says. “String her up in the square for everyone to see. They’ll understand what becomes of deserters.”

I don’t fight when one of the soldiers approaches me and ties a rope around my wrists. There’s no point.

I won’t escape my fate this time.

Chapter 14

Drazak

It’s not like there’s anything left for us at the farm anyway. All that lies in front of us are dead ends.

But Han’zir is right. We have to get her back. Without her, there’s an emptiness in my soul, a gaping hole where Esme should be.

We both know that going after her means venturing into human territory. That’s where she’d have gone, surely—back to her own kind. It will make our task that much more dangerous.

We’ve brought along what weapons we can. I have a bow and an axe, and Han’zir’s strapped his spear over his back with a knife in a sheath. Perhaps if we only come across a few humans at a time, we stand a chance.

We both know we can’t return without our mate or we’ll never be whole again.

I have a rough idea of where the lines are drawn since the humans started occupying trollkin towns. Once we get there, of course, who knows where she’ll be. This is probably a fool’s errand that’ll get us killed, but the alternative is to always wonder what became of Esme, to live the rest of our lives missing an important piece of ourselves. When she dies, we’ll go with her.

Han’zir and I walk for most of the day before stopping to eat, where we try to take as little as possible from our store of rations. We gather what we can along the way, but all the berry bushes we pass have been picked over.

This is a good sign. Perhaps Esme went this way. That’s my hope, and I’ll cling to it as long as I can.

My chest aches as I remember the look on her face when she learned the truth. Something inside her took over at that moment, some kind of deep pain that Han’zir and I aren’t privy to.

Suddenly, he stops in front of me and I almost bump into him.

“I can feel something,” he says quietly. “I think we might be getting closer.”

“What?” I frown. “How could you possibly know?”

He just shrugs. “I can sense it. The longer we’ve headed this direction, the stronger the feeling gets. I think we’re on the right track.”

All I can do is hope he’s right. Han’zir has always had a deeper intuition than I do.

“Lead the way,” I tell him, hiking my bag up higher on my shoulder. If it means we can find her, I’m all ears.

I will walk to the ends of the earth if it means we can have her back.

Esme

They don’t even put me on a horse. After tying the rope around my hands, I’m forced to trot along behind the procession of soldiers as they lead me back to town, where I’ll finally meet the end I was always intended for.

I should’ve stayed when we charged into battle against the trollkin. I should’ve been there alongside my comrades as they tried to take the town. Maybe I would’ve found that redheaded woman and lived. Maybe I could’ve gotten out of all this and someday gone home.

Home? Home to the mansion on the hill and the master who tormented me? After all this, I know one thing: I am not an object to be used. I make my own choices. Maybe some of those are poor choices, but at least I’m the one who decides them.

When we reach town, my legs are jelly and my breath comes ragged. The woman on the big brown horse dismounts, and a squirrelly, skinny man joins us.

---