Three days went by slowly. At first, the excitement was contagious. We all spoke in high pitches, everyone boasting how they would impress the capital. We would practice without our tools in the little space we had, often hitting each other whenever we got too excited. Laughter and smiles dominated most of the day and nights were spent telling stories and asking the cart drivers and Old Klatos about the capital barely getting any sleep.
And then, there were the thoughts of my father. What was he doing? Did he walk around the house in the middle of the night? Did he check my room as he usually did, thinking I wouldn't know? Was the village overwhelming him with orders?
Even in the middle of all the excitement, I couldn't help but miss him.
By the third day, everyone preferred silence. It was as if Daevi's mood had caught up with everyone. He was the only one who wasn't excited about seeing the capital or proving himself. We did try to joke around him once or twice, but that only earned us a bewildered look, as if he had no idea what was going on. And with the way he tinkered with his tiny clockwork, I was betting that he really didn't know, no matter how noisy we got.
Each night when we set up camp for the meals, I always volunteered with the preparation of food. Not because I was a good cook, but because I was the only one who could do a good enough job of preparing meat the way it was supposed to be done. The chunks of meat my father had stored in some clockwork box was still fresh and almost whole. I saw some of the people my age assigned to cook stare blankly at it, if they didn't puke out of the sheer horror of seeing a carcass for them to prepare. From then on, it was my task to butcher the thing and make sure that each portion was even so that everyone could have the same pieces. At least it was a better job than clean-up or keeping watch with one of the caravan drivers while everyone slept.
With the invaders vanquished a long time ago, all they had to keep watch was from the wild animals that could sneak up on camp. It was definitely a more peaceful time than the time of our fathers and our great grandfathers when the invaders left the whole empire in chaos and blood.
Once or twice, I heard the occasional rustle with my mind half-asleep, but there was no alarm and no one was hurt. The watchers did their jobs well.
The second night, Carinne was asked to take care of the horses and when she settled beside me to sleep, I saw a bruise on her left cheek. I hadn't even opened my mouth to ask when she said, "Horses hate me. All horses do! The first time I rode a pony, it threw me off. This one shook its head to hit me in the face."
"Why were you that close."
"The bridle came loose. I was going to fix it."
I laughed and that earned me a punch in the arm.
There was another one who did one task all the time: Daevi. I wasn't sure if he volunteered or if he was chosen for the job, but he always kept the nightly watch with two others. The caravan driver assigned for the night always looked at him with a smile that held a meaning neither I nor Carinne could understand. We tried to figure it out, and once, we even asked one of the drivers, but all we got was a hearty laugh and a patronizing pat on the head.
By the third night, the clockwork box was empty of meat by the time I was through with it. Tomorrow, we were finally going to see the capital. We were all still excited, but the constant traveling and chores kept our excitement to a minimum. We practiced parts of our trade, but there were no more flourishes--only mechanical and precise practiced movements. We chatted and speculated, but no longer until the second watch started. Even as excited as we were, we all fell asleep, quite quickly.
---
I heard a rustling first, then, a touch on my shoulder. An urgent shaking. I opened my eyes, trying to adjust the image in front of my face. Daevi looked down at me wide-eyed and out of breath. He gripped my arm and put a finger to his lips. My mind was still too hazy to even ask him what was going on, but I could see the panic in his bright blue eyes as I tried to wake even half of my mind up. Something was...off with him today.
"Evna, we have to run. Wake everyone quietly," he whispered.
"What?" I finally manage to say through the haze.
"We'll die if we don't."
The words made me sit upright in no time. Then I finally realized what was so wrong with him. He had blood running down the side of his head. Suddenly, I wasn't so sleepy. "You're wounde--."
He covered my mouth with his hand. "Not my blood," he hissed. "Hurry. Let's wake Old Klatos and the rest. I already alerted the other wagon drivers. They--"
A sharp scream cut him off followed by several loud cracks in the air. I felt Daevi's hand on my arm tighten as the rest woke. "We have to go now," he said as another scream tore through the air and a familiar sound made my hair rise on end. It was the sound of flesh and bone being cut through. I turned to Carinne, surprised that her most recent admirer, Rener was already beside her.
"I'll get my pack. You get Old Klatos so we can gather everyone and run."
Daevi shook his head. "No time. We have to go now."
"But what about our guides?" Rener asked the same time Carinne said, "What's going on?"
"We'll all die if we wait for them!" Daevi shook his head. Carinne was about to protest but Daevi cut her off. "Listen to me!" His raised voice brought the attention of everyone else to him. "I saw an invader scouting party kill one of the capital's soldiers. Several fires are on the other side of the rise. There is an army there waiting to kill us. Now everyone run!"
"I'll get my pack," I said digging my heels in as everyone scrambled in panic, realizing that none of our caravan driver were there. All around me, I could hear everyone ask where they would go as some looked to Old Klatos leading them in the opposite direction where the shouts were heard. No one else seemed to remember or think they needed their packs, so I was alone rummaging for mine. I found my pack and took out the leather casing my father made where all my knives were.
When I turned from the wagon, Daevi, Carinne and Rener were right behind me and the rest of the group dwindling in the dense forest on the other side. They took something from their packs as well.
"You're right, Evna" Carinne smiled at me. "When we reach the capital, I want to make sure I'll use the things from my hometown."
I looked at each of them for a heartbeat in disbelief. The reason why I took my pack was because it was the only chance I might have for survival, not because I knew I would make it to the capital. But if that was what was going to give her hope, I just nodded.
"This way." Davei took off at a different direction toward the sparser part of the forest where our caravan was headed.
My feet followed him, but I had my reservations in his direction. The sparse woods wouldn't give much cover if we needed to hide, though it did have larger trees that could shield all four of us at once. I looked back where the others went, but I didn't see them anymore. Worried, I called to Daevi. "Why are we going in this direction?"
"If we split, at least one of our groups would have a bigger chance of getting to the capital." Daevi called back to us. "This is the shortest way to the capital. It's the only safe place. I don't want to hide and wait this out."
I couldn't really think and the others didn't protest, so I kept my mouth shut as we plunged into the woods and veered off the beaten path completely devoid of cover. We ran following Daevi's lead and I found myself completely at a loss where I was. Branches and leaves kept stinging my face. Too many times, I almost tripped and twisted my ankle. Off to the side, I could no longer see the beaten path we were supposed to be following, but I decided to continue trusting him.
The one who saved the drowning kid.
Our run ended abruptly at a running river about a hundred meters between a gorge. The uproar of the river could only mean it was shallow enough that if any of us fell in it, we would die hitting the bottom before we die drowning.
"Over there!" Rener pointed to an uprooted log acting as a bridge between the gap. By the light of the moon, it seemed enough to get us to the other side, but up close, it was worse than it looked. The tree, or what was left of it, was only held up by its roots and branches. On the other side, the left branches seemed to be sticking out of the rough, jagged dirt wall as if it had grown out sideways.
"We have to find another way..." I trailed off seeing Carinne climb on the fallen tree. "Carinne! It's not safe!"
She took a few steps forward, balancing with her arms stretched out. "It seems stable."
I tried to watch for any signs that the tree was going to give as Carinne continued walking across slowly. I knew my best friend. She wasn't the toughest woman in the village, but when it came to giving hope, she would do anything to help. She crossed even as her knees trembled. If anyone was going to survive from this, she had to be it.
By the time she was at the branches, the tree rocked a bit, but it held and she got to the other side safely. "Just don't put a lot of weight on the right side. The branches are broken. The left side is more stable." She might be saying it to all of us, but she was looking at me as I started to get cold sweat.
"You go next," I said to Rener, throat constricted and hands trembling.
"What? No. You go," Rener said.
"I can't do this yet. I have to calm myself. I'll be there." If there was anything that scared me, it was heights. And by the look on the guys' faces, they couldn't seem to believe it. "Just go, Rener! I'll get my mind around it. Here," I handed him one of the knives from my leather case. "Just in case anything happens."
Rener nodded and went ahead. I closed my eyes trying to shut out the rush of the river and the scrape of shoes on wood. I could faintly hear my best friend's happy voice. He must've made it to the other side fine. I should make it too, right? I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, surprised to see that Daevi was still holding up the rear.
"You go first, Evna" he said calmly. "We--" His eyes widened as we hear footsteps. They were not accompanied by frenzied breathing or the chattering of youth.
The invaders were here!
"Go!" Daevi hissed as Rener and Carinne urged me on. "You can do this, Evna. I know you can."
I wanted to believe his words but he didn't understand my terror. As a child, I had seen one of the villagers who picked mangoes fall off the tree and break his neck right beside me. It still gave me nightmares until a year later. Now, those hollow eyes stared at me. Daring me to take such a terrifying leap. It was years ago and the fact that it still haunted me made me hate myself. The terror of the crossing was great, but even the growing sounds of pursuit couldn't move me to cross.
I felt Daevi's hand on my shoulder and I nodded taking a deep breath as my trembling hands reached out to haul myself up the fallen tree. My knees shook and cold sweat slid down my back, muttering to myself that it was going to be alright as I took one tiny step at a time. The pounding of my heart nearly drowned out the raging river below and I could hardly make out what Carinne and Rener were saying at the other side.
Suddenly, I felt the tree shift and I stopped, trembling worse than ever. "I can't do this. I can't do this!" I could hear myself saying those words, but I couldn't connect it to myself. And then, everything seemed too happen too quickly. The next thing I knew, there was no more tree under me and my heart was in my throat. I didn't even know if I screamed.