My left shoulder was suddenly in pain, I knew I screamed then. I looked up and there was Daevi, holding onto my arm half his body leaning over.
The knives were proving to be a very heavy burden as he strained hauling me up. I saw his veins pop out of his neck and his face grew red as he roared, lifting me with one hand. I scrambled up next to him, my other arm feeling useless because of the pain. Tears stung my eyes as I tried to move my arm. It could still move, but it was painful to do anything much.
"Go!" Daevi screamed at my friends. "We'll catch up! Don't let them see you!"
They hesitated and I was forced to cry out for them to go, too. I wasn't sure I was ever going to see them again, but I had to give them hope. My voice was hoarse and I didn't know if my groaning scream reached them, but Daevi stopped shouting and I did too.
I could hear the footsteps rush toward our direction, getting louder as he helped me up. He pointed up a tree just beside us. I shook my head, but he started climbing it and my jaw went slack. Did he not realize how afraid of heights I was? And more importantly, with my arm, it would be impossible for me to try and climb when I've never even climbed a tree once in my whole life!
He hung onto a branch and reached down for me. "Come on! We don't have much time!" he hissed.
I glanced in the direction of the footsteps and then at the blood still covering the side of his head. It was like choosing the least painful way to die. I groaned inwardly and clasped my uninjured hand in his. He grit his teeth and pulled me up, my feet scraping on the trunk trying to pull myself up, trying to ease the pain in my shoulder as I tried not to scream. We went higher and higher to the last large branch.
My heart was the loudest sound in my ears next to my breathing. My whole body was shaking, but Daevi held me still. I was thankful for that, sure that if he didn't, I might have just fallen. I lay my head on his chest. His breathing was even and he was solid as stone, but his heart raced as quickly as mine and he held me just as hard against him.
Below, I could hear the men gathering together. Their conversation was loud and clear. How long until they looked up to see us? I couldn't look down, but I strained to hear, wanting to know if I was going to die before the fired the first shot.
"Are you sure they went through here?"
"I'm sure, sir. The tracks end here."
I couldn't listen in anymore. Any moment now, they would look up and kill us. These men were trackers. Surely they would find out where we hid!
"They crossed over something. There must've been a log they crossed over before they threw it to the river."
"How many were they?"
"Maybe four."
Let's regroup with the others. These won't be hard to find."
Even as their footsteps dwindled into silence, I still couldn't calm down enough to pull away from Daevi. I was a coward and I would never deny that. I stayed on the tree hoping that they would go away, even if it meant that others could get hurt instead of me. I want to justify myself, but there was no excuse for my cowardice. I closed my eyes trying not to think of the others. They were on their own as much as we were.
For a while, all I could hear were my and Daevi's breathing. We had been that close to death and we escaped because of Daevi's quick thinking and bravery. I hung my head in shame as I sat there relieved that I was safe while doing absolutely nothing to help.
Bandits beware, indeed!
It wasn't long before we both calmed. The first signs of dawn were showing as the sky was slowly turning a deep shade of blue. Around us, I could hear the morning crickets start their chirping. I don't know how long we had been up on the tree or when we started running from our camp, but soon, it was going to be the fourth day. Half a day's ride more and we would have been safe in the capital. But now, with the invaders on our heels, I'm not even sure if we can get to our destination.
Sighing, I tried not to think that I was high on a tree. But I knew that I would have to get down soon, and it came just too soon for me.
"We have to get down," Daevi said. "We have to get to the capital as soon as we can."
"What about the others?"
"What can we do? If the invaders have them, we can't free them. If they killed them, we can't bring them to life. The best we can do is to call the capital and ask them for help."
I glared up at him. It was heartless, but I knew he was right. The two of us could do nothing against a whole legion of invaders. But even so, his cold logic didn't make it any better to bear. I chose not to say anything torn between going back for everyone and running away. Heroism or cowardice. Never having seeing other people killed by other people and having a father who thought nothing of heroes or of battles, the choice was easy.
We chose to run away.
Going down was slow. I wanted to cry every time I had to look down. I kept on thinking how I would fall and break my neck and end up like the apple-picker, no matter how steady Daevi was in helping me down even with the heavy hammer he had slung on his back.
Finally, we got down and I couldn't be happier to have my feet back on solid ground. But my happiness didn't last long. I knew we had to move and get as much distance as we could from the invaders--and find Carinne and Rener as well. But before we moved, he touched my shoulder and I couldn't help but wince.
"This is going to hurt a bit, so try not to scream if you can."
Before I could ask what he was going to do, I felt a crack and a click on my shoulder and a screech escaped my lips before I could stop it. I could see nothing but a sheet of white for a moment before the pain quickly passed and I could feel arms moving again without the pain. My vision cleared and I looked at him amazed. "What did you do?"
"Misaligned joints. All fixed now. I got that a lot in the forge while I was younger."
I muttered a quick thanks and followed him as he led the way. We crept back toward the path careful that anyone else might be there. Each crunch of leaf and twig under our footsteps were like a crack of lightning to my ears. When we got to the bridge, we crawled on our bellies under a patch of bushes, waiting to see if anyone would pass by. We waited until the sky was purple before we decided it was time to brave the open and chance crossing the bridge. Daevi walked a few steps ahead of me, but it still didn't still my fears that an invader might be looming on the other side waiting for us.
The moment we safely crossed the bridge and got off the road, I kept thinking how Carinne and Rener were doing. My only hope was that they were already making their way to the capital to call for help.