I'm wearing the wrong crown.

Chapter 6. Yet another dead.

Around mid-day they stopped for a meal and ate some of the deer Crane had killed. She had half left and at this rate with four of them, it would be gone in two days. She kept telling herself they would be in Snip by then but she wasn't totally sure, Pike was slowing them down at a significant rate and Crane was itching to move faster. If only they had horses.

"I'm getting sick of meat." Jai moaned. "I want bread and fruit and sugar."

"Same." Irah said, "Where I'm from we have grapes and salmon and sometimes even white carrots."

"You're lucky." Jai mumbled. "There's no good food in this forest. Speaking of, do you think Snip has fruit? I really want some."

"Snip obviously has fruit you idiot." Pike said, chewing on his meat.

Jai laughed, "Yeah, it's not like Merilan where the village has limited food."

Irah scoffed. "Merilan doesn't have limited food, we just ration it so pigs like you don't eat it all."

"Oh. You're from Merilan then Irah." Crane said.

Irah fumbled over her words. "Uh-well, sort of,"

Pike interrupted her. "Her mother was from Liste and her dad is from Merilan, she grew up there but was born in Liste."

"I see. You need to learn to hide your Liste necklace more. People will think you're a spy." Crane said, putting away her meat, suddenly full.

"Ugh. I wish we could at least cook this meat." Jai sniffed it and gagged, handing it to Crane who put in her bag.

"The patrols will see the fire, its pretty much a death wish." Pike said, standing up using a tree beside him to balance. His leg was healing but Crane watched it carefully. If it got infected it wouldn't be good for him.

"Wait. Do you hear that?" Crane took out her gun and listened to the sound of the forest. It was the creak of metal. "Jai."

He heard it too and took out his bow, they both scanned the forest for people.

"What is it?" Irah whispered. Her face as white as a ghost. Crane lunged forward at Pike as soon as she heard the whistle of an arrow. Pike being the only one standing, they would likely shoot him first. Her hunch was right and it missed him by a hair. Both of them went tumbling down into a ditch and Pike grabbed his leg in pain. He went to stand but Crane pushed him back down. "Stay here." She ordered.

But a scream rang through the forest and she froze. It was Irah. It wasn't like a scream of fear of pain, it was a scream of fear and pain combined. A death scream. She was only frozen for a moment before she scrambled out of the ditch and unsheathed her sword.

A man emerged from the tangled bush to her left. He was dirty, bloody and big. He held an axe bigger than his head and it dripped with fresh blood and Crane knew for sure then, that Irah was dead. Jai, she wasn't sure about. The man with the axe locked eyes with her and grinned, his yellow teeth also dripping with blood. What a monster.

Crane dodged to the side, her quick movement confusing him and gave her time to take out her gun from her belt, then she shot three times. Twice in the head and once in the heart. He fell, dead.

She spotted Jai in a tree, where they had been eating before and he pointed down to a bush then held up two fingers. Two more bandits. She nodded. Throwing her gun to Pike in the ditch, she moved and approached the bush slowly. Jai shot twice before hopping down to the ground.

A woman saw her and swung her own sword, coming from underneath. The woman aimed to kill, not injure and Crane immediately saw her weakness. She was left-handed but still swung the sword with two hands, always leaving her left side open. Crane threw a dagger and it hit its mark, the woman screamed, dropping her sword and clutching at her side in agony. Crane moved her blade swiftly once and the woman went silent. The third bandit was already dead. One of Jai's shots had gone straight through his skull and blood poured onto the ground.

Irah lay on the ground, a massive cut in her back. She most likely had her back turned when the axe man attacked. There was so much blood Crane had to turn around, vomiting on the ground.

Jai patted her back. "Four in total. I caught one in the tree."

Wiping her mouth, Crane looked at Irah. Pike was kneeling beside her, his head in his hands.

Jai and Crane stood together in silence, watching Pike.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. He said it over and over again until he couldn't anymore. Crane stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. "Ciga." He hissed. "I don't want pity- I want- her back." His voice broke.

"Stand up." She told him.

"No. leave me alone." He said, swatting her hand away.

"Stand up!" She shouted.

"Ciga-," Jai started.

Pike stood so fast he looked dizzy. "What do you want?! She's dead! can't you see I'm busy?!" he yelled.

"You care for the ones you love when they're alive but when you're dead, the only person you have left is yourself okay? Irah is dead, you are alive and you will live. Not for her or anyone else. For yourself." Crane took his shoulders and stared at him right in the eyes. "She's still here. Just not right now. You will die if you stay here, so we need to leave. Snip is only eight hours away. When we get there, you can grieve, okay?"

He shook his head.

Crane slapped him. "Wake up!"

Then she hugged him. He was stiff as she expected did but relaxed and wrapped his own arms around her, squeezing.

She'd touched Haede's blood and when she realized, she felt an attack coming. Pulling back, she took his hands and slapped her cheeks hard. "Ciga-," Pike was surprised.

"Let's go." Crane said. She couldn't be around the smell of blood for any longer.