Healing Ties (Ties, Book 2) | ✓

Chapter 37

For a long time, Fanner just ran. Right now, it didn't matter which direction he was going in, he just needed to put distance between himself and the human camp. He heard strange sounds from time to time, saw shadows moving in the darkness, but somehow the possibility of monsters hunting him no longer felt as threatening. Real monsters put their hands on your body while pretending they cared. He would rather die to some beast just looking for a meal.

Without warning, something leapt out at Fanner from the shadows. He threw up a ball of magelight, ready to defend himself, and then...

"Cookie!" he exclaimed as he threw his arms around his monstrous friend. She felt as tacky and weird as ever, but Fanner didn't care. "I'm so glad to see you."

Cookie chittered as he pulled back. Fanner gave her a quick look over, but she didn't appear to be hurt.

"How did you find me?"

She didn't answer, of course.

Fanner took a moment to stop and breathe and finally pulled out his compass. Fortunately John hadn't searched him. He didn't know how he would have explained having a military issued compass in his possession.

He was facing north, but he couldn't even remember if that had been the direction he'd been heading in anymore. Everything looked the same.

"We're probably off course, but I don't know in what direction. Should we just head east from here and hope we can see the spire when we get closer? It looked fairly tall..."

Cookie started walking. She was heading east. Good enough.

#

Yore ran at full speed back towards his home, ignoring the limits of his body. He didn't care if he tore himself apart. He hoped for the best, hoped the fight was already over and that the humans had learnt the power of what they were up against, but as he got closer he could smell smoke in the air.

He ran into a group of familiar faces before he reached home.

There were so many faces in the exhausted group his eyes searched for, and so many he found. Both of his mothers. Slone. Raya and the other children, Danya, Simon, Hamish, Atticus, Cailan and Liam. Even Tris and Roope, who had still been with the human military last Yore had heard. But no Fanner.

Yore bent to kiss the top of Raya's head, relieved she had made it out alive, and as he did he smelled Fanner on her. "Do you know where Fanner is? Is he with you?"

Raya dropped her head as she shook it, and Yore's stomach dropped with it.

"We fell behind," Lusa told him. "We couldn't move fast enough. Raya wanted to stay with us, to keep us safe, but there was no way for all of us to get away. Fanner volunteered to stay behind and buy us some time."

Yore's eyes fell shut and he let out a breath. "Did they kill him?"

"Doesn't seem like it," Slone said. He had a raw, open gash on his arm that looked like a graze from a bullet, but otherwise he seemed to be okay. The smell of blood clung to him, but most of it wasn't his. "After we met up with the kids an' found out he got left behind, we tracked back to look for him. Caught his scent, scent of humans, but no blood. Tried to follow it, but that human camp..."

"There are thousands of them," Roope said. "The full force of our military and more. They brought men through the mountain pass to bolster their numbers. We wanted to ride ahead and warn you, but..."

"Hell of a lot of witnesses by the time we knew anything," Tris finished for him.

Yore swore. "We have a lot of advantages, but we're not prepared to fight an army of that size."