Agatine (Terres book II)

Chapter Two

The bodies of two hares lay on the ground. Elyn hacked away at the carcasses, trying to remove the skin without damaging the flesh. His long fingers slipped on the carcass and Wren heard him swear under his breath. Her stomach growled. It had been two days since she had anything to eat past a few of the hard biscuits they had found in a sack in the back of the wagon.  

It was fortunate they only had a day or two's worth of travel left to get to Agatine. The skins of water that had been their lifeline were almost gone, which meant they had to pick up their pace. Even the camel looked tired. He laid flat out on his side next to where they'd stopped the wagon, glad to be free of his harness. He'd wandered back into camp in the early hours of the morning and gone to eat the dried grass that poked up out of the ground like nothing had happened. Wren envied him.

Where Rannok had gone off to was anyone's guess. Wren hoped, as she always did, that he would not come back. It was a small hope, in the back of her mind where she could easily ignore it since it made her feel so awful. But she knew that he would, because he always came back and it always made her just a little bit disappointed.

It wasn't as if she wanted him to die. She just wished he didn't exist. Every minute they spent in each other's presence was another minute where Wren had to think about the mother and home and village he'd stolen from her.

"Can you help me?" Elyn asked. Wren jumped lightly down from the cart, wings splaying out slightly to catch the wind. She grabbed one of the hares and used the knife to cut around its head. They'd strip the skin off and roast them, and while they'd taste pretty terrible, they'd at least assuage their hunger.

Wren didn't even know how hares managed to live out here. It was hard enough for her and Elyn and Rannok to stay away from animals that wanted to eat them. Then again, she supposed they'd failed in that regard. The skin slipped easily from the carcass as she tugged it down and off the rabbit's legs, like she was slipping off a cloak. 

They finished dressing the meat and Elyn went to go fish the flint from the sack of his belongings. She went to gathering sticks and dried bunches of grass from all around them and forming them into a little pile. Elyn flicked a spark at it and the flames flickered to life, then died down to a warm glow.

He speared one of the rabbits on a stick and propped it over the fire. The flames licked at it and the meat hissed and popped. Wren's mouth watered at the scent. She watched them roast for a few minutes, anxious for when they'd be cooked enough to pull them off the fire.

A dot appeared on the horizon, like a great bird coasting on the breeze. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry anymore. Wren turned her back and slipped back into the wagon. She grabbed the curtain to pull it closed behind her.

Elyn let out a protracted sigh and pointedly rolled his eyes as he propped the second rabbit over the fire.

"Do you have a problem?" Wren asked, arms folded, face set in a frown.

"I wish we could all get along, is all," Elyn said as he poked at the rabbit. Wren opened her mouth to say something when Rannok landed with a small thud a few feet away and folded his wings across his back.

"How far are we?" Elyn asked him as Rannok stooped over one of the rabbits. He had another clutched in his fist, beady eyes staring off into nothing. Wren tried not to look at it.

"I can see the skyline once I get up there," Rannok said, grey eyes bright. "I don't think we're that far as long as we can get Jojo moving." He gave the creature a look. It groaned at him and rolled back up onto its stomach, chewing its cud idly. 

Elyn nodded and a slim smile crept across his face. He pulled the first rabbit off the fire and pulled a chunk of its flesh free, then stuffed it into his mouth. The scent of it snaked into Wren's nostrils. Her stomach gave another mighty growl and she jumped down from the wagon while avoiding Rannok's gaze entirely.