Bridging the Ancient ✓

Chapter 16

To stay off the trail means trudging through the sharp brush, clustered trees, and over slippery rocks threatening to roll my ankles. I should have thought about this further before we began. We could stay on the trail until the sun rose and travelers going back and forth from Fosux to the capital would never spot us through the dense woods.

Renit took this a completely different way. The moon is high, the stars are glistening, and we are still moving. Exhaustion drags me down and my shoulders slump, my back straining with every calculated step I take. But the prince, after not moving for the past week and a half, is getting along quite well.

Since he's back to his normal annoyed self, I don't ask if he's willing to stop for the night. He never said anything in the cell, but I know he's itching to get back to the castle and explain to his father what happened. But never mentioning the failed bargain between the king proves to be his downfall. I know it hurts, to realize your blood isn't coming for you.

I never got a straight answer but the truth is killing him from the inside out. That's why he trudges along, ahead of me as to avoid any conversations. So I will oblige him and keep my mouth shut until he's ready to stop and rest. His body has to give out at some point.

On the horses, this journey would have taken us a few days. On foot, it will be longer. We will have to find food, either through the twisted advantage of robbery or through setting traps and catching rabbits. But that will slow us down and the rebels didn't leave any of their traps behind, hiding along the trail.

My suspicion is Renit will go for the robbery, knowing how stealthy he is. All it takes is a lone carriage with no other sign of passengers.

We walk for hours, only stopping to cup our hands in the freezing water of the stream and drink as much as we can before moving on. Neither of us managed to smuggle a flask in our pocket, we have nothing other than the titanium bands. My heart sinks at the thought of my dagger, lost somewhere in the camp. Tesha probably pawned it for something better.

That was the only gift Renit ever gave me and likely the last if he's aware I don't have it. He'll realize it when we make it back to the capital and notices that empty slot where the dagger once was. The blade belongs to the rebels now.

Morning comes, the sky shifting from the darkest of blues to a tinge of pinks through the scattered clouds. My feet are aching and my back is as stiff as a board. I've stumbled over my own boots too many times to count after falling asleep while I was walking, following the shadow that is Renit in front of me. Yet, he never stopped.

I underestimated his persistence.

I run my fingers through the knotted strands of my hair. I hate how much I smell. After too long in the dungeons, the smell is permanently covering my skin.

"Can we stop?" I ask, my throat dry. Underneath my tunic, my stomach rumbles and aches. Rubbing my hand against it doesn't help matters.

Renit turns to face me, standing between two towering trees. "If we stop, we won't make it to the capital soon. I don't want to be out here for weeks, waiting for the wolves to make a meal of us," Renit argues.

But we've stopped walking and that's all I asked for. "Is there a pond around here somewhere? I need to clean myself off." I peel the fabric away from my body, sweat and blood stained, and Renit grimaces. We left our second pair in the dungeons, another foolish mistake. We should have grabbed everything our arms could carry.

The prince looks around, squinting through the trees. "There should be one around here somewhere. Oisin and I used to come out here and camp for a few nights." He says that with reluctance and won't meet my eye as he turns, gaining direction, and walks deeper into the trees.