A Feytal Encounter

Chapter 11

 Adanma held her knees to her chest, shivering with Cahira dripping beside her. They'd run through the night and the next day, dashing through several streams to try to throw the wolves off their scent. Now they were huddled in the trunk of a dead tree, exhausted, hoping they'd done enough, and praying everyone else was safe. Adanma stared blankly ahead, battling with the guilt inside her. Did she do the right thing? Should she have stayed and fought? Their emergency plan had been to evacuate, but should she have? She couldn't help anyone if she was dead, but it wasn't very inspiring to run away either. Cahira chirped softly and rested her head on Adanma's knee, looking up with big, green eyes. Adanma grimaced and stroked the margay, gently toying with the string around Cahira's neck.

The string served to hold a small pouch, barely noticeable, around the feline's neck. Inside the pouch was a seed. A seed of the Golden Tree. Others also carried a seed with them. Elton had one. The twins shared one. Adanma had one as well. It was in case of a time like this. In case the Golden Tree at their base was destroyed. At least this way, someone would always be able to start again. The were also highly toxic if eaten, so, in that way, they were also suicide pills for any Fey who was captured and at risk of exposing everyone else. She hoped it wouldn't ever come to that.

Cahira jerked her head up and growled, looking out of the trunk. From their position, they couldn't see the ground, but they could hear a quiet crunch of leaves. Adanma sushed Cahira with a hand on her snout and they waited, anxiously surveying the edges of the trunk. Cahira snapped her teeth and Adanma let out a quick shriek and threw a stick when a head appeared above them.

"Ow, fuck," the head disappeared for a moment before reappearing, holding a hand over its cheek. Cahira rumbled in the back of her throat, muscles taut.

"...Dog?" Adanma squinted.

Bronwyn growled and jumped into the tree. "I told you to stop calling me that. It's Bronwyn." As soon as Bronwyn's feet touched the ground, Adanma was pushing them against the inside of the tree with a knife to their throat.

"How many more are following us? How close are they? How do we outrun them?"

Bronwyn winced, the knife was pressing into their skin and their cheek was still bleeding from the stick Adanma had thrown.

"No- I don't know. I don't think anyone. You can't outrun them."

"Liar!" A trickle of blood came from under the knife.

"Ugh, no!" Bronwyn kicked out a leg, looping it behind the Fey's knee and causing her to topple. As she did, Bronwyn grasped her wrist with one hand and took the knife with the other.

"The fuck do you want, dog?" Adanma hissed from the ground. Cahira's tail was flicking agitatedly and she was prepared to pounce. Bronwyn hesitated.

"Uh... nothing." They flung the knife on the ground next to Adanma, who swiftly snatched it. "I... followed you."

"Obviously."

"I... I saw... I saw what the other wolves were doing," they said lamely.

"Yeah, the same thing you bastards have been doing for decades. Murdering innocent people."

"Right. Well. I guess..." Bronwyn looked at the Fey's cool blue eyes, burning in fury. Her hair was all over the place, escaped from the braid it had been in. She was wet and muddy and her nose and cheeks were still red from exertion, but somehow, the sight of her still helped Bronwyn feel calmer and safer.

"I didn't like what I saw."

Adanma scoffed. "Me either, but whose fault is that?"

Bronwyn slumped to the ground, pulling their knees to their chest in the same position Adanma had been in earlier. The move surprised both Adanma and Cahira.

"I didn't want to go with them. I didn't want to be like that."

"You are like that."

"I don't think I want to be."