The Forsaken King

“Really? I’m just going to walk in there and find out?”

“I’m not sure you would believe me if I told you.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me.” The words flew out of my mouth on instinct, like they came right from the heart.

He finished chewing before he closed up the sack and stuffed it back into his pack. With his arms on his knees, he looked at the torch between us, the fire slowly died as it ran out of fuel to consume. “Dragons.”

My body hardened like I was frozen in place.

My face must have been pale and my eyes in shock because he said, “Told you.”

TWENTY

Huntley

She slept on top of me in the bedroll, the top blanket completely over her head to trap the heat against her skin. My arms locked around the small of her back, and I felt her hair against my chin and neck all night. She was out like a wet torch, knocked into oblivion without a care.

I was only half asleep, part of my brain always awake, always listening. When the dark sky lightened slightly, I knew dawn had arrived, could feel it through my closed eyelids. That was when I stirred Ivory. “Time to wake up, Princess.”

“Mmmm…” She didn’t move, totally limp against me.

“Baby, come on.” My hand moved underneath her shirt in the bedroll, gliding up her back between her shoulder blades.

Her eyes remained closed. “Fuck me if you want me to wake up…”

Kinda hard to do in a bedroll when we were both fully clothed. “Later.”

“Then I’ll wake up later.”

“You’re already awake.”

“Oh, I could go back to sleep so fast…”

I rolled her off me then left the bedroll, knowing the absence of heat would freeze her to the bone shortly. I packed our things, took a drink from the stream, and got the saddles ready.

A couple minutes later, she was fully awake, the cold too uncomfortable to sleep through. Her hair was all over the place, her eyes were squinting with a hint of malice, and she looked a little maniacal.

“Not a morning person, huh?”

She released a growl as she got up and got ready.

I chuckled then prepared the horses.

With sleep still in the corners of her eyes, she walked to her horse. “I’m so fucking tired.”

“You don’t know what tired is, Princess.”

She gave me a smack on the arm then turned back to her horse.

I gave her a hard smack on the ass.

She turned back to me, pissed off but adorable at the same time. “I’m warning you…”

“Do your worst, baby.” I grabbed the reins to her horse and pulled her away along with mine.

Ivory followed behind me. “What are you doing?”

“We’re walking for a while.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re getting into dangerous territory. We have to be quiet.”

“What kind of dangerous territory?”

“We’re crossing a trail that the Plunderers often use.”

“Plunderers?”

“The other human clan.”

She went quiet, clearly remembering when I’d told her the name before.

“After we cross, we can ride again.”

She came to my side and took the reins of her horse. “My father was a Plunderer, right?”

“Yes.”

She looked ahead as she pulled her horse along, suddenly quiet.

“Are they enemies to the Runes?”

“We’re all enemies to one another. But war is uncommon because of the constant threat to the south. If Necrosis were defeated, it would be a different story. It’d be constant bloodshed until there was only one victor.”

“You have no allies?”

He shook his head.

“And no one else has allies?”

“I guess the Teeth are allies with the yetis now…”

She remained quiet.

“We’re allies in a loose sense. Once Necrosis descends, we fight shoulder-to-shoulder. It’s us versus them. But once that passes…it’s back to our old ways. If we find one another in a compromising situation, it usually ends in blood. If they found us traveling alone, they would kill me and take you.”

“That’s lovely…”

“But don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

“Damn right it won’t. I’d shoot my arrows into their eyes.”

We traveled deeper into the forest, the shadows changing as the sun moved overhead. It broke through the openings in the canopy, warming the forest floor underneath our boots. The sound of the stream grew quieter and quieter until it disappeared altogether. The journey could have been completed in half the time if we could ride, but it wasn’t worth the chance of exposure.

And going around would take even longer.

When we drew close to the trail, I could hear it.

Footsteps. Hooves. Neighs.

I stopped.

She stopped too, taking notice of my mood. Her eyes watched me, waiting for some kind of signal.

The sounds grew louder.

I pressed my forefinger to my lips as I held her gaze.

The trail was fifty feet in front of us, trampled dirt between two lines of trees. I could see through the opening in the trunks, see the men pass by with their carts and horses. On their heads were the cattle skulls, the large horns of the bulls reaching high above their heads. Necklaces made of teeth hung around their necks. Their skin was marked with permanent black ink, words in their language, images of battles.