Page 8 of Feathers and Thorns
“I’ll miss you guys, too,” Soren replied as a sad smile whispered across her face.
As Evelyn departed, Soren looked at Rook one last time, thinking, A few more weeks, and I could have tamed you.
“I still can’t believe you slept with him.”
The disgust in Enara’s voice made Soren want to pitch herself off the cliffside. She ignored the quip as she narrowly avoided another tree well.
They had departed Thorncrest Manor two days ago and were near the bottom of the mountain range. Their travel was slow due to the heavy snow and debris left behind by the avalanche. Soren had nearly fallen into a tree well not once, but three times. The entire group had taken to using walking sticks for the remainder of the hike, swinging the wooden poles this way and that as though they were blind.
Soren couldn’t have been more thankful when the white landscape finally gave way to dusty browns and grays. She breathed in the cool fall air and shed her thick cloak. She would rather have left it behind at the manor, wanting to rid herself of any memories of the place … and its owner. She folded it into her pack just as she mentally tucked away all fond thoughts of Rook. She filled the now vacant spaces in her mind with dark fantasies of how best to kill him should their paths ever cross again.
Baz’s voice cut through Soren’s murderous thoughts. “Guys, we have a problem.”
Jai, Enara, and Soren all gave him a quizzical look.
“The four of us won’t fit in that canoe.”
Jai scrubbed a hand over his face. “He’s right. The extra person would have been fine, but with the addition of our gear, there is no way we will stay afloat.”
Enara groaned and sat down on a nearby boulder, her frustration mounting. She pulled the weathered map out of her ruck, searching for the quickest route home. “If we follow the river to the falls, there is a bridge near Murkwall. We can cross there and make our way south to Draestel.”
Soren’s ears perked up at this, and she shook her head vigorously. “I don’t think we should go to Vreburn.”
Enara’s gaze shifted from the map to her friend, and she noted the resigned expression on Soren’s face.
“I thought the goal was to get you out of there and get you home,” Jai stated plainly, plucking invisible lint off his collar.
“It is … I mean, it was …” Enara started. She looked to Soren for answers.
Soren took a steadying breath. Enara could tell she was feeling guilty about something. After years of friendship, Soren’s expressions were as familiar to her as the countless scars that ran down the length of her back.
“Care to explain, lady? Why wouldn’t we want to go home?”
“Because,” Soren replied, “we still have to find a way to destroy the Oculus.”
* * *
“Pull it out, and I’ll take a swing at it,” Baz said, looking for any excuse to use his sword.
Soren bit her lip to hide her smirk as she turned down the offer. “Sorry, Baz, but brute force isn’t going to get us out of this mess.”
“It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” Jai asked, grasping his own weapon.
Enara rolled her eyes at the cloud of testosterone forming in the air. “Simmer down, you two, and let her explain.” She turned to Soren. “In your talks with this Rook guy, did he betray any information on how to destroy it?”
Soren picked at her fingernails, wishing she had a concrete answer. Her idea was a well-placed guess, at best. “Apart from bonding with Rook and using it to destroy itself, there is only one other potential solution.”
“And that is …?” Jai asked, pushing for an answer with a wave of his hand. He had never been a particularly patient man and wanted to get a move on.
Soren narrowed her eyes at him before she continued, “We may not be able to completely destroy the artifact, but we can at least make it impossible for Adriel to make use of it.” She looked to each of her friends then flashed a smug look at the tracker. “I think we should take it to Braexmirth.”
* * *
The trio held their breaths as Soren explained her plan. They would require the heat of a thousand forges for there to even be a possibility of breaking down the strange metal. Olecastor was their best chance at succeeding in their mission. Once the Oculus was melted down, they would form it into droplet-sized pieces and spread them all throughout Entheas. Considering how long it had taken to find the Oculus when it had only been split into two sections, they figured it would be many ages before Adriel would be able to find it were it split into many. It was not a perfect plan and rested solely on them making it to the capital of Braexmirth before getting stopped, not to mention the capabilities of Olecastor’s forges.
They all had their doubts, but a questionable plan was better than no plan at all.
With the new destination in mind, Enara mapped out the best route from their current location. They would travel southwest to Blightfall then cross both the Hazelbrooke and Claymore rivers. The trade paths would be easier to follow and keep their supplies well stocked while giving them the opportunity to ask locals about recent goings-on within the provinces. They would stay a night in Murkwall before crossing the final river into Braexmirth.