Майкл Салливан - Deep Magic. Fourth Collection

She tilted her head in thought. Was she actually considering his desperate plea?

“I’ll teach you to handle a dagger once you’re healed,” she offered. “If you show no promise of skill, you must vow that you will not try to follow me after we reach the burgh. I will not be slowed down.”

He nodded eagerly. “Just give me a chance. That’s all I ask.”

“Fine,” she sighed, then immediately turned to continue walking.

He hurried after her, determined to prove himself useful. A sliver of hope had blossomed in his chest. Perhaps there was life after servitude. If he could learn to use various weapons . . . well, he wasn’t sure just what he could do with such skills. Anna had hinted at mercenary work, although from what he understood, mercenaries traveled in groups. Anna traveled all alone. He suddenly found himself wondering if she put her weapons to more nefarious purposes. Perhaps she was a thief or assassin. She certainly dressed as he’d imagine a thief or assassin might dress.

As his thoughts spun out of control, his mood darkened. He’d simply have to see what the next few days would bring. Once his wounds were healed, and he’d acquired some skill with a blade, he’d be fully prepared to run the other way.

ANNA HAD NOTICED the footprints in the muddy path over an hour prior. Normally, footprints would be nothing to gawk at, but these were far from the main road, and seemed fresh since the edges were yet to lighten as the moisture in the soil seeped downward. Sometimes hunters used the forest path, or sometimes others not wanting to draw attention to themselves . . . like her , but there were too many imprints in the mud to belong to a simple hunting party.

“Why are you staring at the ground?” Kai questioned, tearing her away from her thoughts. “Shouldn’t we be keeping an eye on our surroundings in these parts?”

She turned to scowl at him as he walked happily beside her. He tried to smile at her scowl, then winced in pain from the bruises decorating his stubbled jaw.

“Look down,” she growled, gesturing to the prints they were both stomping over.

He glanced at the prints, then back to her face. “So?”

She sighed, flicking her gaze around the forest, straining her ears for hints of other voices. When she heard nothing, she replied, “ So , why would such a large group travel so far from the main road? I’d guess there are at least twenty of them, maybe more. Mostly men, but some women.”

He raised his brows at her, then stopped walking to observe the prints more closely. “How can you tell?”

She sighed again and stopped beside him, trying to remember just why she’d agreed to let him travel with her. “Look at the sizes of the prints, and how they overlap,” she explained, gesturing down to the prints. “Some are small enough to be women’s feet, but they have mostly been obscured, as if they were walking ahead of some of the others.”

He nodded, then continued walking. “Well, I don’t see how it’s any of our business regardless.”

Fool , she thought. Out loud she said, “It may become our business when the group of bandits takes us hostage, or worse .”

“Who said anything about bandits?” he questioned.

Could he really be this dense? “Think about where we are,” she hissed. She began to say more, then cut herself off. She halted in her tracks.

Kai continued walking, not noticing the voices that had piqued her ears.

She hurried forward and grabbed his arm, then raised a finger to her lips to silence him before he could complain.

He blinked at her, wide-eyed.

She tapped her ear with her free hand, hoping he would understand.

He seemed to listen, then his eyes grew wider.

The voices weren’t far ahead. Their owners had likely stopped for a meal on the trail, granting Kai and Anna the chance to catch up to them. Silently, she tugged Kai back a few steps, then off the path and into the trees.

“We’ll creep around them,” she whispered, standing close enough for him to hear. “We’ll keep off the path until we’re far ahead, then we’ll keep walking through the night. That should place us far enough ahead of them.”

“Do we really need to go to all that trouble?” he whispered back.

She scowled. It would be risky, but she needed to teach this boy a lesson. “Follow me,” she instructed.

Without waiting to see if he would obey, she crept forward, careful to remain concealed within the shadows of the dense trees. He followed after her, nearly as silent. He might make a good thief if he weren’t so naive…not that she had time to train him, and she was better off on her own. She always had been.

The voices grew louder as she continued to creep forward with Kai following close behind. Soon enough, she spotted the first of the men, then another, sitting beside him on a fallen log, eating cured meat and hard bread. She took a few more steps, and more of the men came into view.

Anna tried to keep her breathing even. Her assumption had been correct. These men were bandits, or perhaps hired mercenaries. They wore rough leather armor and weapons at their belts. Not the finely made weapons of the Gray Guard, but the shoddy iron weapons of lowly criminals. She continued silently forward, keeping an eye on the men, then her mouth grew dry as the women came into view.

There were six of them, all weighed down by heavy irons at their wrists. They wore the dresses of simple townsfolk, and all appeared to be under twenty. She hated to think what the men had planned for them. That they were all alive meant they were likely to be sold into servitude, but that didn’t mean the mercenaries wouldn’t do horrible things to them along the way.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued walking. This had nothing to do with her. If she were the one in irons, none of those women would stop to help her . She was sure of it.

An arm wrapped around her bicep. She tensed, reaching for her dagger, then relaxed. She had nearly forgotten about Kai. She turned her dark eyes to glare up at him.

He released his hold on her, then gestured silently to the woman, a distressed expression scrunching his face.

Her heart gave a nervous patter, but she shook her head. She turned to continue walking, then flinched as he grabbed her again. She turned, and he once again gestured to the women.

Sighing, she gestured to the armed men. Fifteen of them, if her initial count was correct. Shaking her head, she continued creeping along.

After a moment, Kai followed, though she was quite sure the silent argument was far from over.

KAI WAS PRACTICALLY trembling by the time they were well out of sight of the men and their prisoners. He clenched and unclenched his sore fists as Anna finally made her way back to the path. He followed, but every step felt like there was iron weighing down his boots. His entire body ached, he was exhausted, but that was not what held him back. How could they simply leave those women to their fates? They couldn’t be any older than his middle sister.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Anna said as he moved to walk at her side down the path. “But there is nothing that we can do for them. I might be skilled with a blade, but I could not face that many men and survive, and you’d be all but useless.”

His face burned at the useless comment, because it was true. He’d proven himself useless to his family, and now he was useless to Anna. He was more than useless to those poor women back there.

“We could at least alert the Gray Guard,” he suggested. “ They could stop them.”