FLOOD

The Setup

For the first few hours all I could do was worry. Thankfully, if I let my horse have its head it seemed content simply to follow the others. Already I had a rough idea of what I was going to do, a plan had been forming in the back of my mind. But it depended on so much going the way I hoped it would. And I had no plan b.

It was starting to grow dark when we stopped to water the horses and to stretch our legs. I wasn't sure how long we'd been riding, but it was enough to make my muscles sore. The clearing we stopped in was strewn with fallen trees, some of them rotten and grey, almost fossilized. Gunny and I set about collecting wood for a cookfire while Ake and Bolthur unloaded food and cooking supplies, lightening the horses' saddle bags and attaching feedbags.

Collecting an armload of the smooth wood, I glanced back over my shoulder. Ake and Bolthur were both out of earshot. Now would be a good time to put the first bit of my plan into action.

Making sure Gunny was standing right beside me, I let my armful of wood drop noisily onto the logs at my feet. When she spun around I made sure I was leaning forward, bracing myself with one hand.

"Vee! Are you all right? What's the matter?"

I felt her hand on my arm and straightened up, clasping my forehead with one hand. "I just...I feel a bit faint. Sorry." I gestured down at the wood, and Gunny shook her head.

"No, no. You go sit down." She grasped both my shoulders, turning me slowly to face her. Her brown eyes were wide, her brows pulled down in concern. "Is it something to do with the experiments they did on you? The changes that are happening?"

It felt horrible to lie to her. But the thought of the experiments was enough to make my cringe very real. My illness was fake, but I couldn't help remembering what the sea king had said. How everyone who'd been experimented on over the years had died. The sickness might be fake now but it might be real later.

"I don't know. I'll go sit down." I turned and shuffled away, cheeks burning. Lying to her made me feel horrible, especially since she was so concerned. Gunny followed me as I made my way back to the fire, setting down her armload of wood as I sat, pretending to sit down a little more heavily than I had to.

"What's the matter with her?" Bolthur  stretched over and grabbed one of the smaller pieces of wood from Gunny's pile, eyeing me as he did so. It made me want to snap back at him, the way he talked about me like I wasn't there. Instead I just glared at him and dropped my head into my hands, rubbing at my temples.

As much as I wanted to fight with Bolthur I had to keep up pretenses.

"She's not feeling good." Gunny reached over and rubbed my back, and the guilt surged in my stomach again. "It may be the...side effects. You know."

Bolthur only scoffed and started building the fire, hacking the logs into kindling with a sharp heavy looking knife. I tried not to stare at him or his knife. How would he do it when he tried? With his knife? With his bare hands? He had to make it look like an accident, so maybe he'd make it look like an animal had attacked me. We had a treaty with the wolves but there were other animals in the woods.

If Bolthur was smart he might make it look like one of them got me. But I wasn't going to give him the chance.

"Are you fit to continue the journey?" Ake eyed me. He wasn't as openly concerned as Gunny was, but his voice was serious. "We can stay the night if you're ill."

"I'm okay." I didn't look up. "We can go on after we eat. I...probably just need food." I didn't make it sound convincing, and Ake frowned as he slid the cook pot over the fire. Either he was concerned about me, or he had guessed I might be lying.