FLOOD

Out of the Woods

 Ake reached me before I could pull myself up off the ground. I wanted to go after them, but he grabbed my arm hard and held on. "What happened? Were's Gunny and Bolthur?"

"Bolthur tried to kill me," I said, and his brows shot up. "And Gunny went after him." Again I tried to haul myself up out of the snow. "Let me up. He's dangerous."

"You've been injured." Ake eyes me sternly. "And Gunny is capable."

"I what?" Tentatively I reached up and felt my brow, which was stinging, now that he mentioned it. The tips of my fingers made contact with the wet warmth of blood and came away sticky. I tried to swallow the nausea that was threatening. I hadn't even felt him hit me. I'd let him come way too close just to prove all of this to Gunny.

But it was necessary.

Slowly, Ake helped me to my feet. "Did he say anything to you before he...attacked you?"

The tone of his voice was critical, and I went tense, straining against his grip. "No. I mean...not to me. He just jumped me. Early I came across him in the woods with a hand held radio though. Maybe I wasn't supposed to hear what he was saying."

I was walking a fine line now. It would look bad that I'd withheld information from him, but at the same time I had to tell him something about who Bolthur really was. He had to take this seriously.

"Come back to the camp and tell me." Ake kept a steady hand on my arm as we walked slowly back through the woods. "What was he saying on this radio? Why do you think he would attack you?"

I said it without hesitation. "I think he's working for them. The humans."

Ake slowed down. The fading light cast his features into shadow, and it was frustratingly hard to figure out what he was thinking. "What do you base this theory on?"

"Well for one, he attacked me." It was hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Being snarky to the commander wasn't going to help me. "I think he wants to make sure I don't get to take my message to the king and queen. When he was talking on the radio he kept talking about "doing it" and "taking her out" which I think is pretty obvious now."

Ake remained silent. We were within view of the fire now, I could see the orange light flickering through the trees. A crunching sound behind us made me freeze, but a voice called out immediately afterwords. "It's just me."

We both pivoted around, Ake still holding my arm. Gunny was making her way through the trees toward us. Her sword was in one hand, and the blade was still clean and dry. My stomach sank. "He got away?"

She grimaced. "He had such a headstart. I wanted to check back in before I went back out after him." She gave Ake a curt nod, and then her face fell when he shook his head.

"We stay with her," he said firmly. "If what he wants is right here he may come back to us. We must be ready. And breaking apart and running through the woods tracking him is probably exactly what he wants us to do."

"Not us," Gunny protested. "Just me. I can track him in an hour or two."

"No, you can't," Ake said heavily. "You know he's too good. He's a hunter. He's in his element here. We pack up the horses and move on, get to the palace as quickly as possible."

Gunny didn't argue anymore, she sheathed her sword and strode forward, head swiveling this way and that as she stalked back to camp. We hurried after her, Ake forcing us to pick up the pace a little bit. My head was staring to throb, and I wished he would slow down in spite of the urgency. I thought I might throw up, and I really didn't want to do it while riding a horse.