Soul Seeker

32: Southbound

"Fell, Isa," Ciara said, "I know this is painful for you. If you want to stay..."

"We're not leaving you alone with Hati," Fell growled. "If anything goes wrong..." He unconsciously clutched his left shoulder as if an old pain had reawakened.

The mood was sombre as they sledded downhill, using the road that had been carved into the mountainside when Fell and Isa's ancestors built the Midgarson house. They skirted the town and plunged back into the wilderness. It would be too dangerous to take Hati on any well-used roads, where thieves and bandits usually lay in wait, which also meant Fell and Isa could not say goodbye to Raoul.

"When it's safe, we can send him a message to let him know we're still alive," Isa suggested.

"If we're still alive," Fell replied.

"Someone's feeling optimistic," Ciara said to Tonraq, but he was too busy frowning at the wolf to respond.

The companionship they had developed on our way to the mountain had dissolved, replaced by tension and anxiety. They watched Hati constantly. Sebastian and Ciara split the tranquiliser darts between them, and Ciara made herself a blowgun out of a hollow reed, just in case. Tonraq had constructed a frame of wood to turn the sled into a trailer to conceal and protect Hati, and on the third day, they saw smoke billowing out of gaps in the wood.

"Ciara!" Isa shrieked. "The darts – where are the darts?"

"I'm on it." Ciara vaulted over her sled and pulled a dart out of her pocket. Not bothering with the blowgun, she opened the box and stuck it straight into Hati's side. The one eye she could see tried to focus on her, but to her relief – and pity – it glazed over again. His eyelid slid closed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling dreadful. "This is for the greater good, I promise."

"I'll give him two more, just in case," Sebastian said.

Isa was shakily running her hands through her hair, over and over again. Ciara recognised it as Fell's mannerism – always related to stress.

"Auntie, are you all right?" Sebastian asked.

"Keep that damned wolf asleep, or else," she snarled at them. Then her anger melted. "When – when Fell got burned, it was because he'd jumped in front of me. Hati had sent fire racing towards me, aiming to kill. That moment – with the flames – I see it all the time, whenever I close my eyes." A shudder ran through her. "I'm going for a walk." She turned and stomped towards a thicket of shrubs.

"We can't stop now," Tonraq protested.

"We just did. Deal with it."

Ciara hurried after Isa, pushing through iced branches. "Isa."

"Go away."

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't realise that had happened to you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to tell you my life story," she muttered. Her beautiful, pale face was haunted.

"I wish there was another way, really, I do. We just have to hope that what we're doing makes a difference to the world. Besides... I have to get inside the Protectorate somehow no matter what. My sister and I parted on really bad terms, and I have to make things right. I think I've lost her, but I don't want to lose her forever."

"I get it, you know," Isa said abruptly. She wasn't looking at Ciara, busying herself with brushing snow off her long, elegant green coat.

"What?"

"What you're feeling, with your sister. My parents were strict and distant, but I always had Fell. Fell was protective, older, stronger. Although I made his life difficult." She gave a sharp smile. "I was rebellious, you see."