An Arrow Against the Wind (Book 2 of The Bow of Hart Saga)

Chapter 1, Scene 1

The stone door boomed shut with the finality of a sarcophagus lid over a tomb. The echoing memory jolted Limbreth from her inner numbness by the morning fire. Athson was trapped inside Chokkra. Fear—she knew its feel now since the Banshee—rose like a bubble within her and lodged as a blocked sob in her chest. Limbreth closed her eyes. She'd almost opened her vein with a knife but for the death-grip. She picked up the travel-bread she'd dropped and stared at it. If she could only find him. But was Athson even alive after the door to Tordug's hidden rooms slammed shut?

Gweld's cloak flapped in the wind like crow's wings beside her and drew her attention from her glum thoughts. She watched the elf shoulder his pack. "What do you think? Could we find him?"

The elf crossed his arms and scanned the peaks that rose above the little stand of cedar where they camped in the mountains. He sighed a plume of breath. "I wouldn't know where to look, Limbreth. We'll just have to trust Makwi to get them out."

Hastra stirred and stood with her pack in hand. She patted Limbreth's shoulder. "They'll make it out. I'm that certain of Eloch's will."

Limbreth pushed Hastra's hand away and scowled at the Withling. The old woman had let it happen. "Really? Like when you believed the Bow of Hart was in Chokkra with Corgren? They're trapped in a huge den of trolls with Corgren like Athson's father, and all you can say is that you're right? I should have gone with Athson." At least she would have been with him.

Hastra recoiled from Limbreth as if stung by bees. Her gaze shifted to Tordug and Gweld, then back to Limbreth. "I was not for rescuing Ath, but Eloch's sending was clear to me. Survival depended on those three going alone if it was to be done. No others. I don't know why, but I do know they will make it."

"Well, now they're trapped and probably lost. I don't see how you are correct." Limbreth scrambled to her feet and shouldered her gear. To the dry wastes with respect for Withlings. She didn't regret her angry tone.

Tordug approached her with his bushy brow furrowed. "Limbreth, I think Makwi will get them out. We'll go to several shelters and try to meet them at some point."

She crossed her arms and swallowed the rising sob in her throat. "Shelters? Meet them?" She flailed an arm toward the path they'd traveled out of Tordug's little vale when they'd left his hidden apartments. "They're stuck in Chokkra. We need to figure out how to find them."

Tordug raised his hands as if to halt Limbreth in her tracks. "Gell, I understand how you feel. But it's a task beyond us and blaming Hastra does no good. She didn't set that trap! We must trust that Makwi can do it. We should believe that Hastra is right about Eloch's foresight. She's been correct on many things. Makwi's gotten out of tight spots before."

Limbreth wheeled away and wiped a sudden tear from her cheek. Her response came in a muted, husky tone. "So we're to abandon Ralda and Makwi and—and Athson?" Her shoulders sagged. She couldn't abandon him. Any of them. "And where do we go? If we find them at all? Where do we go?" She wheeled toward Hastra. The Bow of Hart hung over all of them, and they'd found nothing of it. "Where do we search?"

Hastra touched her midsection, and a pained expression flashed across her face. "I'll admit I don't have that direction. Yet."

"But you're correct about sending the others into a trap?"

"Athson chose it. I merely expressed what I know to be Eloch's own truth of the matter. I can't know what's not given. I knew nothing of that trap at the door."

Limbreth walked away through the surrounding cedars. This was wrong. Hastra led them with no straight answers. No wonder Athson distrusted her. Had Limbreth been blind to her manipulations all along? Was the Withling just after the bow no matter what happened? She wiped her cheeks with her gloved hands and sniffed.

"So where are we going, Tordug?" Gweld asked, back at the fire.

Silence followed for a moment before Tordug cleared his throat. "Uh, we'll take a path to a high road and follow it south. We'll try to find the others. Makwi knows where to look for us. If we get far enough without them, we'll stop and wait."

Limbreth rolled her eyes toward the puffy clouds drifting among the mountain peaks. They were just to wait? She wanted to scream, but her breath felt short for some reason, and her heart lurched in her chest. Fear. She hated it.

"Speaking of traveling, I think it's time we go." Tordug sounded closer. "Limbreth, will you come? There's little chance of going back the other way and finding them. We'll more likely find trolls waiting."

She nodded over her shoulder. "Yeah, coming. I'll catch up in a minute."

Where else could she go? Athson wasn't with her, so she had to try to find him with the others. No matter how crazed it seemed. Tordug had planned for it with Makwi.

Weakness weighted her limbs, but she paused at the dregs of the fire. Wisps of smoke rose from under the snow kicked on the coals by Tordug. Leaving felt like giving up. But she wasn't. Limbreth trudged after the others and left the snow-doused fire behind as they departed the isolated vale. She fell behind no matter her efforts to keep up with her companions, and Gweld often waited for her. At least the elf would help her find Athson, wherever he was. If he still lived.

End first Scene

This is the second book of The Bow of Hart Saga - look for more to come or read the entire book. Find out more on my website - the link is in my profile.