A Savior's Worth (Book #3)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

One week later

"It never snows in Caelum," Henry mentioned to Iris. "The gelid seasons there are hardly cold, too. When I left, I thought one of the things I would least miss was the heat. I'm surprised to admit that I have never been happier to feel the burning sun beaming down on me again."

She laughed and nodded.

They were currently passing through Lumen Woods alongside a ridge on the outer edges of the southern region. Birds happily chirped up in the trees, flapping from one branch to another. However, their peaceful songs were interrupted by the irritating buzzing of flying insects, which caused Henry to constantly smack himself in failed attempts to end them.

The trek down the mountains had been a dreadful and a nearly deadly one. There were moments where he worried none of them would make it through another night, especially with how scarce food and water had become and how horrendous the wind was at times. If they hadn't found a stream, they would've succumbed to dehydration first.

None of them spoke to each other for the first few days unless they absolutely had to. On the third day, Cora finally started a light conversation with Henry, which quickly turned into her admitting how homesick she felt. Then she didn't feel like talking anymore.

The fourth night was seemingly the worst. Henry suffered a horrible stomachache throughout the night, leaving him awake and curling into himself until it finally subsided on its own. But even then, he couldn't fall asleep. On the bright side, they later found the path that led them down.

Iris talked more on the fifth day, saying anything that would bring a smile out of Cora and a snicker from Kinsey.

They reached the bottom by the end of the sixth day and stopped for a short rest near another stream. The horses drank water while Henry rested and indulged in the sun's blissful touch. Everyone stripped from their coats. He did as well, remembering he'd hid Ashton's journal inside. Iris took it from him in the meantime. His shirt was still torn and stained with blood, so he slipped away to change into another.

That brought them to the present.

It was about midday, and everyone was in brighter spirits—aside from Elouise who hadn't uttered a single word since they left the burning temple.

Henry picked up his pace and walked beside her. "It is quite beautiful out here, isn't it?"

Nothing. Not even a shrug or a nod.

Henry swept down and plucked a handful of the tiny white flowers growing around a tree. He held them up to Elouise and said, "Ivy would absolutely adore these. Can you imagine the many crowns she would make?" However, this had the exact opposite effect of what he'd hoped to accomplish. Elouise pouted and averted her eyes, seemingly wounded by the mere mention of his cousin.

Henry opened his palm, allowing the flowers to be blown away by the breeze. And he frowned because he couldn't take away her pain or make anything better for her. He glanced back at Eldon who dragged himself along and kept his head down. Henry sighed and faced forward, figuring they were opting to walk in silence once again.

He wasn't certain where they were headed. Eldon had mentioned going a little further until he recognized the path that he'd taken before that led toward the northern region. Henry wondered how much farther it was for them to reach that point. He also wondered if Eldon wanted to stop by Ilsen first. They were surely close enough to visit his family if he desired.

They soon exited Lumen Woods and began to cross a meadow where the grass reached their calves and yellow and pink followers dominated. Wild cattle were grazing off to their right, and Henry slowed his pace to admire them. It wasn't often he got to see animals like this—carefree and unrestrained by humans. He heard neighs in the distance and raised his gaze, noticing the brown-spotted horses running side-by-side as if having a race against each other. He then heard a snort from Angus behind him and he grinned at the stallion.