Fearless Warrior: Isaacson Trilogy Book Two

14

 "So, you're the reason his hair is gone?" Gunnar murmured as he scowled at Piper and folded his arms over his chest. His feet were braced wide, in a stance, Esmund had often seen his brother use when trying to intimidate someone, but by the unconcerned look on Piper's face, he wasn't succeeding.

Nora pressed a kiss to Gunnar's cheek and patted his shoulder. "Considering everything they've gone through in the past day, singed hair is the least of their problems, darling."

Esmund snorted, muttering under his breath, "You have no idea." He caught and held Elsie's gaze before looking away.

Feelings he'd never experienced of such magnitude bombarded him from all sides and put his entire being into a state of confused delight. He'd tried to do as Ulric suggested, but all his attempts at ignoring his budding feelings for her only amplified the dratted things.

Talking about it with Elsie was not an option—at least not yet, regardless of the voice in his head whispering that was precisely what he should do. It wasn't as though he wanted to pretend nothing had happened between them for the rest of his life...or did he?

He scratched his head and sighed. He wanted a decent night's sleep before attempting to understand how he felt about the whole situation.

Two hours ago, Vernon brewed a concoction of several different weeds, which smelled as foul as it looked, and administered it to Ulric to reduce his fever. When Ulric managed to keep it down and fall asleep not soon after, everyone else set about preparing camp for the night and took shifts to help monitor his condition.

Now, they sat around the campfire, eating the rabbits Gunnar had caught while Esmund answered questions about what had led up to their current predicament. News of what the women were had been met with skepticism and lingering looks, which clearly made both Elsie and Piper uncomfortable.

Esmund had already explained in detail what had occurred since separating after the Coyote Hills depot until he'd gone tumbling down the mountain. Now, he was faced with a predicament. Did he tell them exactly what had happened when he'd Berserked and healed, or should he try to skip over it and hope Elsie and her penchant for details didn't step in and expound upon it?

"You really can't die?" Vernon asked, his brow lowering into a frown.

Elsie smiled timidly and nodded, "In a manner of speaking, yes. Of course, I'll die eventually. After all, I only have two more deaths left before I'm dead for good, which, at the rate it's been happening lately, could be much sooner than I'd previously anticipated—not that I'd ever really thought I'd live a long life. However, I did hope I'd live to—" she shut her mouth and closed her eyes. "I'm going to stop talking now."

"What brought you three this direction anyway?" Esmund said, unable to stop himself from winking at Elsie. She gave a small smile before focusing on the fire. He turned his attention to Gunnar, "Did you have one of your 'twin moments'? I hoped you would."

Gunnar studied Esmund and Elsie until Esmund knew by the strange look he was receiving that Gunnar had somehow pieced together what had occurred between them. "Yes, I did, but the tracks we followed double-backed in this direction before then. We decided to find you and deal with the others once we knew you were safe."

Piper wrung her hands and stood, "You mean they're still out there?" She paced back and forth and mumbled unintelligibly.

Esmund frowned and glanced at the others, "We'll keep you and Elsie safe. There's no need to worry."

Piper shook her head, "You don't understand." She turned to Elsie, "He's with them, Piper, he'll find us—we can't stay here." When Elsie didn't move, she grabbed what she could of their gear and headed for the entrance, "Hurry, if they're still alive, all of this will have been in vain."