Shadow Weaver (Back on 抖阴社区 2020!)

Chapter 17

I hand him the rabbit and raise my bow and arrow, flexing and testing my healed arm. I am about to shoot straight for the cross center when I sense another mind in the woodlands. The Prince has followed us. The stealth of his pursuit and the fact he now keeps his distance, means he is spying on us. I tilt my bow pulling my elbow a little too high and adjust my aim. The arrow skims through the air, misses the tree and lands in bushes.

Tug nods. "Your technique needs work," he says, retrieving the arrow, "but your instinct is good."

Instinct? I scrutinize his tattooed face. Does he know the Prince is watching?

"Try again." He walks back to me and as I draw to fire, moves in to adjust my arms. My chest rises and falls erratically. He is up to something.

"He does not trust you," Tug breathes quietly, "And you cannot trust him." Yes, he knows the Prince is watching. "His whole escort was murdered, yet he, the assassination target, miraculously escapes. Be wary of him, Mirra. If you fail his test or do not help him in the way he expects, he might drop this act of kindness. Our lives are in your hands."

He releases his grip on my arm. This time, when I fire, my arrow nips the tree, bark splinters, and a few shavings flutter into the air.

"Better!" he says loudly. "Again!" I pull a new arrow from my quiver, placing it lopsidedly in the bow. Tug leans in to make the necessary adjustments.

"Your life need not be in my hands," I murmur. "You could change that now. You could let me go."

He taps my right elbow, indicating I should lower it a little as I take aim. "Then how would you get into the Lyndonian fort?"

"That is not your concern. You could return my knives and I'd steal my horse while you're all sleeping and you could leave me a head start." I release the tension on the bow. My arrow shafts through the air, royally missing its target.

Tug rubs his growing stubble. "You have some talent for a girl," he says in a voice loud enough to carry to the Prince. "But you could not survive out here on your own." His double innuendo is not the height of subtlety and I grow nervous the Prince will understand.

"I knew with time you'd start to care about me," I say dryly. His mock concern doesn't fool me. He doesn't care whether I can rescue Kel by myself, or not. He is the reason Kel is a captive in the hands of strangers in the first place. "You're not doing this for the gold," I hiss, drawing myself up to Tug's beast face. "You have lived a hundred lives, but you only feel alive when you're in danger. Waiting to die is not living! Why do you wish to go to Lyndonia?"

Something waits for him there. It is the only explanation for the change that has slowly come over him.

Tug's hands whip out and he clenches both my wrists. My eyes water in pain.

"You have seen how I can obscure things from your sight," he growls. "Perhaps the Prince can also fool you. How thoroughly have you bothered to search the remnants of his memories?"

The leaves behind us rustle. A boot squelches in the undergrowth. Tug drops my wrists and a blank look slides over his face.

"Your Royal Highness," he says. "Excuse me, Ule," he corrects. "We thought rabbit would make a nice change for supper."

"I will look forward to it," he says.

I stand staring at the ground. The Prince is the first to break the awkward silence. "It will be dark in a few minutes," he says lightly. "We had better return to camp." Tug makes an irreverent bow and the three of us begin the walk back.

I am annoyed with Beast-face. He spoils my small respite from the fear and worry of what is coming. He stirs up questions I have pushed aside. What happened to all those written notes Prince Jakut made before the long-sleep? Why didn't he inform Deadran of the identity of his assassin before the ritual cleansing? What had he done that left him so tormented?

The truth is, my lessons with the Prince have been a welcome distraction. I have enjoyed learning about things my parents could not teach me. But Tug is right to sharpen my focus, to remind me of what I have pushed into the background. In two days we will be at the fort of Lyndonia, and both the Prince's test and my search for Kel will begin. I need all my wits about me.

The Prince and I are not in this together. He is courteous and feeds me, but when he doesn't get what he wants, and he cannot for I must escape, the mask may fall, revealing he is as dangerous as Tug. While I am pretending to be his friend, I had best not forget it. 

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