Aela Darkwood's Arc

Chapter 18 of 22

They broke camp before the sun cleared the ridge and moved south through the thick woods. Ferns brushed their knees. The canopy held the light in green layers above them. Aela walked point with her hood up. Her silver mark itched under the collar. They had one plan and one direction, and both depended on reaching the witch before the witch heard they were coming. Kalen stopped first. He tilted his head toward the trail below. "Someone's talking. Fast. Scared." Lyra crouched behind a fallen trunk. "How many?" "One voice. One set of feet." Aela slid down the slope and saw him through the ferns. A thin man in a farmer's coat, moving south at a stumble, muttering to himself. "Wolf-girl," she heard. "Silver on her neck. Told the miller. Told the boy at the well." She had passed him yesterday on the road. She had pulled her collar too late. He had seen the mark and run. She looked back at Kalen. "He's the one from the road. He's carrying our name south." "Then we stop him," Kalen said. They moved. Lyra took the trail ahead and stepped out of the trees in front of him. Kalen came in from the side. Aela closed the road behind. The man turned once, then again, and found no gap. "Please," he said. His hands went up. "Please, I've got a family." Aela pushed her hood back. She let him see the ears, the mark at her throat. "Look at me." He looked. His mouth worked. "I haven't hurt anyone," she said. "I'm not going to hurt you. But you've been talking. That has to stop." "I only said—" "I know what you said." She kept her voice level. "Who else have you told?" "Two men at the crossroads. That's all. I swear it." Lyra spoke from behind him. "Turn around. Go home. Forget the road south. Forget us." He swallowed. "My cousin's sick. I came out for the healer's fee. If I go home with nothing, they'll ask why." Kalen looked at Aela. Aela looked at the man's shaking hands and the mud on his boots. She pulled the purse from her belt. She counted out coins, more than a healer would charge, and pressed them into his palm. "For the cousin," she said. "And for silence. If we hear our names on the road again, we'll know where it came from." He closed his hand around the coins and nodded fast. "Nothing. You saw nothing. I saw nothing." "Go." He went. They watched him until the trees swallowed him. Lyra straightened. "He'll hold. He's more scared of us than the money's worth." "For a day," Kalen said. "Maybe two." Aela tied the purse shut. It felt lighter. "Then we move faster. And we leave the road."