Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 28 of 66

Rebecka woke on the stone with her jacket bunched under her head. The pot was gone. Katia was gone. Marcus sat against the wall with a knife across his knees, watching the slot at the cave mouth. The fire was low. She sat up and the cut cords in her chest ached like new bruises. "Two left," she said. "And I don't know where." "No," Marcus said. "But Ninka might." She went back through the fissure to the sealed chamber. Katia let her in. Ninka was sitting up on a folded blanket, pale, small. The dream-catcher hoop lay in her lap. "Baby," Rebecka said. "I need you one more time. Not long. Just a look." Ninka nodded. "The ones you cut." "Yes. Where are they now." Katia frowned. "She's tired." "I know." Rebecka knelt. "One look. If she can't hold it, we stop." Aiyana stepped out of the shadow at the wall. She had been there the whole time. She did not make sound when she moved. The red fletching over her shoulder caught the low light. "I'll steady her," Aiyana said. She crouched behind Ninka and laid two fingers on the back of the girl's neck. "Look for the raw ends. Where you cut. Follow them back." Ninka closed her eyes. Her mouth moved without words. A minute passed. Two. Her small hand tightened on the hoop. "A man," she said. "North. In a cabin with a black stove. He's writing." Her forehead creased. "He knows I'm looking. He's angry." "Good," Rebecka said. "The other one." Ninka's breath hitched. "Closer. Much closer. On a horse. Coming up the coast road with three men." Her eyes opened. "He has a doll. New one. He's making it as he rides." "How far." "Half a day." Aiyana lifted her fingers. Ninka slumped against her grandmother. Rebecka stood. She had wanted a map. She had a knife at her throat. Half a day. Making the doll on horseback meant he had her hair or her skin already, from the woman with the burned ear, and he meant to bind Ninka before he arrived. She went back to the front chamber. Marcus was already on his feet. "Coast road," she said. "Four riders. Half a day. He's building a doll for her while he moves." "Then we don't wait here." "No." She pulled the quiver over her shoulder. Fifteen arrows. Enough. "I ride out and meet him before he finishes it. You hold the slot." Marcus's jaw set. "Alone." "He's on open road. I only need one shot." He looked at her a long moment. "Take the mare." Aiyana was already at the cave mouth, bow strung. "I go with her." Rebecka did not argue. She checked her string and stepped out into the cold light. The next student was named now. He was moving. And she was moving faster.