Reiji Kageshiro's Arc

Chapter 11 of 4

Reiji and Scarlett hauled the litter for two days through deep snow. The wolf breathed, but the purple lines had reached its shoulders. They had left the road to the frost keep behind, and they had left the other three fighters behind at the serpent's pit. Reiji watched the ridgeline and hoped his company had followed the tracks north. He could not save the wolf and lead a scattered team at once. On the third morning, a shot cracked across the ice. Reiji drew his katana and turned. A figure climbed the slope toward them, purple scythe slung across his back, its long barrel steaming in the cold. Corvus Reave. He had joined the company for a bounty, not for Reiji, and he had never hidden it. Behind him came Crimson Valdris, his red blade catching the light, and Aria, her blue lantern floating at her shoulder. "You walked off the road," Corvus said. He did not lower the scythe. "We tracked your ruts for two days. Thought you'd run." "The wolf's dying," Reiji said. "We turned to save him." Crimson looked at the litter. His jaw tightened. "Your mother is behind ice walls. And you march the wrong way for a beast." "He tracked the road that got us this far," Scarlett said. She stepped between them, a crossbow in each hand. "Say another word against him." Aria knelt by the wolf before the argument grew. Her lantern dipped low over the purple lines. "The corruption is climbing," she said. "He has days. Maybe less." She looked up at Reiji. "But your mother's soul still calls from your blade. I feel it stronger the farther north we go. She is fading too." The words landed hard. Reiji had chosen the wolf. Now Aria told him both roads ran out of time. Corvus finally dropped the scythe from his shoulder and leaned on it. "Then here's the truth," Corvus said. "Split again and we all die separate. I've buried enough partners." He nodded at the wolf. "Wolf-spirit's ground is north too. Off the road, but north. We take it together, then we take the keep." Reiji looked at each of them. Crimson still glared, but he planted his sword in the snow and did not leave. Aria drew her lantern close to warm the wolf. Scarlett lowered her crossbows. "Together," Reiji said. "We save him. Then we don't stop until the keep." Crimson pulled his blade from the snow and shouldered it. "Agreed. But no more detours after this one." They lashed the litter to fresh spear shafts. Corvus took the front. By midday all four fighters and Reiji moved as one line across the ice, the wolf between them. The company was whole again. And Reiji knew, watching the wolf's shallow breath and feeling the katana hum against his back, that both the beast and his mother were running out of time.