Chapter 71. In the Forest

CYRAN

We walk on more cautiously than before; even Fareedah doesn’t say a word. Her wound has healed completely shut, but there’s an air to her now, like she could spring on the person next to her at the slightest inclination.

I take the lead, following tracks wholly unfamiliar to me, but Quain points out occasional landmarks. He opted to stay behind me, claiming I’m the one with the arrows and the magic.

Presently, the trees are getting closer, the canopy heavier. I know this route; further ahead, and I’d be reliving my first attack.

“Our cottage should just be over the knoll beyond those trees,” I point out.

“There’s a shortcut,” Saelyna says, staring at a scanty path to our left. It leads to the road from the glade, straight to our cottage.

“Too easy. And easy is not good,” Quain declares, “Let’s take this path. The forest air is choking me.”

“We need to be fast,” Fareedah says, “I say we take the shortcut.”

Quain curse under h