Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I nod my agreement, but even as I do, my heart sinks. It is a good plan, and yet…the farthest-flung caves to the north are deep into the mountains. The others will be closer to their families and return that much faster. My journey is a long one. It will take many hands of days to travel that far, and returning will be that much slower, weighed down with sleds of supplies. I will be separated from my tribe—and Mah-dee—for a long time.
But it must be done. My tribe needs every hunter…and I am just the exile. The rule-breaker. Why should I not go to the farthest caves? I have no family waiting here for me. “I will go.”
“I want to go with Hassen.” Mah-dee’s voice cuts through the air. She marches forward, bundled in furs, and comes to stand in the midst of the hunters. Some are smirking with amusement, but others look irritated.
The expression on Vektal’s face goes dark. “Mah-dee—”
“I want to help,” she cuts in. “You’re sending out all the single guys, right? Send out the single lady, too. Hassen’s been giving me lessons and teaching me to hunt, so I can help out. He can keep teaching me in the field, and I can help him bring supplies back.”
“You do not need to help, Mah-dee,” I tell her, though I would like nothing more than to have her with me. My heart thumps in my chest at the thought. “It will be much walking. It is not always safe.”
“Because staying here is safe?” She gestures at the rubble-covered cave. “Nowhere is safe anymore. I’m capable. Let me help.”
“You can go with Bek,” Vektal says. “His journey is shorter.”
Bek makes a grunt that sounds like irritation.
My fists clench at my sides, but my chief is right. My journey will be the longest to travel. She will struggle.
“I don’t want to go with Bek,” she says evenly. “He’s not the one that’s been teaching me. Why can’t I go with Hassen? Because he’s the guy that kidnapped my sister? You think I don’t know this?”
“Mah-dee,” I say in a warning voice. “Listen to your chief.”
She moves to my side and reaches up and pinches my cheek. “That’s cute. You trying to give me advice on that.” She winks at me to take the sting out of her words and then turns to Vektal. “I want to go with Hassen. We’re a good team, and I can help out. Two people bringing back supplies is better than one.”
Vektal puts a hand on Mah-dee’s shoulder. “You truly wish to do this? You wish to go with him?”
“What, you think anyone could make me go somewhere I don’t want to go?”
This time, Rokan snorts.
“Can you keep up?” The chief asks her.
“I can and I will.” Mah-dee’s ash-smeared face is stubborn but determined. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
Vektal turns to me. “You will keep her safe.”
It is not a question. I nod. “I will protect her life with mine.”
Vaza steps forward, gesturing at me. “He is exiled!”
Vektal’s expression grows bleak. “My friend, we are all in exile now.”
MADDIE
I swear I’ll be fine, I tell Lila and give her hands another squeeze of reassurance.
She pulls her hands from my grip, a troubled look on her face. If you want to help, you can come with us, she tells me, every movement of her body indicating her worry. You don’t have to go with him.
I want to go with him, I tell her. He’s my… I pause in my signing, trying to think of the best way to put it. Friend, I decide on. He doesn’t have anyone but me, and I want to be with him.
Her brows draw together, and I can tell Lila is trying hard to understand. You don’t hate him?
I shake my head. I hate what he did, but I don’t hate him. Do you?
She thinks for a minute. I guess I am the same. Those weeks with him were awful, but he didn’t mean me harm. And I have Rokan now. But…is it safe?
He’s not going to try to hold me captive to force resonance, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m pretty sure the thought would make Hassen break out in hives at this point. He’s seen what he has lost with his tribe, and it’s affecting him greatly. Plus, I know him now, and I like to think that we’re better friends than that. He wouldn’t pull that sort of stunt on me.
No, that wasn’t what I meant. Rokan says it’s a long journey. I worry it’d be hard on anyone, and we humans are a little more fragile than the locals.
It might be, but I can’t stay here and gather dust. I flick my ash-covered hair, hoping she catches the joke. And I’m just an extra mouth to be fed if I go with the others to the Elders’ Cave. This way, at least I can help.