“You are absolutely insane.”

“Why? I’ve worked my way up to this rank and I want to keep it. I won’t stay for too long,” Daniel answered with a shrug. “A year or so at most. Believe it or not, I actually like my job, Aurora.”

His eyes rolled, a reflex, and he only stared at the road ahead of him that was the very same they’d gone down before. When word had gotten out that tracks were spotted along with the still smoldering fire, a patrol had been sent out at dawn. Daniel, as he often did, was the one put in charge of leading but Aurora still rode at the front, refusing to be anywhere else.

There were others, three last time he’d checked, but be it fear of him or what lurked in the shadows, something kept them several yards behind.

The sun hadn’t yet risen and the trees were just as dark as the day before. Aurora kicked his horse into a trot, feeling the wind pick up as the group followed. Daniel rode up beside him and tried not to look over at him, ignoring the expression on his face that he refused to believe was disappointment.

“You’re leaving then?”

“The day my time is up, I’ll be long gone.”

Daniel frowned.

“Where will you go? We have no place to stay.”

“We?” Aurora snapped, glancing sideways. “I’m not staying here any longer than I have to. You can stay here forever if you want. But if I can say this, there has been one thing that’s bothering me about our sentences.”

“What doesn’t bother you?”

Aurora glared.

“What’s bothering you then?”

“Do you remember when the Dravara came for us?”

Daniel only nodded slowly, glancing down at his saddle like he was bracing for the worst.

“I shot-“

“Listen, we both know what happened. I don’t want you to blame yourself again-“

“Don’t interrupt me,” he warned. “I was sentenced to ten years for…you know why. But all you did was run-“

“Aurora, what are you-“

“You didn’t kill anyone.”

Daniel was quiet for a moment, eyes returning to the ground once more. “Drop it.”

“It’s strange, isn’t it?”

He didn’t speak again and Aurora saw no point in trying to continue a conversation that obviously wasn’t going to happen. What he’d said about leaving was true and the minute his service ended, he’d travel as far as he could away from the east. He didn’t care where he went, just how far he rode until he found somewhere he could stop. Daniel was right, even if Aurora didn’t want to admit it, and he really didn’t have anywhere to go.

His eyes rose when the area from yesterday came into view, the remains of the fire even more scattered than the day before. Aurora dismounted before his horse fully came to a halt, looking down at where the tracks were and noting, much to his confusion, they remained unchanged.

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, kneeling down to brush a gloved hand over a shallow imprint in the snow before drawing the pistol at his side. Daniel walked up beside him, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning Aurora to face him. “Patrolling means walking by to check for a breach and not follow tracks into the forest. You’re the one who’s so good with words. You should know that.”

“Do you see anything? There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Aurora answered crossly, shoving him away.

Dawn was only a short while away but even so, the shadows of the trees would keep things dark for hours yet. If anything was out there, it could stalk the Dravara without being noticed. The creatures of the Rift, from what he’d heard, were good at that and some claimed their coats rendered them nearly invisible against the snow.

They were silent, moving in without a sound and leaving just as quickly. It was, based on stories he’d heard, as if they were nothing more than a vengeful embodiment of the wind itself, gone without a trace the moment they were spotted. He wasn’t afraid of them but he knew, based on the tracks in the snow, they weren’t just a story.

Named for the Rift, a massive fissure in the ground that would have seemed bottomless were it not for the river that snaked its way across the ground far below. No one, creature or otherwise, had ever been down to the bottom nor had they, much to the relief of the rest of the world, tried to scale it.

However, if they wanted to cross, they’d use the single land bridge that breached the gap between the two worlds.

“Aurora, come on. Haven’t you seen enough? You said yourself, there’s nothing here.”

He shot a glance backwards before moving towards the tree line, tightening his grip on the weapon in his hand.

“As your superior, I command you to stop.”

He didn’t.

“Aurora, I’m serious!”

Aurora turned, continuing on backwards. “Perhaps they’ll kill me, Daniel. Wouldn’t that ease your burden? A blessing, is that what it would be?”

“Aurora!”

Snorting, he turned around again and started off along the trail that led off into the trees, growing fainter with every step. His eyes darted around frantically the moment the Dravara were left behind, disappearing behind a dip in the terrain. If, goddesses forbid, there was something out there, wolves or worse, a pistol wouldn’t do much to stop it.

There were stories, far too many in his opinion, of creatures being shot and only fighting more fiercely. Some part of him wanted to believe he was scared, at least worried, but he didn’t feel much of anything at all.

“Aurora!”

Daniel’s voice came again, the same annoying plead as before but sounding just as far away. They weren’t following and he wasn’t going back.

The trail ended at the base of a tree, drawing his eyes upward until they settled over a cluster of broken branches high above hm.

“Wonderful,” he grumbled.

A snap rang out and he whipped around, hand closing tighter over the pistol and teeth chattering against the cold. There wasn’t anything, not a lazy drift of the breeze or even the soft crunching of boots in the snow that greeted his ears. He slipped the pistol back into the holster at his side, joining a knife that was just beside it.

For a moment, he considered going back until there was a rumbling, low and horrible, emulating from somewhere above his head. He swallowed, glancing up but seeing nothing, beasts or otherwise, that could have made the sound. Aurora started forward cautiously back the way he’d come but as he walked, the rumbling only got louder, lower and more threatening.

He stopped and the growling stopped with him.

A yell split the air and Aurora nearly jumped out of his skin. It was human, Dravara from what he could infer, and he could only guess as to why they’d be yelling. The yells were joined then by whinnies and calls from their horses, proceeded by fleeing hoof beats.

“Daniel?” he called, sprinting off despite the growling from behind him.

But there was another sound, one that made him freeze again, eyes glued to the trees ahead of him. It started soft, softer than the sound his boots had made a moment earlier, but grew louder as it approached. The rumbling grew louder then, moving from the soft throaty sound to something that he recognized as a growl.

He reached for the pistol.

It became a snarl.

“Alright, I won’t touch it.”

Aurora took a deep breath, closing his eyes and feeling the hair on the back of his neck rising as the growling continued.

“Unarmed,” he said, raising his hands up to the sides of his head.

The growling was there still, lower and quieter but the moment he tried to turn his head, it flared into something that was nearly a roar.

“Vex it all,” he swore.

A snort sounded from behind him as the growling faded, the sound shortly joined by the soft padding in the snow again. From where he stood, facing away completely and with eyes barely daring to open, he couldn’t see anything. Said to be faster than horses, he knew it could outrun him and even if he tried a different approach, it obviously could climb.

Aurora tried turning his head again only for the growling to return with a ferocity that rivaled the times before. He stuck to staring straight ahead, hands laced behind his head, and allowing some part of himself to hope it decided to move on.

He couldn’t help but shiver but be it from the cold or fear of the creature behind him, he didn’t want to know. Aurora wasn’t afraid of them, he told himself, but it was difficult to remain calm with a mystery killer breathing down his neck.

As time wore on, he refused to believe it was fear that was chilling him.

“Are you planning on killing me? Or should I introduce myself?” Aurora said after standing in silence for much too long.

The growling returned again, low and threatening but Aurora only smiled bleakly.

“What are you? I’ve been curious for too long about just what you are. I want to request a quick death if you’re as savage as they say. Surely, that’s reasonable.”

The creature huffed, growl fading for a moment. Aurora smiled, glancing up to see sunlight beginning to send the shadows reeling back into the trees where he hoped the creature would go. They didn’t like the light, from what he’d heard, and if he could stall perhaps it would simply retreat.

“If you plan on killing me, I’d rather you get on with it. I have nothing to lose. Go ahead, no one will be left alone. It’s better that I’m the one to die instead of someone who actually has a life, right?”

He wasn’t lying and some part of him wanted to believe he was joking. Silas was gone and his parents had been gone for even longer. Their faces, though he still remembered them, became blurred shreds in his memory as time wore on. The compass, still kept in his left pocket, was the only thing he had left of any of them.

Aurora reached into his jacket, ignoring the growl that returned briefly but stopped when he held the compass by his chain.

“See this?” he said, pausing for a moment. “It gave me my name. Do you have a name? I’m beginning to wonder just how sentient you are if you haven’t yet killed me.”

There was another snort followed by a huff, his only reply, came from the creature that still stood behind him.

“Aurora,” he mumbled, clearing his throat, “that’s my name.”

The creature stepped closer to where he could feel its breath on the back of his neck, hot and yet it still sent shivers down his spine. Swallowing, he half expected to feel fangs digging into his skin at any moment but instead he only heard something that could only be described as a chirp.

He laughed. “Growling, snarling, huffing, and chirping, what’s next? Do you sing?”

“Aurora.”

Confusion struck him hard like a slap to the face.

For a moment, he stood there assuming that perhaps someone else had found him but the voice, while it spoke his name fairly clearly, wasn’t something that sounded even remotely human. It was gruffer, thick with something he couldn’t identify, and just like the growl, it sent ice shooting through his veins.

Fear, he supposed, could change a man’s perspective fairly easily and perhaps the voice hadn’t been there at all. He’d imagined it, heard his own name even if it hadn’t been spoken at all. But Aurora wasn’t afraid of anything, or so he tried to believe and fear certainly couldn’t be breathing down his neck.

“What did you say?”

Aurora swallowed, lowering his hand and slipping the compass back into his pocket. He turned then, eyes closing and bracing himself for the snarl to return. Instead, there was only silence. Cracking an eye open, he saw that the creature, or whatever had been there, was gone, leaving behind only a trail of massive footprints that mirrored the ones from before.

“Aurora!”

He whipped around at the sound of Daniel’s voice, tearing off in the direction it had come from. The sun, perhaps the only reason he was alive, had nearly risen by the time he made it back to the same place they’d split from before. His sides were heaving as he watched Daniel and the others ride from the trees, led by Daniel who held his horse’s reins in his free hand.

“Are you alright?” Daniel called, dismounting and hurrying over to him.

Aurora nodded, shoving Daniel away when he grabbed for him.

“Fine,” he swallowed, exhaling heavily, “I’m fine…you?”

“We were ambushed,” Daniel answered, tone lowering.

“Did anyone get hurt?”

Daniel shook his head in answer and Aurora walked towards his horse, not waiting for another response. He climbed into the saddle, sitting down heavily and watching as Daniel came up to stand at his side.

“What happened to you?”

“Later.”

“Why lat-“

“I said,” he paused, swallowing harshly and trying not to sound as frightened as he felt, “later.”

Daniel nodded, climbing into his saddle and barking an order for the others to go ahead of the two of them. Aurora watched them ride off, silently cursing himself for having said anything at all. If he knew anything about Daniel, the questions wouldn’t stop there.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

Aurora didn’t know how to answer, only shaking his head slowly as the two started back for the stronghold again. He’d sound mad, even more so than usual, if he tried to explain and Daniel likely wouldn’t even believe the story to begin with.

But he wasn’t mad enough to have imagined everything.

“No.”

“Are you hurt?”

Aurora shook his head. “No.”

“Should I have sent ahead for help? I don’t understand-“

“I said we’d talk about it later,” he replied sharply.

Daniel didn’t ask again, only frowning and riding closer. “You know you can trust me, right? You can talk to me-“

“Trust isn’t the issue here.”

“Then, what is the issue?”

“Later.”

Aurora didn’t speak again despite Daniel’s concerned glances for the remainder of their ride back through the trees. He couldn’t shake the thought of the word, the voice that had spoken it, and the heat of the creature’s breath on the back of his neck. He’d never heard accounts of the creatures being able to speak but the voice was clear as day in his head. There were two explanations, he decided, as to why he’d heard it. The first was simply a moment of insanity while the second was that the voice had really been there.

He almost entirely would have preferred it was the first explanation.

~ ~ ~ ~

They were smart, she could tell that even from a distance and even from where she stood back in watching. Clumsy, she thought, but they all seemed to have a basic understanding of what they were supposed to be doing. But recruits were always like that, she supposed, until they learned enough to keep themselves from being in danger long enough for their sentences to be served.

Sentences.

She never liked the word, the idea, that some chose to view it like that. They were doing something not only for themselves but for the good of the rest of the country, for the people at home who waited for their returns. The word made it seem like the stronghold was a prison they couldn’t escape and not a place where they were, however briefly, something greater than themselves.

Surely, that was a noble cause.

“Your arm,” the woman said, nearly snatching the gun from the girl’s hand, “needs to be steady or you’re going to miss your target no matter how close you are. Do you want to miss?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Again, then, if you will.”

Rowena watched the girl as she squared herself to the target, close enough to where anyone, even the boys snickering behind her, wouldn’t have too much trouble hitting it. Her arm raised but the shot was delayed while she steadied herself, eyeing the target until finally the gun went off and a satisfying crack rang out from where it struck the post the target was propped up on.

“Well, it wouldn’t have been anything close to a clean kill but you would have bought yourself time and that is,” the woman paused to look up at the others, “still very important in situations where you don’t have a clean exit.”

She looked up, catching Rowena’s eyes for the first time before glancing down at the rest of the gathered recruits. “Take a few minutes to yourselves…just a few.”

Smiling, she moved closer and watched as the girl handed the pistol back and stared down range, squinting her eyes and wrinkling the pink bud of her nose.

“Have you shot before?”

The girl turned. “No, ma’am. I just arrived.”

“Well, if I can offer any advice,” she said, looking down towards the target, “keep both of your eyes open.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I can’t see too well but I’ll try that next time.”

She turned then, glancing between the two before hurrying off after the rest of the recruits that had moved off away from them.

“They’re promising, don’t you think?”

Rowena’s head turned towards the voice of the woman who had taken to wiping down the barrel of one of the battered pistols with a rag. She was tall and her face was round, framed by yellow hair that had been cropped to just below her ears. Alexandra was, for the new recruits and many others, the only reason they survived their services.

“I do,” she agreed, folding her hands in front of her. “Have they been out of the walls as of yet? I would think that all the new recruits should be shown-“

“With all due respect, ma’am, they aren’t ready for that. They’ve just arrived and half of them have never held a gun in their lives. As safe as they are with me, I don’t feel like risking anything.”

A smile flickered across her lips. “Of course, how silly of me. I’ve forgotten they don’t all come entirely prepared.”

“Can’t say it’s common,” Alexandra snorted, tucking the rag into her belt. “Is nice though, when it happens, I mean.”

She only hummed softly in answer.

“Was there something you needed, ma’am? It’s not that I mind the chatting but I’ve got plenty of new ones to deal with.”

“I came to see them is all. I worry about the new recruits when something happens.”

Alexandra looked up then, frowning. “Something happens? I didn’t hear about anything happening.”

“Oh, it was horribly minor but it still worries me. A few of my men claim to have been attacked but none were injured. I wonder if it was just the wolves again. They get bolder when the winters fully set in.”

“I’m sure you’d know all about that,” Alexandra said with a motion to the cloak on her shoulder.

She smiled briefly, reaching up to run a hand over the still intact head that peaked over one shoulder, stopping when she came to the bullet hole, one that hadn’t been mended, almost directly in the middle of its head.

“I’m pleased with how centered that shot was,” Rowena answered with a shrug, “all things considered.”

“Was there anything else?” Alexandra asked, watching as the small group of recruits started to return.

“That was all. Do keep an eye on them when you do take them out of the walls. I trust your judgments but I thought it best to warn you.”

“Of course, thank you.”

There wasn’t another word as the two separated, Rowena moving back away towards the keep once more. There were many things in those woods but she refused to believe, despite what had been said, that it was anything they couldn’t handle. Wolves, she thought, running a hand absentmindedly up over her shoulder again, that’s all it was.

Next Chapter: Chapter 15