The Moonlit World by Edward Willett

Author:Edward Willett [Willett, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

WE LEFT THE river when we reached more level ground, following a trail of sorts that Piotr seemed to know intimately but I wouldn’t even have noticed if I’d come across it on my own. We moved quickly and, for the most part, silently, since we had no way of knowing what sentries or patrols might be about.

Yet, we saw no one. The sun reached its zenith, and we paused under an overhanging shelf of rock in a narrow space between two forested hills. A spring trickled water down mossy rocks in the shadows. Piotr lapped from the pool it made. Karl and I cupped our hands beneath the stream and drank. The ice-cold water tasted wonderful. I was thirstier than I’d realized.

“Making good time,” Piotr’s voice said behind us. I turned around to see him sitting cross-legged on the ground. “We’ll reach my hideaway by nightfall.”

“Surely others of your kind also know about any ‘hideaway’ you know about,” Karl said.

“Nope,” Piotr said.

“Why not?” I asked.

He leaned back on his hands, unfolded his legs, and stretched them out in front of him. I sighed and decided I might as well just ignore him being naked from now on. It seemed less stressful. “You’ll see.”

“Is there food there?” I said. “Because I’m starving.”

“Sure, there’s food. Although I could run down a rabbit for you right now . . .”

“Could we safely light a fire?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll wait.” Rabbit tartare didn’t appeal.

“Let’s keep moving, then.” He flowed back into wolf-shape and led us out into the woods once more.

As the afternoon passed, we wended our way through the forest, forded the river again at a shallow place, and then climbed the valley slope, higher than I’d yet been, still following a barely-there trail that Piotr alone could see. The climb through thick forest offered no view of anything until, suddenly, as the sun neared the snow-covered peaks to the west, we came out into a clearing, turned, and saw the whole valley spread out before us.

Back the way we came, everything looked wild, but directly below us, and stretching to the north, were the Lands Between, dotted with farms and villages. From here, it wasn’t as obvious as it had been below that they were largely abandoned and in ruins. Smoke rose into the declining sunlight from a walled town that was probably miles away—another of the fortified villages like Zarozje, I guessed.

Far to the north, a huge mountain shoulder stretched out into the valley. That had to be the ridge above Zarozje, although we were much too far away to see the village. Another day’s journey beyond it lay the castle of Queen Patricia, guarding the southern border of the kingdom of vampires. We’d made it this far without being captured and dragged back, but could we keep it up?

Lost in the view, I didn’t realize the others had moved on until wolf-Piotr yipped from behind me. I turned to see him on the far side of the clearing, standing in orange sunset-light, and Karl Yatsar looking back at me impatiently.

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