Eyes of Emerald

Chapter Thirty-Seven (2)

I stood up, brushing off the morning dew that had formed on my body while we had slept. Ffi was yelling again, her face red, as everyone woke up and stretched.

            There was hardly any time for breakfast, we ate a small portion of fishy mixture that the Fae ate called peste. It tasted horrible, and slid down my throat with a cold and slimy feel, but I instantly felt energised and more awake.

            "How much further is it?" I asked Ffi. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

            "We should be there in about an hour." she told me. "It might be an idea to go get prepared, you never know what we'll find there." she advised, and I nodded, walking over to where I had stashed my knives the night before.

            I tied them securely around my waist, stretching out my legs and arms. I didn't want to pull a muscle in the midst of the battle, that would only increase my already-high chances of dying. I took a deep breath with my eyes closed and tried not to think about the fact that this time tomorrow I could be lying six feet under. I shivered.

            And what had Wynn meant by telling me to get on with my life if he died? He was the best warrior we had, he couldn't die! Out of us all, he had the best chance of living. He could fight, he was strong...so why did he sound so...sure that I would have to get over his death?

            I shook my head sadly. I would do as much as I could to protect him - not that he needed much protection, of course - but only as much as I could. I couldn't save him if he was dying.

             That doesn't sound like what someone in love would say. My mind criticised me immediately. It was like I had two sides to my brain, one the total pedant, the other the optimist, the survivor. In the films, they will throw themselves in front of a bullet to save their loved one - even if that loved one is dying.

            I frowned at myself. I was being sensible, wasn't I? If Wynn was dying, if he had been stabbed, what was the point in dying with him? The whole point of this was to live, was it not?

            So why did I feel somehow like Wynn was trying to tell me something?

            I shook my head quickly; I didn't want to think that way. I joined the ranks once more, this time standing at the front between Iris and Keira, and we began the march.

            "Keep up!" yelled Ffi from the front, even though we'd just begun, and the stragglers at the back sped up to rejoin the lines and lines of people. We made a long, dark snake as we wove our way through fields and through glens, over hills and under woods...it seemed we had walked through every territory possible when we finally stopped.

            We had just been walking through a small forest, when suddenly the trees thinned, and Ffi suddenly stopped - so suddenly that Iris and I almost ran into her. She held out a hand to warn us to be quiet, and crept forward slowly, placing her feet on the dry leaves carefully, toe first, then rolling the rest of her foot around so she made no sound at all.