The Longest Day

Chapter Four

Tahni returned quickly, her hands now smeared a deep crimson, with her hunting knife tucked into her belt and a decent-sized rabbit dangling by its ears in her grasp.

With skilled hands, she went about skinning the rabbit before she cooked it over the crackling fire.

Vita turned away from the sight, almost emptying the contents of her stomach.

Although she had been taught to kill and skin animals at the Seer’s Seminary, she still hated performing the tasks. She found it difficult even to swallow the meat once it had been cooked, knowing she’d seen the poor creature’s face. It was a necessary thing, though. Vita reminded herself of that as Tahni handed her a portion of the rabbit once she had finished preparing it.

They ate in silence before letting the fire burn out and laying down in their bedrolls.

Vita thought about Slay and his plans. Tahni thought about her family.

When they woke the next morning, they didn’t say much. Just gathered their things, mounted their horses, and kept moving.

Tahni wasn’t sure how long it would take for them to reach the nearest village. For now, they had enough supplies to last them a week, maybe more if they were lucky. After that, however, she knew they would struggle.

Throughout most of their travels, they were quiet. Neither had much to say, and the things they could talk about weren’t things they particularly wanted to talk about. So instead, they kept to themselves.

On the fifth evening they climbed down from their horses to rest for the night, though, Vita was determined to speak to Tahni about not only what they were going to do, but also about her father and brother.

She knew it was wrong and intrusive, but she’d taken advantage of her gift early that morning. She was concerned for Tahni, and she found that she had good reason for that.

When she’d probed for the nature of Tahni’s thoughts, she could feel that she was falling into a sort of depression.

It wasn’t hard to understand why.

Tahni had left her father and brother—the only family she still had—and was now on her way to attempt to defeat a very strong, very powerful man with hundreds, if not thousands, of men at his aid. Chances were, she would not come out of it alive. And if she somehow did, she’d never be the same as she once was.

When you’re forced into a situation like that, it would become difficult not to let it consume you.

Contemplating how she could broach the subject gently, Vita started a fire while Tahni caught their dinner for the night. Once it had sparked and she’d coaxed the small flickers into larger flames, she left their small camp and was now picking berries nearby as Tahni cooked the small animal.

Returning to the fire, Vita handed her half of the berries she’d gathered.

“Thank you,” Tahni murmured with a small smile.

Vita returned the smile and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“We should reach Linbridge in the next couple of days, I think,” she began.

“Good,” Tahni said. “I would kill for a bath and some clean clothes right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been so filthy in my life.”

Vita laughed knowingly at that. She’d spent almost two months on horseback and camping in the woods like this when she’d left the Seer’s Seminary to find Tahni.

Unsure of how to move the conversation in the direction she wanted it to go, though, she decided the best tactic was probably just to come straight out with it.