Soul Seeker

11: Killing Fell

Ciara sprinted through the trees, adrenalin lending strength to her legs. With every step, she expected an arrow to slice into her back. She ducked beneath branches and pushed thorny tendrils aside, heedless of the way they snagged at her sleeves.

Her lungs were bursting by the time she arrived at the sleds, and by some miracle Tonraq was sat upon his.

"There you are! I was just about to follow you. I think my sled tracks led to –"

"There's no time!" she gasped. "I met a Midgarson – not him, another one – and they suspect, but I escaped. They'll be coming after us!"

Tonraq's eyes widened in horror. "What now?"

"We... we..." She gulped air and looked at her messy, panicked trail in the snow. An idea sparked. "They'll be following this trail. Hopefully Fell will be with them. We can lie in wait and take him down from a distance."

They wasted no time lengthening their tracks so that it looked like they had fled the trees entirely. Then, using a branch to sweep the snow, they manoeuvred their sleds behind a thicket of brambles and lay flat on their stomachs.

Ciara nocked an arrow to Tonraq's bow, and waited while snow began to fall. The sky had grown dark and angry. Was this luck, or a bad omen?

"I'm only going to say this once more. You don't have to do this," Tonraq breathed.

"What choice do I have?" She hated the way her voice cracked.

She was no killer, but these people had attacked her without provocation and tied her up. If she went to the authorities, they would be treated as criminals, surely? This was self-defence, she told herself, because if she and Tonraq fled now, the group would definitely come after them. What had they blundered into that was so important? It didn't matter. Ciara thought of the way Darius had held her hands in his, the poignance of that moment, the way he had seemed to silently say I see you, I care about you. It meant the world to her, and she could not lose it.

"There they are," Tonraq whispered.

Sure enough, two sleds were gliding slowly out of the woods. The woman, Isa, shared one with Sebastian, but a man Ciara had not seen at camp had the second to himself.

It had to be him.

As they moved closer, Ciara drew the bowstring back. There was a roaring in her ears.

I can't do this.

Darius. Think of him.

A spasm went through her fingers and she loosed a fraction of a second too early. The arrow whizzed past the man's face, and Isa shrieked.

"It came from over there!" Sebastian shouted.

Beside Ciara, Tonraq tensed. "We have to run."

"Wait!" She would not let them see her running away again like a coward. She wouldn't turn her back and let them fire arrows at her as she retreated.

She had made her decision, and now, finally, she was going to stand and fight.

Three frantic pairs of feet crunched the snow and Ciara braced herself, tensing every muscle.

The man – Fell's – face appeared over the top of the shrubs. "It's y–"

With a roar, Ciara sprang upwards and collided with him, hoping to knock him down. But he was as solid as a mountain and he blocked the punch she tried to swing, sending reverberations up her arm. Ciara slipped but lunged again, pulling a knife out of her belt as she went, filled with fear and the thought of Sköll and Darius and Cali –