Page 60 of Winter's Echo
“Why are you sneaking up on me?”
His eyes widened a fraction before he scowled. “Whywould I sneak up on you?”
“I don’t know, you just did.” I looked him over coolly. “Don’t do it again.”
I picked up my pack and slung it over my head, angling the strap across my body so it sat between my shoulder blades, and picked up my staff.
I didn’t look to see who else was ready before I set off to find the trail. “Douse that fire well,” I reminded them as I walked away.
“Watching you and Gralen bicker is my source of enjoyment,” Baxley said as he joined me.
He’d also made me jump. Why in the shades was I so jumpy? I never jumped.
“Everyone’s creeping up on me today,” I muttered, holding my strap as I walked.
I felt more than saw Baxley’s eyes on my face, but when I turned to look at him, he was already looking straight ahead.
“Should anyone be able to make you jump?” he asked softly.
I shook my head. “No.” I let out a sigh. “Guess I’m more spooked by Skallfen than I thought I would be.”
It wasn’t a lie, but I also knew it wasn’t the full truth.Nicco. Nicco had unsettled me. I wonder if he even knew it.
I heard the groan from the injured soldier, not a complaint as such, but more of a general protest from his body.
“What is it?” Baxley asked, keeping his voice low.
“He should have been left in Skallfen, him and the horses. But…”
“But we couldn’t leave him,” he said with resignation.
“I bet Nicco would.” It was out before I thought about it. “Um…”
Baxley didn’t look pissed off. In fact, if the lower half of his face wasn’t wrapped, I was sure he’d be smiling. “No doubt.”
I glanced at him one more time. “And you? Would you have made the same choice?”
Light blue eyes met my green ones. “I don’t know. If he slows us down, then it won’t likely matter.”
What did that mean? Only I knew what it meant. I forced myself not to look over my shoulder or at any of the woundedmen. Or the two horses, who I knew weren’t going to make it much farther.
Unless…
I shook my head slightly. No. Another detour was not what we needed. We’d detoured to Skallfen after the Hulgrim attack, and it had cost us more than just time wasted.
But Halegrave was a settlement west of here. It was a small place, no more than a dozen houses. They didn’t like strangers, and they really didn’t like soldiers. They were the last settlers in northern Crystallese, and they rarely opened their hearths.
But for the wounded? I glanced over my shoulder and met Nicco’s gaze. I hadn’t realized he was right behind me, and I nearly lost my footing.
I never slipped on ice.
Never.
I wasn’t about to start today.
“What is it?” Baxley asked me, and I shook my head.
“Nothing,” I lied. I ignored the slow rumble of laughter from behind me and forced myself to focus on the trail ahead.
