Shadows Return

reason would I have to lie now? You were right, Alec. It’s only because of you two I’m alive, and I’m grateful for that. Just take me out of this cursed country. After that, I’ll fend for myself.”
    Alec watched him closely through this little speech, alert for any false notes. But all he saw in Ilar’s red-rimmed eyes was resignation, and—when he spoke of going off on his own—fear.
             
    By sundown everyone was warm, dry, and somewhat rested. Alec had managed to sleep again with Sebrahn safely beside him. He woke smiling from a dream of Seregil’s long fingers caressing the nape of his neck, but the moment didn’t last. Ilar had interrupted them before they could really settle anything between them and now Seregil sat on the far side of the fire, looking sad. He looked away quickly when he realized Alec was awake.
    Miserable, Alec sat up to feed Sebrahn. “Do you think we can reach the coast tonight?”
    “If not tonight, then tomorrow for certain,” Seregil said as he parceled out the last of the rabbit meat and an apple for each of them.
    Alec ate his portion very slowly, aware of the silence underlying the words. He wanted to grab Seregil, tell him he understood that all Seregil felt for Ilar was pity, but the words backed up in his throat as Alec pictured the two of them there by the stream.
    He
did
trust Seregil! So why couldn’t he let go of this?
    “Maybe I can find us some rabbits here. It’s better country for it,” he offered, hoping to get a response, but his talimenios just stared into the fire, as if he knew Alec’s thoughts.
    “Better that than snake,” Ilar remarked with a weak smile.
    “Too cold for snakes now,” Seregil told him, rising to his feet. “We’re more likely to find a village, or at least a decent farm. Hunger always sharpens my thievery skills.”
    As soon as it was dark, they cleaned up their camp, then took off their boots and walked down the streambed as far as they could bear, feet going numb in the icy water.
    When Seregil judged they’d gone far enough to confuse the trail, they struck north and east for a while to finish the job. It lost them miles and time, but hopefully any pursuers wouldn’t come looking in this direction.
    As the night dragged on, Seregil’s silence continued. His past had come between them again like an unwelcome shadow and now he was a dark, driven shape in the dark beside Alec and the bond was silent.
    They stopped a few times to rest and feed Sebrahn. Perhaps the rhekaro picked up on the tension between them, for as soon as he was let out of his sling, he settled close against Alec’s side and wouldn’t be moved. When Seregil offered to carry him, he clung to Alec like a squirrel.
    Before Alec could say anything, Seregil turned and strode off again, setting a brisk pace.
    Almost as if he’s trying to run away from something,
Alec reflected sadly. And knowing Seregil as he did, he probably was, if only from his own feelings.

CHAPTER 44
    The Parting

    SEREGIL DIDN’T MEAN to shut Alec out; he just didn’t know what to say.
    As the night waned, the way grew more barren rather than less, with no signs of habitation, and everyone’s concentration was taken up with not breaking an ankle or falling into a hole. By dawn their food was gone, and the water skin was just half-full. Alec took his hunting sling and left an unwilling Sebrahn with the others.
    Hunkered down in a dry gully, Seregil settled with his back to a rock—well away from Ilar, even though Alec wasn’t there to see—and regarded the restless rhekaro with some concern. “I thought we were beginning to get along, you and I?”
    Sebrahn squatted where Alec had left him, eyeing them both with apparent wariness.
    “He’s very attached to Alec, isn’t he?” Ilar remarked. “How are you going to manage, back in Skala?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “Perhaps he could be of some use to your queen?”
    Not in the mood for conversation, particularly that one, he tried to ignore the man, but it seemed Ilar needed to talk.
    “You and Alec…Are you still angry with each other?”
    Seregil rested his head against the rock behind him. “I’m not mad at him. He’s young. It’s hard for him, thinking of me having others before him. Especially you.”
    “I could talk to him.”
    “Don’t.”
    “Then you should.”
    Seregil gave him a meaningful glare. “Keep on like that and I’ll drop a rock on your head while you sleep.”
    After that, Ilar