Through my dubious care, he stood quiet, his eyes half closed, as if he found this pleasurable, even when I covered the injuries with salve. I knew firsthand how bad it stung. I didn’t have much left; it had been made by a friend of Fade’s, and soon it would be gone. Then I’d have only my daggers left from the enclave. Using the remaining rags, I treated the injuries as best I could, knowing we had to keep the slashes clean.
“Show me your leg. Is it broken?”
He shook his head. “Just wrenched, I think. I went running like a fool, after Miles dragged you off. It’ll be fine.”
“You’d say that even if you had bone sticking through the skin.”
His grin gained layers of attitude. “Probably.”
Soon, I finished the rudimentary care our surroundings allowed, including a tight wrap around his knee. It felt odd to kneel before him, but he made no suggestive comments, or I might have hurt him. I made sure the bandage was secure and that he could bear some weight.
After rinsing my hands in the lake, I asked, “Can you go on?”
He tested by taking a step. Not quickly, but he could move. “It would help if you could find me a walking stick.”
I wasn’t eager to return to the forest, but I avoided the battlefield and found a likely deadwood branch on the ground at the tree line, long and sturdy enough for our purposes. Though I hated the feeling, I ran back to Stalker because he represented my only tie to safety. How crazy that it had come to this. I didn’t like being alone, and silence could drive me crazy after the constant murmur down below.
“Will this do?”
He tested it. “Perfect, thanks. Time to see if I can pick up the trail.”
If he couldn’t, then this had been for nothing. I couldn’t face that; I just couldn’t. The ball of anguish knotted tighter inside my chest, stealing my breath. No, I’d find Fade.
Oh, Fade.
Stalker ignored my tense silence. He retraced his steps, pain in every movement. I didn’t see how he could continue like this, but I said nothing as he scanned the forest’s edge. Finally he clenched a fist and slammed it against his palm.
“Nothing. There’s too much movement of other game in the grass. I could follow any one of six trails here, and I might find a herd of deer.”
“What else can we do?”
He thought for a moment. “Let’s walk the shore. If they were traveling hard, as we have been, I’m sure they were thirsty. Freaks drink, right?”
I had never seen one crouched at a river, but if they lived—and the small Freaks hinted at natural reproduction—then, yes, they needed water to survive. “And the ground will be damp enough there to show you more specific signs, like it did in the forest?”
“I hope so.” The alternative went unspoken.
We traveled halfway around the lake before he found their tracks. Even I could clearly make out the spot where one man-size burden and a smaller bundle had been placed on the ground, and then three sets of clawed feet moved closer to the water. I stood staring down at the dark earth. The prints were wider than a human foot’s, claws pricking the mud above the toes.
After we followed them a ways, Stalker said, “They’re heading around the lake out onto the plains.”
Away from the village? Unexpected.
It changed nothing, however. No matter what, I’d continue until the trail went cold, or I found Fade. There could be no other outcome. He had taken countless beatings for me, proven his love when he thought I’d chosen someone else. I trudged behind Stalker and wondered how he could stand the pain. I suspected he had the same steel as me, and that his quiet inner voice whispered things like, You won’t quit. You’re a Wolf, just as I bolstered myself with reminders that I had been a Huntress.
The light trickled from the day, dimming to black, and then the stars winked into sight. Once, I had thought they were torches that belonged to winged people who lived in a city high above, but Mrs. James had taught me otherwise. Sometimes truth pared away the magic. Darkness would soon prevent us from moving farther, but then—I drew up short. We didn’t need the trail anymore.
I knew where they had taken him.
The Freak encampment surpassed anything I’d seen or imagined, a horde capable of conquering not only Salvation but every human settlement. It had to be a thousand strong; fires blazed into the night—doubtless stolen from our outpost—smoky signals announcing their presence without fear, for who would challenge them? Stalker grabbed my arm and pulled me down into the tall grass, though we were too far for them to smell or hear us.
Did that mean the village functioned as their outpost, keeping watch on us? I hadn’t been able to figure out what purpose it served, but this thought sent a shiver through me because their behavior had become eerily similar to ours. I wondered now if these Freaks had been assigned the task of taking Fade and Frank in a coming-of-age rite; if they brought back human prey, then they could become adults or something, like earning a name in the enclave. There was no way for me to know for sure, of course; it wasn’t like I could ask. But it made sense.
It was also possible that the village was unrelated to this horde. Just like there were different groups of humans, maybe there were other kinds of Freaks. For some reason, the monsters who stole my boy had avoided the forest settlement. Whatever the truth about the two factions, it didn’t impact my goal.
“Fade’s there,” I breathed.
I felt it in my bones.
Impossible odds. With our skill, we’d had a chance against a small hunting party, but Miles’s treachery delayed us too long, and they’d rejoined the horde. Keen night vision allowed me to glimpse their movement—so many Freaks. Quite apart from rescuing Fade, we had to get back and carry word. Preparations must be made.
“It’s your call,” Stalker whispered.
The seconds felt like hours and weighted with terrible uncertainty. But I could make the tough calls. I was pure steel.
“You can’t go with me. Your leg won’t hold at a run, and if something goes wrong … if I don’t make it back, you have to carry word to Longshot.”
His hands clenched into fists, and an agonized breath escaped him. “Don’t ask me to leave you, dove. Ask me anything but that.”
I touched his face, his scars, knowing this moment mattered. It might be our last. Stalker let me, as he always had, even when he said it would look like weakness. Something gave in my chest. “I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to find Fade. As long as it’s safe, wait over there until just before dawn, and then head back. If it gets ugly before then, then go. Move fast and quiet. Above all else, warn Longshot what’s coming. It might be our only chance.”