The Prince, the Thief & the Artifact

Chapter 9: A New World

Summer played the dagger between her nimble fingers. She'd missed its familiar, reassuring weight. It was decided by the powers that be- namely Leon- that the thieves would be taken into custody. As soon as the sun rose, Al rode to the closest town to fetch the local guards.

Leon, Ida and Felix- who had waited patiently where Summer made him hide under a large tree root after knocking down the thief- hadn't slept a wink. Leon and Ida to keep eyes on the bandits. Felix because he was too agitated.

With her dagger in hand, Summer slept like a baby.

She'd been too tired to ponder on Leon's decision to give her the dagger the night before. But wide awake and well rested now, she couldn't understand his decision.

The woods woke up as the sun filtered in through the tree canopy, dusting the dewy grass with crushed crystals. The horses neighed near the glimmering water, their tails swishing.

"Why?" Summer finally asked Leon as they had breakfast.

A few of the bandits had tried loosening their binds a few times over the night. Summer had heard them grunt in pain after Leon or Ida put an end to their escape attempts. Now, all the thieves either sat silently, cursed, or snored.

Leon looked at the dagger playing in her hand. He looked grouchy after losing a night's sleep. "You might as well be of use if you're sticking around."

"Do you give all your captives weapons?" she asked, taking a bite of the dried meat.

"Any normal captive would try to escape if put in the same situation as you," Leon said.

"I would've, too, if you hadn't threatened to take Rose instead of me."

Leon drank coffee from a tin cup, looking not the least apologetic. He had very little expressions, Summer realized.

"Whatever the reason," he said, "having one more person to fight on our side during the journey is convenient."

"Especially a well trained person," Ida added, peering at Summer through heavy lashes. "Where did you learn to move like that?"

Summer shrugged. "I told you, someone taught me. It's easier to blend in the woods for a person familiar with it. Why do you think we haven't caught a whiff of these guys? I bet they were trailing us for hours yesterday. Right, boys?"

Vile curses were her only reply. Summer clicked her tongue. "So eloquent."

"We were riding too hard." Leon frowned at her. "We were too tired to pay attention. Otherwise, we would've sensed them."

"Don't flatter yourself," Summer said between sips of coffee.

Leon pursed his lips, Ida choked on her coffee. Summer trudged on, "even if we were strolling through the woods, it would've been difficult to sense them. They move around like someone used to walking around the forest."

"So what are you saying?" Ida asked.

"When you spend enough time in the forest, it takes you in. Even a fool would move like a predator after living in the woods for a number of years. The forest kind of adopts you." Summer looked at a young man with a scraggly blond beard bound to a nearby tree. "Hey, blondie, how long have you been living in these parts?"

"None of your damn-" Leon looked pointedly at him. The man cleared his throat, intimidated, then replied, "a few years, five or six."

"See," Summer said. "'You become part of the woods when the woods become part of you'."

Those were Boyd's words. He'd said them to her whenever she felt frustrated that she couldn't be as invisible or as quiet as he had been.

Boyd would have felt the bandits, Summer was certain. He wasn't simply good at blending in with the forest, sometimes she could swear the forest actually spoke to him.