Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,25

reached the campsite I had escaped what seemed like mere hours ago, even though I knew it had been much longer. There was a pile of ash where the fire had been, and trampled ground cover and bushes, but no men. No tents. No Rafe — or Rylan.

He’d told me they were heading to Dansii, but some small part of me had hoped it was another ploy, and that they’d be waiting for me here.

Instead, Eljin and I sat down in the empty clearing to eat a tiny portion of our food and rest for a moment before continuing on.

Sweat beaded along my hairline. My tunic stuck to my skin underneath the straps of my quiver of arrows as I bit into one of the rolls I’d brought.

“What do you know of Dansii?” I asked to fill the strained silence.

Eljin finished chewing his cheese before answering. “I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it’s very different from anything you’ve seen before. King Alonz, Armando and Hector’s father, had a massive wall built across the entire border of Antion and Dansii, guarded day and night by his soldiers.”

“To keep the people of Antion out or his people in?”

Eljin shrugged. “No one really knows. Probably so he could control both.” After taking another bite he continued, “I’ve heard that the land in Dansii has rolling hills, and is very hot and sandy, with strange bushes and trees and very few streams or sources of water. In times of drought they have been known to attack border villages in Antion to gain access to their water.”

I thought of our lush jungle — of the abundance of rivers and streams that ran through our land — and the small gold mines in the southern tip of the kingdom that helped support us, and a new thought occurred to me. “Do you think that Armando might be after our water and our mines, now that Damian is king and not his brother? We’ve always traded goods with them, but maybe he wants to take it all for himself. Maybe those are his goals — and not the temple.”

“That might be a by-product of what he hopes to accomplish, but if that were all he was after, he would just attack Antion. Damian’s army is depleted, he has very few sorcerers to help him defend his people or his throne, and Dansii has apparently not only been creating black sorcerers, but also experimenting to create an entirely new breed of dark sorcery.” From somewhere in the depths of the greenery that surrounded us on all sides, an animal keened. A high-pitched sound that turned into a screech; it sounded like it was dying. Eljin stood up abruptly, brushing off his lap and taking a quick swig from his water flagon. “We should keep moving.”

Spooked, I followed his lead, putting my half-eaten roll back in my pack and taking a drink of the water that was now lukewarm from the constant, oppressive heat of the jungle. Above us, through the canopy of leaves, the clear morning was working its way into an afternoon storm. The sky churned with gray-black clouds, increasingly blocking out the pieces of azure sky that broke through the treetops and the light of the sun.

We looked to the ground for signs of which way Rafe had gone. It was easy to pick out his party’s path; they hadn’t even tried to conceal their tracks this time. Eljin and I were silent as we trekked through the dense foliage. I, for one, hoped that whatever predator had made a meal out of the poor animal we’d heard was full for now. But just to be safe, I slid my sword out of its sheath and kept it partially lifted in front of me as we pressed forward, heading north.

“Are you anticipating an ambush?” Eljin smirked as he glanced down at my white-knuckled grip on the sword.

“I’ve already been attacked by a jaguar and a snake in the last couple of months. I’d rather be prepared for any possibility,” I retorted.

He just shrugged and kept moving forward. Rather than going for stealth like they had before, Rafe’s men had literally cut through the rain forest this time, leaving a fairly wide path of destruction — hacked-off branches and trampled foliage and a very easy-to-follow trail. How far behind them were we? When I saw a broken branch lying on the ground, its leaves stained red, I froze, thinking it might be Rylan’s blood. But when