Not All Heroes Are Guiltless

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Aela’s POV

We ran to a creek that is a tributary for the river his camp is connected to. His crew and the prisoners are running down the riverbank. The few guards left from the barracks are reorganizing but haven’t begun the pursuit. The men reach camp, and I stand on the outskirts. Ethan is greeting and congratulating everyone.

The sense of danger still lingers around us, and I’m constantly scanning the area for potential threats. The prisoners need a moment before they can move farther and into a more secure position. My eyes stay on the forest while everyone in the camp is celebrating. I noticed a small movement that alerted me to a regime scout that had found this location. I dash quickly and find he’s already running away from us. I push myself harder to catch up to him using my wolf abilities to hone into my prey.

He hears me and trips while looking back in pure terror. I leap forward, grasping his hair to pull his neck back and do a quick silent slice across his neck. His body fell with a thud, and I stepped away to verify he was alone.

I can hear Ethan panting as he runs up behind me, “Silence, was there anymore?”

I shake my head slowly to have my hood indicate my communication. He bends down to the scout’s body and starts to search his pockets and finds a few pieces of paper, and he reads, “they will be expecting him back before sunrise. We need to move.”

He stands up and starts to walk back towards the camp but after a few paces he stops and turns to me with a genuine smile with a slight whisp of tease, “Thanks for joining us, Silence.”

When we return to camp, Ethan helps break down camp, and he takes us deep into the forest to hide amongst the thick trees and brush. The tents can’t be placed, so they use them to keep the supplies dry from the dew.

I climb a tree and make my camp on a thick branch. I monitor Ethan, who is making sure everyone is safe and secure. He’s a good leader and reminds me of Andrew. Some people were born to be leaders.

“Has anyone seen Silence?” He yells out, and several of his men grumble, asking him why he doesn’t call me ‘Shadow poser’. His response is that he’s certain Shadow was my companion, and he was way more intimidating than Silence. Silence has more compassion than Shadow. I begin to wonder how he even detected Shadow. He’s usually flawless. Ethan’s annoyance breaks me out of my thoughts when he yells again, but one-man points above his head. He scans, and then even in the dark, he seems to be able to see me and smiles.

We stayed in this spot in the forest for a full day. On the second day, people started moving, feeling restless. I close my eyes and meditate to conserve my energy to concentrate on a hidden ward I placed around us. I know when anyone comes within a half mile around us.

Screams jolt me up out of my perch, and I observe the men on the forest floor to see the commotion. Ethan’s voice is overheard through the murmurs “f*****g s**t, its venomous.”

“We don’t have any antidote.” A voice replies back to him. “We also lost most of our herbs to be able to extract any poison if it gets into his bloodstream. He’s done for.”

“Ethan someone will have to take the snake to the apothecary in the nearest town. To make an antidote, timber vipers are fatal.” Another man warns.

I jump from my perch and land silently on the forest floor. Not paying attention to their crisis. This forest was the lupine’s hunting ground for generations. They often hid supply caches and antidotes were common items for their supplies. I walk through scanning each tree for the markings indicating a cache. A survival tactic I learned from traveling with a full-fledged lupine.

“Silence!” Ethan shouts after me. I turn to him as he walks up to me. A linen bag with a dead snake in it. “Care to join me into town?”

I sigh knowing the nearest town is too far and to make antivenom for the injured he won’t have enough time. Ethan starts walking fast through the forest and I continue my search for the lupine caches.

He starts talking to me, but I think he just needs to talk. He tells me about how his band first started and the battles they have fought. We’ve walked maybe a mile when I see the mark covered in moss on a trunk of a tree. Its old and has bark growing over it could be easily missed by the untrained eye.

I change directions to the indicated tree and Ethan stops talking while he watches me investigate the tree. “Silence, what is it?”

I knock on the tree trunk and walk around it until I find a hollow part. I grab a dagger and start to cut into the bark to be able to rip off a strip.

Ethan stands over me with his hands on his hips, “Silence? Did you find something?”

I ignore him as I remove several layers of bark to reach the cache because this one hasn’t been touched in probably a century. Only a thin sheet of wood is left. I use the dagger to stab into the board and wedge it to break it along the veins and shatter the wooden cover into the hollow crevice.

“Is that a secret stash?” Ethan says in surprise and then full of excitement. “You think it would have something to help us?”

I pulled out the three linen shirts and trousers, handing them all over to Ethan. He takes them and seems confused. I pulled out a hunting dagger, unstrung bow with a string, and arrows and Ethan now laughs. “I heard a rumor the lupines would store extra clothes and hunting gear for when they would transform. Apparently, their clothes don’t transform with them.”

At the bottom there is a flagon of mead and other small glass bottles. The labels are faded and are written in lupine native language.

“Jackpot, can you read if there is any antivenom?” Ethan can barely stand still with his excitement.

I handed him one of the two vials with the word snake faded on it. The timber viper is the only dangerous venom snake in this forest. The other are for spiders and maybe antiseptic for wounds. I grabbed them all and we rush back to our camp.

Ethan quickly goes to help administrate the antivenom and I head back to my perch. I hear them mumble in delight and know they are celebrating the fact the antivenom worked. I return to concentrate on the wards.

My meditation is disrupted when I hear a concerned voice, “Ethan, you can’t trust them. They know how to read and find lupine stashes. Are they collared? Could they be Delmar the cruel?”

I’ve never heard of Delmar the cruel. He must be a legendary lupine, or they wouldn’t accuse me of being this person. My wolf perks up in my mind, ‘Delana and Delia are the names of black fur clan. Could this Delmar be referring to our mate? He said he was the last of his clan. Del affix is the title for the bloodline of the black furs. Much like ‘Am’ is the affix for the white furs.’

So, Delmar is a black wolf and I’m almost giddy about the idea his name was used around the country for them to give him the nickname of the cruel. ‘If they are scared of him the likelihood, they are the same. Be nice to know why he’s been labeled the cruel.’

Ethan’s voice interrupts my conversation with my wolf, “He can keep his secrets, but Silence can fight better than any of us and he saved Nigel. I am not going to accuse them of being a madman.”

I felt Ethan’s eyes on me, and I didn’t change my position. I know I just caused him to have tension with his own men. Trusting a cloaked stranger and one with knowledge of the forbidden culture of lupine. I think I’ve made the best choice. Ethan will be strong enough to help me retake the capital then find our queen.