Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (16 page)

"Gah."

"Aro?"

She looked over at Kei. "I'll be right back."
She grinned at him, "Keep my rock warm."

He laughed, shaking his head at her, and settled back
down as she got up.

Heading quietly out the back way of the cave, she
turned once and looked at Prince. He still watched her. She gave him a slight
nod toward the pool and then continued on.

She waited out of sight by the pool, worrying at a
fingernail.

"Don't bite your nails. It is unseemly."

She lowered her hand and grinned. "I'm supposed
to be a boy."

Prince frowned at her. "That is no excuse."

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "You are such a
prince." Her words brought a faint smile to his lips, but it faded quickly
and she winced. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head slightly. "You have nothing to
be sorry for, child."

She grimaced. "You've done so much for me. And..."
She sighed and rubbed at her head in frustration, unsure of how to say what she
wanted him to understand. "I just...gah!"

He rested a hand on her shoulder as she struggled with
putting into words how much he meant to her, for everything he had done and
said. Especially for being there for her. She didn't know what to do, how to be
friends with both him and Kei when they didn't get along.

He gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "Stay with
Kei. I know you missed him. I will be here if you need me."

She looked up at him and saw he was actually smiling
and a small smile came to her on its own. He wasn't mad, so everything would be
fine. He had said he would stay, he would be here. His words meant more to her
than he could possibly know when everything else seemed to be disappearing
around her.

"Come on," Prince said, the smile still
amazingly on his face. "Time for bed."

She opened her eyes wide in mock astonishment. "You
found me a bed?"

He swatted her lightly upside the head.

She laughed and followed him back.

Kei looked over at her in concern when she settled
back down next to him.

"I'm fine." She smiled to herself as she
closed her eyes. Everyone was getting along. Everything would be fine.

* * *

Morning seemed to come too quickly. She had meant to
get up early with Kei and stand watch with him, but he hadn't woken her up. In
fact, she ended up being the last to wake. That made her cranky.

She ate the little food they had left for her and
proceeded to help pack up. Most of the others had gone out searching for what
food they could find. Prince remained in the caves with her, trying to put all
their salvaged belongings into portable bundles. She grew frustrated as she
found herself reaching for her knives more than once and not finding them
there.

Prince remained strangely quiet and she looked up at
him. He stood there, fingers resting gently on his chest. She'd seen him do it
a number of times before, but hadn't really taken notice. Where his fingers
rested though, could have been where a chain or pendant had hung. "Did
they take something important from you?"

He nodded slightly and his fingers curled before he
dropped his hand. "Important. Yes, you could say so." He looked off
into the distance. "I need..." He started, but stopped and looked
down at her briefly, before turning suddenly and walking away.

"Uh, strange," she muttered.

Kei walked in from the beach. "What's strange?"

She sighed. "Nothing." She looked over to
where Prince had disappeared toward the pool.

Kei followed her gaze and frowned. "Did you
fight?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't think so."
She worried her lip, trying to figure out what had happened. "I think it's
just hard on all of us, losing everything."

Kei nodded. "Harder for him. He had more."

She nodded. "True."

Bo came in, followed by Cain. "You all finished
in here?"

She nodded. "I think so. You have any luck?"

He smiled and held up a bulging shirt. "Didn't do
too badly if I do say so." He nodded in Cain's direction. "Cain has
another. Garic actually speared a few good sized fish. They're cleaning them
now."

She made a face, wondering how good a job they could
be doing with just sharp chips of rock.

Everyone came in and gathered up their sparse
belongings. She only looked back once before following the others up the
embankment and into the woods.

Fear pushed and pulled at her, trying to take over,
but she tried not to let it show. She was a city girl. Living on the beach had
been hard enough. She didn't know what to expect now. She tried not to be
afraid. She knew at least some of the others had some experience with it. It
helped knowing they would all be looking out for her.

However this wasn't their woods, or their homeland.
Childhood stories of wild Fey, magical Elves, and shape changing Were abounding
in these woods came back to her. Truly none of them knew what they were walking
into. Had the stories been just stories? She knew they all existed, but the
tales had often been frightening, not cozy and nice. Even Kei had few memories
of his young childhood here. She glanced over at Prince. "Think we'll run
into anything we can't handle? Other than slavers I mean."

"I wouldn't think so. Not this close to the
beach, or so far north."

She didn't like how his words didn't seem all that
certain and again missed her knives. Giving up on that she picked up a big
stick as soon as she found one.

They headed into the woods on an easterly course until
they came across a stream. Not wanting to give up a source of water, they
continued on along its banks. Finally, Bo declared a sizable clearing by the
stream the place they would stop.

Personally she considered the spot still too close to
the beach, but maybe that was the point. They could still have easy access to
the food they could find there.

Her men suddenly sprang into action, seeming to know
what needed to be done, gathering rocks for a fire pit, digging a shallow hole
for it, and breaking branches off trees with long thin needles for bedding.

She tugged on Bo's shirt. "What do you want me to
do?"

He pursed his lips. "Hmm. You can start
collecting firewood. Try to find some good dry, dead fall."

She nodded and set about doing as asked, and any other
small chores they found for her afterward.

As the afternoon wore on everyone else seemed to be
able to constantly have something to do. She found herself sitting next to Cain
watching him in amusement as he cursed at the pile of leather before him. "What
are you making?"

"Water skins."

"Do you know what you're doing?"

He scratched his head and let out a sigh. "Well.
No. It is not helpful we have nothing in the way of tools."

She picked up some leather pants and examined them. "I'd
cut off part of a leg. The seams are pretty good. Then you'll just have to sew
the bottom."

He raised his eyebrows at her but took the garment and
nodded after a moment. He set about sawing at the leather with one of the sharp
rocks. She checked out one of the other pieces they had, a leather vest, and
began picking apart one of the seams that had been held together with a thin
strip of leather. Cain finished cutting and again began staring the piece of
leather, turning it over and over in his hand.

With a sigh she took the piece from him. She deftly
turned it inside out and decided the cut end would be the best end to sew. She
bit her lip. "I'm going to find some rocks."

She came back with a larger flat one and smaller hand
sized one. She pulled one of the larger nails she'd scavenged from her pocket
and set about pounding a line of holes along the leather.

Cain stared at her in astonishment. "You can sew?"

She paused, holding in a wince. Boys aren't supposed
to sew. "I'm a lot younger than my brothers, so I got taken care of by a
lot of army wives when they were gone."

He nodded as if her quick lie made perfect sense.
Suddenly his face turned solemn. "I'm sorry, about your bro–"

"Don't," she said quietly, ducking her head
and concentrating on her work.

He watched her in silence for a while before standing.
"I'll leave this to you then. You seem to know what you are doing."

She nodded, concentrating on placing even holes,
trying to ignore the ache in her chest. Trying to hide the tears sliding
silently down her cheeks.

* * *

She had almost finished sewing the bottom together
when Prince wandered over. She looked up at him. "I don't know how well
these seams are going to hold water."

He raised his eyebrows at her and frowned, looking off
into the woods as he thought. "Let me see what I can find that might help."

She continued to work, making a few more makeshift
water skins, adding ties to the tops. By the time the sun started to set Prince
returned with a shell full of something that looked like tree sap. For all she
knew it was. With a small stick he showed her how to smear some between the
seams and then weigh it down with rocks. "Do that for the rest, we can
test one in the morning, we may need to add more."

Darkness came and everyone returned to camp from whatever
they had been doing. She happily greeted Kei. He had been gone most of the day
scouting the area. They all ate quickly before curling up in lumps around the
fire.

The days continued to pass quickly. The men tried
their luck at hunting and continued fishing. She and Prince spent time
gathering food and scavenging at the beach. Her water skins seemed to work, so
she continued making them. The men occasionally brought her other leather they
found. The work made for boring and monotonous days. Boring beat being chased
by slavers, so she didn't complain.

Kei and Prince seemed to be almost getting along. They
weren't openly hostile at least. She could not say the same for Allen and Garic.
She heard them arguing more than once, about what she wasn't certain. They
still kept to themselves, but she found them watching her quietly on a number
of occasions. It would have unnerved her, but she caught them doing the same to
Avery and Kei, too. It made her uncomfortable, but she didn't understand, so
she ignored it.

It turned out to not matter very much. One morning
they awoke to find the pair gone. Thankfully they didn't take anything they
shouldn't have.

Chapter 14

Always Trust Your
Instincts

Something startled her awake. Staring up at the stars
she listened, trying to figure out what it had been. Was it just the wind in
the trees, or some unfamiliar animal noise? Whatever the sound had been it
didn't repeat and she rolled over, Kei close beside her, listening to the other
night sounds around her.

Sleep evaded her and she grimaced, rolling over again
and then sitting up. The others all continued to sleep soundly around the fire.
She sighed and yawned as she stood and quietly added more wood to it. She poked
at it for a while and then looked around at the sleeping bodies again.

She had to pee, but was uneasy at the idea of going
off into the woods alone in the dark. The others had warned her often enough
not to go off alone. She felt foolish, being afraid of the dark. She wasn't
four years old. Still, she grabbed a stick as she picked her way into the
woods.

She wouldn't go far, would do what she had to as
quickly as she could, and get back before anyone missed her. It seemed the
stars had begun fading somewhat, dawn couldn't be very far away.

Trying to quietly make her way back she stopped suddenly,
again hearing something that sounded out of place. She turned, trying to figure
out what had made the noise, but the sound did not come again. Cursing under
her breath she continued on more quickly.

She wasn't certain when she got turned around, but
after a short time realized she should have been back to the camp already.

"I hate the woods," she muttered as she
stopped.

She looked around, it still wasn't much lighter. She
didn't know where she was. Should she call for Kei? Or wait for someone to come
and find her? She gripped her stick more tightly.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot." Waiting until morning
would have been a better idea. Or keeping the camp in sight, but no, she had
been too afraid one of the others would see her and discover she wasn't a boy.

"Gah!" She turned in a circle, but it didn't
help.

She continued muttering to herself as her panic grew.
Kei would be upset with her. Prince would be furious. She started walking,
hoping to come across the stream or the beach, anything to get her bearings. She
needed to get back before everyone woke up.

She stopped suddenly as she thought she heard muted
voices, people sounds. Yes, off to her left. Relieved she quickly headed for
them.