Page 108 of Cursed Shadows 4

Then darkness steals him from my view, and I sink into the log. I sink into a dreamless sleep.

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Dare kicks dirt onto the hot embers.

The sizzle reaches through the distance and irks me. This is the sort of morning—or wake up time, whatever time it is—that I crave coffee.

No, I do not crave it.

I need it, I need it like I need water, food, air, clothes.

But I am without it.

That has woken me up on the wrong side of the log.

So as I fill my waterskin in the creek, I shoot a dark look over my shoulder at Dare. He’s started stamping out the remaining embers now.

Backpack secure around his shoulders, the pack itself is flat against his spine. At first glance, one might think they are scabbards, so perfectly compressed and slight.

But in that backpack is the rest of the cooked meat, wrapped up firm and stowed away for when we need it.

He’s supposed to have coffee in there.

That’s what he told me.

“Lost it down the cliff when—”

I stopped listening after that.

Don’t care what happened.

Just that we do not have coffee.

Now, it’s all I can think about as I tug the waterskin strap over my shoulder, then follow Dare out of the campsite.

We keep uphill. The direction he means to take me. The way to the summit.

“How long have we been here?” I ask, running my fingers through my loose waves.

“Six phases.”

Six phases... That is how long it took Dare to find me.

I cut that time in half and decide that’s how long it will take us to reach the summit. Without all the obstacles, without the distance between us, and with us paired up now, another few phases sounds about right.

That gives me time.

I don’t plan on reaching the peak.

I have mild, fleeting schemes. Running away when Dare faces battle, but long after I am fed and restored; finding a hiding spot and sneaking off to hide out alone; robbing him while he sleeps, steal the food, then leave him behind; or, my personal favourite, jump into the first river I see, let it carry me down the mountain so far that there is no way there will be enough time to take me back up to the summit before the portals weaken and the iilra have no choice but to pull us out.

I don’t have to race against the litalves, the dokkalves, or even Dare, my companion.

I only have to outlast the iilra.

Their grips on warped time and space will slip.

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