Page 30 of Courting the Fae Captain
“Not if we had a certain captain on our side,” I said after a beat.
Sherai gave me a long, hard look. “You need to be certain you can trust him. Because it wouldn’t just be your life on the line, Aeris. It would be all of ours.”
I placed a hand over my heart sincerely. “I wouldneverput you both in danger if I weren’t certain. Anyway, we’re nowhere near that point right now. But I’m working on it. We can talk about this later. For now, we need to focus on our next move.”
“Shelter first,” Sherai said. “Then we need to find water and those herbs.”
“And what do those books of yours suggest we do to survive this mess? What do we look for?” Akira said with a sly smile.
Sherai grinned. “Oh, you’ll see.”
An hour later, we huddled together in a small cave near a hill peak, its mouth partially hidden by foliage. It was cold and musty, but it was dry and offered protection from the elements. There was only one entrance, which meant we’d see any attackers coming.
“Do we risk a fire?” I asked Sherai. “I’m freezing my tits off.”
She shook her head. “Even with the narrow opening, I wouldn’t take the chance. Smoke rises. Besides, there might bemore than females to worry about come nightfall. We don’t want the light or smoke to attract anything.”
Akira frowned as she whittled down the tip of a stick to form a makeshift spear. Somehow, she made it look easy with a sword, where I would have struggled even with a knife. She looked at her creation with a critical eye, then set it down on her growing pile. “At least now we have some tools to ward them off.”
“And access to fresh water. Even beds,” I said as I smiled at the palm fronds Sherai had gathered for bedding. Her knowledge would be a lifesaver in this place.
“It won’t be enough,” she said quietly as she sprinkled pebbles along the entrance. “This should act as a kind of warning system. A simple way to announce any unwanted guests when they step on them … Fresh water will be vital, too, which means the creek will be a magnet for all kinds of threats.”
“We’ll go morning and night to collect water, and I’ll forage for food when I can. I know which mushrooms and plants are edible.” I nodded at the spears as I addressed Akira. “Are you as good at using those things as you are at making them?”
“Stab them with the pointy end,” Akira said. “Simple.”
I cocked my head. “Your lack of concern given our situation is both oddly comforting and deeply disturbing. I'd better do some foraging and scouting before it gets dark.”
Sherai perked up from the signal trap she was rigging at the door. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No. But I don’t have any other ideas, and we’re not going to be much use against whatever is out there without our strength.” I patted the sword I’d tied to my waist with a makeshift vine rope. “I’m not alone.”
Akira’s eyes narrowed as she looked at my side. “I should go. You’re in no state for a fight.”
“You should keep each other safe,” I replied as I made my way to the cave mouth. “Besides, I can be swift and stealthy when I need to be.”
“Wait,” Sherai said as she abandoned her task and collected something from a pile across the cave. She returned to my side and held it out to me. “Take this.”
“You,” I said as I looked at a basket woven from palm fronds and vines, “are a genius.”
“Knowledge is and always will be our greatest form of strength.”
“If I don’t return by nightfall … don’t come looking for me.” My voice was quiet, but my gaze was hard as I looked between them. “I mean it. If I’m still out after dark, you stay put.”I squeezed Sherai’s arm, then stepped over her trap and out into the wilderness.
Outside, birds chirped in a nearby tree, and the soft sound of a frog warbling met my ears. Good enough for me. I made my way across the slope in the direction of the bird sounds, searching around tree trunks and dead logs for any sign of food or medicinal plants.A cluster of Fairy Inkcaps dotted a stump, and I leapt on them eagerly, placing them into the basket.
I spent the next couple of hours scouting the area, not only for food, but to get a lay of the land.The terrain was a mix of rolling hills that gave way to dense vegetation on all sides. The stream we’d found carved a snaking path down the hillside, likely converging with an outlet leading to the ocean. Maybe a river connected somewhere lower down, but I wasn’t prepared to make the hike to confirm it.
There was food everywhere, if one knew how to look, and countless animals lived on the island as well. Rabbits and poultry, for the most part, though there could be pigs or goats. They’d be grazing somewhere safe and quiet, hidden away from predators, but I saw plenty of signs of smaller creatures.Burrows and nests, and the soft rustling of birds in the trees was a comfort as I went about my tasks.
I hadn’t spotted anyone as I foraged, which was both a relief and a worry. Perhaps staying in one spot wasn’t the best strategy. We could be sitting ducks. Worse still was the thought of new alliances forming among the other females, which could only make things harder. I didn’t blame them, it’s what I had done after all. I shook my head. Worrying was a useless notion that kept the body in a state ready to take flight. Fear and stress were detrimental to the body’s function. And I needed mine in working form, which meant focusing on what I was out here to do.
Luckily, it didn’t take much longer to find a healthy portion of morels and berries—the edible kind as well as those of the poisonous variety. A spear or a blade was just fine, but they weren’t the only weapons that could come in handy. Knowledge, as Sherai had so aptly said, was the most pliable tool to work with. I filled my basket with chamomile and calendula, when shortly after, I heard something or someone running through the brush. I frowned, parting the leaves of some overgrown bushes, ready to flee or fight if necessary. I sucked in a breath as I saw a lone female running in my direction.
Her brows lifted, but she quickly took in my basket and my face, then voiced one word to me, “Run.”
She didn’t stop as she sprinted toward me. Blood was splattered over her nightgown and pale face, and her red hair streamed behind her like a river of copper.
