Page 127 of Earthbound

Lettle groaned. She absolutely hated sleeping in a sky tent. Though it was safer, the slight swinging made her queasy. Alder rummaged in his bag for the silkvine which they had stocked up on in Caperly.

He threw one end of the weave to her and she began to climb the tree he indicated.

Lettle had never been a good climber. Her weakened muscles in her left arm had made it difficult. But necessity had forced her to improve, and her arms now corded with muscles she hadn’t had at the start of the journey. She had to rely heavily on her right side, but Alder had taught her techniques that had helped her fine-tune her skills.

Together they knotted a canopy across the tree line. The obeah prowled beneath them, an added line of defence. But Ajax preferred to stay by Lettle’s side. It was clear the soulless obeah perturbed him.

By the time they were finished, Mortah had returned.

She climbed onto the silkvine with far more grace than Lettle would ever have.

‘The elven army has Mosima surrounded,’ she said as she joined them. ‘The tunnel you mention has a platoon of armed guards outside it. There’s no way we’ll get past them.’

‘Are you sure?’ Lettle said.

‘Yes. They looked like Waning soldiers to me, all equipped with drums.’

‘So how do we get in?’ Lettle asked.

Alder shrugged, and Mortah looked passively into the distance. So Lettle answered her own question.

‘We could use the cover of darkness?’

‘They’ll still see us coming,’ Mortah said.

‘How about we use the obeah? They were made to fight a war and we have enough of them—’

‘No!’ Lettle had rarely heard Alder raise his voice.

He sounds just like Afa, she thought.

‘I will not let the obeah be sacrificed like that. They might not have souls, but they are still creatures. And I have caused enough death.’

Shame warmed her cheeks. Afa wasn’t capable of the compassion Alder showed here. His tender heart had the ability to care for all things, even those without souls.

‘All right, Alder, we won’t use the obeah,’ she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. He nodded gratefully.

‘Know this is a decision Afa would not have made, and that is one of the many things that sets you apart from him,’ she added.

His smile was brief.

‘How about we infiltrate the army in disguise?’ Mortah suggested.

Lettle wrinkled her nose. ‘I was never a good soldier, I can barely remember my training.’

‘And I–I don’t remember anything…’ Alder said bleakly.

‘I can teach you both. All we need is some uniforms.’

Lettle’s stomach churned with the thought.

‘It’s getting dark now. Perhaps tomorrow we can discuss this…plan.’

Mortah nodded, her eyes feverishly bright. ‘We can practise drills, salutes, chants…’

Lettle drowned her out as she began to remove her bedding from her pack.

‘I can’t wait to sleep in an actual bed,’ she muttered.