Page 122 of The Last Storm
A frown twisted my mouth as the old saying wormed its way into my mind.
“Red sky at night, warrior’s delight. Red sky in the morning, warrior’s warning.”
My heart sank to join the knot in my gut.
Death was coming.
* * *
Rogue
Ara was sitting on the ledge, her silhouette illuminated by the vermilion sky in front of her.
I desperately wished she had left when I gave her the choice.
An overwhelming dread bit at me as I watched her. The air was crisp as birds chirped in the distance, the soft breeze blowing her hair, and it all felt wrong. It was too calm and in stark contrast to the whirlwind of anxiety in my chest.
It had taken everything I had to not leave her in Draig Hearth. And then in Blackburn. In every town we passed through. Even now, I resisted the urge to fly her somewhere safer, somewhere far away from here.
I wanted to offer her the choice. She deserved that, as we all did.
But the thought of her so close to battle, standing in the midst of death, was tearing me apart from the inside out.
* * *
Ara
Rogue joined me on the ledge, just as the troops came into view, still hours away. Just a speck in the distance on the other side of the Cursed Wood.
“Do you think they know what they’re walking into?” I whispered. “In the forest, I mean.”
“You didn’t, so I wouldn’t think so.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him.
“How long do you think it’ll take them to cross through?”
“Well, it takes us maybe two hours. But we know the way, what to avoid. I don’t imagine they’ll make it through that fast.”
I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek.
“We should eat. Let’s go down and sit with Doran. I need to talk to him, anyway.” We stood and I yelped as he scooped me up. “Hold on,” he warned with a devilish grin.
I started to respond when he turned his back to the cliff and fell backward, free-falling. I gasped, wrapping my arms around his neck as a scream caught in my throat. Just before we hit the ground, he snapped his wings out and we coasted a few feet before landing.
“Rogue!” I shouted, my cheeks flushed. He chuckled, wrapping a hand around the back of my neck, and kissed the top of my head. I placed my hands on his chest, giving a light shove. “Please. Let’s not do that again.”
“Since you said please.” He smiled and took my hand, leading me to where they were serving rations.
Doran was already there, sitting on a log. He looked up at us and immediately dropped his eyes back to his bowl. Feeling the tension between them, I stepped toward the man serving food to give them privacy.
“Good morning,” I said as he poured a scoop of porridge into a bowl and handed it to me.
“Morning to ya, lass,” he said with a warm smile that was missing a tooth.
Turning around, Rogue and Doran were firmly engaged in conversation so I took my bowl and wandered the camp, eating as I went. It wasn’t long before I spotted Ewan exiting his tent.
“Ewan!” I shouted as I jogged over.
“Ara. Nice to see you again.”
