11 Chapter 11

The bullet must have ricocheted off my shield. I let it disintegrate, stumbling to his body in a trance.

There is so much blood. It has bloomed all over his chest, spilling over onto the singed leaves. His eyes are half-open and glassy. Bile rises in my throat and I have to force it back.

Memories swamp me. Screaming, shouting, fear. Hands gripping my arms, someone yelling in my face.

Then I'm pulled back to the present. Maverick is lying on the floor, he's dead. Except it's not Maverick because he's grabbing my shoulders, talking to me. But the man on the ground looks just like him. In a daze, I crouch down, touching the side of his neck, searching for a pulse, instead I find a small, metallic circle. I remove it and the man's features shift and change, revealing someone entirely different. His hair is blonde, skin pale. The exact opposite of Maverick.

Maverick drags me upwards, shock in his eyes. My head is swimming, but I try and concentrate on his words.

"We have to get out of here," he exclaims. "Now!"

I look around, flames engulf us in a circle of fire, smoke fills my lungs.

"How?"

Maverick's face as he scans the area is calculating, thoughtful. "We have to climb."

"What?"

He spins me around and my gaze falls on the tree.

"No," I say, but it comes out in a gasp, barely audible and I know my argument is pointless.

Maverick plants himself at the base of there trunk and reaches upward to where the first branches are.

"Skrechs," he hisses. "You need to get me up there."

I glance doubtfully at him. "I'm not sure that's possible."

He rolls his eyes. "Come on, surely you aren't that weak."

"How do I know you won't just leave me here?"

He pauses. "You don't, but the way I see it, you don't have another option."

He's right.

We switch places and I brace myself against the trunk, cupping my hands. Maverick places his foot in them and I boost him upwards. He grabs hold of the branch and pulls himself onto it. I wait at the bottom, hopeful, hardly daring to breathe. Maverick looks down and hesitates, his face dark, reproachful.

Then he offers me his hand.

Relief fills me as Maverick helps me up into the tree and together we crawl forward until the branch is too small to support us, until the flames are just below us.

"Now we jump."

"We jump!" I cry

"Repeating it isn't going to change anything."

Before I can say anything else, Maverick grabs my hand and leaps from the branch. I tuck my body inwards and Maverick pulls me into a roll as we hit the ground. It is easier than I thought. Before I can even catch my breath, Maverick has dragged me to my feet and we are running blindly through the forest. We don't stop until the campsite comes into view. But even then Maverick continues to move, grabbing the canteens of water and rushing back into the trees. Smoke is unfurling around us and by the time we've reached the source it is hindering my vision so much I can't see him anymore. I wander blindly through the haze until I can sense the fire right in front of me. Maverick grabs my elbow and presses a canteen into my hand.

"Try to put out the flames," he shouts in my ear.

Then he vanishes.

I do as he asked, emptying the canteen over the fire, but it barely makes a dent.

"It's not working!"

Maverick pulls me away from the ring of fire and we disappear into the darkness. Eventually the river comes into view and we pause, gasping for breath.

"We can't stop," Maverick says. "We can't."

"I don't know what else we can do," I protest. "All we have is two small canteens and that fire is out of control."

Maverick bends down, filling up the bottle. "We can't go for help. If we do that it's over, the king will find us and we'll be done for."

He turns to go and I grab his arm. "Wait for me."

In the half light, I can almost imagine he smiles.

I bend down and fill my own canteen, but when I turn back to him fat drops of rain hit my head.

A relieved grin spreads over my face and I turn it to the sky, letting the rain soak me.

"Thank Skrechs." I breathe.

We make our way back to the campsite, the smoke has dissipated into the air and the fire has been extinguished, leaving dark scorch marks.

We pass the singed circle, the Alkardan laying in the centre and I stall, recapturing the memory.

"I killed him."

It isn't a question. It's the truth, but I can't wrap my head around it. Maverick stalks forward and grasps the man's clothes, dragging him across the dirt and hiding him under a bush.

I have to turn away. Now the shock of the fire has faded, I have to come to terms with what I've done. My head is pounding, a line of blood dried against it from where my head was hit. Maverick walks beside me in silence, the rain has eased off now and I am cold, soaked to the skin, chills running through my body.

"It wasn't your fault," he says after a while. "You didn't know the shield would do that."

I shake my head. "It doesn't change anything. I've killed someone, Maverick."

"He deserved it."

"No he didn't," I reply. "No one does."

Maverick smirks. "Not even me?"

I flash him a sarcastic smile. "You're special."

We reach the campsite and Maverick stops turning to look at me, his face serious. "Let's get one thing straight," Maverick tells me. "You saved my life, Princess. You risked yours for mine and that counts for something, okay?"

I nod.

"Good."

"Maverick?"

"Yeah."

"Would you kill me if you got the chance?" The question has been gnawing at me since he helped me into the tree.

Maverick tilts his chin. "No. I hate you, I think you are a horrible human being, a miserable klipren, but I won't kill you. Right now, staying alive is more important than ending your life."

His words give me a weird sense of comfort. They are brutally honest, not exactly kind, but I'm thankful all the same.

"Okay," I say, holding out my hand for him to shake. "Do we have a deal then?"

He grasps my hand with his own. "We have a deal."

In that moment, a mutual understanding passed between us. I still hate him, and he hates me, but we can't afford to let our emotions rule this time.

Our lives depend on it.

I frown. "How do you look so clean? We just fought an assassin, ran through a forest, escaped a fire and you look fine! Even that stupid hoods still in place."

I hit him lightly around the back of the head, but he spins around and grabs my hand, eyes dark.

"Don't touch it, okay?"

I falter slightly, turning my head away and pulling out of his grip. "Fine."

The ground is still soaked from the downpour and I crawl into the tent, trying to forget my coldness. It doesn't work. Outside I can hear Maverick moving around and the gentle crackling of fire. I sigh and clamber out again, joining him around the flames.

"I'm amazed you got the fire to light," I say.

Maverick shrugs, a tired expression on his face. "Like you said, I'm special."

"You can go to bed if you want, you look exhausted."

"Thanks," he replies sarcastically.

I roll my eyes. "I'm serious, I can keep watch for a while."

"I'll go in minute, but I wanted to ask you something."

"Go for it."

He keeps his gaze on the flames, refusing to look at me. "You told me your powers weren't your choice, you couldn't control them."

I frown. "And?"

"Did you know the shield would work? Did you even know what you were doing?"

"I was hopeful." Maverick doesn't smile and my own smirk drops. "It worked when he tried to shoot me, I had to try."

"No you didn't. You could have just let me die, but you didn't."

When I don't reply Maverick gets up and goes into his tent, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I'm not sure why I saved Maverick. Was it instinct? Some kind of moral decision? Or did I genuinely want to save him?

I hate him.

I hate his smirk, and his stupid comments, the way he makes me feel like an idiot, and I hate that ridiculous cloak.

I know if there was a mirror around I could look in it and see a pair of red eyes blinking back at me, eyes filled with hate and anger for Maverick and the position he has put me in. Our fragile truce may keep me from killing him, my kindness may have saved his life, but I refuse to let him believe I find him anything less than horrible.

I stare into the flames and allow my mind to drift back to the fight.

I killed someone.

I can still see the Alkardan lying in the ground, eyes dead, a hole in his chest, red anger seeping from the wound. I did that.

I'm a liability. I shouldn't be trusted, I know. It isn't the first time my power's hurt someone and I don't believe it will be the last.

I couldn't sleep, even if I wanted to. Every time I close my eyes I see his face, I see Maverick's face, and I can't do anything about it. Intentional or not, whether I saved a life or not, it doesn't change the fact he has died because of me. His blood is on my hands.

I pull my knees up into my chest, resting my chin on them, watching the darkness, trying to forget. I sit that way for a long time, until the fire burns low and I have to chuck on another log.

By the time I slip into sleep, the sun is peering out from behind the trees, bathing everything in a watery glow. I don't sleep well, or for long. It's as though I'm just in the edge of consciousness. If someone was to say my name I would hear, I would get up, but I'm grateful all the same for any escape my mind provides me.

It is the only comfort I have.