The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

It was over before Eden fully got herself up, the cat ripping into the dead rabbit’s body. It was hard to watch, blood splattering across the trunk of a nearby tree, but Eden was very hungry. She wondered if she might coax the cat into leaving her a little she could cook.

However, it was water that she needed most right now, she reminded herself. That was one of the reasons she needed to face her fear and enlist the help of this deranged forest creature. She could only hope that her cat knew where the nearest water source might be and that he would want to drink once he was done eating.

*****

A full day had passed since Eden had first climbed onto the back of her now beloved cat. She had even gone so far as to name him, but it turned out that her decision was premature. He had been killed by an even larger creature soon after. This one resembled more of a lizard, but it was humongous. It had jumped out of the bushes, ripping a scream out of Eden’s throat as she fell off the back of her pet. She fled as it swiftly killed her cat with its massive claws and then proceeded to eat him whole.

Fortunately, she found another cat akin to the first soon after. It took some time to coax him into allowing her on his back, but eventually she was darting through the forest like she had been earlier.

She didn’t know how it worked exactly, something about mana, but she could convey feelings to these creatures. That was how she finally got her previous pet to lead her to water. The sting of her burning throat told the creature just what she needed.

She had gotten a lot of practice using mana to convey messages in the day that had passed from then until now. Eventually, she could tell her pet to take her northeast at a swift pace. She didn’t know how many miles she had covered in the last day, but these massive cats were fast, even over long distances. She had stopped to sleep for a few hours, delighted to find her pet sleeping next to her when she awoke.

She knew she would make it to Koluk. It wouldn’t be long now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I didn’t know whether to feel frustrated or relieved that I heard nothing during the night after Kataleya left. If the thieves came at all, I hadn’t seen them, and they didn’t take anything. I could only hope that the rest of my peers found out something from their endeavors. I couldn’t imagine staying here for long.

Remi and I spoke on the way back and came to the conclusion that time was on our side, which did make me feel somewhat better. Our enemies were gathered in the forest, but it wasn’t easy to survive in the woods. If they had set up a trap for us and were waiting for us to attack, they would run out of rations before we became desperate enough to face them. Additionally, our king and his nobles were collecting the taxes of everyone across Lycast. So long as there wasn’t a rebellion, soon the king would have the coin needed to pay for more troops.

But Remi and I soon realized that our enemies must know this. And still, they remained. So what did Valinox and Endell have planned? Eslenda should still be watching them and reporting back to the king, but we were not privy to the information she passed along. Perhaps they had already gone back to Rohaer, given up.

I doubted it.

Soon we made it back to the Groovewater Tavern. Remi had told me that Jennava had an agreement with the owner of this place—a man determined to help us however he could. His workers would provide us with anything we needed upon request. I assumed Jennava paid this man coin for his help, coin that probably came from the king’s treasury. All of it seemed fine to me except for one thing Hadley had brought up the other day. It was quite apparent that the thieves knew we were using this place as our headquarters. That made us vulnerable, even if they weren’t planning on killing us.

Remi gave Leon a quick report about how we saw nothing, and then we were given permission to bathe. I was a little surprised the tavern had bathing quarters. There was one for boys and one for girls, reminding me of the castle and making me wish we were all back there instead of here. After my short bath, I reconvened with everyone else in the main room of the tavern, glad to be reunited with my friends and to learn what they had found out.

In the dining hall at the castle, the boys sat far enough from the girls that we never overheard any conversation. Here was different. There didn’t seem to be any order or arrangement to the seating. There was only one large table that could fit all of us. I took my place next to Michael.

“Hear anything interesting last night, Jon?” he asked as we ate our porridge.

It took some willpower not to look at Kataleya. “Nothing to hear, nothing to see.” I was a little groggy at having missed a good portion of my sleep, but I didn’t feel as bad as Remi looked. She seemed to be falling asleep as she was trying to eat, her head drooping.

“That’s how the thieves are,” Michael said. “Nothing for the longest time, then—”

“Can we have one quiet morning, Michael?” Leon snapped.

Jennava gave him a scolding look from the seat next to him. He sighed when he noticed.

“All right, that’s my mistake.” Leon seemed to be talking to everyone now. “I might as well tell all of you this now, so listen. The king has deferred to our judgment.” He gestured at Jennava. “So this morning we made a decision. It could be weeks more before