Chapter 56: Escape

Rowan

Shelly turned to look at me over her shoulder, the baby nestled against her chest in a sling as we walked toward the light beaming through an opening in the cave. She narrowed her eyes, squinting into the darkness behind me.

“It’s fine,” I whispered, trying not to disturb the sleeping toddler strapped to my back. “I haven’t heard them in a long time.”

Shelly swallowed, glancing back into the darkness once more before turning her head toward the light, her long black hair fluttering against her waist.

Our group was a strange sight. Otto was in the lead with his two eldest children, both boys, one ten or so, and the other only roughly a year younger but nearly equal in height. Abel was the eldest and was the spitting image of Otto, while Timothy was a startling mix of both of his parents, inheriting his father’s reddish hair and his mother’s dark brown eyes. Dad had been in charge of their daughter, a little girl named Farrah who had insisted on walking, but her six-year-old legs quickly tired, and now Dad was walking with her on his hip, her head lolling on his shoulder as she slept.

Shelly held their newest baby, an infant who couldn’t have been more than three or four months old, a quiet baby named Henry.

And I was strapped to Otis, their two–year-old hellion who had spent a good part of the last four hours plucking hairs out of the back of my head as I carried him in a sling tied to my back. He had finally fallen asleep, and I wanted to keep it that way.

It had been shockingly easy to leave the underground network of tunnels the Pack Lycenna lived in. It was a small pack, with a population that couldn’t have been more than sixty or so people at the most. We had simply left our room and met up with Otto’s family, following Otto’s lead as we walked through the impossible maze of man-made tunnels to the more challenging and narrow network of naturally occurring tunnels that had several openings to the forest above.

There had been a period when we were being followed. Our biggest challenge was

keeping the children quiet as we tried to navigate the uneven ground, having to stop periodically to lift the children over rocks and encourage the ones who were walking to squeeze through the tight, darkened pockets of rock that opened up into wider, more open tunnels.

Eventually, we lost the warriors who were on our tail, and now we walked into the light with a communal feeling of ease. Even Shelly, who hadn’t said a single word to any of us, had breathed a sigh of relief as we finally exited the cave system, stepping out into the light of midday, sheltered by huge spruce trees.

“How many miles was that, do you think?” I heard Dad say ahead of me, shifting the dead weight of the sleeping Farrah to his other hip.

“Close to forty, if my estimations are correct.” Otto patted his sons on the head as he spoke to Dad further.

Forty miles? That sounded almost impossible. We had been walking for at least a day, if not a day and a half, only stopping to rest for an hour or two at a time. I felt sorry for the kids.

“Ouch!” I hissed, turning my head back to look at Otis, who was driving his knee into my back

“Down!” he said, smacking me cleanly on the cheek.

Shelly turned to look at us, giving Otis a look that only a mother can give, and the little guy settled down momentarily, murmuring to himself as he shifted his weight against my back

The party continued into the forest for several more miles until the sun began to set through the trees. Dad and Otto finally allowed us to set up a modest camp, prohibiting a fire but allowing us to finally sit down and rest, eating whatever dried food Shelly and Otto had managed to pack.

Darkness fell over the forest as Shelly put the kids to bed, the four children nestled together beneath a single blanket to keep warm. She kept the baby against her chest as she leaned against the tree, running her fingers through their hair as she whispered songs to them.

Otto was sitting with me and Dad, his back against one of the spruce trees, We were acutely aware of the night noises in the forest, our heads turning to any courg

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Why did no one stop us from leaving?” I asked Otto. Otto was carving a point into a long, skinny tree branch he had lound on the forest floor as I spoke, and he rested the branch on his knee as he looked up at me to answer

“The Alpha only has so many warriors to spare. They likely know exactly where we are, anyway.”

“You seem so casual about that fact,” Dad said, giving Otto a quizzical glance.

Otto shrugged, continuing to carve the branch with his pocket knife. “People have been leaving Lycenna for a long time. Alpha Julien is weak, and he demands a lot from his people. Those who stay follow blindly. It’s a cult, really. And they will continue to follow us until we reach Winter Forest tomorrow. Mark my words.”

A strange expression crossed over Dad’s face, his body stiffening. Was Otto playing both sides?

“I’m not leading them to Winter Forest, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Otto breathed, fatigue lining his features.

“Why didn’t you leave Lycenna before now?” Dad’s voice had an air of suspicion to it, and I knew he was feeling as uncomfortable as I was. Our escape hadn’t been an escape at all. It had been easy. Far too easy.

“Shelly couldn’t leave.copy right hot novel pub