The Scent of Lilac: An Arrow's Flight Novella (11 page)

           
The women
gather around the platform in the large assembly room. Several heads turn as we
enter, but the only sound is the pattering of our footsteps on the wooden
floor. I search for Leah until I find her. She stands to the side of the
platform next to old Anna Maria, her expression unreadable. I wish I knew what
she was thinking. Better yet, I wish she could read my mind. Then, she would
know I’ve done nothing but comply with her order since the moment I left the
Pit.

           
Tara
sits on the edge of the platform, but she rises as we near. The others, without
moving a muscle, seem to fall into place behind her… waiting. I swallow the
bile that clings to my throat.

           
“Well?”
Tara
sneers resting a fist atop the coil of rope at her belt.

           
I shake
my head. “I knew nothing of this until Ash came for me.”

           
“Is that
so?” Her eyes slant suspiciously, but I raise my shoulders to reach my full,
tall height.

           
“I have
no reason to go to the Pit, and I have not been there in over a week.” I pause,
glancing at Leah. “I don’t know where he could be.”

           
I work to
keep the trembling out of my voice, but it’s no use.
Tara
holds my gaze, and I grow uneasy.

           
“I fear
we’ve miscalculated the stock’s lack of desire to leave their dwellings,”
Eleanor says. My eyes drift in her direction. “We must have more
locksmiths.
 
Two, even working at full
capability, will not do.”

           
“How many
of the stock are missing?” Anna Maria’s voice croaks with her age.

           
“One
other, as of right now. And a dangerous one at that.” Eleanor huffs, crossing
her arms. “We cannot have an uprising among the stock as well. With our
shortage, the situation would be dire. We must repair the locks more quickly.”
She turns to Laura, the Bull. “Are there any among the other women with the
skill?”

           
“I’m
afraid not,” Laura replies with a shake of her head. “Locksmithing is a very
specific skill.”

           
Leah’s
eyes stay locked on mine as the women continue to discuss the locksmiths, and I
see a heavy question in her mind. I promised her I would tell her if I saw any
signs of rebellion among the breeders. Unfortunately, thanks to
Chad
’s
strange disappearance, it appears I am the only rebel among us.

           
With that
thought, I intake a sharp breath. What have I done?

           
Only Leah
notices, her eyes shifting slightly. I close my mouth quickly and focus on
Tara
’s
stern expression.

           
“This is
unheard of,”
Tara
weaves her arms together over her
chest, stopping all other conversation. “What would entice a conditioned dog to
leave his hole whether the gate is locked or not? Mia? Might you have some
insight into this?”

           
Every eye is suddenly on me. I hold
my breath, thinking perhaps they can read my mind after all. And if so, they
will
see that I’m almost certain I know where he’s gone and that I’m choosing
to keep this information from them.
 
To
my credit, it’s not easy, and a struggle begins to ensue inside my gut, tearing
at my conscience. Still I keep silent.
Tara
peers at me,
eyes narrowing.

           
“I
suppose we should mention the other missing dog is Kate’s mate.”

           
I lift my
head, confused. “You mean… Ian?”

           
“No.” A
look of disgust crosses her face. “Although his body disappeared as well.
Those… intruders must have taken it with them.” She purses her lips. “We’re
talking about her second assignment.”

           
Ash gasps
beside me, but I raise my hands toward the Council in a pleading gesture. “What
does this have to do with me? I don’t even know what he looks like.”

           
The Council
remains silent.
Tara
tucks her fingers into the crook of
her opposite elbow and rubs at her chin. “And yet, how strange that both your
mate and hers are the two dogs who have defied their destinies.”

           
I feel
the token snug on my thumb, and I carefully ease my hand behind my back, a move
Leah doesn’t miss.

           
“What’s
done is done,” a stout council member named Eve says, her voice lacking a
single hint of concern. “I say we wash our hands of them and concentrate on
securing the rest.”

           
A series
of nods makes its round. Ash has been incredibly quiet by my side, but she
raises her voice at this.

           
“But…
what about me? What am I to do? I’ve already lost one mate. It seems unfair
that I should lose another.”
         

           
The
Council exchanges a few glances, but the question is finally deferred to
Tara
.

           
“We
understand your predicament, girl. There is simply nothing to do for the
moment. We don’t have enough stock to spare another.”

           
She takes
in a long breath, holds it, her fists clenched at her sides. “Then what am I to
do? How am I supposed to contribute to the Village? It is my duty.” A sudden
fear seems to clutch her, and a noticeable shiver shakes her whole body. “The
Moirai demand it,” she whispers.

           
I cringe.
I know all too well how she feels, and I gratefully press my hand more
definitely against my abdomen.

           
“Well,
the gods are going to have to send us more males if they expect the Moirai to
hold us accountable,” Eleanor reasons.

           
“And what
of our Village?” Ash takes a brave step forward. “What will become of us if no
more male babies are born?”

           
No one
says a word, and the room grows tense. Finally, Anna Maria breaks the silence.

           
“Now,
now. I’ve lived a long time, girl,” she addresses Ash, raising her head to meet
her eyes. “I’ve endured more trouble in life than anyone else in this room,
including a shortage of stock—twice before. We are still here.”

           
This does
nothing to appease Ash, and her lips purse into a straight, hard line.

           
“It isn’t
fair,” she repeats.

           
“Go,
Ash,”
Tara
demands. Her voice is heavy with irritation.
“Your complaint is noted.”

           
At this,
Ash releases an angry hiss of a sigh and turns on her heels. I stand perfectly
still and tall, waiting to be dismissed.
Tara
’s eyes
fall over me.

           
“As for
you...” She settles on the edge of the platform again, appearing casual despite
the tension floating on the air. “You will not enjoy the punishment I’ve
devised for you if I so much as find one clue that you’ve aided in the dog’s
escape.”

           
I
swallow. My eyes flick toward Leah and back to
Tara
.

           
“I’m watching
you, Mia. You’d best tread more carefully than your friends.”

           
That is
threat enough. With a submissive bow, I turn. Everything in me wants to run,
but I force myself to take slow, calculated, and unsuspicious steps. The room
seems suddenly so much larger than when I first arrived, and in my thinking,
the door looms from miles away. But finally, I duck out into the afternoon sun
and away from the Council’s searching eyes. With a huge sigh of relief, I press
my back against the warm surface of the outside wall, checking my surroundings.
Ash is gone, and I see no one else. I must be quick. I take a deep breath to
calm my nerves, slip around the backside of the Great Hall, and head toward the
river.

he sound of the rushing waters hits my ears before the
river comes into view. I scramble over the terrain, ignoring the dead twigs and
branches that reach out to scratch at my shins. At one point, a greedy bramble
yanks on my skirt, hoping to keep a piece of it. I tug it free, but a shred
tears away, and the shrub gets its wish.

           
Our spot
by the river is reclusive and well-hidden from the prying eyes of the Village.
Kate, Diana and I chose it for that very reason, and for as long as I can
remember, we’ve kept it a secret. I come to a halt next to the tall tree that
lends its shade over the spot and lean the heel of my hand against the trunk,
lungs heaving. My eyes dart across the area.

           
“
Chad
?”
The sound of my puffing breath is my answer. Straightening, I turn a circle,
scanning. “
Chad
!”

           
Panic
rises.
Where is he?
I was so sure he
would come here. I make another wide circle, scanning the river, the tree line.
Nothing.

           
“
Chad
!”

           
Time is
running short, and I have no doubt
Tara
will live up to
her words. She may already be at my hogan, and if she doesn’t find me there...

           
I push
the thought away. Hopefully, council business has kept her at the Great
Hall.
 
They must have had other things to
discuss.

           
I scurry
along the river until I reach the path that leads to the Pit. I could be wrong
about believing he would come here. I did only bring him once. He must have
forgotten the way.

           
At the
entrance to the path, I see the two guards, and they see me. They move in my
direction.

           
“Girl?
What is your business here?” one says, her beady eyes narrowed suspiciously.

           
I think
about shrinking away without answering until I recognize the other guard. Ruth.
She pins her gaze on me.

           
“Where
are you headed, Mia?”

           
“I
was...” I fumble with the hem of my blouse. “I was spending time at the river
when I decided to go to the Pit.” I pause. They stare. “It’s faster to take
this path… rather than going all the way around.”

           
Ruth
takes me in. “You didn’t happen to see anyone come through? A dog, perhaps?”

           
I feign
surprise. “A dog? Why would I see such a thing?”

           
The other
guard frowns, but she waves me on. “Move along, girl. You’re no help to us.”

           
I leave
them, pretending to move on toward the Pit, but when they disappear into the
overgrowth, I double back, moving past the path and further down the river. With
every step, my worry grows.

*

           
By late
afternoon, I’ve given up hope, and when the sun begins to drop over the western
mountains, I fear that
Chad
has vanished from the face of the earth. No doubt,
Tara
is looking for me by now, and despair floods over me. With a heavy heart, I
turn toward the Village.

           
The
breeze kicks up a loose end of my hair just as the rustling of the undergrowth
reaches me. Clutching my chest, I twist toward the sound, and there he is—his
hair wet from a recent dip in the river. He scrambles along a row of overgrown
lilac bushes. With a sigh of relief, I close my eyes.

           
In the
next second, I’m in his arms and my feet leave the ground. He nuzzles his face
into the curve of my neck until I laugh at the precious feel of him. My hands
slide up into his hair, pulling him closer, and I take in the fresh fragrance
of his river-washed skin.

           
“You had
me so worried,” I whisper. He holds me close, his face still buried against by
throat. “
Chad
,
what are you thinking?”

           
He lowers
me to the ground, and I lean back to take in his eyes. They are seared with a
deep fear that is only slightly relieved by my presence.

           
“I’m
thinking too many things,” he says quietly.

           
I press
my palm against his cheek and he wraps his fingers around my wrist.

           
“I never
used to think,” he says. “I could go days without having one thought.” His
fingers tighten. “That was before you. Before all of this.” He gestures with
his hand outstretched. “Now, I must think. All the time.”

           
I lay my
free hand against his chest. “What you’re doing is very dangerous.”

           
He
doesn’t seem to hear me.

           
“Last
night, I dreamed about the river,” he says, and I straighten. “Vivid. I could
smell it and feel the water on my skin just like that night. When I woke, the
walls of my cave seemed so close. Tight. I couldn’t breathe.” He pauses, focuses
on me. “I counted the days. I knew she was coming back.” He swallows. “I can’t
breathe when she’s there. The gate was still open, and it was so easy to walk
out.”

           
“Easy,” I
repeat, guilty. It was easy because I made it easy for him. I am to blame for
his insubordination. “
Chad
.”
His name eases from my lips, and I try to keep my tone as gentle as possible. “You
have to go back.”

           
He pulls
away from me, startled. “You want me to go back there?”

           
“I—” I
hesitate. “It doesn’t matter what I want. It doesn’t matter what you want. We
don’t get a say in the matter.”

           
His eyes
scan the expanse of the sky before he drops his gaze to the clear waters of the
river. The current tugs against the rocks, and I feel the tug of his desires,
and my own, in the motion. But what can we do? If we defy the Council, we
cannot win.

           
“
Chad
—”

           
“No.” His
piercing eyes settle on my face. “I won’t do it.”

           
I blink
once, shock crashing through me, but I know then how very serious he is. I swallow,
raising my hands slightly.

           
“What are
you going to do? Live here by the river forever? How will you eat? Where will
you sleep?”

           
“I found
a place.” He nods excitedly. “On the other side of the river. No one will find
me there. And there are plenty of fish in the water. I saw one today.”

           
I shake
my head with a small laugh. “So you have it all planned, do you?”

           
“Yes.”
 

           
His
answer is so sure—his scheming is so innocent, so full of hope in its own way—and
my heart rumbles in my chest with so much feeling that one would think the
answer to this dilemma would be there in its beating. But there is no easy
answer to this problem. And I cannot hide such a large secret here beside the
river’s edge. And besides, I am a loyal member of the Village clan. I’ve
already done enough damage without meaning to, and I am no traitor.

           
But coaxing
him back to the Pit? It seems… cowardly. He stands before me bravely prepared
to take his chances out here alone—and I cower under the pressure. Because it’s
what I do. My eyes flood with tears as I see myself clearly, and I sink to my
knees in the grass.

           
I want
him to go back to the Pit... because I am a selfish coward. I’ve been one all
my life, bending to Fate, honoring the Council to protect myself. I’m not brave
like Kate or Diana, and I could never be like Meg, who died for her mate. I am
too afraid of death. I need boundaries, regardless of whether they are good for
me. Life makes sense with boundaries. I could never make Kate understand this.

           
Chad
doesn’t fall to his knees beside me. He doesn’t try to comfort me this time. His
face a tight mask, he waits on me, as he always has. Waits for my cue that he
can move or speak… or think.
 
Or does he?
I study him. He’s bent on his own way this time. I can sense it.

           
It comes
to me as I stare up at him that this is the first time I’ve seen him outside of
his cave in the daylight—the backdrop of the mountains behind him, the river
rushing below. The outline of his muscled arms is defined more readily by the
sun. The breeze catches a strand of his dust-colored hair, flailing it around
on top of his head. And this man… he is suddenly a beautiful thing, and I think
to myself, why would I lock him away again?

           
With this
fresh thought planted in my head, I climb to my feet and take his hands. “What
should we do?”

           
He raises
a surprised brow at my question. My fingers tighten.

           
“Tell
me,” I prod. “I want to know what you want.”

           
After a
moment, he licks his lips. “I want to watch the sun rise,” he points. “Over
there. And I want to lie on the ground and catch rainwater in my mouth. I want
to run down the bank of the river as far and fast as I can.” He steps in, a
hand on my stomach. “I want to hold this baby. My baby. And I want to do all
these things with you. Only you.”

           
With his
answer, a mixture of joy and fear comingles so closely together inside me that
I can hardly decipher a difference between the two emotions. The leather token
seems to tighten around my thumb of its own volition with
Chad
’s
words. And I have never been more certain than I am in this moment that the stock
do feel things. They can hurt. They can care.

           
They can
love.

           
This is
very new to me, but it’s also very real, and the desire to protect
Chad
overpowers every other inclination.

           
“If they
catch us—” I begin.

           
He tugs
on my fingers, elation flooding his words. “I will do whatever you say, Mia. If
you say hide, I will hide. If you say run, I’ll run. They won’t catch us.”

           
I
swallow, and it’s like gulping down a boulder. His determination scares me, but
it also pushes me. It makes me consider what I want—what I’ve wanted for a very
long time and was too afraid to admit. I ease a trembling breath from my lungs.

           
“Show me
where you plan to stay,” I whisper.

           
 
He blinks once, and his bottom lip trembles
until he catches it between his teeth. I say nothing more. Instead, I take to
the river, dragging him behind me as fast as my traitorous heart will go.

*

           
It’s
nearly dark when we reach the place at the river where
Chad
crossed. The waters are so shallow that large rocks protrude, forming a rugged
path over a narrow pass. I’ve never been this far away from the Village, and I
have never had a single thought to cross the river. Yet
Chad
,
who has lived as a caged animal for most his life has done it. My nerves
tremble as I cling to his hand. He points to the opposite embankment.

           
“Right
there. I found an empty cave in the cleft of the mountains. It’s small, but dry
and hidden.” He merely shrugs. “I’m used to a small space. It will do.” A
pause. “I shouldn’t come back over again, so I wanted to show you where to
cross.”

           
Doubt
flutters in my chest.

           
“I wish I
had a blanket for you. And food. What if I can’t get back to you?” I lift my
eyes to him with real concern. “What if I can’t get across the river by
myself?”

           
He studies
me for a moment before his lips break into a wide smile. I crane backward.

           
“Why are
you smiling?”

           
“Your
questions make me smile.”

           
I frown.
“Why?’

           
“Because
you have to ask them. It makes me feel… like you need me.”

           
His
answer warms my heart, but my expression remains serious. Because this is
serious, and dangerous… and very risky. Quickly, I wrap the fingers of my free
hand around his wrist. “Stay hidden. If they find you—”

           
I can’t
finish my sentence, and a trembling overtakes me, rippling through my body
until it affects
Chad
,
too. Turning, he dips his head to one side, catching my eyes.

           
“I will
stay hidden,” he promises.

           
I nod,
but my mind runs in too many directions, and my fear runs with it. This choice—when
his eyes are on me, like now—it feels right. But nothing in me believes it is
wise, and I am terrified. Never would I have thought to engage in something
like this, and yet, here I am helping my mate escape—without any sort of plan.