656 She Had Read
“Is everything ok?” Myka asked, glancing back in the direction Ashleigh had been looking.
“Yea, it was just a small animal,” Ashleigh said, keeping her eyes on the trees around them. “But it would be safer to make sure there are no larger ones in the area before we go to sleep.”
“All right,” he nodded.
Ashleigh walked away from the fire and into the darkness of the trees. She had seen something moving in the bushes. It looked like a small animal, but she needed to be sure.
She didn’t need to go far before she found signs of foxes in the area. That very likely was what she had seen. She walked the perimeter further out from the campsite, listening for any suspicious sounds and looking for movement.
There were animals all around them. But, of course, it was a forest, and there would always be something watching, listening. But nothing caught her attention as particularly suspicious.
Ashleigh was about to turn back when she saw something in the dirt. Kneeling down, she got a closer look.
She felt her heart quicken as she recognized the tracks. They were definitely left by one of the bat creatures she had fought before. Luckily, they also appeared to be old. Continuing her search of the area. She found several others, but like the first set, they were all old. It didn’t appear that there had been any monsters in this part of the forest for at least a week, maybe even two.
After a thorough search, Ashleigh felt confident they were safe from any threats in the area. She returned to camp just as Myka finished serving the children. She sat down, and he handed her a bowl of stew.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the bowl in hand.
“Not a problem,” Myka smiled, sitting with his bowl. “Everything look good out there?”
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“Seems like it was a fox I saw scurrying by,” she said.
“Makes sense,” Myka said. “Probably smelled the stew for the meat and got curious if he could steal it.”
Ashleigh nodded.
The rest of dinner was mostly quiet. The children were already tired and ready for bed by the time they had finished washing their bowls and putting them away. Myka got them settled into their tents and returned to sit with Ashleigh by the fire.
“You should get to bed soon,” Myka said. “I will put the fire out before I lay down.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Ashleigh said. “I was planning to keep watch anyway.”
Myka gave her a curious look.
“Didn’t you say it was safe?” he asked.
Ashleigh glanced at him and then looked away.
“It is.”
“Then why would you need to keep watch?” Myka asked.
Ashleigh swallowed.
“It never hurts to be a little cautious,” she said.
“True,” Myka said. “But tomorrow will be a busy day. We have to leave early to get up the mountain and set up our next campsite. We still need to hunt and forage for lunch and dinner. We need plenty of time to do that and still have a chance to explore the village before the sun goes down.”
Ashleigh lowered her gaze, looking into the fire.
“I will explore the village while you take the kids to fish and forage,” she said.
Myka furrowed his brows.
“I thought you wanted me to come to the village with you?” he said.
“That was before the kids were coming,” she sighed.
“Why does that change the plan?” Myka asked. He leaned forward and stared at Ashleigh.
The mission was to investigate the village and the mound, the scout that reported back to Axel would have had to check both before giving an all-clear. If the village was safe, there should have been no reason to keep the children from exploring it with them.
Ashleigh took a deep breath.
“That village was full of people when Caleb and I came,” she said softly. “Full. And every single one of them was infected by the Dark Queen’s mutation, shambling around like zombies.”
Myka sat up, listening to her words with an awful feeling growing in his stomach.
“I had to kill them all,” she continued. “I had to cut each of them down, and no one fought back.”
Ashleigh turned away to look at the trees beyond their camp. She took another deep breath. The pit in her stomach had grown since they arrived in the territory. As she thought of getting closer to the village, it grew wider.
Knowing she did what needed to be done had not lessened the burden of those deaths on her conscience. On the contrary, imagining walking back into the village had woken her in a cold sweat more than once.
“The bodies disappeared. They were absorbed back into the earth,” she said. “But I don’t think taking the children inside of that place is a good idea….”
Myka swallowed and looked at Ashleigh with sympathy. He had heard about what happened, but listening to her now, he felt the sorrow in her words. It was an open wound for her still. He had no interest in making it any worse for her.
“All right,” he said. “I understand. You go to the village, and if there is something you think I might be able to help with by going, I will do so.”
“Thank you for understanding,” she smiled.
“Of course,” Myka nodded.
Ashleigh turned her eyes back to the trees and up the mountain.
She would recommend that they make their next camp at least a mile from the village. She remembered that there was a lake about that distance from it, so it wouldn’t be too hard to convince Myka of the reasoning to do so.
It would give the children plenty of practice fishing and give her a chance to explore the village without worrying about the safety of the others.
She wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t think the children would benefit from seeing the village. There was nothing there for them to learn or explore. It was a place filled with ghosts and regret.
But the reason that she didn’t want the children anywhere near the village had nothing to do with the past. But rather, because according to the report she had read, she would likely need to spill blood there once more.