Sylvia couldn’t sleep. The day began to replay itself in her mind the minute she closed her eyes, and saw those of the wounded mountain lion. She spent most of the night staring up at the stars, laid out across the opening to the shelter.
Sometime around dawn, she was jerked from her sleepless daze by the sound of coughing. She sat straight up and peered into the shelter to see the man awake and looking very confused.
Sylvia couldn’t help but grin. “Hi,” she said, giving him a wave. He offered her a lopsided grin in return as he surveyed the shelter that had been built around him. Maddy had been woken by the coughing, too, and now rose to build the fire back up.
“I appear to be lucky you found me,” the man said, now admiring his bandaged arm. “I’m Sten,” he said. “I’m from Skycity.”
“Sylvia,” she offered. “From Meadowcity.”
“Maddy,” the girl said. “Lightcity. What happened to you, Sten?” Sylvia’s eyes darted toward the girl in disapproval. She had wanted to give him some time to recover before they started questioning him. But Sten didn’t seem to mind.
“Well, I’d got away from a pack of wolves outside Riftcity, but I wasn’t doing so great,” he raised his arm in indication, “So I sat down to rest, tried to get out of the sun, but….”
“You were in Riftcity?” Maddy asked.
“No,” the man grunted. “Decided to turn around. I had a contract in Lightcity next anyway.”
After Sylvia, Maddy, and Sten had eaten breakfast, they quickly dismantled their camp and headed back toward Lightcity. Maddy started in on questioning Sten again, but Sylvia told her to knock it off—the man had been through enough.
With the addition of Sten’s eyes to watch their surroundings, Sylvia allowed herself a moment to rest her mind, and watched her boots for a while as they trod up an incline. She couldn’t help but look behind them every so often, though, unable to keep away the thought of an immense mountain lion stalking them from behind.
Finally, they reached the plain, thankfully avoiding the area where the dead mountain lion lay at the edge of the wood. Sylvia drew ahead and she heard Maddy talking quietly with Sten behind her.
With the city in sight, her shoulders relaxed a little, and she realized she was greatly looking forward to doing nothing for two weeks in the city.
Suddenly, Maddy and Sten’s voices rose behind her.
“You’re sure?” Maddy exclaimed.
“Magda and Roald. I’m sure.”
Sylvia turned back to look at them, and Maddy cried, “Sylvia, Sten met my parents in Skycity!”
Sylvia’s face broke into an astonished grin, and she raised her eyebrows at Maddy.
Sten drew to the front of the group as they neared the gates, and Maddy came up beside Sylvia to whisper, “I promise I won’t leave ‘til I finish training.”
“And I promise I won’t tell anyone you did,” Sylvia replied under her breath.
They passed through the city gates, and Sylvia sighed. With any luck, she would bring her delivery to Skycity when it was ready, then head back home to Meadowcity for a well-deserved break. But if she’d learned anything from the past day, she knew she should never expect her path to lead the easy way.
Epilogue
The man from Skycity drew back into the shadows of the woods as he watched the three Riders pass through the gate into Lightcity. Now assured that they were out of the way, he turned back the way he had come.
As he neared an enormous oak tree, nine wolves appeared, as if they had materialized out of the thick bushes. He smiled as the large grey wolf in front came toward him, and he held out his hand.
“Time to go back to Riftcity,” the man said, then gave a short whistle. The wolves turned tail to follow him.
“Governor Greyling wouldn’t want anybody finding out what he’s up to just yet.”
Read More: The Arcera Trilogy
Book One: Meadowcity
Book Two: The Fifth City
Book Three: A Rift Between Cities
www.LizDelton.com
About the Author
Raised in the Northeast, LIZ DELTON has spent a lot of time in both woods and cities. While living for five years in Philadelphia, she got a taste for the city, but didn't find it green enough, and currently resides in what some would call “the middle of woods”. She is a notorious book-re-reader, tea drinker, and author with too many hobbies.
LizDelton.com
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