Chapter 61 Back to the Inn

The forest air was colder away from the fight, but the sound still carried.
Metal on bone. Shouts that weren’t words. A roar that could only be Kai.

They ran, breath pulling hard, boots snapping branches underfoot. The light was thin here, broken by thick trunks and low branches, but their eyes cut through it well enough. They were built for more than any normal human’s pace, and even near exhaustion, they ate up the ground fast.

No one spoke. Words would’ve stolen air they couldn’t spare. Every ear was tuned behind them, catching the faintest echoes of steel striking flesh, of the guttural sounds those corpse soldiers made. Each noise back there was a thread they didn’t want to let go of, as if listening hard enough might tell them if he was still standing.

Fara’s chest rose and fell too fast, each cry from the fight making her flinch. She kept her head forward, but her eyes betrayed her, flicking toward the darkness behind them like she could catch a glimpse of him if she looked quickly enough.

The light started then—soft, bleeding from her back, tracing over the fur of her tails. The glow sharpened, streaks of white-gold winding tighter. A fifth tail was pushing through, each heartbeat pulling it more into the open.

Patrona stopped just long enough to turn, her arm moving before thought could stop it. The slap cracked through the cold air.

Fara froze. Her wide eyes shimmered with shock, the light from her tails faltering. Within moments, it had gone out. The fifth tail receded.

Patrona’s voice was low but solid. “Keep it together. For him. He won’t be happy if any of us are missing, or throwing our lives away because we couldn’t control ourselves.”

Fara swallowed, her lip trembling, and nodded. She said nothing.

Revoli came up alongside them again, glancing sideways at Patrona. “You really had to do it that way?”

“I’ll do what I need to,” Patrona said without looking back. “He put me in charge of you. That’s all there is to it.”

Revoli’s mouth pressed into a line. She didn’t argue. Her pace never faltered.

The trees thinned, just enough for longer sight lines between trunks. Skye’s voice carried from the rear, steady despite the pace. “We’re heading back to the same place we were trying to escape from.”

Patrona didn’t break stride. “It’s the only place we can regroup. If the landlord keeps quiet, we can stay hidden. Lena’s already there.”

No one argued.

The ground here was less forgiving—roots like twisted veins, sudden dips that could roll an ankle if they weren’t careful. Still, they pushed hard, their bodies moving on instinct and training more than conscious thought.

Fara’s breath rasped, the chill night air scraping her throat raw. Each time she caught herself slowing, she thought of Kai—his voice, the way he’d said “Go” like it was final. She forced her legs to keep moving.

Revoli’s hands flexed as she ran. She could still feel the tension in her nails, the impulse to turn back, to fight shoulder to shoulder until there was nothing left of her. Every step forward felt like betrayal, but stopping wasn’t an option.

Skye’s eyes kept sweeping between the path ahead and the dark behind them. She couldn’t shake the thought that the sounds were getting fainter not because they were getting farther away, but because Kai might not be making them anymore.

Patrona didn’t think about it. She didn’t dare. Her mind locked on the next step, the next breath, the next decision that would keep them alive. That was her job now.

The smell of woodsmoke reached them before the light did. It came thin at first, curling around the cold air in hints. Then the glow of lanterns appeared through the last fringe of trees, flickering warm against the night.

The inn.

It sat low and sturdy at the edge of the clearing, its dark roof catching just enough lantern glow to outline its shape. The light spilling from the front wasn’t bright enough to invite strangers, but it was enough for the ones who knew it.

Two figures sat outside on the bench near the door. Lena leaned forward, elbows on her knees, speaking quietly with Helena, whose long hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders. They were relaxed enough that neither had noticed the figures moving in the dark.

Helena’s head turned first, her brow furrowing. Lena followed her gaze and rose immediately.

The women broke from the trees—Patrona in front, Skye behind her, Fara and Revoli in between. Their breathing was heavy, their faces set hard, but it was the absence that stopped Lena cold.

Her eyes scanned them one by one, then over their shoulders into the treeline. “Where is he?”

The question hung in the cold air. No one answered.

Lena’s expression shifted fast from surprise to something sharper. She stepped forward, closing the distance in three long strides. “Inside. Now.”

Helena moved to the door, pulling it open wide. The warm air from the hearth wrapped around them as they crossed the threshold, the smell of cooked meat and burning wood filling their senses.

Patrona guided Fara in first, her hand firm at the younger woman’s back. Skye kept to the rear, glancing back one last time before stepping inside.

The door closed, shutting out the cold and the last faint echoes from the forest.

Inside, the inn was quiet except for the crackle of the fire. A single lantern burned low on the main table, its light throwing long shadows across the walls.

Lena turned to face them, her voice quieter now but edged all the same. “Tell me everything. And don’t leave anything out.”

For a moment, no one moved. They just stood there, the heat from the fire brushing their skin while their minds were still out there in the dark, hearing the fight, seeing him alone.

Patrona broke the silence. “We don’t know how long he can hold them.”

Fara’s eyes flicked to the floor, her voice almost breaking. “We shouldn’t have left him—”

“You did what he told you to do,” Patrona cut in.

Revoli looked up sharply. “That doesn’t make it any easier.”

Lena’s gaze moved between them, reading what they weren’t saying. “Sit. Catch your breath. Then you’ll tell me everything from the start.”

They moved to the table slowly, each one lowering themselves into a chair as if they’d only just realized how tired they were.

Helena disappeared into the back, returning with mugs of water. She set them down without a word, her eyes lingering on each of them before she stepped back again.

No one touched the drinks at first. The warmth of the fire, the stillness of the inn, it all felt too far removed from the cold, chaotic air of the forest. It was like stepping out of a storm into a room where the walls pretended the wind didn’t exist.

Lena stayed standing, her arms crossed. She didn’t push them to speak yet, but the weight of her attention was enough to keep the silence taut.

Outside, the night pressed in. Somewhere far away, the sound of the fight might still have been happening—or maybe it was over. None of them wanted to ask which.