For the first few hours all I could do was worry. Thankfully, if I let my horse have its head it seemed content simply to follow the others. Already I had a rough idea of what I was going to do, a plan had been forming in the back of my mind. But it depended on so much going the way I hoped it would. And I had no plan b.

It was starting to grow dark when we stopped to water the horses and to stretch our legs. I wasn't sure how long we'd been riding, but it was enough to make my muscles sore. The clearing we stopped in was strewn with fallen trees, some of them rotten and grey, almost fossilized. Gunny and I set about collecting wood for a cookfire while Ake and Bolthur unloaded food and cooking supplies, lightening the horses' saddle bags and attaching feedbags.

Collecting an armload of the smooth wood, I glanced back over my shoulder. Ake and Bolthur were both out of earshot. Now would be a good time to put the first bit of my plan into action.

Making sure Gunny was standing right beside me, I let my armful of wood drop noisily onto the logs at my feet. When she spun around I made sure I was leaning forward, bracing myself with one hand.

"Vee! Are you all right? What's the matter?"

I felt her hand on my arm and straightened up, clasping my forehead with one hand. "I just...I feel a bit faint. Sorry." I gestured down at the wood, and Gunny shook her head.

"No, no. You go sit down." She grasped both my shoulders, turning me slowly to face her. Her brown eyes were wide, her brows pulled down in concern. "Is it something to do with the experiments they did on you? The changes that are happening?"

It felt horrible to lie to her. But the thought of the experiments was enough to make my cringe very real. My illness was fake, but I couldn't help remembering what the sea king had said. How everyone who'd been experimented on over the years had died. The sickness might be fake now but it might be real later.

"I don't know. I'll go sit down." I turned and shuffled away, cheeks burning. Lying to her made me feel horrible, especially since she was so concerned. Gunny followed me as I made my way back to the fire, setting down her armload of wood as I sat, pretending to sit down a little more heavily than I had to.

"What's the matter with her?" Bolthur  stretched over and grabbed one of the smaller pieces of wood from Gunny's pile, eyeing me as he did so. It made me want to snap back at him, the way he talked about me like I wasn't there. Instead I just glared at him and dropped my head into my hands, rubbing at my temples.

As much as I wanted to fight with Bolthur I had to keep up pretenses.

"She's not feeling good." Gunny reached over and rubbed my back, and the guilt surged in my stomach again. "It may be the...side effects. You know."

Bolthur only scoffed and started building the fire, hacking the logs into kindling with a sharp heavy looking knife. I tried not to stare at him or his knife. How would he do it when he tried? With his knife? With his bare hands? He had to make it look like an accident, so maybe he'd make it look like an animal had attacked me. We had a treaty with the wolves but there were other animals in the woods.

If Bolthur was smart he might make it look like one of them got me. But I wasn't going to give him the chance.

"Are you fit to continue the journey?" Ake eyed me. He wasn't as openly concerned as Gunny was, but his voice was serious. "We can stay the night if you're ill."

"I'm okay." I didn't look up. "We can go on after we eat. I...probably just need food." I didn't make it sound convincing, and Ake frowned as he slid the cook pot over the fire. Either he was concerned about me, or he had guessed I might be lying.

Hopefully it wasn't the latter.

We ate in silence for the most part. The stew Ake made was thick and hearty, and it was so good it made my mouth water. It killed me a little bit to put the bowl down still half full, but it worked. Gunny gave me another concerned look, though she didn't say anything.

My opportunity came when Bolthur grunted that he would be back and then sauntered into the woods. I wasn't sure if he was relieving himself, or contacting the humans again, but I'd take it. While Ake was still engrossed in his stew, I leaned over and whispered to Gunny.

"I'm going to have to go into the woods and...um....you know. But I'm nervous I might pass out..." I didn't have to fake my blush. Even just pretending was embarrassing.

Gunny nodded. "Of course. Do you need me to come with you?"

"I...I don't want them to know though...I mean, not Bolthur." I kept my voice low. Bolthur had just emerged from the forest, more quickly than I'd expected. So he hadn't been on the radio this time.

I only had seconds to convince Gunny. "I'm sorry, I know it's ridiculous."

"Don't be, you're right." Gunny grimaced. "He would give you a hard time about it. You go in and I'll go a few seconds after. I'll pretend I'm going the opposite way to find herbs for your stomach."

Perfect. Even better than I'd hoped, actually.

I gave her a wide smile. "Thank you."

Bolthur was back now, settling down by the fire. He was staring at me now. I got up slowly, pretending to pause for a moment to collect myself. Letting him look, letting him think I was weak. He had to try now, tonight. If he didn't take advantage of my weakness, the plan wouldn't work and I only had one shot to expose him.

"I'll be right back."

"Take Gunny with you," Ake said without looking up from his stew.

I froze, mind racing. Had he heard us talking?

No, he wouldn't have said that if he had, since I was technically taking Gunny with me. But Bolthur couldn't know that.

Speaking of Bolthur, he was already grinning at me, and I could tell he was just dying to say something. He opened his mouth, and I snapped my head around and glared at Ake.

"I don't need a babysitter. I feel fine now. The stew helped."

"You took forever to get up just now," Ake said. "You're not fit to go by yourself."

"I'm fine," I snapped. "I'm not a child. And I'm not one of your soldiers. I'm going by myself."

Bolthur's voice drifted after me. "Are you sure? There are wild animals out there, you know."

It made my blood run cold, and I almost stumbled for real this time. So that was his plan then. I was right. He was going to try to make it look like an animal attack. And Ake might suspect him, but there was no way he could prove it when it was just Bolthur's word against a dead girl's.

Forcing myself to ignore him, I kept moving into the cover of the woods. It was darker the further in I went. The sun hadn't completely set yet, and the fading orange light was filtering through the trees. Slowing down, I picked my ways around bushes and trees. Hopefully Gunny was getting up right now, telling Ake and Bolthur she was going to get herbs for me. If it went as planned, she would be circling around to keep an eye on me in the next couple seconds.

I could see the flickering orange of the fire through the trees still, and a long shadow moving as someone got up from the fire to put more wood on. Bolthur probably.

Maybe right now he was thinking of a way to come after me. If he claimed he was going for more wood Ake might believe him.

A few feet behind me there was a slight rustle, and I went tense and shut my eyes, reaching outwards. Someone was coming towards me. The form was smaller than Bolthur, and I recognized Gunny a moment before a whisper hissed through the leaves of a bush a few feet away.

"Just ignore me, I'm just around the corner and I swear I won't look."

"Thanks."

The shadow by the campfire moved again, flickering, long and stretched through the trees. It was getting closer. My pulse picked up. Was Bolthur entering the woods now?

"I'm just ducking behind this tree," I whispered, and my voice was shaky. "I might...um, I might be a while. I'm not feeling great." My face flushed in the dark.

"It's okay." Another rustle from the bush. "Just pretend I'm not here."

"Right."

Hopefully Bolthur wouldn't see her, since she seemed pretty well concealed. The shadow from the campfire flickered again, growing longer. I was frozen behind the tree, pressing my back against the bark. There was someone entering the woods now, getting closer, walking so softly I couldn't heart them. If I hadn't been able to sense the water in their body I would never know they were coming.

Was it Bolthur, or Ake?

It was possible that Ake had gone after me, since I'd been gone a little too long for simply taking care of my business. If he'd grown worried...

But no. As the form got closer I could tell it was Bolthur. He had even less water in his body now, as if he hadn't drank anything in days. It occurred to me that I hadn't actually seen him drink anything the entire trip.

Could he be doing it so I couldn't sense him?

It was actually a bit harder to make him out than I expected. The amount of snow surrounding us made it difficult, there was so much water too, that it confused my senses a little bit. But Bolthur was moving, and I could pick him out that way.

He was getting closer. All I wanted to do was stay hidden behind the tree, frozen with fear. But if he didn't see me, and Gunny stepped out from where she was hidden...then my plan would fail. It would all be over.

I forced myself to lean sideways slightly, so that he would spot part of me from behind the tree. He would think I was relieving myself. It would be a perfect opportunity for him.

The figure crept closer, utterly silent. As he stepped past the area where Gunny was concealed there was a slight rustle, and I stiffened, hoping she wouldn't spring up from where she was. She had to realize he was doing something shady at this point. Perhaps her shock would freeze her to the spot.

He was a foot away from me now. I could stop him, I could freeze him to the spot or tear the water in his body out through the pores in his skin. But there would technically be no proof he'd been trying anything. I had to let him attack me.

Holding my breath, I pressed my back against the tree, then pushed myself forward, away from it, out into the open, facing away from the figure creeping up behind me. Bolthur surged forward without warning, a blur of movement behind me.

When I whirled around he was closer than I expected, crashing into me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I hit the packed snow on my back with Bolthur on top of me, the impact so hard that I couldn't even scream.

There was a sharp cry from the bushes behind us then. Gunny came barrelling out, shrieking at the top of her lungs, sword swinging in a glittering arc in the dying sunlight. Bolthur raised his blade and I ground my teeth and lashed out at him internally, grasping at the water in his body to hold him back.

It wasn't enough though, there wasn't enough water to control him properly.

Then Gunny was there, sword swinging, slicing into Bolthur's arm. He screamed, a strangled, horrible sound, and rolled off me. Blood splattered around him, a bright shriek of color against the snow.

"Vee!" Gunny grabbed my arm, leaning over me, her brown eyes huge. "Are you hurt?"

Struggling to breath, I shook my head, trying to summon up the strength to sit up. Scrambling sounds beside us, and then another scream from Bolthur. Another figure was bolting through the trees now. Ake, getting closer fast. Running full tilt.

Straining to move, I turned to look at Bolthur. He was crouched up his haunches now, grasping his left bicep, face twisted in anger and pain. His face was pale, and dotted with his own blood. When he saw me looking he released his wound and dove for something on the ground nearby, pawing through the snow.

I found enough breath to shriek at Gunny. "The knife! He's going for the knife!"

Gunny sprang to her feet, sword raising to meet him as Bolthur finally found the knife. But he didn't lung for her like I thought he would, he turned and ran.

"NO!" When I tried to scramble to my feet Gunny turned and pinned my shoulders down. "Stay here. I'll go after him."

I didn't get a chance to stop her before she vanished into the forest after him. And then Ake was there, and he was grabbing my arm, demanding to know what happened. I let myself sink back down into the snow, groaning.

If Bolthur got away I'd never be able to stop looking over my shoulder.