Rannok tried not to make eye contact with the two massive horses hitched to the front of the cart. They were far bigger than Chesnut or Patches. They towered over Driver, even, and he could see them gnashing their teeth as they stood and waited, eyes following him like they planned to swallow him whole. He took a big step backwards, straight into the person behind him.

"I don't like them either." Rannok flushed and spun around. Mantu stood behind him, face red and patchy, hands laced together. He picked at the cuticle of his thumb. "Horrible, ornery things, and not at all suitable for the mountains. But Pirya insists." He sighed deeply and turned away, looking over his shoulder as if he were worried someone would catch them speaking.

"Yeah," Rannok said, not looking at the man. The horse was still eyeing him. He turned toward the carriage. Pirya had her head stuck out the door. She gave him a sour look and waved toward the back.

"Get on, we are going to be late," she said. Rannok sighed relief. At least he wasn't expected to be near the horses. The carriage loomed over him almost as well though somehow as he climbed into the back. The seat pressed into his hipbones and there wasn't adequate space for his wings to fold up behind him. The sun beat down from overhead and he thanked the skies for being nice enough not to rain on him, at least.

Without meaning to, his eyes slid to the treeline. Disappointment settled in his chest when he realized Sasha wasn't there. She had probably gotten far enough away from here that there wasn't a chance of the guards seeing. The cart lurched forward. Rannok braced himself against the sides, still scanning the treeline with his eyes.

The road was bumpy and filled with potholes as the village grew smaller in the distance. Rannok could hear the sounds of the driver shouting at the horses in a language that he didn't recognize. The cart wheels dipped into a rut and kicked up a spray of mud, splattering his pristine white clothes with bits of brown. He wiped at his face and grimaced.

His eyes widened as he realized no one was watching him. He could make it to the trees before anyone saw him. Even if Sasha wasn't following, he could find her. They could duck into the trees and up into the mountains and be gone in an eyeblink, as long as they avoided the towns. They'd have to avoid them permanently because of him.

His legs tensed, ready to jump off the cart and to the dirt below.

Stay put!

Rannok startled and nearly fell off the cart, but caught himself just in time to keep from rolling to the ground. His eyes searched for the crow. He could feel it poking at the space between his consciousness, a tendril of thought that wasn't his own. 

"There's no one watching," he said, still gripping the side of the cart with white knuckles. The crow fluttered out of the sky and landed next to him in the seat, splaying its wings out to the side for balance. It fluffed up the feathers along its neck, then shook its head.

If you would like the girl to be chased by dogs again, that is your concern, the crow said. Rannok paled. They'd barely escaped the last time, after days of running through the mountains in order to lose Sasha's father's hounds. He doubted there would be a kind soul willing to punch his assailant in the face this time. He sighed and shook his head.

"Where is she?" he asked, trying to keep his mind away from the hopelessness of the situation. An image flashed in his head of Sasha crouched in some trees, watching the cart leave, but nothing else. His hands tensed into fists. "Please tell me you didn't leave her there."

She cannot move as fast as a cart, the crow replied. I will go back for her.

Rannok felt sick. He pictured one of the guards finding her, then stringing her up by the wrists and leaving her to rot in that room they'd locked him in. Or selling her off to a rich woman who cared only for herself. Or worse. Now she was alone with no one to help her escape, and he was stuck here with no way to get back to her. 

The girl is a better swordsman than you, the crow said. There was a jab at the end, a subtle insertion of emotion that felt far too much like the crow was making fun of him. Rannok's face got hot. He stared out at the retreating road and resisted the urge to jump off the cart after all. He had to believe she would be okay, because the alternative was too painful.

"How are you supposed to help her if you're here?" Rannok asked, not looking at the creature. With his luck they'd stop, and Pirya would come around and find him talking to himself. He'd certainly never be left alone then.

The girl asked the same, the crow replied. I will go back.

"What if there's a boat?" 

Humans can swim, it responded. Rannok did his best to quell the fury rising in his veins. He was entrusting the rest of his life to an animal that thought humans could swim well enough to make it down a river without a boat. She would certainly not make it if there was a boat involved. 

"What are you even doing here?" he asked, folding his arms and doing his best to tune out the clunking of the cart's wheels. It had been a year and a half with nothing, and now it was back as if it had never left and they were all supposed to act as if it had never left to begin with. It made the heat in Rannok's face travel down his neck. Even if the crow had been Erean, it wasn't anymore. Erean never would have abandoned them.

Even a crow grows lonely, the crow said, after a long pause. There was something sad in the way it said it, a longing that Rannok couldn't put his finger on. Like he was searching for a home that no longer existed. Rannok's eyes softened. He supposed he was doing the same thing, after all. 

"Don't lose track of her," he said. He hoped they would get to their destination soon. Sasha needed to be able to follow.