“Are those riders? Are those birds? Is that an Imperium ship?”
I ask the questions rapid fire, not because I see anything, but because I’m afraid I will. Every rock could hide something ready to hurt us. Every speck in the sky could be an Imperium bird. We’re not safe, not even all the way out here where nothing grows.
“There’s nothing coming after us,” Orion says. “The boys have only just gotten started, and it sounds like they’re making the most of it. We should too.”
He finishes the sentence with a rakish wink which makes my stomach perform an instant transformation into cabbage moths. Orion is so commanding, so completely in control of himself that I feel so small in comparison. I wish I could be as calm as he is, or believe that everything will be okay the way he does, but it is almost impossible. I can feel Atticus behind us. I can sense his eyes peering down on us from the sky. The sheriff isn’t going to let me go. Not until I’m dead. Or he is.
“Let’s make camp here,” Orion suggests, pulling under some trees. “There’s shelter from the birds, and we’re far enough off main roads that Imperium patrols won’t come this way. Plus, if that black plume of smoke over to the West is anything to go by, the boys have drawn their attention from miles away.”
I’m relieved to get off the horse. I’m not accustomed to this much riding and I’m hellishly saddle sore. My legs feel like they’ve been permanently bowed as I step down and try to straighten them out.
“This is going to be rough,” Orion says with a smile as he watches me try to walk comfortably. “But by the end of it, you’re going to be as tough as any outlaw.”
“I reckon I already am.”
“You know, you just might be,” he winks and looks around. “This isn’t one of our regular camping sites, but I can hear a stream or a spring nearby. We should get cleaned up. You’ll feel better.”
“I need more clothes,” I say. “I can’t get these ones all wet.”
“I have a spare shirt. You can wear that, give your clothes a dunking in the water, get some soap on them and hang them out to dry. Easy.”
He just explained how to clean clothes, as if that’s the problem I’m facing. I know how to wash my clothes. What I don’t know is how to take them off without him seeing my naked body. I think I would die of shame if he were to see any more of me than he already has.
“Here,” he says, pulling a shirt from his pack. “I’ll even give you first dibs on the water. Don’t worry, I won’t look.”
We’re standing close as he hands me the shirt and I find myself taking a deep breath, an inhalation of pure instinct. I like Orion’s scent. He smells like man and brew, there’s a richness to it, a depth of tang to his musk which tickles my nostrils with every breath.
“Come on,” he says as the horses put their heads down to graze on small insects buzzing around the ground. A sparrow hops by and is plucked off the branch by Orion’s mount. I hear its little bones crunching between the horse’s big flat teeth. It’s a horrifying sight, but seconds later there’s another bird dancing on the same branch. They never learn.
I follow Orion as he pushes through the trees, his broad back making a thorn shield for me. This undergrowth is wild and not exactly hospitable, but what’s hiding behind it is nothing short of breathtaking.
“Wow,” I breathe at the unexpected natural respite. Not three feet away, there’s a little river running between craggy rock banks. It leads to a watering hole. A few small deer take off as we come through the brush, which is a good sign. Means there’s food here for us and the horses.
“Have to catch one of them to give to the beasts of burden,” Orion says. “This is a nice little spot. When this is over, I reckon we’ll add it to our rotation.”
I smile, even as a pang of something like regret shoots through my stomach. When this is over Orion and I won’t be together anymore. He’ll still be here, but I’ll be so far away I won’t even know myself. I’ve never thought I’d miss Cabbage Patch before, but maybe I’m going to be leaving something worth missing behind.
“This is nice,” he says. “I know I said you can go first, but how about I take a swim while you wash in the river. I promise I won’t compromise your maidenly dignity.”
“O… okay?”
The word is more a stammered utterance, than an actual agreement, but Orion takes it as the latter.
He strips off, his shirt leaving his body, revealing the kind of musculature the Imperium like to make statues of. I stare at him, amazed at his beauty. Men aren’t supposed to be beautiful, but Orion is. I stare at the hard planes of his muscles, the abdominal plane of his belly which flexes with the motion of removing his shirt from his arms… and then there’s the biceps and triceps which bulge with that same simple task.