Miinhart Forest, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

The next several hours were spent in rather uncomfortable silence. Stephanie had expected Todd to start asking her questions, but he was so quiet that at times she forgot he was even there. Had he been trained in stealth? She wasn't sure. He was an Amissian; he didn't know anything about anything it seemed. Was he really actually the prophesied Deliverer? If so, the Immortal One's followers were in for a rude awakening. Stephanie wasn't sure where she would place herself on the spectrum of 'believers' in the Creator — probably on the unbelieving side. It didn't make any sense to her, taking the history into account. Either way, Todd did not seem like the heroic type.

But something told her that her chance meeting with this unlikely group of rebels was no coincidence. It unnerved her. Hadn't this been what she had wanted? A chance for revenge? She hadn't expected this.

Annabella maintained her cool air of mistrust toward Stephanie, and Stephanie wasn't about to blame her for it. She knew everything about the girl on the horse — well, nearly everything. She was a rebel, the sister of Alexander LaKline, who had led the Great Trainee Rebellion seven years prior. Thousands had died that night. Alexander had been executed for treason, naturally. Stephanie had always wondered why Annabella had been spared. She had disappeared only two months after Alexander's death, and some had thought she had been consumed by either her own grief or Motch's fiery wrath. Instead, about a year later it had been confirmed that she was alive and on the run, labelled an enemy of the crown and also an Illegal. The price on her head was huge — probably why those bandits had risked attacking an Army squadron to capture her. Motch wanted her back terribly, and one could only wonder why.

Maybe the rumours were right about it being the fact that she was former royalty. But why, then, would Motch insist she be captured alive?

There were too many questions. Todd might have been eager to trust her, but Stephanie knew she couldn't trust Annabella. She was too much of a wildcard. She had survived all of these years, and Stephanie suspected that it was because she was just as ruthless and deadly as the rest of them.

So how had Todd — clearly innocent and overly-trusting Todd — ended up with a killer?

Two killers now.

They stopped for a rest when Todd collapsed in exhaustion. Stephanie wanted to tell him to get over it — he wasn't the one wearing armour — but she held her tongue. She already had Annabella's steely gaze on her. No sense in aggravating her only ally.

When Annabella climbed off the horse — which Todd insisted on calling 'Harley' — Stephanie could tell that the young woman was in all sorts of pain. She was good at covering it up.

"We'll rest here for a while. I don't think we've been followed." Annabella lifted her face, closing her eyes. Then she pointed. "There's a creek over there. It should be relatively safe to drink. Let's see..." She turned to the saddlebag and rummaged through it. "There's some dried fruit and meat in here. Aha." She pulled out a metal water bottle and handed it to Stephanie. "Can you fill this up?"

"Quite capable," Stephanie muttered, trying not to roll her eyes as she took the bottle and walked in the direction Annabella had pointed, stepping over Todd as he lay in the undergrowth. Sure enough, several hundred feet into the trees she found a creek bubbling its way along. The water looked clear, unlike the pond they had encountered before, and after she had filled the bottle she splashed a bit of water on her face. Now that they had stopped, she could feel the exhaustion setting in. Her muscles ached. She hadn't slept well the night before; it had been full of nightmares replaying Marcie's death mixed with the explosion that destroyed Sarum. Every time Stephanie closed her eyes, she saw Marcie's dead body lying in the arena, staining the white sand red. She wasn't sure she'd ever sleep alright again.

"Sometimes, Stephanie, some must die in order for the rest of us to survive."

She didn't realize she was squeezing the water bottle until her hand began to ache. Loosening her grip, she straightened up, glaring at the water. A tear trickled down her cheek, and she swiped it away.

"Love makes you weak."

No, no, you're wrong. Oh, how Stephanie wanted them to be wrong.

"Thanks," Annabella said when Stephanie tossed her the filled water bottle. She was sitting against the tree she had tethered Harley to, and Bethany was laying with her head on Annabella's lap. The child's eyes seem to stare at nothing. Todd hadn't moved. Sitting down against a tree of her own, Stephanie's heart ached and burned as she watched Bethany. She was glad, somehow, that the child was familiar with Annabella. Annabella seemed very protective of her, and it gave Stephanie a bit more of a reason to want to trust her. If they had anything in common, it was the desire to protect the helpless.

Annabella was fighting against Motch. Well, so was Stephanie. Didn't that mean they should be able to trust each other?

What am I doing? She stared at the bow in her hands, fingers trailing over the polished wood. She had taken it from one of her fallen comrades during the fight. At the moment, she hadn't thought about anything except survival, but now, she realized that fallen comrade was a boy named Tyron. She hadn't interacted with him much, but she knew he had favoured archery as she had. How cruel it was to have such a young life snuffed out like that. And for what? They hadn't even had a choice.

Marcie's voice whispered in her mind: You have a choice now.

And she'd be insane to walk away from it.

"Annabella," she started, her voice cracking a bit. She lifted her head. "Todd. I want to help."

Todd sat up, leaves in his hair, hope in his eyes. "You do?"

Annabella narrowed her gaze. "Help with what?"

"Taking Desmond back. Destroying Motch. Finding whoever we've gotta find to do it." She looked them both in the eyes. "I wanna give them the hell they gave me."

Todd looked over his shoulder at Annabella. She was stroking Bethany's hair, holding Stephanie's gaze carefully. It was a test, probably. Stephanie didn't break eye contact. She wasn't about to be intimidated by this girl.

"Alright," Annabella said finally, her eyes still testing Stephanie, it seemed. "But if you betray us, I'll kill you myself."

Relief filled her. Stephanie's lips twitched ever so dangerously. Just like Marcie's. "I'll hold you to it."