Page 83 of The Unseen Hour

Orion shook his head.

“No. I would never stop you from going, but I’m going with you. Charon may not be our biggest worry at the moment, but all the other things in the Ether could be.”

“I know your leg still hurts after too long on your feet. We’ll take more frequent breaks on the way down.”

He frowned down at his leg, looking offended at the appendage.

“I can make it down. But if something does go wrong before I’m fully healed, you need to run. Don’t let me slow you down.”

“Come on, we should get going,” I responded, walking to the rim of the canyon.

“That’s not agreement.”

“No, it’s not,” I tossed over my shoulder. I wasn’t going to lie to him, and I wasn’t going to leave him behind.

We had to walk quite a bit of the way around the canyon rim before we found a good spot to begin our descent. Along the way, Orion had pointed out signs indicating the great bears had been through the area.

“Looks like they’ve been through here as well.” I gestured, pleased to put some of the things he’d taught me to use. “See? Broken branches, rooted-out vegetation at the base of the trees.”

“It might be great bears. Although the brush boars also like to do that,” Orion warned.

“And those are? Hopefully something friendly and cuddly? But by the sound of your voice, I somehow doubt it.”

Orion let out a laugh that fell flat.

“Brush boars are large swine-like creatures with skin that’s pale pink under a coating of wiry, silver hair. It glints like metal, and it can pierce like metal, too. It’s more spike than hair, really. I’ve hunted them before, but I pick off one at a time. You have to be careful if there’s a sounder.”

“Sounder?”

“A whole group of them. They often travel in groups.”

Both gods save us. If we had any luck at all, they’d have passed through ahead of us and wouldn’t notice our descent.

What I wouldn’t have given for tree hoppers. That was an animal I could support. Friendly, clever, and had never once tried to kill us. Or even the squirrels. Not particularly useful, but also not aggressive.

“Brush boars also have enormous tusks that extend from both their upper and lower jaws,” Orion added as we started making our way down the interior wall of the canyon.

“Then why risk hunting them?”

“They’re just as tasty as Emrys’ bacon.” He winked, and my stomach fluttered.

I could think of several things I’d prefer to be doing rather than climbing down a canyon wall while avoiding predators, but given our situation I didn’t feel safe enough to engage in any of them.

We had already made one hairpin turn, but we were mere feet below the rim of the canyon when a tree hopper swooped down from above.

“Hello there, my friend,” I crooned to the bird. It clacked its beak. “Don’t worry. I didn’t forget you.”

I took a handful of dried fruit, seeds and nuts Orion had packed and scattered it on the ground. Soon four more tree hoppers had joined the first. They cawed and snapped at the little banquet.

“You’re spoiling them,” Orion warned with a smile.

“I wish I could take them with us to Emrys,” I admitted. “You don’t suppose Death would add on a few birds to the deal?”

“We could always ask.”

I couldn’t imagine the deity agreeing to such a request, but I liked his idea better than giving up on the comforting creatures.

The birds swooped and hopped behind us for a while, clacking and cawing. At one point my foot slipped on a loose bit of rock, and I clung to the canyon wall. One of the tree hoppers dove, pulling at my hair.