Read The Forsaken for Free Online

seems unlikely. It’s more like he just waited until one of us distracted the creature before going in for the kill. Like he was using us as bait.
    I finally stop running when I reach another clearing. I’m gasping for air like I’m surfacing from a deep sea dive. I stagger around, trembling, looking behind me. Above the canopy I can still see the upper portion of the broken stone staircase, which means I’m not lost. At least not yet. But I don’t see David anywhere.
    “David?” I call out softly, afraid to get too loud in case someone—or something—hears me. “Where are you?”
    It takes a moment, but I finally hear a faint reply. “Over here.”
    I see him emerge from the forest. I move toward him. He’s limping severely now, like he can barely put any weight on his injured foot. Unanchored Soul or not, he’s got to be safer for me to be with than those creatures or the robed figure.
    “So, it’s not safe on the ground.” He takes a deep, shuddering breath and then exhales. “When it gets dark, we’re gonna have to climb a tree and sleep in the branches. We can take turns keeping watch.”
    I feel sick. “Who do you think that guy with the knives was?”
    “No one we want to meet. Hopefully he’s preoccupied with his kill. We need to start a fire and make some torches.”
    “That’ll give our position away,” I point out.
    “I’m pretty sure he saw us already, and we need some kind of weapons. Besides, torches will keep any animals at bay.”
    “We don’t have a way to start a fire,” I tell David, looking around. I’m afraid the robed figure will reappear. But David is already scavenging in the underbrush. He brings up a pair of thick, dry branches.
    “Perfect,” he says.
    “We have to keep moving,” I remind him, but he limps over to a tree and begins peeling strips of dead bark from its trunk. “What are you doing?”
    “Making our torches.”
    David wraps the bark in loops around the end of each branch. Then he tucks one branch under his arm and fiddles with the other one. To my surprise, moments later I see a flash of light appear. I realize that somehow, impossibly, he has started a fire. He holds the lit torch in front of him and inspects it.
    “How did you do that?” I ask, startled by his acumen out here in the forest.
    He looks over at me and arches an eyebrow. “Magic.” It’s only then that I see he’s clutching a handful of matches. “I sewed these into my back pocket, just in case. Figured they might not find ’em.” He passes me the unlit torch and lights the end of it. “It won’t burn for long.”
    “Thanks.” I hold my torch out in front of me like a sword.
    “So, why do you think you got sent here?” David asks as we start hiking again. “You honestly believe it’s all just a big mistake?”
    “Of course,” I tell him. “Why, did you do something?”
    He shakes his head. “No, I told you.” He peers around. “We’re exiles now. It doesn’t matter if we’re innocent or not. The UNA doesn’t care about us.”
    “I hope you’re wrong.” We keep walking.
    I’m still amazed at how desolate this place seems. It feels like David and I are the only two people alive right now. Other than the robed figure and the creatures trying to kill us.
    David gestures up ahead. “Look.” For a moment, I think he has seen someone else, and I feel a surge of fear. But then I realize he’s pointing at a huge oak tree, at least sixty feet tall, with a stout trunk. “That’s the kind of place we could sleep in.”
    I don’t really like the idea of climbing a tree and sleeping in it, because I’m afraid I’ll fall out. I also don’t like the idea of falling asleep around David, although so far he has only done things to help me.
    He hobbles over to the tree. “You any good at climbing?” he asks.
    I shake my head.
    “Yeah, me neither.”
    I walk over and join him at the tree.
    “Hand me your torch,” he says. I give it to him, gazing up at the