Read We Will Hunt Together for Free Online

could not even try, so she bit her tongue. It must have eaten at her, though."
    Camille gently put down the arrowhead she was working on. "I walked off into the darkness, and she said nothing."
    Camille paused to consider before starting the next arrowhead. "That was the last time I walked away from anything important. Now—now, I would have my say before leaving or say it with a blade if the matter was important enough. But I was still growing up, then."
    She returned to her sharpening with a sense of finality and said nothing more.
    It took Helgaer several heartbeats too long to shake herself out of her shock and clear her throat. "Danova is not a short walk from here," she said eventually, barely keeping her voice level. "You crossed most of Ortlin to get here."
    "And half of Danova first," Camille said instantly, as though she had been waiting to see if Helgaer was listening. "The tribe was camped on the edge of a forest, outside a city. I walked what was, as far as I could tell after so long on the road, directly away from my home village and away from the city, through the forest.
    "The first night, I slept in a tree and resumed walking as soon as the sun woke me. I stretched out the food I had been given by shooting a pheasant and a pigeon, but it took me three days to make it through the forest, and I was still well inside Danova. No merchant would trade with a woman who dressed like a Gharaj man while there were no Gharaj about. I was not even sure other Gharaj tribes would trust me. I expected them to distrust me on sight and treat me as a criminal.
    "I had to steal once or twice, but I was getting better and better at remaining hidden. I spoke to no other person until I finally crossed the border, and even then, not until I was well inside.
    "I spoke to a few hunters who were friendly. Cautious and careful to evaluate any stranger, and surprised to see a woman who looked like a man in a Gharaj man's clothing, but not unwelcoming. They told me how to make a living by trading meat and skins and what prices to ask for. There is a … brotherhood … among hunters in Ortlin. They … we … know what it is to choose to live alone, to hunt and track using only your skills against the animal, and to leave human concerns to other humans. I finally thought I had found my people.
    "I kept moving north, away from Danova, because in the towns, people recognised my people. They would trade with me—I think my Gharaj clothes confused them—but they would be wary and untrusting. I started replacing my clothes, starting with the jacket the tribe had given me. I took to wearing lighter boots that let me move more easily. In one small village, I was asked where I acquired my arrows. I had made them. They did not have a fletcher and wanted me to start. I tried it, but I could not be comfortable living inside the town, and I became restless, so I moved on again.
    "Eventually, I got to the foothills." Camille stopped again, put aside an arrowhead, and returned to one of her daggers, examining the edge until she found an imperfection to fix. "When I got close enough to the border with Vreeland, I found out what your people think of mine."
    Helgaer flushed in shared shame. Her knowledge of Danova was limited to what her people knew, which was little but abhorrent. Camille had confirmed some, but refuted much. She looked down at the sword she had been holding, unmoving, for the greater part of Camille's story, then made two angry passes with her stone. "I am sorry for my people," she forced herself to say, contrition not coming easily.
    Camille smiled thinly without looking up. "I have met Vreelanders who come across the border to trade or to look for better hunting," she said. "Those who travel tend to have more open opinions." She examined the edge of the dagger before returning to smooth, gentle strokes over the stone.
    "Why did you stay here?" Helgaer asked, curious despite herself. "So close to Vreeland?"
    Camille shrugged. "I