Free Oath Breaker by Michelle Paver, Geoff Taylor

"That's what Deep Forest people want above all: to be like the trees."
"I can see more shields down there than men."
She nodded and held up three fingers. Three hunters still out there, stalking the Forest. They'd been right to climb the lime.
They took turns staying awake. A thin rain pattered into Torak's dreams, and the Forest became a dark, soughing sea where night birds flitted like fishes. From far away came the oo-hu, oo-hu of an eagle owl.
     
Renn was shaking his shoulder. "Dawn soon."
     
He blinked, kneading cramp from his calf. The day was blustery, with a dry south wind. Chaffinches and warblers were already in full voice, the wood pigeons just beginning.
     
"I hope Rip and Rek are still asleep," muttered Renn. "The last thing we need is a raven greeting."
     
Torak tried to smile. He thought it less and less likely that their plan would work. Even if it did, they'd have only a brief chance to swim the Blackwater; and then they'd be in Forest Horse territory. And all the
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time, Thiazzi was getting away.
Gray light seeped into camp, and Torak made out humped shelters around the central beech.
He peered at it. It couldn't be. Those lower branches were red. It wasn't the morning sun; the branches themselves--bark, twigs, leaves--had been daubed all over with earthblood. Why, he thought, would anyone paint an entire branch red?
     
No time to wonder. The sun was rising. Soon they must be on the move.
     
To the north, something glittered in the tall spruce tree. And there, farther east. Renn flashed him an edgy grin. So far, the plan was working. The flint flakes they'd tied to her arrowshafts shimmered and clinked in the wind.
    The Aurochs had seen them. Men were pointing, running for weapons and shields.
Swiftly, Torak and Renn climbed down to earth. Wolf appeared, his fur wet with dew. They headed for the river.
    Willows overhung the Blackwater, holding in the night. There was no sign of Aurochs. Torak prayed that they'd all been drawn by the decoys. Yanking off their boots and tying them to their sleeping-sack rolls, they made their way down the bank and into the reeds, moving cautiously, so as not to startle any water birds into betraying them. The shallows were choked with leafy
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saplings felled by a flood farther upstream.
"Good cover," murmured Renn.
They risked strained smiles. Maybe this was going to work.
Bracing themselves for the cold, they waded into the river. Torak's feet sank into a freezing slime of dead leaves, and he saw Renn's stained lips tighten in disgust. He grabbed a floating sapling for cover. She did the same. They swam after Wolf, who was already halfway across.
    The Blackwater wasn't as sleepy as it looked. It was a struggle to resist its stealthy underwater pull.
Suddenly Wolf veered, and came swimming toward them, his ears pinned back in alarm.
"What's that? " whispered Renn.
Torak's belly turned over. Those logs in midstream: They were floating upriver. And some of them had eyes.
One raised its head. Torak saw a fierce green face tattooed with leaves. A brown headband. Long hair braided with horsetails.
A Forest Horse raiding party. Heading straight for them.
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ELEVEN
"Get underwater, head back to the bank," Torak told Renn just before he dived. He couldn't find the breathing tube in his belt. Too bad--he'd hold his breath. He only hoped Renn had heard him.
    She had. She surfaced soon after he did in the same patch of reeds, and they waited, gritting their teeth to stop them chattering. The Forest Horses hadn't seen them. The green men lay on their bellies, paddling silently with their hands, knives clamped between charcoal-blackened teeth. Not far from Torak, Wolf hauled himself onto the bank and shook himself noisily.
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Eyes flicked sideways in leaf-tattooed faces, then back again. A lone wolf was no concern of theirs.
The reeds gave good cover, allowing Torak and Renn to crawl up the bank and get their bearings. Torak was shocked. The treacherous Blackwater had carried