He took another quick look behind. He’d opened up more distance, but she still followed, as dogged as a hound. Again, he resisted the nagging temptation to go after her. But he couldn’t let her just roam free could he? Not with Kahkon’s safety at stake. Choice and consequence continued to pry at him.
He made up his mind.
“You wish for me to join you to chase her down?” Sakari’s smooth voice broke in, the words more a suggestion than a question.
Ryne’s forehead wrinkled. When did I link with him. “No. I only intend to lead her away,” he answered in a level voice. He used the link with Sakari to gaze through the man’s eyes. Sakari, accompanied by four hunters, worked their way through the forest several miles east of Ryne’s location. “Continue to follow the tracks until they lead you to the beast’s lair and Kahkon.”
“If you hold back, you will not capture her,” Sakari responded, as if he heard nothing Ryne said.
“I said I have no intention of chasing her right now. Besides, if I don’t hold back, I’d have to kill her.” Ryne’s mouth curled with distaste at the thought. He shook his head.
“Not if you allow me to help.”
Ryne’s forehead wrinkled at the sudden urge to ask for his companion’s assistance. Could he trust himself with his earlier loss of control? He hardened his tone, “No, you stay with the others. Find the boy. I promised his mother. He mustn’t end up the same as those corpses we found, and we can’t allow him to disappear like the others. I’ll do what I can about Mariel.” Not wishing to second-guess his decision, he broke the link before Sakari could reply.
When he swept his gaze behind him once more, Mariel was a mere speck. At that moment, the hunter’s horn sounded in a long, undulating bray to announce the others had located their quarry. Swearing, Ryne chased Mariel from his thoughts and dashed off toward the sound.
As Ryne drew near, the ever-present lump in the back of his mind that told of Sakari’s presence grew in size. Feet flew by like inches and miles fled like yards as he followed his connection to Sakari along a path the hunters had hewn through dense undergrowth. The smells from fruits and orchid blooms and the twitter of birds hurtled by with each stride. One with the woods, Ryne avoided any branches and vines the men had missed. Within minutes, he reached the horn’s origin.
An abrupt silence greeted him.
Lenka, gray-haired and wiry, stood with horn in hand behind a large mahogany tree. Its thick branches drooped from the weight of its leaves and the lantum vines snaking among them. The canopy in this part of the Fretian Woods grew in a tighter knit than elsewhere. If one didn’t know the time of day, the murky light could easily be mistaken for dusk instead of late afternoon.
Sakari and the other four hunters, all in scaled leather armor with short swords at their hips, melded with the tree trunks within the area until all were one and the same. Not a sound or motion gave away their positions.
A familiar smell akin to spoiled meat assaulted Ryne’s nostrils. He stared in the direction of the scent and Lenka’s crooked arm and forefinger. The stand of trees the man pointed out was darker still, deep night to the rest of the area’s dusk. Ryne watched and waited as Lenka joined the other five men.
From deep within the knits of vine and sapling leaves, a guttural sound reverberated similar to a man’s death rattle as he choked on his own blood. Except no man makes that sound.
Branches snapped and heavy footfalls thudded as if whatever approached walked on stone instead of the leafy rug that covered the forest floor. Ryne kept his gaze trained, his body tense, and his hand hovering over his sword hilt. The earlier tingle returned, but this time it built into the familiar thrill of his battle energy.
Where the other six men hid appeared as nothing more than shadowed trunks and foliage. The footfalls grew closer until they became thunder in the silent forest. Each step played a rhythmic beat to match Ryne’s own heart.
The sound silenced. Not just the noise from the footfalls, but all nearby sounds.
Leaves rained to the ground as branches whipped back and forth among the saplings directly across from Ryne. The black greenery parted.
Snarls and grunts ensued. Two golden embers for eyes appeared. A wide muzzle and a head bigger than a massive bull followed.
Once again, Ryne observed the unusual amounts of shade that clung to the lapra’s aura. Could it just be the rot?
The lapra stopped before its body became exposed. Shrouded in the darkness, Ryne didn’t need to see the grotesque red and black flesh dripping with decaying meat. From the near suffocating stench that clawed at him, he could picture the beast.
Another face, this one human, appeared not far from the lapra’s. The man’s aura, also tinted by more shade than normal, wavered in patterns Ryne recognized but couldn’t quite place. Paint covered the man’s face, blending with the leaves and shadow.
Ryne’s breath quickened. An Alzari mercenary? Here? Did Mariel already inform the Tribunal of my presence? Have they hired these assassins to hunt me down again?
A cry rang out in Kahkon’s unmistakable high pitch before Ryne could think of answers. Immediately, the lapra’s head and the Alzari’s face retreated among the trees. Sakari gave the signal and the hunters moved, all sprinting toward the stand.
From the corner of his eye, Ryne caught a flash of long golden hair and an unfamiliar feminine form just as it fled behind a trunk. An aura with a peculiar mix of light, shade, and earth essences emanated from the stranger. Who is that?
Heart thudding in his chest, his battle energy crawling across his skin in static charges, Ryne brought his hand down to his greatsword’s hilt and eased from his hiding place. But there was no sign of the stranger or her golden tresses. Her aura had also vanished.
Crashes and shouts abounded as the hunters from Carnas engaged the lapra and its master. The creature’s roars joined the men’s voices. A yell cut off with an abrupt cry. Howls changed to snarling whines. The lapra’s thunderous rumbles continued to echo.
Ryne raced to his friends, his brow drawn together in a lumpy frown. How could an aura he identified disappear as if it never existed?
The lapra’s roars continued, occasionally interrupted by a whine or a snarl. The clang of metal meeting metal also rose.
Ryne passed through the shadowy trees into an unexpected sight. Carnas’ five hunters had the grotesque ten-foot beast surrounded. From varied directions, they thrust, sliced, and feinted. Multiple wounds littered the lapra’s moldy fur. Its head dipped from side to side as it attempted to defend all attack points. Skin sloughed in places, and its blood dripped viscous and black.
But that was not what surprised Ryne. The shock was in seeing Sakari battle not one but two dual-dagger wielding Alzari.
Clad in dark leather matching the color of the forest, their faces covered in war paint, they circled Sakari. As one, the assassins attacked him from opposite flanks, darting in faster than any other of their clan Ryne had ever faced.
The three men twisted and turned. Their steps synchronized as if they danced to a tune only they could hear.
Sakari was ever on the defensive, dodging and parrying stroke after stroke. His face remained impassive even when the Alzari’s black blades scoured his armor and licked at his flesh. Bright red trickles decorated his armor from his many cuts.
With a snarl, Ryne joined the fray, his battle energy surging to a torrent.
The closest Alzari twisted away to meet Ryne’s attack. Silversteel swished through empty air where the assassin once stood.