As Kahlan approached, Hunter began a deep, murmuring purr, as if he was happy to see her again. Kahlan was certainly happy to see him. He gave her a reason to hope, something to latch on to.
The small animal was unlike any other creature she had ever seen. Although he resembled a cat in some ways, she didn’t know what he was, except that he was at least two or three times the size of a regular cat, with long whiskers and the same kind of almond-shaped eyes. But his legs were considerably stockier than a typical cat’s, and his body broader, more like a badger’s. His paws were disproportionately large, showing that he was immature and had yet to grow into them. The short, tan fur of his back was covered in dark spots. The fur became darker down toward his haunches and shoulders. The creature reminded her of nothing so much as a cross between a lynx and something like a wolverine or badger, with the same kind of muscular shoulders but not the long nose or short legs of one of those animals. The head was more like a cougar’s or lynx’s, but broader and with a heavier brow. His long, pointed ears had tufts of fur at the ends.
When she had first encountered the creature, Kahlan had pulled a thorn from his paw. As a result Hunter had been rather fond of her ever since. He had even slept curled against her that first night. Still, he was the offspring of a creature that Red had assured her was not simply large but quite menacing. Kahlan would not want to have to battle Hunter, much less his mother. But she and Hunter had become friends in a way, and she didn’t fear him.
She hoped, though, that like the last time he had really come to lead her to the witch woman.
Kahlan squatted down before the purring creature and looked into his green eyes. She scratched behind an ear and then ran her hand down his fur. Hunter pressed himself against her hand, liking her touch.
“Red sent you to get me, didn’t she?”
She didn’t know if Hunter could understand her, but he purred louder before looking off toward the dark woods. It seemed to her like he really did know what she was asking.
Kahlan stood, resting the palm of her left hand on the hilt of the sword as she peered off into the forest. It was a long way to the mountain pass where Red lived. Although there was still plenty of light, it was getting late in the day and it would be dark soon. Being out in the wilds of the Dark Lands at night, exposed to whatever dangers it held, was not a pleasant thought.
Letting Richard slip away from them was an even more unpleasant thought.
More important than the approaching night, time may have been meaningless in the underworld, but it was not meaningless in the world of life. With all kinds of dangers closing in on them, she didn’t know how much time they might have, but she knew that it couldn’t be much. Hannis Arc along with Emperor Sulachan and his legions of half people were rampaging across D’Hara on their way to take the People’s Palace. Along the way, they were raising the dead to help them. Every moment counted.
“We don’t have any time to waste,” Kahlan said, half to herself. “Hunter, can you take us to your mistress? Can you take us to Red?”
As if he understood, Hunter turned and bounded down off the rock and then across a field of tall grasses. He stopped not far away and turned back to wait and make sure she was following him. He had watched over her and kept her safe the last time. Had it not been for Hunter they might not have found their way and survived.
“I guess he knows where he’s going,” Nicci said.
“He certainly looks like he does,” Kahlan said with a sigh as she started out, watching the spot where Hunter disappeared into the shadows among low-hanging pine boughs.
“Travel until it starts to gets dark, then make camp and wait for first light?” Cassia asked.
“No,” Kahlan said. “As long as Hunter keeps going, so do we.”
The three Mord-Sith nodded. “Sounds good to me,” Cassia said.
Overhead, vultures, with their wings spread wide, rode the gentle breezes below the clouds. Some glided lower, riding the air just above the taller trees. Richard had often talked about signs at the beginning of a journey. She didn’t like to contemplate the meaning of this one.
Kahlan scanned the deeper shadows in the distance as they started in among the thick stand of pines. Although she didn’t see anything threatening, it felt too quiet. Since this was the Dark Lands and the trackless forests held dangers of every sort, she didn’t know if it was normal for it to be so quiet.
The danger that worried her the most was the half people. If there were hordes of half people lying in wait back in the woods, Nicci’s magic was going to be of little use. The three Mord-Sith could fight, and of course Kahlan had the sword, but the half people usually attacked in vast numbers.
She reconsidered the wisdom of telling the soldiers to remain behind. But even if she had brought all the men, and even as good as the soldiers of the First File were in combat, out in such level ground in the strange woods they wouldn’t stand a chance if there were the numbers of half people Emperor Sulachan and Hannis Arc had sent at them in the past. They would be surrounded and smothered under the weight of numbers.
Kahlan knew that if it came, this would not be a battle they could fight and win. They had to depend on the strange, furry creature to keep them out of a major battle and lead them safely through the woods.
Hunter bounded down a narrow trail, pausing and turning back from time to time to wait for them to catch up. He was in his element and seemed unconcerned about any threat lurking in the woods. Kahlan didn’t know if that was because he was confident of his ability to protect himself, or his ability to outrun anything that might come after him.
None of the five women fully shared the creature’s apparent confidence.
CHAPTER 5
Hunter stayed out in the lead as they followed him along lazy streams and through mazes of small pools of standing water among fallen dead branches and leaf litter. The deep shade of the tightly packed, towering pines left the forest floor along their way open enough to make a crude path of sorts along the brook. In spots where water tumbled and splashed, the spray fed thick carpets of green moss covering the rocks. In some spots, fallen, rotting tree trunks made big steps that they used to climb to higher ground as the foothills began ascending to meet the still-distant mountains.
The ground to either side rose up even higher. In some places stone walls thrust up to hem them in. The woods to both sides were thick with a tangled growth of brush and thorny vines. Hunter instead took a winding course along the streambed. Tight stands of trees and in places steep areas of scree or rock walls forced them to repeatedly cross the stream to avoid an arduous climb. Occasionally they had to slog through wet areas created by natural terraces. At least it was easier than traveling through the snarl of dense brush.
Although not ideal, the ground they followed up through the areas of runoff was at least open enough to make traveling relatively easy. Out in the wilds of the Dark Lands there were rarely any true paths used by people, and even more rarely roads. Since Kahlan had been forced to travel through much more difficult terrain in the past, she appreciated that Hunter was taking them along the easiest route available.
As he crossed the running water, Hunter bounded from rock to rock with the effortless grace of a cat. In a number of places he could have easily loped off through the small openings in the thorny brush, but he instead kept to areas the rest of them could travel. Still, in places it was not so easy for the five women to find good footing on the slippery rocks in order to cross the rushing stream. Sometimes they all held hands to keep their balance in a kind of human necklace across swirling water.