Page 22 of Born of Starlight
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We were tooon edge from our encounter with the Specters to sleep. Getting comfortable without a pack would be challenging, so we decided to carry on into the night. The northern woodlands at night somehow grew even foggier. Luckily, our eyes had adjusted to the moonlight.
We walked for a few miles before hearing a low growl from the treeline to our right. I placed the source of the sound immediately.
What are Firose’s Lynx doing out here? Have they come to bring me back to my tower?
“What now?” Emmerick growled, clearly not wanting another encounter like the last. He kept close beside me and unsheathed his sword.
“Lynx,” I answered him, stepping forward.
Emmerick halted, scanning his surroundings. The growl was low, and it was impossible to tell which direction it came from.The Lynx won’t attack us as long as they were under Firose’s orders to be here.
“Don’t worry—they belong to my Sister. They likely just can’t recognize me yet through the fog.”
The rustling continued, as did the growling—there was more than one.
All would be well. I stood tall, awaiting their approach.
Emmerick yelled out from behind me.
“Your left!”
Chapter8
Fenris
Dusk cast shadows on the woodland surrounding my cabin. I stepped out onto the rickety front porch to await Van.
“Come home,” I commanded through the bond.What was taking him so long?
The sound of a horse’s whinny alerted me that someone was approaching. I stood, and fire spewed from my upraised palms, ready to meet the threat. Through the thick of the woods, hoofbeats pounded. As two horses burst from the brush, my body relaxed. At least they were without riders. No one had found me here,yet.Though, apparently, someone had been close.
Van crashed through the trees behind the equines, cutting right and left to keep the prey animals in front of him. I ran to follow them around the cabin. The horses pressed themselves against the fence line that had been built to keep deer out of my garden.
“Van, stop that!” I scolded. “Are youherdingthem?”
As usual, no response came, and Van’s eyes hungrily fixed on the horses. He paused as though displaying them to me, waiting for my permission to eat the majestic creatures.
“No. You remember horses—they are useful. Not food.”
The horses were slicked with sweat, pasterns scratched from galloping through the thickets but they seemed otherwise unharmed. I fisted my hands to snuff out the flames from my palms before jogging down to where the horses trembled by the fence.
“Whoa, whoa, now.” I captured the reins of one horse, a large black draft with feathered fur on its legs. The smaller red horse stayed alert but nearby.
I unfastened one of the saddles and packs and allowed Van to sniff it.
“Go on, go track where their riders ended up. Donoteat them either, and stay out of sight.”
* * *
I stoodon the porch and closed my eyes. Van let me into his vision easily.
Our visitors were not far. Vangard tracked them a mile or so south. In the dark, I could see a large male form who looked to be in armor and a smaller female form in dark robes.
“Stay low,”I told Van through the bond.
Another pride of Lynx also slinked nearby.
