Page 47 of A Hunt Bound in Blood
I frowned. “How could they be ahead of us?”
“Maybe they’re not? Mutts don’t usually gather. For them to be travelling like this, something must have drawn them from all over the woods.”
I looked around us, searching for a pack of shifters half trapped in their animal forms that might be closing in on us. But the birds were chirping and the only movement was the branches blowing in the soft breeze.
“Coincidence?” I asked, even though I knew it couldn’t be. Mutts didn’t tend to wander. Not far, anyway. Hunters normally tracked them down and destroyed them before they made it beyond their approved boundaries.
“Unlikely,” Cammon said, confirming my opinion. “Not only are they far from home, but there are a lot of them. I’ve counted tracks of at least fifteen, which is more than I’ve ever seen travelling together. And they’re coming in from all directions, like they’re being summoned.”
A shiver ran through me, and I rubbed my arms, wishing for the moment that I’d worn my waistcoat today. “You still think they’re tracking the amulet?”
“It makes the most sense. I don’t know if they can read, which explains why they haven’t come for your notes. They must think you have the best chance of finding it. If that’s the case, then they won’t attack until we have it.”
I frowned. “We should have mentioned it to His Majesty. If someone in the palace spread word to the mutts, then he has a spy close to him.”
“All palaces have spies, mage. They’re called servants. And nobles. And the king’s own mother.”
“She’s dead.”
“Not my point. Everyone working around your king understands what’s at stake if they open their mouths. They’re also all human and make mistakes. If his spymaster tried to chase down everyone who let something slip, he’d be working night and day and Evaniel would be wiping his own ass.”
His logic made sense, but my worry didn’t fade. What exactly did the mutts think the amulet would do for them? Heal them of their half-formed state? Maybe the magic was that powerful, but even if it was, it would only save one of them.
“What should we do?”
Cammon pulled himself out of his deep thoughts and mustered a smile. “Nothing yet. We’ll keep moving and keep our wits sharp. As long as we stay aware of them, they won’t sneak up on us, and as soon as we find the amulet, we’ll get to Blue Harbour and board the ship Evaniel said would be waiting. They can race us home.”
I appreciated his confidence, but after what had happened with the shifters, I wasn’t so sure. I hadn’t been trained to fight. That skirmish had nearly killed me, and I didn’t know if I’d be lucky enough to survive a second one.
But I trusted Cammon to guide us. It was why he was here, after all, regardless of whatever other value he had.
With my thrill over finding the rock man dulled under this new threat, I turned my heavy steps towards the road. The path veered right, and the roar of a waterfall reached my ears. Beneath my worry, my heart gave a tiny leap of excitement that we’d nearly found another point along our map. We had to be close to the fifth signpost. After that, we only had a few more to go before we finished our mission and headed home. Whatever was chasing us, whatever other dangers existed out here, we were nearly rid of them. As long as we made it through the next few weeks, we would be fine.
“Shit,” Cammon hissed under his breath.
I stopped again and looked up at him. The surprise in his eyes, lined with fear, was so intense I was amazed I couldn’t feel it through the bond. I whipped around to follow his gaze, expecting to see the mutts, but my eye landed on two giants standing among the trees. They were easily half the height of the towering firs. My head might have come up to the shorter one’s kneecap. They were both naked, their bodies covered in thick, dark hair—almost a pelt—and they both held smoothed tree branches as clubs. The wind shifted, carrying the stench of rotten carrion and fetid breath.
My guts turned to water, and I backed away, craning my neck to see their faces, which I prayed were pointed in any direction but ours. If they hadn’t noticed us yet, we could slip away and find another route past the falls. We could—
“Run,” Cammon said, and as the taller giant bared his teeth and tightened his grip on the tree branch, I obeyed.
My feet fought me at first, taken aback by my sudden need to escape, but they caught on quickly when the giant took its first lumbering step towards us. Cammon grabbed my hand and pulled me after him. My heart thundered in my ears, matching the rhythm of my boots slapping against the packed earth of the road. Then we were off the road and sprinting through the grass. I had no idea where Cammon was leading us, but I didn’t question him. Those giants were catching up too quickly, and we weren’t gaining nearly enough ground.
The earth trembled with their footfalls, and the stench of rot grew stronger. Every moment, I braced for a massive hand to grab me, for my last sight of this world to be of large, flat teeth slamming down around my skull.
Then the water was right in front of us, the river rushing towards the cliff where the waterfall spilled into the pool beneath. There was no way across, and even if we made it, I doubted the rapids would be enough to throw the giants off balance. It would be better if we followed the road, maybe found a more gradual slope to slide down.
Movement in my periphery guided my eye to a wide palm swooping towards me, and a scream lodged in my throat.
“Hold your breath!” Cammon shouted, which was all the warning I got before he pulled me into his arms and hurled us over the waterfall.
Cammon
XXII
I snapped out my wings, the powerful limbs covered in glossy black feathers destroying yet another shirt and catching the spray of the water. For a few brief moments, we glided over the lake below.
Until the weight of the water bore down on me, soaking my wings and dragging us lower. “Oh, shit. Hold on tight!”