Chapter 10
The four trainers walked ahead, leading us toward the woods of Emberfall. At night Vander said the green leaves turned auburn under the moonlight and shimmered like the dying embers of a fire. I had yet to see it for myself.
There wasn’t a moment for me to ask what had happened to his previous apprentices. All I knew was that whatever had happened must be tragedies, and it was wrong for Dred to throw it in his face.
“We are actually outside the wall,” Taewyn said for the third time.
“About damn time. I’ve been waiting all my life for this.” Celine took a knife from her thigh strap, readying herself for danger.
Pyro was to the right of her and had her hood pulled up. “We’ve gone out the last few days. Didn’t see any vampires. I doubt we will today either. This is probably just another training exercise.”
“I don’t care what it is, we’re outside the wall.” Taewyn was giddy at this point. I wondered if he felt the way I did the first time I was allowed into the city. “I think it smells different out here. Fresher somehow.”
“How could it smell different?” Celine shot him an annoyed glance. “The wall doesn’t block out smells.”
“No, it is different.” I smiled beneath my mask. “It’s freedom.”
The three of them laughed. “I thought you hated it out here,” Celine said.
“I’ve never said I hated it.” I was getting used to living inside the walls, but it didn’t feel like home.
Taewyn nudged his shoulder into mine and whispered, “What pissed off Viper by the way? He looked downright murderous.”
“Something Dred said about his past.” I didn’t feel it was my place to give specifics, although that might be stupid of me considering I was his apprentice and obviously something terrible had happened to the last two. Should I trust him with my life? Did I have a choice?
“You can’t leave us dangling off a cliff like that. What about his past?” Celine whisper-hissed.
I watched Vander’s back. Of the four trainers, he was the tallest, moved with the most grace.
Though he gave no indication and they were several yards ahead of us, I would bet money he could hear our conversation.
The man had incredible senses, and from what I’d seen wandering with him in the woods, he was more aware of his surroundings than anyone I’d ever known.
“Whatever Dred said was too quiet for me to hear details.” I tugged my mask down and quickly gestured toward his back and mouthed, He can hear us.
Taewyn cleared his throat and tapped on the hilt of the silver dagger at his hip. “You don’t have a weapon for your belt?” I was thankful he changed the subject.
“Viper said I’m not ready for more than a knife.
” My weapon’s belt was pathetically empty.
Though it was double palm-width wide and had many slots for when I was ready.
I had one meager weapon just in case, so I pulled the blade from the strap around my right thigh.
It was a simple five-inch black-handled knife sharpened to a dangerous point.
One edge was serrated while the other was smooth. “I have a rope and a hook,” I shrugged.
“What’s that for?” Taewyn asked.
“Climbing. We’ve been climbing trees a lot this week.
Sometimes jumping or swinging from one to another.
Vander says it’s a good way to avoid detection.
” I pointed to all the shiny metal on Celine.
“You look like you’ve made out well.” She had two daggers, a hatchet swaying at her hip, and even a bow with arrows slung on her back in a black leather quiver.
Pyro and Taewyn didn’t have the arrows, but they had a dagger on each hip and a knife strapped to their thighs.
The hilt of a blade stuck out of Taewyn’s boot, too.
A twinge of jealousy pulled at my chest.
“I’ve been training to kill vampires for a long time already,” Celine replied. “But you’re the only one of the four of us that’s actually killed one, so don’t feel too bad.”
Vander glanced over his shoulder. “Catch up.” I hadn’t realized they’d picked up their pace and were about to enter the thick woods of unique Ember trees with star-shaped leaves and nearly black bark.
My shoulder brushed Vander’s arm. Now that we were out here where vampires roamed, I had to shadow him. I’d learned not to ask questions about where we were going or what we were doing. He’d tell me when he wanted to.
A reverence had fallen over the eight of us now.
Even if Taewyn and Celine had never been outside the wall, they knew what threats awaited.
Silently we stepped under the thick canopy of leaves, spreading out from each other but still in a line.
We walked in complete silence for what felt like a long time.
I knew from our previous ventures there was a village near here, and I’d heard Vander mention something to Falcon about a pack of wildlings that needed to be put down. I hadn’t thought much of it until now.
We were hunting. I glanced up at the sky.
It was late afternoon already. Half the day had been spent at the training yard.
Vander had said the fastest way to find a vampire was to follow the screams but that was at night.
During the day, the only thing we could do was search for places where they would hide from the sun.
Caves, old shacks, abandoned homes, or burrowed under the protruding roots of a tree covered in a blanket of forest debris.
That one scared me the most. Had I walked past a hidden vampire before and never knew it?
Vander pointed at Falcon and Scout, straightened his four fingers with his thumb curled into his palm and gestured right. He made another quick signal to Ghost. I was still learning the hand signals, but I knew a closed fist with the thumb pointing toward himself meant “with me”.
Falcon and Scout along with their apprentices took off at a jog right, disappearing into the thicket.
That’s when an old, run-down hovel came into view.
The wood was half-rotted, and the dark ratty blankets that covered the broken-out windows had a few holes in them.
My body tensed as I followed Vander toward it.
Scout and Taewyn swung around back, disappearing from view.
Falcon leapt up into a tree with Celine right behind her.
A moment later, they were perched several branches up with arrow tips pointed at the shack.
Vander held up a fist, thumb curled around his fingers.
Stop. Ghost, Pyro, and I didn’t move, barely breathed.
A quick point to the left and Ghost and Pyro moved to a thicket at the base of the broken window.
Ghost pulled a wickedly curved sword from her back.
The metal glinted in the light filtering in from the breaks in trees.
With a dagger in each hand, Vander walked straight for the front door.
My heart skipped a beat. It went against every instinct in me, but here I was, the loyal dog following right behind him.
My heart rammed against my ribs. My breaths came faster but controlled and quiet.
The scrape of my knife pulling free from the sheath might as well have been a rumble of thunder.
His boot slammed into the center of the door, wood splintered with a loud crack. I flinched and readied myself, expecting screeches and wails. Dust billowed up in a cloud, but silence followed. Vander slowly stepped forward into the shadowy doorway, head swiveling one way then the other. “Clear.”
A soft breath pushed between my lips. It was my job to kill vampires now, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved. I didn’t feel ready yet. I didn’t have confidence in my abilities other than to run.
Falcon dropped from the tree, landing half crouched. Celine climbed down a few branches before swinging to the ground. “Damn it, I thought I was about to kill my first vamp,” Celine complained.
“Your time will come. Trust me,” Falcon said.
Taewyn’s trainer, Scout, peeked around from the back of the building. “Come look at this.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but the stench hit me before I saw it.
The sound of flies buzzing came next. At the base of a slope, half covered in shrubbery, a cloud of insects hovered over a pile of rotting bodies.
Most of them were decayed beyond the point of recognition, but I caught a drape of long, dirty blonde hair at the top.
The woman’s dress was half hanging off her shoulder.
Her neck was torn open, but there was no blood, just muscle, sinew, and bone.
The horrible smell hit me again. Heat crept up my body, nausea burned at the back of my throat. Shit. I whipped around, jerked down my mask and retched. Pyro and Taewyn puked soon after I did.
I dry-heaved, then straightened my spine and pressed a hand to my stomach.
It wasn’t just the smell, it was the sight of so many dead people.
People likely from Lothleton with families who missed them, who would always wonder where they were.
Disappearances happened all the time in the forgotten lands.
Scout crouched and pulled a leaf between his fingertips. He pointed at a clear footprint in the dirt. “These tracks are different sizes. I’d guess two males and a female. They’ll likely be back to this shack.”
“They always come back to what is familiar, and they’ve clearly been here for a while.
” Vander glanced at me. There was determination in those wondrous eyes, and also pause, as if he was contemplating something.
I gave the briefest shake of my head. He couldn’t think we were going to stay out here.
.. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, and I already knew what he was going to say. “We’ll wait until they return.”
“Shit,” Scout muttered and rubbed the back of his head.
Wait until... night? My mouth went dry. My heart started to pound.