Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Anna
I huddled around the campfire, shielding it with my body as the wind howled past and threatened to extinguish the tiny fire I’d built.
The weather was working itself up to be a real blow. The orblight had faded near dusk as the clouds built up and up over the mountains to the south. Finally, after hours of waiting, the storm had come racing downward across the lands. With it came a driving rain and gale force winds.
“No, come on. Please don’t go out,” I murmured to the fire, trying to coax it back to life. I’d shielded it with some rocks to try to create a windbreak in hopes of giving it more space to breathe, but the wind was stronger than I’d expected.
The pure dragons’ sorrow floods the land when two of their kind leave hand in hand.
It was rare to see the dragons themselves leaving. Ella and I had been downright blessed to watch. But everyone in Hollow Earth knew when it happened. It was the only time storms occurred, giving strength to the old saying.
The gale grew to a deafening crescendo of shrieking air, stealing my little firelight and any semblance of order with it. My clothes whipped and battered against my body, my hair turned itself into a jumble of knots filled with grass, leaves, and bits of dirt as the storm swept past in a heartbeat.
It took me long seconds to discover it was gone. My ears were still ringing from the noise, and my nerves were so deadened to the wind, the abrupt lack of it was a surprise.
Standing up, I watched the storm race northward, heading toward the lands of Faerie, where the great fae lords would gather up its energy and redirect it at one another for fun.
In its wake, it left utter silence and nothing dry.
I sighed and crawled back against the rock that would serve as my bed for the night.
The fire was unnecessary. I didn’t need its heat or its light to survive.
But there was something comforting about it.
Some part of my human essence was still uncomfortable in the dark, though I could see just fine.
“Just another mystery,” I said to the dead campfire, watching a single tendril of smoke curl orb-ward from the dead brellwood twigs that had been my base.
My eyes flicked open. Something had disturbed the silence. It had been three days since Caz dropped me off. I’d surprised myself with how easy it had been to move back into survival mode.
Has it only been three days?
Three days of constantly moving. Scrounging for every scrap of edible food and hunting what little game there was. In the wilds, you were just as likely to be hunted by rogue faeries and feral shifters than to catch something.
On my second day, I’d stumbled across some six-toed prints that ended in long claws. Both of my feet had easily fit in to the inch-deep depression made by the giant creature. I’d seen no sign of it since, but I’d been quick to move on. Whatever it was, I did not want to make its acquaintance.
Was that what was out there now, hiding in the dark out of sight? Had a claw scraped on rock or broken a twig as it stalked me, eager for a fresh meal? I swallowed the sudden spike of fear. Adrenaline had its uses, but now was not the time for me to get all jumpy and panicky.
A boot brushed against the ground to my right. I stayed still, eyes half-closed as I listened intently. If it was a hunter, they would not be alone. They always operated in groups, usually four or more. The key was discovering which way they had left open for you to run.
Then run somewhere else.
It was a standard hunter tactic, designed to prey on the panicked flight of their targets. Make just enough noise upon approach to be detected, and thus leave what looked like a route to freedom.
That was where the real trap lay. The noises would not be mistakes. They were the bait. Startled from sleep and not thinking clearly, it was easy to see why it was an effective hunting method.
It took me longer than I would have liked to discover they had every angle except straight ahead closed. There were four in total—three I could hear approaching and the fourth that would lie in wait, likely with a net or something similar to snare me in.
Which is why when I leapt to my feet, I ran directly at where I thought the hunter on my left would be. Then I dodged to the right, and back to the left.
Amateurs, I thought as I slipped past the shocked hunter when he sprang from concealment to try to grab me, only to find me moving in the other direction already.
I raced off into the night while shouts of anger erupted from behind me as I foiled their trap.
There was a rocky patch a half-mile in this direction. If I could reach that, I could lose them among the crags. I’d spent the better part of two hours during the day memorizing my route through it to the river beyond, where I could drown my scent and hopefully lose them.
At least, that’s what I would normally do.
This time, I ran a little slower and made a little more noise.
That part wasn’t hard. After a month of living in luxury with Caz, I wasn’t used to sprinting at full speed anymore. Three days wasn’t enough time to get my lungs back completely. Within minutes, I was huffing and puffing as I climbed through the rocks.
Behind me, the hunters were closing in.
Something swooped by overhead, and I cried out in shock, leaping between two standing stones as a blast of cold air swept over the spot where I’d been.
The bastards were playing dirty.
There were no rules out in the wilds, of course, but most hunters took it as a point of pride to capture their targets without resorting to shifting. The hunter who had to shift to nab his prey was often ridiculed for not being good enough.
To me, it was stupid. They would be so much wealthier if they simply used their dragons to round up clippys and ferals. But the “fun of the hunt” mattered just as much. Usually. But not this time.
The huge beast landed nearby, breathing out more ice to block me in.
Seconds later, I was surrounded by hunters. They tossed a net over me and hauled me from my feet without even saying a word in my direction. They did, however, spend quite a bit of effort mocking the hunter I’d eluded.
To them, I wasn’t more than merchandise. I wasn’t a real person. I was a thing, draped over the shoulder of one hunter and then dismissed.
I shivered. I’d forgotten what it was like to be treated that way. To not exist.
Caz had shown me a different world. A world where I mattered. I squirmed around in the net so I could bring my hand to my neck, touching the spot he’d sunk his fangs into. The place where he’d claimed me.
It seemed a lifetime ago now as my head banged against a rock. I cried out at the unexpected pain, earning me a solid punch to the ribs and a snarled order to shut up.
“Or what?” I spat back. “You going to take me to a market and sell me? You won’t kill me. I’m worthless to you that way.”
“Market’s a long way off,” one of the hunters chuckled. “You’ll heal up just nicely by the time we get there.”
Then his fist lashed out at my cheek. My head rocked back painfully. Stars exploded in my vision and I moaned. Warmth ran down my face as I hung there in the net.
“You’ll be quiet one way or another,” the hunter sneered. Then he grabbed a handful of my shirt and pulled.
I squirmed as it ripped and tried frantically to wrap my hands around myself. “Okay,” I whimpered. “Please don’t hit me again.”
He laughed, an ugly thing, and grabbed my chin, forcing the hunter carrying me to stop. “I like the way you beg. Maybe you should …”
Fingers tightened on my chin, and he turned my head to the side slightly, his eyes narrowing.
My stomach congealed into a mass at the sudden attention. What was going on? Why was he so interested in me all of a sudden?
“Lahnne, get over here with a light,” he snarled.
One of the others leapt to obey, lighting a torch and shoving it into the waiting hand.
“Well, well, well,” the hunter murmured, moving my head back and forth. “What do we have here?”
The one named Lahnne leaned in, his foul-smelling breath hitting me in the face. I tried to turn away, but the fingers on my jaw tightened painfully.
“Look at me, girl,” Lahnne ordered.
I glared at him.
“Oh my,” Lahnne said, standing up straight. “Now that’s unexpected. Isn’t it, Keiren?”
“Very unexpected.” Keiren dropped my head. “But an unexpected bonus indeed.”
Bonus? What bonus?
“Come on, let’s get moving. We’re leaving now,” Keiren ordered, tying up the net with a thick cord that he then looped into the waiting claws of the dragon shifted hunter. “Be damn careful with this. If she’s not in one piece when we land, I’ll have your heart scale.”
The dragon rumbled.
“What are you doing?” I asked nervously. “Why are you taking me to a market tonight?”
Keiren laughed, not stopping as he walked off to undress from his hunter’s leathers and shift himself.
“Oh, there’s no market. Not for you, Violet.
Someone very special has put out a request for you.
I don’t know why you’re all the way out here.
Ran away, maybe? Don’t matter, though. You’re just a bonus for me. ”
He yelled at his men to move out, and the dragon carrying me lifted into the air.
I rose into the air while my stomach plummeted. Someone not only knew who I was but had put out a bounty for me?
This wasn’t part of the plan. Caz was waiting for me in Kylma, to track me through our bond. But we were headed north. Away from the city.
Away from Caz.