Page 53 of Red

“I wonder what they could have possibly offered her that was worth her complicity? Whatever it was, it appears that it didn’t work out so well for her,” Kyx remarked.

Rager stepped past the body of the female, pacing around the space, his nostrils flaring as he searched for the scent trail of their mate. He circled twice, his fur standing on end, before slipping back out the doorway. Kyx followed close on the heels of his lead, taking in trace smells muddled together with that one hopeful trace of their mate as the humans eventually departed from the camp. It became clear to him that whoever took Arie had left the area together, heading north-east through the forest toward the mountains and the Citadel.

Dropping down to kneel in the dirt, Kyx traced his fingers over the marks of horses and the deep ruts from wagon wheels, all of them heading in the same direction. Warol arrived at his side, his muzzle wrinkling as he also looked down at the marks. An odor of death clung to the male that stung Kyx’s nose. Warol’s yellow eyes slid over to him, and he grimaced.

“I couldn’t just leave her lying there,” he explained.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone that you are a compassionate soul,” Kyx whispered.

Warol grunted dismissively and gestured to the tracks. “It appears they took her with them and are heading directly for the Citadel.”

Kyx nodded. “Yes, so it seems. It is strange though; I would have expected trouble to come from the village. From what Arie said, no one in the Citadel but her grandmother would have known anything of her.”

Warol growled softly, low in his throat. “Then for what purpose would they have for taking her there?”

“Maybe it has nothing to do with the village. It’s possible that the village instigated an investigation, but the Order is operating for its own purposes now,” Rager replied, and Kyx started at the deep growl of their lead’s voice as he joined them.

The suggestion made sense, but it still left the question of why unanswered. Arie never spoke of the Order at all. Her sole interest in journeying to the Citadel was to be reunited with her grandmother. A female who didn’t know of her existence until Arie had contacted her. So why did the Order take her and not just destroy her as they tried to do to him? According to his mother, it was more usual for women who cavorted with Ragoru to be killed for the crime by the huntsmen who found them.

With unanswered questions hanging over them, they departed from the camp without further conversation as they followed the humans’ trail. Now that they had a set course, they ran at a steady pace through the forest, their tails extending past their haunches for added balance as they whipped through the trees. By the end of the day the forest opened up on the steep incline of the Harrowed Mountains. They found a place to rest for the night at the foot of the mountains, but upon starting out again the next morning, the cool gray rocks were no less of a grim sight.

Not only was the pale stone dreary, but the air was cold, and snow resiliently clung in many places as they moved into higher elevations. The stone was brittle there as it was along the other mountains they traveled, breaking away and crumbling beneath their tread. At the end of the day, they found a rough, rocky niche within which to pass the night. They sat in silence together as they consumed a kid goat they found separated from its dam before settling in with weary reluctance.

As always when they bedded down over the last several days, Kyx missed the warm pressure of Arie between them and the soft sounds she made as she slept. He’d become so accustomed to her scent that his anxiety spiked with its absence whenever he tried to rest. He could barely detect the traces of her in their fur any longer. He knew from looking at his brothers it was something that they were finding distressing as well. In the end, however, not one of them spoke a word of it as they curled around each other for added warmth against the chill of the wind.

It was high in those mountains that they caught a familiar scent. This one was burdened with the overlapping scents of many others. It was clear in Kyx’s senses and burned into his memory. He had floated between consciousness and death but remembered the scent of the huntsman who’d come close to him and the chilling sentence he issued. The other huntsmen were no less vile, but this male was the lead and the worst among them.

Hatred burning in his gut, Kyx caught Rager’s eye and gestured for the male to draw closer. Rager nodded and drew up to his flank, his eyes burning with curiosity. Warol took notice and dropped down from the rocks on his other side.

“Do you smell the huntsman nearby?” Kyx growled.

His brothers nodded to confirm, their pupils dilating with interest. All of them had been looking forward to confronting the huntsmen since Arie was stolen from their family.

“Though his alone this time, that is the male who was leading the huntsmen who attacked us.”

Warol’s lips peeled back from his teeth. “You are certain, brother?”

“Without a doubt. He stood close enough that I was able to catch a clear scent from him, and even as addled as I was at that moment, I cannot forget that vile smell.”

Rager inclined his head. “Then we will hunt him as he has hunted us. We will get our answers, and then our retribution. Afterward, it will be this huntsman who is left alone and dying in the midst of the mountains with no hope of comfort.”

Kyx and Warol snarled their agreement as one. Every member of their triad was eager for the harm done to their family to be satisfied. They slipped among the rocks as they descended with the sort of predatory silence that only Ragoru could achieve, drawing closer to their prey. It was ridiculously easy to track the huntsman. His position on the mountainside was so blatant that even a rog could have tracked him. The human made no effort to conceal himself. Kyx wasn’t sure if that was bravado or simple arrogance in believing that nothing on the mountain would attack him. Kyx was eager to prove the male wrong. That desire grew so that that when they finally came across huntsman’s camp, Kyx was barely able to contain himself as he dropped into position with his triad. From the shelter of the rocks, they watched as the male leaned over a fire, a metal pan held over the flames, not unlike some of those used by his mother.

The huntsman stilled. If he had been Ragoru, Kyx would have imagined the male’s ear and peripheral eye turning toward their position. Although they’d made little noise, the human seemed to have sensed the hand of death looming near. Perhaps it was the chill breath of his own ancestors or gods warning him? The huntsman’s hand moved slowly down his side, reaching for the projectile weapon on his belt.

Without warning, Warol snarled and leaped from the rocks right into the path of the huntsman. Startled, the human cursed and leaped away, but not without stumbling over a log sticking out of the fire in his rush, dropping his forgotten pan into the flames. Despite his surprise, the male attempted to draw his weapon, but Warol seized the huntsman’s arm in a punishing grip with one hand while another wrenched the weapon away. Warol didn’t even glance at it before he tossed it over the side of the mountain, his sole focus on the human held tightly within his grip.

Not to be deterred, the huntsman promptly swung his body outward and pulled out a knife with his opposite hand before launching himself forward as he brought the knife down, slashing in an awkward forward motion. He grazed Warol with the tip of the blade but was unable to do much damage at his angle. It did startle Warol enough, however, that the huntsman was able to break free and scrabble to a safer position out of their immediate reach. An ugly laugh burst from him as he watched them, his eyes overbright with some sort of madness. Warol didn’t hesitate to rebound and make his attack again, but the huntsman was not weak.

The human’s muscles strained with effort as he fought Warol off, delivering several cuts that seeped with blood down the silver male’s chest, arms, and sides. It was Warol’s grin that he wore, despite bleeding in multiple places, that finally seemed to sink in. A look of worry tightened the male’s face as the huntsman seemed to come to the correct conclusion that, alone, his strength was no match for a healthy, mature Ragoru. It was with a lunge and a few quick, powerful movements that Warol finally caught the human and overpowered him, pinning him against his chest.

The huntsman might have wished that was the end of it, but Warol’s grin widened ferociously when Rager suddenly stepped forward, his massive size casting a shadow over their prey. Kyx tried to imagine how his brother appeared to the male. Did he imagine Rager was the very personification of his own death, like the black-shrouded figure his mother liked to regale him with when he was a rog?

The human began to shake, and the tremors became more noticeable as Rager drew closer. Yet, despite his signs of fear, a wild smile stretched across his face, and he panted with a strange mixture of excitement and fear.

“Magnificent,” the huntsman said with a laugh. “I knew if I were patient, you would come and look for your whore, that you would track me. I’ve been so eager for this moment that I didn’t even bother with the concealing fragrance of distilled night-dew flowers, but never had I imagined such a specimen. Or that you would be the one to have me at your mercy.”

Rager’s eyes narrowed to slits of utter malevolence at him, and even Kyx felt a chill slide up his back at the sinister expression their lead gave the human. He leaned down so his muzzle was level with the male’s face, his breath stirring the huntsman’s mane. Very slowly his lips pulled back from his teeth, showing his long fangs.

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