Page 100 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

Mother above, I pray. We don’t stand a chance now. We need to hide and wait for it to pass, and just hope it hasn’t seen us. Peeking from around my rock, I see that Vaeril has gone further ahead, not realising I’ve stopped.

“Vaeril,” I hiss. Most humans wouldn’t be able to hear me, but I hope with his superior hearing that he will. My guess is right. He stops and turns to face me with a frown, but seeing my expression, he hurries over to me, jumping over boulders as big as the fountains back at the castle with ease.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, as soon as he reaches my side, barely out of breath and not a hair out of place despite the fact he just sprinted here. Me, on the other hand, I’m panting, my heart in my throat.

“We’re being tracked.”

His expression sharpens as he looks around us for the threat, peering past the rock to the expanse of land behind us. We’re quiet for a few seconds as I try to catch my breath and he continues to search.

“I can’t see anyone.” I’m expecting to hear frustration at me slowing him down, but instead he sounds confused and looks at me to explain further. He’s trusting what I’m saying, even though he can’t see any evidence to back up my claim.

I point up to where the bird is still scanning the area, its distinctive cry making me wince.

“It’s a bird,” he comments, as he tilts his head to examine it further. I place my hand on his arm and pull him back behindthe shelter of the rock. His head instantly snaps down to where our skin is touching before he looks up to meet my eyes.

“It’s not just a bird,” I explain, urging him to understand. “It’s a tracking falcon.”

“What are you saying?” he questions with a shake of his head, and I growl in frustration.

“Before I was moved to work at the castle, I was a farm slave. The farm I worked at was a falcon breeding centre. They aren’t normal birds,” I hiss, my frustration not really aimed at him, but at the fact we might have been caught so early into our escape. “They are stronger and faster than normal birds, they are intelligent, and they almost never lose a target. See that green band on its ankle?” Vaeril leans out silently to peer at the bird again, and after a moment, he looks back at me and nods. “It’s magicked. When the bird finds its target, it records everything and sends the location to its handler.” Vaeril seems to understand the gravity of the situation now, his eyes narrowing. “If it finds us, we will never be free of it.”

He’s silent, and the only sounds I can hear are the crashing waves at the bottom of the cliffs and the plaintive cry of the falcon.

“Can it fly in the woods?”

I think back to my time at the farm, shuddering at the memories. I remember that being one of their weaknesses, they need large, flat areas to hunt. That’s never been a problem for them, though, as no one has ever got past the flat lands to the forest beyond.

“No, they’re too large. But we’ll never get there before it attacks or before they find us,” I respond, my body starting to shake from the cold for having stood still for too long. At least, that’s what I’m blaming the shaking on. The guards would be travelling on horseback, and Arhavian horses are some of the fastest in the land, they would catch up to us in no time.

A thought comes to me as I remember our escape. “Could you use your magic, the shield you used last night?”

“No, I can’t reach my magic here.” He goes silent for a moment. “How do the tracker bands work?” He’s still watching the bird above us, which is circling the area now. It may not have found us yet, but it knows something is hiding in these rocks.

It’s waiting us out, I realise, before taking a deep breath to answer the question.

“They have to be activated. The magic band is coded to the people it’s trying to find. The bird will attack, and when blood hits the band, it activates.”

He nods as if I’ve confirmed something for him and he takes a step towards me, his expression serious, but there is an excited energy about him that makes me nervous. “I have a plan.”

“Okay,” I drawl, still convinced there is no way out of this without the bird seeing us.

“We run to the forest and don’t get hit by the bird.”

I wait for the rest of his plan, my eyebrows rising at his expectant expression. “That’s your plan? Run and don’t let it attack me?” I inquire incredulously. When he nods, confirming I heard his terrible plan correctly, I laugh. I’m laughing so much that my stomach hurts and I have to bend at my waist to breathe.

“Clarissa?” Vaeril sounds concerned, his hand landing on my shoulder, and I instantly sober, straightening and turning to face him.

“Did you bash your head on a rock?” I whisper shout, still aware of the bird flying above us. He frowns at my insult, crossing his arms as I continue. “That might be fine for you, but not all of us have elven speed.”

I remember running through the fields of the farm when they were testing the magic in the bands. They would release us, give us a head start, and then free the falcon, and it would hunt us down. I still have the scars on my arms and shoulders fromwhere the birds would gouge my skin with their razor-sharp talons.

Hands shake my shoulders and I hear Vaeril’s voice calling to me.

“Clarissa? Alina!” Frowning, I look up at him, brushing his hands from my shoulders and ignoring the tingling that settles over me when he calls me by my ‘true name.’ “Where did you go just then?”

“I was here the whole time,” I reply, wondering what in the Mother he’s talking about. Maybe he did hit his head on a rock after all.

“Your body was here, but your mind was elsewhere.” He watches me with knowing eyes. I won’t share these memories with him, there are some parts of my past I won’t share with anyone, especially not him.

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