Chapter 1
Tracks and Smoke
The sudden howl sent a shiver through Tan. The terrible sound echoed several times during the day, and each time he reacted the same. He checked his bow reflexively, feeling the reassuring weight of the smooth ash. Whatever was out there didn’t belong in his forest.
“There it is again!” Bal cried. She started up the slope until Tan grabbed her.
He still couldn’t believe he had found her wandering this high up in the mountains alone. “Not the first time I’ve heard it,” he said, wiping an arm across his forehead, smearing away sweat from the unseasonable heat. Tracks piercing the dry earth traced up the slope, winding between massive oaks growing along the steep hillside. Farther up the oaks thinned, leaving the rock bare.
“What do you think it is?”
Tan studied the trees around him. They were mostly oak and pine, but began to thin the higher they climbed. “Not sure. I don’t recognize the tracks.” Bal’s eyes widened. “Not wolves,” he said to reassure her. “I’ve crossed their tracks a couple of times already.”
“You’ve seen wolves?” She looked around, as if the huge mountain wolves were worse than whatever had made that horrible sound.
He pulled her back down the slope, keeping his hand on her wrist. “What were you doing up here anyway?”
Bal glanced over her shoulder before meeting his eyes. “I don’t want to say.”
Tan snorted and shook his head, unable to suppress the smirk coming to his face. Typical response from Bal. He waited for her to answer rather than pressing.
“I…” She bit her lip as she hesitated. “I followed someone,” she finished in a rush.
Tan frowned. Who would Bal have followed into the forest?
The harsh cry came again, keeping him from asking. He listened carefully, stretching out his awareness of the forest as his father had once taught him, focusing on the sounds of the forest, smelling the air. Closer. Much closer than the last.
The sound meant more than one of these creatures.
“We should go,” he said.
The hike back would take most of the day, and Tan dreaded seeing his mother when he returned so late. Since his father’s passing, she was short-tempered any time she couldn’t account for him. The death of his father was the biggest reason he remained in Nor rather than leaving and taking an apprenticeship outside the village.
Bal bit her lip. “What do you think you were tracking?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he admitted. “Maybe Cobin will know.” Cobin had lived at the edge of the forest for longer than Tan had been alive, and if any in town would know, it would be Cobin.
“You think my father will know if you don’t know?”
“Maybe, but even if he doesn’t, we should still head home.”
Tan started off, moving back down the slope. Sweat poured off him and he wished he had brought more than just the single flask of water with him. The upper streams were infrequent here, and with the stifling air, he went through what he brought.
A sudden gust of comforting wind touched his arm, providing a brief relief. Galen was normally a windy land and the heat over the last few weeks was worse for the uncharacteristically stagnant days.
Bal trailed behind him, strangely silent.
“What would you have done had I not found you?” Tan asked, glancing back as they made their way down the slope. No trail worked through this part of the forest and they were far from Nor. Bal could have wandered lost for days.
“Followed my tracks back down.”
Tan sensed the hesitation in her voice. “Bal, who did you follow?”
She wouldn’t meet his eyes. They moved much farther downslope before she finally answered. “I didn’t mean to follow him. Just sorta got away from me. I thought it strange he’d come up in the hills. Not like him. Too dirty for his type.”
“Bal?” Tan already thought he knew who she meant.
She looked up at him, defiance in her eyes. “I followed Lins.”
Tan laughed and shook his head. “You know what he’ll do if he knew you followed him?”
“No worse than he does to you. Besides, just because he’s Lord Alles’s son doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants. If the king knew some of the things he does…”
Tan swung around a stump and pointed so Bal didn’t trip. “The king doesn’t care much what happens in Nor. And Lins…well, Lins will eventually inherit his father’s house, so best we don’t anger him too much.”
“Why do you say that?”
Tan frowned. “About Lins?”
She shook her head. “The king. Why wouldn’t he care? We’re right here next to Incendin. And Ethea likes our iron plenty.”
Tan shook his head. The only time the king seemed to care was to summon them to service. Like his father. “Ever seen a shaper here? If Nor is so important, seems we’d be better protected.”
Bal slipped on some loose dirt and Tan grabbed her wrist to keep her upright. “Wish we had a shaper. Wouldn’t be so blasted hot.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Bal.”
She jerked her arm away from him. “Like you know. You’ve seen exactly as many shapers as I’ve seen.”
Tan laughed and let her get ahead of him. Besides, she was right. Maybe shapers could control the weather. The only help Nor got were sensers, and there weren’t many of them. Fewer since Tan’s father died.
“Did you see what he was doing?” Tan asked. Bal had gotten too far in front of him and he didn’t want her to get lost again. Talking slowed her down a little.
She turned and put one hand on her hip as she glared at him. Dirt somehow stained her brown shirt. “Who?”
“Lins. Did you see what he was doing up there?”
She shook her head. “Just saw flashes of him when he got too far ahead. Then I lost him.”
Tan started to say something, but motion at the edge of his vision startled him. Tan should have sensed it, but his ability was weak. Nothing like his father. He waved a hand at Bal, motioning for her to remain still. He crept forward, his awareness focused like his father had taught him while walking these hills. Doing so made him feel close to him again, however briefly. Long moments passed where he detected nothing.
Then he saw tracks again.
Tan hadn’t followed them down the slope, choosing an easier hike down than the one he took up the mountain, but the tracks appeared anyway. Marked by three toes and in a shape he didn’t recognize, there hadn’t been other signs of these creatures except for the painful cries. Until now.
The forest seemed strangely silent, but Tan didn’t sense anything else in the woods. He had practically grown up wandering the forest and hills of Nor, which made the vague sense of unease settling into his chest even more unnerving.
The odd footprint had initially just sparked his curiosity. The climb had begun as a diversion, a way of avoiding his chores for the day. Several sheep had gone missing and Cobin was convinced the wolves took them. So far, Tan saw no sign of wolves in the valley. It had not taken him long to find other prints as he had made his way upslope. Eventually, even tracking became difficult, forcing him to use his weak sensing to find the next print.
The creatures didn’t follow an easy climb. In some places they moved quickly up sheer rock. Other times he went dozens of paces before finding another print. When he had come across Bal, he took it as a sign to turn back.
“What is it?” Bal whispered, edging up to him.
He stared through the trees. Was there something there? Was it Lins? Tan wouldn’t have any easier a time than Bal if he ran into him up in the mountains, but at least he’d have a reason to be here. “Not sure. Thought I saw something.”
“What?”
Tan studied the ground as he crept forward, searching for the strange print he had been following. “Nothing, I guess.”
Had his mind played tricks on him? He slid forward, eyes focused, ignoring Bal as she spoke to him. There had been something here—he was certain of it. He only had to find proof.
Then he found the next print.
Tan glanced behind him and then turned, looking upslope from where they had come. Bal stared at him, a worried look to her face. Had the creature truly been this close to them? Tan turned, kneeling to look at the print, unable to tell how fresh it was.
“There’s another print.” Tan pushed on Bal’s shoulder, moving her downslope. “I think you should get back to Nor. Follow the tree line to the next stream. You can use it to make your way back to town.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to follow this a little further.”
She shook her head. “Not without me.”
“We don’t know what this is. I’ll have an easier time moving in the woods without…” He trailed off before finishing. Bal didn’t need him to insult her too. And she would take anything he said about her slowing him down as an insult.
“Without what? Me pestering you?”
Tan sighed. “I was going to say without worrying about you.”
“Well I wouldn’t want you worrying about me, Tannen Minden!” She stomped off down the slope, making enough noise to scare away anything he might have been tracking. She glanced back at him once, her eyes flashing anger, before disappearing.
He sighed, hating to anger Bal, but it was for the best. He would worry about her and she would slow him, but it still pained him to upset her. Part of him debated chasing her. Like her, he should return to Nor, but he still hadn’t figured out what made the tracks. It gnawed at him that he hadn’t.
Tan climbed upslope, watching for more prints. After a dozen paces, he saw another. Now that he’d found them, he could clearly follow the tracks. The prints wound across the face of the slope, never moving completely upslope or down. No further howls echoed but the sounds of the forest still didn’t return. Nothing resonated with his senses. Gradually, the sun dipped below the tree line. Soon he would need to abandon his tracking.
Then he found a second set of prints.
They were as unusual as the first, though in a different way. Long, almost as if made by a man, but with a strange dimple near the heel on each. When the print led over a rocky stretch of ground, he realized the dimple came from the nail of a sharp claw that had left scratches along the stone.
The uneasy sensation twisted his stomach and sweat slicked his palms. The original tracks mingled now with the new prints, as if they traveled together.
Was he the hunter or the hunted?
Tan looked around, the area unfamiliar. He focused on slowing his breathing, controlling his emotion, and extending his senses into the forest as his father had long ago taught him. Nothing moved in the forest around him. Something to that feeling bothered him.
Turning toward home, he felt an intrusion upon his senses like an itch at the back of his mind, a sense he’d learned to trust over the years, and froze. Any sudden movement might frighten the animal—either to run or to attack. He didn’t want to take any chances. Starting forward, he moved cautiously, and the sensation intensified. Tan scanned the forest for the source of his unease, but saw nothing.
Then the strange cry suddenly rang out through the forest, nearer than before. Near enough that the sound hurt his ears.
He ran. His steps were careful at first, but after another sharp braying sounded even closer, he tore through the forest. Nearing a rocky outcropping, he climbed up for a better vantage as the terrible howl came again.
It sounded almost upon him. Tan hurried up the rock and scraped his knees in his haste. He swore softly, knowing better than to press his luck tracking so far from home armed with only his bow.
The creature howled again, this time from behind him.
How did it get behind him?
That meant two of the creatures. Or more. Could this be a pack?
The idea terrified him. What of Bal? She should be far down the slope by now, but he knew her well enough to know she might have turned back to check on him. He prayed her anger carried her all the way back to Nor.
He couldn’t run. The steep slope and the treacherous footing made him an easy target. On the rock, he was too visible and could be easily surrounded if facing a pack.
That left up.
The nearest tree was his best option. The huge oak had no low hanging branches that would allow another creature an easy climb. Tan scrambled up the rough trunk, tearing his knees more in the process, before settling into the crook of one of the large branches. He pulled his bow off his shoulder and nocked an arrow, setting it to the string without tension. Nothing moved below him.
Tan listened, sensing the forest. He struggled against his racing heart, but sensed another presence among the trees, one he didn’t recognize. Another cry came, much closer.
A low growl answered, almost below him.
His arms prickled with a chill. They had his scent.
A smoky haze appeared near the base of the tree. With it came a dry heat pressing up at him, like a fire burning. A fetid stench wafted up that he didn’t recognize. A flash of dark fur moved within the haze.
He brought his bow up and aimed, loosing an arrow into the smoke. A snarling yelp told him he’d hit.
Tan waited. Maybe he could scare the creature off. With enough arrows, maybe the creatures would decide he wasn’t worth it.
The heat pressing up the tree increased. Already hot, the day became unbearable. Several distinct voices howled below him, joining in a chorus. Definitely a pack.
The smoke began to obscure the forest floor. Heat left his skin feeling raw. He crawled further up the tree, hoping to get away from the fire, but the heat followed him.
Tan pushed down a rising panic as his father had taught. Steady his breathing. Use his senses. Listen, always listen. The answer would come.
This time it didn’t.
The next tree was too far to offer any hope of jumping. Upper branches wouldn’t support him if he crawled higher. And still the heat pressed toward him. What made the heat?
Each breath became painful. The skin on his arms turned red. If he couldn’t get away, he would burn.
He closed his eyes again, forcing himself to focus. A wave of anxious nausea rolled through him that he ignored. A quiet sound whistled in his ears, slowly intensifying like a howling wind. The steady gust of wind picked up speed as it blew through the tree, a gale like the area’s namesake. It blew faster, tearing through the trees.
Tan clung to his branch.
The heat blew away with it, disappearing like a candle snuffed out. Flashes of fur prowled around the base of the tree. For a moment, it seemed the heat fought the wind, then the animals howled again before streaking up the slope of the mountain and out of view.
The wind continued, its familiar pressure a relief. He shivered uncontrollably.
He climbed down carefully. Near the bottom of the tree, the ground looked darkened and scorched. The air smelled of char and sulfur. Even though the wind had finally returned, heat still clung to the air. Tan didn’t linger and started down the slope toward Nor. His heart didn’t slow until he was back in familiar land.
He found Bal about halfway down the mountain face sitting atop a flat rock, staring upslope. Her jaw fixed in a stern expression and she leaned forward, trying to look fierce.
“I thought you’d be back in Nor by now.” He tried to hide the relief in his voice.
Bal frowned at him, jutting her jaw forward. “Maybe I won’t show you what I discovered, then.”
Tan hesitated, uncertain he could stomach tracking anything else today. Whatever had happened, he felt lucky to survive. He needed to reach Nor and find Cobin. He’d lived here long enough, and he’d know what to do. Whatever creature Tan had found didn’t belong here. The next time, it might not only be sheep missing.
“What did you discover? Something about Lins?” he asked.
Her jaw relaxed and a playful smile slipped onto her face. “Not Lins. Better.” She jumped up from the rock and started back up the mountain. “Come on, Tan!” she shouted as she ran.
Tan looked up the slope. The strange hounds were still up there, and with the fading light they needed to return, not risk running through the woods on another of Bal’s whims. “Bal!”
She didn’t answer. Tan swore to himself and hurried after her, determined to drag her back to town if needed.
She stopped overlooking a slight ravine where two smaller peaks merged and turned back, a smile spreading across her face. “Well?”
Tan stared, uncertain what she wanted him to see. “I don’t see anything.”
She tapped her head and then pointed out toward the ravine, a narrow pass through the mountains. “How can you not see them?”
Tan strained to see through the trees into the ravine. Finally, another sound carried on the wind. A light tinkling, like many tiny bells ringing, carried softly up to them from the pass. Only then did the fear that had been sitting in his chest since he first heard the strange howls finally lift.
Though it had been many years, he recognized the sound and felt a surge of excitement. The Aeta had returned.
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