Page 384 of Hunters and Prey

He nodded curtly. “In that case, we should get going.”

“What about Vesper? Aren’t you supposed to wait for him?”

Dante strode past me. “Do you want to go home or not?”

I followed at a trot. “What do you mean? Will Vesper try and stop me?”

He let out a bark of laughter. “Vesper has no time for sentimentality. He cares only for ammunition in this war, and with your mechanical skills and your ability to tap into our mental communication, you’re a prize he’ll want to claim.”

“You make him sound mercenary.”

“That’s because he is.”

“But you risked your life to get him out of Draco City.”

“A necessary evil. Vesper is unemotional, ruthless, and calculating, and it’s those qualities that make him a formidable lord general. We can’t do this without him. His army is the most vicious, and he’s the only one that can command them.”

So, he’d come for him out of necessity not love. “You said you were blood brothers? How does that work?”

We stepped over a large fallen branch.

“It’s a ceremonial bond sealed in blood,” Dante said. “We were bound to each other and to the dragon queen. She was our anchor. She made it possible for three very different factions to work together. Vesper is an Obsidian dragon. His army was created to fight the Jotunn that would rise from lava and ash. Then there is Orion, his abilities are tailored to bring down the frost Jotunn, and me, I’m an inferno Dreki, and we will counter the Jotunn forged in fire. But the queen had a better idea. She claimed that if we were bonded we would be more powerful. That frost Dreki could fight the fire Jotunn and the inferno Dreki could combat the frost Jotunn. She believed that we could work together and unite the isolated into factions.”

“Then she was killed.”

“And the bond was weakened. There has been much inter-faction dispute, and I fear when the Jotunn do rise, we will be ill-equipped to fight them. I’m afraid that we may lose. It’s why I feel that you will provide a bridge for the factions. You can train Dreki from each faction, teach them how to fix things without using magic. Show them the power of technology and how to harness it. With both magic and technology in our grasp, we will be at an advantage against the ancient enemy.”

We climbed over roots, boots crunching against bracken. A howl drifted toward us from the south.

“We need to move quickly,” Dante said. His stride lengthened. “The hounds are on our trail. I hear a stream up ahead. We can cut across it and kill the scent.”

I cocked my head, straining to hear the sound of running water, but there was nothing but the low background noise of a forest rife with life. But then he was Dreki, and who knew how sharp his senses were. Which reminded me—man, I reeked. It had been days since I’d washed. All that sweat and grime from the arena was probably a halo of yuck around me. Hopefully, his sense of smell wasn’t as great as his hearing.

We wound through the trees at a brisk pace. “Do you have any technology in the Furtherlands?”

“There is much, but it is unused and dead. Life is basic—oil lamps and gasoline are our fuels. Maybe you can bring it back to life. Maybe it will give us an advantage.”

“And what about the Skins who’ve already traveled to the Furtherlands? Have you tried to recruit them to help you?”

“Yes. We’ve helped develop several communities. Certain areas of the city now have generators, which the Skins have succeeded in getting to work, but we haven’t come across anyone with your skills.”

Being all-important and the sense of purpose and stuff should have given me a thrill, but instead it sent a shiver of icy foreboding through me. What if I failed? What if I just wasn’t good enough? Like I hadn’t been good enough for my adopted parents, or Dunstan, or the farm? What if this was another dead end, another dead hope?

We walked in silence for the next few minutes, and then something changed. It happened with a crackle in the air followed by an electric sense of expectation. Dante slowed down and then stopped walking altogether. He held out his arm to stall me too.

“What is it?”

“Hush.”

My temper sparked at his curt tone, and a sharp response was ready to trip off my tongue, but I bit it back, my hackles rising in warning. There was something out there, something near and ready to—

A figure burst into being in front of us, unfolding from the very air. Three feet tall, rotund with sharp facial features, the naked male held up his hands to halt us.

“Lord General,” he said in a nasal voice. “My liege has sensed your presence. Your journey is protected, but your companion is fair game. The Rednaps and the hounds have been alerted to fresh meat and a fresh soul. They are hungry. It has been too long since a wanderer ventured onto our lands.” His beady eyes slid my way, and damn, was that a sliver of drool trekking down his chin?

Dante stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body. “This Skin is under my protection.”

The little man cocked his head. “She is not blood bound, and therefore, she is fair game.”

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