Page 3 of Ember and Eclipse
And without seeing what it was exactly, she knew.
Witch hunters.
Chapter III
Therewasabountyon her head.
That fact wasn’t unknown to her. Rel knew it the moment she’d fled Romul on that fateful day two years ago. And though she had never truly settled, never felt fully secure, she was still shocked.
How had they found her after all this time?
She was careful,verycareful.
Soundlessly, she traversed the tree, situating herself so she could watch their exploration. Soon, they’d come up on the paths she took regularly. Not to mention, they would find her fresh prints from this afternoon that led straight to her current location.
They would find her.
She tracked them through the foliage, waiting for them to cross into an open path so she could see what she was up against. It took an eternity, her heart pounding raucously to mark the time, until one of them stepped into the clearing.
He was a large man—barrel-chested with thick arms capable of wielding the axes strapped on his back. Squinting, she peered closer yet. The hunter was obviously from Romul by the clothing he wore, but worse, sheknewhim. That build and the deep-set eyes. His name was Espin, she thought. She was used to seeing him with a white mask covering half of his face, silver stitched teeth shining on the fabric over his mouth. All of Prince Asear Othonos’ inner circle wore similar masks when meeting, but she could always tell them apart by their eyes.
Silently cursing, she was just about to inch around the tree, needing to move to take advantage of the distance between them, when two other hunters stepped into the clearing.
Gods, they sentthree.
Rel studied them. The other two were armed with an assortment of weapons. She didn’t recognize them, but the third one, the tallest of them, had a black hood up, and she couldn’t get a good look at him. He stood farther away from them, but she could just see his lips moving, his hands making motions of where they should go.
The leader, then.
The hunters, coming to some conclusion, spread out again. Only the rustling foliage and the sound of snapping twigs gave them away as they disappeared into the brush. Luckily, their routes bypassed the direct path she had taken.
She went further into the swamp. Stepping from tree to tree, she carefully picked her way across tangled limbs that sometimes creaked as she put her weight on them.
Rel just needed to get home to arm herself better. Unfortunately, two hunters scouted between her and safety.
Chewing on her bottom lip, she attempted to formulate a strategy, but movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
Unlike the other two hunters, this one hung back, noting everything. Rel could practically see him making a mental map of the place.
He pivoted off the path he had been following, which would have sent him away from the tree she had cut the storm mint from.
Still, she willed him to pass by it. Losing sight of him for a moment beneath thick, rain-filled leaves, she held her breath. A quick glance let her know that the other two hunters seemed to be moving farther from her location. But, as the Fates would have it, the hooded hunter would find her first. Reappearing from beneath the brush, he knelt, studying her prints and the pile of storm mint. Then, he tipped his head back, exposing the column of his neck and looking up the length of the tree. He scanned it and then the next one over.
In the shade of his hood, a knowing smile curled his lips.
She had to move.Now.
The trees here became increasingly slippery, the bark too smooth for an easy descent. Careful to make as little noise as possible, Rel gripped two girthy vines and tested their solidness before quickly lowering herself out of sight.
The hooded hunter would pick up her trail fast, but she had an idea that might just work.
As her feet hit the ground, she looked around the broad base of the tree. There was no movement, no sounds. But she was practically blind down here.
Moving from tree to tree, she halted as a twig cracked nearby.
Too close. Had he gotten to her already?
She strained to hear him even as she scanned the area around her. The hunter appeared suddenly around the hulking base of the tree opposite her. But it wasn’t the one she expected. It was the leaner one that she had thought was farther away. He must have double-backed while she’d watched their leader. All she had on her was the knife she’d been using earlier. It was better suited for cutting herbs, not taking down warriors. The balance wasn’t quite right for throwing with its thinner and longer blade.
