Page 61 of Lion Conquers All
Katherine left and Connie and Naomi settled into a couple of chairs opposite the unconscious man to wait.
25
AARAV
Aarav trudged through the snow. It’d been hours now and he was at least halfway up the eastern face of the mountain. No sign of the kids. Nothing.
Cold bit at his paws. At his nose.
He was warm enough, but only if he kept moving.
The storm had finally cleared off about thirty minutes ago. The Robert’s were keeping their word. Not a helicopter or search crew in sight.
A long howl breached the cold quiet morning. Then another howl.
Aarav hurried out from the trees into a clearing, watching the sky. Sure enough two streaks of orange light shot up from the south side of the mountain. The boys had found them.
But then a third streak. Another flare sailed through the clear grey sky.
They’d shot off all three?
Trouble? Kids in trouble?
His lion plunged through the drifts. He pushed his muscles until they burned. Trees blurred by. The shadow of Col’s dragon crossed over his head too. Col would get there first for sure, but they were all coming.
Something was wrong.
He leapt over a fallen tree and landed in a snowbank that swallowed him whole. He floundered and climbed and sank some more. It took precious minutes to climb out of the hole and continue toward the where the flares had originated.
Brush and twigs snapped behind him. His lion whirled to defend himself. An enormous bear came barreling out of the trees with a Reylean wolf running next to him. The size of their animals left no room for misinterpretation.
Aaravchuffedout a short greeting and then continued running.
The other two animals responded in kind, and they charged through the underbrush and snow together from there.
Ten minutes later they stopped.
His brothers, Veer and Ivann were there. Shenn as well. All three of the young wolves had shifted. They looked younger than Aarav remembered, but they didn’t shift often and he’d only seen them in human form once before. He thought Knox had said they were nineteen. If they were, it was barely. All three of them had long black hair, slender chests, not quite grown warriors yet. Knox was standing behind Aarav with Owen.
Col put a hand on a big rock and pushed gently, watching the mountain above the pile of boulders carefully.
Aarav instinctively took a step back.What the hell was he thinking?There was a pile of rocks a hundred feet high at the base of this slab of mountain. He couldn’t push a rock at the bottom and not expect more to come tumbling down around their heads.
Then it hit him. The faint smell of the children. They’d been here for sure. He knew it.
It wasn’t strong, but it was here. Which way did the trail lead?
He shifted from his animal and joined the standing crowd. “Someone sent up flares. Where are they?”
“We did.” Rhal, one of the young wolves answered. “There used to be a cave there. We’ve slept there many times. The kids had to have been using it as shelter from the storm.”
Aarav’s eyes drifted back to the halfway buried landslide of rocks.
Dalmeck.
No.Dalmeckwasn’t enough. This situation was fucked.
“The whole face of the mountain looks like it slid down. How far back do you think it goes?”
