Page 25 of Lucie
“You thought?” There was a slight emphasis on the second word.
Lucien steeled himself and tried not to let his father’s disbelief sway him. “I’m also getting… No, that’s not true. I’ve been having this feeling of uneasiness all day.”
“What feeling of uneasiness?”Renkenmurmured.
Lucien shook his head. “I can’t explain it.”
He sensedRenkenturning to the battle lord. “HasAttybeen getting any of those telltale antsy feelings, too?”
“Not that I’m aware of,”Yulenadmitted. “Luc, how many times have you supposedly seen something move?”
“Just once.”
Someone groaned softly. Someone else snickered. No one believed him. To make matters worse, Lucien was also beginningto think he’d been mistaken.
“My son, you may be hallucinating.” The despair in his father’s voice was pronounced, as if it was a portent of things to come.
Lucien started to turn to look at him to object, when the shadow moved again. This time it was closer. Not by much. A few yards at the most. But there was no mistaking the fact that it was slowly advancing towardthem.
He reacted without thinking, drawing his dagger instead of his sword because it was less wieldy and not as likely to get caught in the tangle of thicket surrounding them. Although his battle skills were less than noteworthy, his tracking skills were top-notch, allowing him to swiftly advance on the tree where the figure was supposedly hiding behind without making a sound.
He focused his senses on his surroundings, and his ears caught the barely perceptible sound of breathing. Keeping low, he rounded the trunk and slammed his body against the figure paused there. At the same time, he pressed the dagger’s blade against the figure’s throat, and the enemy suddenly froze.
“Who are you?” he demanded in a low voice. “Identify yourself!”
The icy cold point of something metallic suddenly pressed against the side of his throat, exactly between his high collar and the bottom edge of his helmet. He knew it didn’t belong to the person he’d pinned to the tree, which could only mean one thing…
“Drop your blade, stranger. I’m only going to tell you once, or else I’ll slice your head off your body faster than youcan move.”
