To my slight astonishment, nothing happened during the night, nor as we traveled through the morning. Haltir seemed in a great mood, jumping around more spry than someone his age had any right to be. Even Laurel seemed less agitated, and the two hadn't had a row since waking up. She and Eliandra were moving in the back, talking softly.

Stepping around another fallen tree, I sniffed.

What's that smell?

It was a sweet, rotten smell, a bit like sewage mixed with fruit. A soft buzzing came from around the next tree in my path towards the plains, and I stopped. Raising my hand, I heard Eliandra fall quiet mid-sentence. I saw Haltir move my way from the corner of my eye and slowly continued. The closer I got to the tree, the stronger the smell and the buzzing became, and when I snuck a peek around, I almost gagged.

There were ten pus-covered night wights tied up to a tree, with so many arrows in them they looked like pincushions. Their heads had been tied back by a rope around the forehead, and two or three arrows sat nestled closely together in their ruined eye sockets.

The buzzing came from a cloud of thumb-sized insects that were slowly eating their way into the wights' stomach.

I felt my stomach heave and barely noticed something etched in the tree.

"Preyatar's hunters… why are they here?" Haltir stood beside me, staring at the crude arrow with an eye at its tip. "There is nothing here for them to be hunting in Lischen's territory like this."

"They might be after me…" I said, looking around for anything that could show where the hunters had gone.

Haltir sucked in a breath and turned to me. "Why?"

"Not now - I'll explain later. First, let's make sure they are really gone."

I moved closer to the scene, trying to see where the tracks moved into the woods and away.

"Don't bother. Unless you're an expert tracker, you won't find their path," Haltir said after a moment, still scrutinizing me.

"Disgusting," Eliandra hissed as she stared at the tied up wights, Laurel beside her.

After scanning around the edge of the area, I had to conclude Haltir was right. There were dozens, if not more tracks all over the place, but none that led away. It almost looked like they had flown down, done their thing, then flew away again. Summoning the map, I saw we were still at least a day and a half away from the edge of the forest.

"Let's continue, but keep quiet. We have no idea where these guys went."

As we left the small open space, I had the feeling we were being watched. Looking around for another moment, I shook my head.

Either something is there, and I can't find it, or it's my imagination, I thought. Still, I removed my ax from my back and kept it in my hands. I didn't want to have to grab it last minute.

Hours later, I was stepping lightly between widespread trees. Eliandra and Haltir were breathing heavily, but neither had complained. I began looking around for a spot to rest when I heard something. I stopped, cocking my head, trying to hear it again. The others stopped behind me, and I heard Haltir and Eli hold their breath.

A second passed, with just the ever present wind howling softly through the trees, then a soft scream came from far ahead of us. I shared a look with Laurel, who looked back worriedly.

"Go together, or one of us scouts," she said. I frowned, looking around the forest. Although it was late morning, it was still dark like an unlit room with a single window all around.

"No. Let's wait for everyone to be rested, and then we can move a bit closer," I finally said. I wasn't sure it was the best plan, but I wasn't going to leave Elliandra alone or have Laurel set off on her own.

"Not sure that's a good idea. If something is there, and it spots me, I can get away faster if I'm alone and even lead anything that chases me in another direction," Laurel said, shaking her head. "Besides, they are less likely to see me if I sneak up than all of us."

"Why don't we just go around them?" Eliandra said, shaking her head.

Another scream came, louder and lasting longer. Then it was cut off abruptly.

"The lia- Laurel is right," Haltir grunted. "If there is something there, it's best if we know what it is. That way, we can prepare."

For a second, I wondered if Haltir said this in the hopes of Laurel not returning, then I banished the thought. I didn't get the feeling Haltir was that vengeful. Seeing the others look at me, I suddenly realized something that had eluded me before. They expected me to decide. I blinked, trying to remember when that had started. I couldn't recall, but seeing them still staring at me, I quickly went over the options before nodding at Laurel. She was right, and so was Haltir.

"Alright. Go and see what's there, and-" I wanted to add for her to be careful but swallowed the words. I was pretty sure she knew it already.

Laurel nodded, removed her backpack, and handed it to me. I grunted as I slung it across my shoulder while she drew three of her knives.

"I should be back in under five minutes. If I'm not, go east and circle around. I'll try and come find you." She looked at me for a moment, then grinned suddenly. "I just gave my first prayer to Rathica, and she wished me good luck!" She turned and ran away, her lightly armored, bare-armed form quickly turning into just another of the shadows moving ahead of us.

I blinked in surprise, wondering if I should ask Rathica for assistance. No, not yet, I decided. Besides, Laurel might need help more than me.

The minutes passed slowly, only disrupted by a few more screams. Four, five, six, eight. When by my estimate, ten minutes had passed, I shared a worried look with the others. Even Haltir was frowning as he looked in the direction Laurel had gone in.

"Let's go," I said.

"Dammit, this sucks," Eliandra whispered before following me.

Rathica, is Laurel alright? I asked, praying I would get an answer. There was no response, and I tried again with the same result.

"Shit," I muttered.

"What?"

"Rathica isn't answering," I said, looking at Eliandra.

"Maybe she's helping Laurel?" she said, sounding uncertain.

I shrugged. It didn't seem likely Rathica couldn't do at least two things at the same time,

Ten minutes later, a short scream of pain ripped through the silence. It came from a lot closer than the first, and I recognized it right away.

"Laurel," I hissed, turning to the right. Within a second, we could hear multiple things running our way.

"Get ready!" I hissed, dropping the two packs I was carrying. Then I gripped my ax and grabbed two throwing axes from the holsters on my legs.

A couple of loud thuds came from behind me, then Haltir moved a few meters away from me, stepping behind a tree. Eli and I quickly copied him, and none too soon. Coughing and heavy breathing came from a few trees ahead. I peered around the tree as Laurel crashed through a small bush, looking around with wild eyes. An arrow sat lodged in her upper left arm, blood streaming down, and she only had one dagger left.

"Here," I whispered. Laurel's head snapped around, and her eyes widened as she saw me. Then she ran towards us. Before she even got halfway, two figures lunged from behind the tree.

Tall and lightly built, they each had a bow in hand and wore leather armor made to blend into the woods. Seeing Laurel, they stopped, raising their bows and drawing. Knowing Laurel had no cover, I stepped from behind the tree and hurled my throwing axes at them before they could respond. Made of wood, the axes didn't gleam but flashed like soundless shadows through the air. One of the archers noticed something and jumped back, pulling the other away, and the axes flashed past them, disappearing into the bushes.

I grabbed two more axes and ran forward. "Get them!" I hissed. I didn't hear anymore coming, meaning we had to get these two. Either there were only two, which I doubted, or they would go and warn the rest.

I ran past Laurel, who staggered to a halt when the archers jumped back into view, bows drawn. As the bowstrings thrummed, I raised my ax, using the blades to cover my upper body and head while jumping sideways. An arrow knocked against the ax, then I hit the ground, rolled across my shoulders, keeping the ax in front, landing on my knees. Haltir rushed past me, Eliandra a step behind.

The archers drew and shot again so fast I could barely believe it, and my heart shot to my throat as I saw an arrow blur towards Eli. She raised the small buckler on her arm, moving her upper body sideways while slapping the arrow away. The second arrow missed Hatir, who seemed to ignore it as if he knew beforehand it wouldn't hit. The grizzly soldier jumped the last meter towards the archer, slashing at him.

I was back up and running towards them when the archers dropped their bows and grabbed daggers they had strapped to their lower arms. They had triangular masks covering their faces, making it impossible to see their expressions, but their eyes showed zero panic or fear.

Zero fear, I thought, and my worry increased. I tried to hear if more were coming, but there was too much noise, especially when Haltir began swinging his massive ax around. The archers dodged to the side, seeming quite nimble besides the larger, older warrior. Then Haltir suddenly altered the course of his swing, and his movements changed, becoming faster and more agile. The archer was caught off guard and tried to dodge again, but this time he was far too slow. Haltir's ax slammed into his side, ribs cracking audibly as the archer slumped. A bloody mist sprayed from under his mask.

It happened so fast, Eli only then reached the second archer who was dodging low, slashing at her legs.

Wrong move, I thought, slowing down.

Eliandra kicked the hand with the knife as if it was the simplest thing in the world, stepping forward and kicking out again, causing the archer to slash out with his knives to keep her at bay. She blocked the hits with her buckler and rushed the archer. Before she could finish it, a knife whirled through the air and slammed into the archer's neck. He dropped his own daggers, clawing at the foreign object lodged in his throat while sagging to the ground.

"There's hundreds more! We have to leave!" Laurel hissed as she ran forward and snatched her dagger from the corpse. After a second of hesitation, she grabbed two of the knives the archer had dropped before turning to us.

"We need to tie that up," Haltir hissed, rushing to the bags.

"No time!" Laurel shot back, but Haltir just shook his head, rummaging in his pack before coming back out with some white cloth.

"They can track you by scent if you bleed too much," he whispered as he ran forward and began quickly and expertly bandaging Laurel's arm. He left the arrow in, wrapping the cloth around. "Can't remove that now, or you might bleed out. Be careful not to hit anything."

Laurel grunted, grabbed the arrow shaft with two hands, and snapped both ends off until they were only a fist long. Haltir blinked, before a grin spread on his face. "Tough girl." He wrapped the bandage around tight enough for Laurel to shiver and groan.

"Hurry, we need to flee!" Laurel hissed as she turned and began running away from the direction she had come.

I grabbed her and my bag, following after her with the others.