Standing, Eno caught sight of two more cats slinking through the field toward him, but he was more concerned with the cat that currently had Vale pinned to the ground. She had the bow pressed to the animal’s throat, holding it from eating her face. Eno snatched up his crossbow, slotted the bolt, and released it, burying it deep in the cat’s head.
As Vale shoved the dead cat off her, the remaining two darted off, seeming to no longer like their odds of winning against what had seemed like easy prey.
Eno ran across the field and splashed through the calf-deep stream. Ice cold water soaked his pants and chilled his feet, but his eyes were locked on the woman lying on her back between two dead goats and a pair of enormous snow leopards. She was breathing heavy and covered in blood. Hers? The cats’?
“Vale!” he shouted.
A loud laughter bubbled up from the woman, stopping Eno on the bank. She turned her head toward him, flashing the wildest grin. “Now that’s the kind of living on the edge I’ve been talking about!”
Eno’s knees trembled with relief and threatened to give out from under him. He shook his head and chuckled softly. “You’re fucking insane,” he muttered.
She pointed at him and grinned. “Yeah, but you can’t deny that was a rush!”
No, he wasn’t going to deny it. It had been a hell of a rush. Even now, the blood was rushing through his body as though an electrical current were dancing along nerve endings. Some primal part of his brain was screaming for the next challenge. He felt invincible. How long had it been since he’d had this rush? This kind of thing didn’t happen in Stormbreak.
The last time he’d had a rush like this was in the Ordas.
His gaze snapped to the dead cats, and the rush turned icy cold.
“Snow leopards aren’t pack hunters, are they?” he asked in a low voice.
Vale pushed up into a sitting position and shook her head. “Not that I’ve ever seen. That was pretty weird.”
The cold uneasiness wrapped around Eno’s heart, squeezing it tight. “We need to return to camp. Tell them what happened.”
A frown dug lines across Vale’s forehead and she stood. “What’s up? I’m sure they were just hoping to grab our kill.”
“Six of them?” Eno shook his head. “No, I’ve seen this before. We need to head back. Grab the goats.”
This felt too much like the Ordas attack. He didn’t know if this meant that whatever had happened to the Ordas was now seeping into Zastrad or if it was an indication that the woman who was bonded to the Goddess of the Hunt was close. Either way, his companions needed to know that something was affecting the animals in Zastrad, making them far more dangerous.
Even moving quickly with only the goats strapped to the horses, it still took them close to two hours to reach the camp again. Vale had wanted to grab the pelts from the snow leopards, and Eno couldn’t blame her. They would have made some great trades down the road, but he didn’t want to waste a single second.
But as the camp came into view, he saw that they were already too late.
The two yurts were still standing, but the immediate area was a mess. Their supplies were broken and scattered. The ground was torn up and littered with half a dozen bodies in typical Zastrad fashion. But no Caelan, Rayne, or Drayce.
Eno jumped off his horse and ran into the camp, poking his head into both of the yurts while shouting for his friends. His hands were shaking, his mind spinning. Where were they?
Blood.
There was blood everywhere.
More blood than bodies.
NINE
Caelan Talos
Caelan blinked and squinted against the sudden brightness piercing his eyes when the bag was ripped off his head. His heart hammered as he tried to locate Drayce and Rayne while figuring out where he was.
The attack on their camp had happened so fast. They’d just finished clearing away their breakfast and had been sitting around the fire, sipping bitter coffee and talking about how far they thought they were from Temit, when masked men exploded from the trees.
The fighting had been fierce but far too brief. Someone had clocked Rayne hard on the back of the head, and he’d gone down in a seemingly lifeless heap. That distraction had been enough for Caelan and Drayce to be captured seconds later as they’d tried to rush to his side.
Eno and Vale hadn’t been gone twenty minutes when the attack happened. Their attackers had waited until their numbers were reduced and the odds of success were most in their favor.
He gazed about the camp bustling with men and horses. Several small yurts were set up, circling a central campfire where he was currently seated in the dirt. He tried to count men to get a feel for how many people there were. When he reached twenty, he stopped counting. He wasn’t confident there was much he could do, even with the power of two gods at his fingertips. His body ached, and his brain was scrambled from the rough ride. Even if they did escape, he didn’t have a clue as to where they were.