A bell tolled.
Ren sat up straight, briefly thinking she was back on Balmerick’s campus, late for some forgotten class. The sound reverberated as she took in her surroundings. At this hour the dark forest had a far more sinister appearance. The fire cast its dying light on the curtain of surrounding branches. Everything beyond the first red-tipped leaves sat in shadow. That strange bell continued tolling as the others stirred. Theo stood nearby with his wand raised.
“What is that?” Timmons hissed.
He didn’t look back. His eyes kept searching the tree line. “It’s the tripwire spell. Something crossed into camp.”
“Did you have to make it so loud?”
He scowled. “It’s useless if it doesn’t wake us up.”
Ren was standing now too. Her eyes found movement. A branch trembled slightly. In its shadow she saw a dark-furred hare. The light of their fire reflected in the creature’s glassy eye.
“Did you set a size threshold on the tripwire spell?”
Theo shook his head. “No. I didn’t—I assumed some of the predators out here might be smaller.”
Ren was too tired to laugh. At least he could pull an explanation out of thin air. “Well, there’s your dangerous predator,” she said, pointing. “A blackthatch rabbit. Make sure it doesn’t bite you. I hear they’re rather poisonous. Adjust the spell. I’m going back to—”
Her sentence was cut off by a slash of movement. The rabbit planted its back legs to leap before a second shadow pinned it to the earth. Momentum brought the hunter sliding briefly free of tree cover. All of them saw the slouched shoulders. Eyes like the speckled streaks of a red sky. The great cat was about Ren’s size, all bone and thin-layered muscle. The creature shook its prey in a clamped jaw until the rabbit went limp. Only then did it look up at them. A lip curled instinctively. Ren heard a noise of warning rattle out of the creature’s throat.
Theo unleashed a bolt of magic that briefly illuminated the night, blinding the rest of them. She was blinking away the afterimage as Theo took a few bold steps forward in his search.
“Gone,” he announced. “Scared it off.”
“I hate it here,” Timmons whispered. “I hate it all.”
“It was just a slink cat,” Avy said. “Wicked quick, but too small to go after us. It’s honestly a good sign. They’re pretty common on our side of the mountain too. Might mean we didn’t go too far into the Dires after all.”
“Yes,” Timmons replied dryly. “Those claws were reassuringly small. Not sharp at all.”
Avy was already repositioning his satchel for sleep, though, as if he hadn’t just watched one creature kill another creature less than ten paces from where they’d set up camp. A glance showed that Cora hadn’t even woken up. Ren tried to nestle back in next to Timmons, who she could tell was crying again. Theo circled their camp and refreshed the wards.
Sleep never came. Timmons eventually drifted off, but about an hour later another sound shivered through the air. Distant, but too clear. A low moan. Theo had finished altering the spell, and now he stood a few paces away from Ren, eyes tracing the cloud-thick dark around their camp. He glanced back and their eyes met. The moan sounded again. No closer, but that was hardly a comfort. Ren slid free of Timmons. She pushed up to her feet to stand beside Theo.
“What do you think that is?” he asked.
It sounded a third time.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know.”
They stood for a time, listening. The low moans continued. Ren thought the source of the noise was moving south, away from them. It was hard to tell.
“Surprised there’s anything you don’t know,” he remarked.
Ren could tell from his tone exactly what he was doing. Trying to charm his way back into her good graces. Trying to find some comfort in this group of strangers. It was another good sign that he recognized her abilities. She could work with that foundation. Continue to impress. Survive this place. She’d never considered how her true goals could be accomplished from within House Brood. It would be strange to wear their emblem on her chest, but as Ren thought through the details, she saw how it might work. What other option did she have? Clyde was dead. She looked back at Theo.
“Animal noises are not the focus of my studies.”
“It might be whatever took Clyde.”
She shook her head. “It might be a loud frog. Or the slink cat we saw earlier, worried that we’re in its territory. There’s nothing we can do until it tries to cross the barrier. Go get some sleep. I’ll stay up a little longer. We’re going to have to do shifts like this eventually.”
He nodded. There was a brief pause where he looked like he might say something else, but then he settled back into his spot by the fire. Ren rolled over the thickest log she could find and took a seat. She’d much rather be sleeping, but the silence gave her time to think. And that was nearly as valuable as rest. She traced through spells, thought through possible scenarios they might face, and by the time light crept through the valley, she felt prepared for whatever might come.
Morning offered light but not warmth.
Avy was turning the remains of the fire with a boot, making sure the embers were properly buried. Theo caught Ren’s eye and raised an eyebrow. It was a silent question. She shook her head to say that no, the noise had never manifested into more. She hoped whatever had taken Clyde’s body wasn’t tracking them. She didn’t have any spells to hide their scent, not from real predators.
“I’m hungry,” Avy announced. “Anyone else have food?”
Ren unbuckled her satchel. “Let’s dump out everything. Sort through what we should bring and what we should leave. It’ll give us a baseline for resources.”
No one objected. Ren pulled out textbooks one by one, deliberately placing her possessions where everyone could see them. Her pile consisted of seven books, five apples, the stolen waxway candle, a newspaper, and several journals of rigorous notes. Ren went ahead and started ripping out pages from the books, which felt sacrilegious, but there was no way she’d be able to carry their weight the whole way. When she picked up the newspaper, she noticed Theo watching her carefully, no doubt aware there was an article in there that should have had his name written within it.
Timmons had the oddest assortment of possessions. A consequence of all the random gifts she’d been courted with over the years, some of which never made it back to her dorm. An enchanted paperweight bearing the sigil of some minor house. A small crystal chalice. Three different sets of ivory-plated hair combs. Timmons was quietly crying as she separated out the useless items. Ren knelt down beside her.
“You’ve been carrying all this around campus? No wonder your shoulders are so broad.”
Timmons sniffed. “Those are inherited.”
Ren smiled. She considered the scattered objects again before reaching down to pick up a set of earrings. They were shaped like humming-sword birds, no bigger than a fingernail.
“These are small enough to bring with us.”
“Small… and sad,” Timmons replied. “They were a gift from Clyde’s family. They’re enchanted. You can hear the music playing in their family’s tavern. The Minstrel. I used to put them on at night and listen to the musicians before falling asleep. Guess we’re too far for the spell to work now.”
“Keep them,” Ren said. “As a reminder.”
Timmons sniffed again. Ren watched her friend tuck the earrings away in a side pouch. It took a moment, but Timmons straightened her shoulders and stood. Her silver-white hair hung loose, almost gossamer in the morning light. You shouldn’t be here, Ren thought. People like you aren’t meant for places like this. I promise I’m going to get you home, Timmons.
A glance showed Theo had already categorized his items into two piles. One he intended to leave behind, and the other he intended to keep. There were several books, but Ren was surprised to find the majority weren’t textbooks. He was reading adventure novels. In the stack he planned to keep Ren saw a worn journal, several writing instruments, and an almost life-sized statue of a hawk.
“Are you sure you want to carry a statue over a mountain?”
He offered that charming scowl. His wrist twisted slightly. The statue’s wings uncurled on command. She stared as the stone creature ruffled its feathers, head swiveling to take in the rest of them. Theo offered a triumphant smile as the bird launched into the air and circled overhead.
“Don’t worry. Vega can pull her own weight.”
Avy was watching the bird’s flight like a delighted child. “You’re carrying a livestone statue. In your bag. Like that’s a normal thing. To carry in a bag. I’ve got salted nuts.”
The sight of the bird winging in the sky got Timmons’s attention. Her eyes widened.
“Wait. You have something that can fly. We can send it back to Kathor. It can bring a rescue party to us. What the hell have you been waiting for?”
Theo bit his lip. Ren had noticed this tell before. There was something he didn’t want to discuss, even though she thought the answer to this particular complaint was obvious.
“Attunement limitations,” Ren supplied. “The livestone statues are designed for city defense systems. Most of their attunement spells are limited to a specific radius. I assume the statue is attuned to Theo. If he sends her flying away, she’ll reach the limit of the spell and the magic will force her to turn back around.”
Theo was appraising her again. It was like he didn’t know that people could read all this information in books. Maybe he assumed the only knowledge that existed was what his father had taught him growing up.
“Exactly,” he said. “Vega only goes where I go.”
Avy made an awkward show of his own pile. There were hand wraps for his boxing training, a huge canteen, and a sealed pouch full of nuts. She noted that he’d been heading home for break without a single textbook. Cora went next. It was hard to reveal anything that could rival a livestone bird, but her medical kit was a fine addition out in the wilderness. She’d already removed a few tools she thought would be unnecessary weight on their journey.
“It’s more of a surgical kit,” she explained. “I’m short on gauze and bandages, but if someone really gets hurt, I’ll need these. They’re imbued with spells that took years to get right. I would not part with them, even if my back is a little sore already.”
Ren nodded her understanding. Cora had also set out a loaf of bread and neatly divided it into slices for each of them. The last item in her bag caught Ren’s attention. An amber orb. Historically, the handheld stones were alternative vessels to wands. Modern practice had transformed them into safe houses for a wizard’s emotions. It was the equivalent of carrying around a giant stress ball. Ren was about to ask what she used her orb for when she noticed Cora half hiding the item with her boot. They locked eyes and Ren finally pieced together the detail that had been bothering her. The orb matched the amber stone in Cora’s eyebrow piercing. And judging from her expression, Ren knew there was an intensely personal reason for that.
“Bread?” she asked instead. “Should we save any for later?”
Cora passed the slices around. “It’s already stale. We should eat it now before it goes bad.” Her cheeks colored slightly. “I… I can hunt some. Especially out here. The Dires should have plenty of wild game.”
Ren nodded. “Avy. How much paper should we keep?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “A bagful? We won’t find tinder in the upper passes.”
Everyone ate the offered bread, which was delicious. Ren heard Cora shyly tell Avy that she’d baked it herself. They held off on divvying up the apples and nuts for later on. Cora’s promise of meat and fish had Ren dreaming of a fire-cooked meal. She wasn’t that hungry now but knew the day would be far worse if they didn’t have energy at the start.
One more matter needed to be addressed before beginning the hike.
“We need to go through Clyde’s bag,” she said.
Theo looked at her like she was a lowly thing. “He’s dead. It’s untoward.”
“We’re alive. It’s necessary.”
“I’d prefer not to look through a dead man’s things,” Avy said, making the Tusk sign of warding. “But Ren’s right. Survival is all that matters. We can’t make a plan if we don’t know what we have to help us survive.”
Theo realized he was going to lose this particular battle. When Ren reached for the bag, though, he pulled it back and undid the buckles himself. His way of maintaining control. They all watched as he began setting out the contents. A few books. An extra sweater, which would be useful. He hesitated briefly before removing a small pipe and matching canister.
Avy snorted. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Breath,” Timmons confirmed. “A decent amount of it too.”
Cora chimed in. “That could be useful. It’s the closest thing we have to a sedative.”
“It also has recreational benefits,” Timmons said.
Theo rolled his eyes. “Getting high won’t help our survival chances.”
“For medical purposes, then,” Ren said. “Pack it and let’s get moving.”
Final arrangements were made. Ren agreed to carry the torn pages from their books. She watched as Theo finished going through Clyde’s things. The image of the hawk he’d drawn in Magical Ethics fell out of a notebook. Theo looked at it for a moment, one finger tracing the charcoal-colored lines. Ren watched as he folded it carefully and slid the sketch inside his own journal. A keepsake. She looked away before he could catch her studying him.
The others were packed and ready and fed. There was nothing else to do but begin.
“Keep track of your magic usage,” Ren said. “We don’t want to lose count of what we have left and end up doing guesswork once we’re in the mountains.”
As they started their journey, a crisp caw drew her eyes upward. Vega dutifully swooped overhead. Theo hadn’t looked too embarrassed by the revelation. That didn’t stop Ren from being embarrassed on his behalf. There were only fifty active livestone statues in all of Kathor. Now he was directly linked to two of them. There was the one he’d used as a bathroom attendant at his recent party and this one—which seemed more like a personal pet. Most of the known statues were contracted to the city’s defense. They patrolled during peacetime and converted into active soldiers when it was under attack. Casually owning one was like casually sleeping with a princess. Impressive in the worst way.
If not for Clyde’s death—and the uncertainty of what waited ahead—the day might have been perfect. Enough sunlight to warm them but enough of a breeze to keep them cool. Every now and again the surrounding forest would break, offering undeniably gorgeous glimpses of the mountains and valleys. Even the company was pleasant. Ren was almost lured in by it all.
Until she remembered she was in one of the most dangerous places in their world. A land that had turned away settlers for generations. It was a small comfort that they had no plans of staying, but eventually her thoughts circled back to Clyde. His body dragged off through the woods. And that image merged with the dead rabbit from the night before.
This place was bright and beautiful.
It was also hunting them.