Ontogeny

Chapter 6b

     The glow was still there the next morning, but as it grew lighter it gradually became washed out by the bright morning sunlight. The rangers kept a nervous, watchful eye on it as they ate a quick breakfast of cold venison and cornbread, but by the time the sun was fully risen it was no longer noticeable and their superstitious fears gradually ebbed to be replaced by curiosity.

     “We'd only have to climb that ridge and we'd be able to see it,” said Cowley as he saddled his horse. “It's only a couple of miles out of our way.”

     “We keep to a straight course,” replied the Brigadier. “We keep to the mission. No risks, no distractions.”

     “That time you saw a Radiant city,” said Cowley, “was it because you allowed yourself to be distracted from a mission by curiosity?”

     “No. The mission was to capture a Carrow saboteur. He thought I wouldn't follow him to the city. He was mistaken. Then he had to be taken back to Marboll as quickly as possible for interrogation.”

     “But if you hadn't caught him in sight of the city, If you'd caught the saboteur just over the hill from the city and that light had been just over the horizon...”

     “I would still have taken him straight back to Marboll. The mission takes precedence over idle curiosity.”

     “Yes, of course.” The Brigadier and Blane both glared at him, and the ranger got back to the task of adjusting his saddle.

     They found the wagons they'd been following just before noon. Crane had gone a few hundred yards ahead to take a look over a low ridge they'd be crossing and the others halted when they saw him galloping back. “Something happened to them,” he said as he reined in beside the Brigadier. “Looks like they were attacked. One wagon’s overturned. The other’s half a mile further on, abandoned. No horses, no traders but...” He glanced around at the sky, as if to make sure it was still empty. “I saw clothes. Complete sets of clothes scattered over a wide area, including underclothes, as if they'd stripped themselves naked while running away.”

     Everyone went pale. They all knew what that meant, and they all started searching the sky, hands going to their weapons. “Demon,” whispered Harper, as if just saying the word would summon it.

     “Let's pick up the pace,” said the Brigadier. “All eyes on the sky. Quill, prepare yourself.”

     “Yes, Sir.”

     They passed the wagons a few minutes later and saw them just as the tracker had described. They all tensed up as they passed the site of the attack, in case the demon was still in the vicinity. Malone saw a pair of rabbits chewing a patch of grass to the side of the road. One was pure white, the other brown and half the size. Malone thought it likely that they'd been horses just a few hours before. He felt himself tensing up, felt his whole body quivering with nervous energy. The very idea of a demon was terrifying, even to experienced veterans. The thought that there might be one nearby, that all the humanity he'd struggled so hard to gain since the death of his parents might be stripped away from him... In fact it might be worse than that! He wasn’t fully human yet. The demon’s curse might throw him further back than to the dog he'd once been. He might be thrown back further, to become a rat, or a toad or a lizard. Whatever he'd been before some unknown dog had adopted him all those years before.

     There were small, dark specks visible in the sky as they cantered onwards. Just birds, probably, but Malone kept an eye on them, trying to see whether they had long tentacles hanging below them like the tails of fairday kites. They were too far away to see, but then his attention was caught by a movement off to his left and he turned in the saddle to look. There was something there, in the trees. Probably just a bird or something, hopping from one branch to another. There were meadowfowl here, he knew. The men had been talking about catching a few, to add a bit of variety to their trail rations. Or it could have been a Radiant, floating low to the ground the way he'd heard they sometimes did. The sun was in the sky behind it, meaning he might not notice a luminous cloud hiding there, waiting to ambush them. He looked more carefully, which it why he was the first to see it when it lifted into the sky and leapt towards them.