Soul Bound

Chapter 8

Eva peered over her shoulder, up the slight incline towards the rest of the hunters. A habit she had been trying to fight these past few months. She had gotten used to being alone in the woods; now every time she heard their footfalls, she expected a monster to jump out of the bushes and slice her open.

After seeing her success with bigger game, a few of the men approached her, asking for her advice. For the first month, they had followed her up the mountain, learned where she laid the traps or where to find deer and boar. How to avoid detection from monsters. Once they grew more comfortable with being off the trails, they broke up into two groups.

Cain was one of the men to approach her, despite the many years he had on her, and he insisted that he be a member of her group. She had a feeling her father put him up to it; they were childhood friends, after all, and was the closest thing she had to an uncle. He also happened to be one of her biggest customers, being in the leatherworking business. She used the meat to feed her family and he used the hide to feed his, an amicable relationship.

He was a burly man, as big as a bear. Even his hair was the same shade as a bear's fur, or used to be until speckles of gray started showing his age. Somehow, his full beard remained untouched and hid most of his boisterous smile. With no leather in need of being worked, he decided to fall back into his old roots and got back into hunting. He had been immensely helpful in helping Eva teach the less experienced hunters.

He raised a pair of greying bushy eyebrows at her then extended his gait to walk alongside her. "You have that look about you, Eva. What troubles you?"

Sighing, she turned her attention back to her lightly used trail, which was steadily becoming more used and obvious. "Nothing."

He chuckled, a deep, baritone sound. "I know you can't be upset that Rudy saw the stag before you. You're not that petty."

No one would ever know that she had seen the deer first. She saw all of their prey long before anyone knew they were on the right trail. Over the past few months, Eva had put some time aside to visit the lonely dragon between her hunts and helping her mother around the house. They had discovered that if she concentrated hard enough, they could communicate telepathically--but she was terrible at it. More usefully, she learned how to control her dragon vision, especially how to turn it off when she didn't want to see her neighbours in the privacy of their homes. It was an incredibly useful tool once she learned how to determine how far away animals were.

She led them along the stag's trail then took them into a position where Rudy would be able to find it and take the shot. He needed the moral boost; his wife was expecting soon and he felt like he wasn't contributing much to the hunts. Now he had a stag to bring home. It was big enough to feed everyone in Brar tonight.

"It's not that," she mumbled.

Cain inched a little closer. "Is it hard for you, being in this forest after what happened?"

Her hand automatically went to her scars.

"It's all right if it is," he assured her, laying a warm hand on her shoulder. "Even the best warriors feel fear..." He moistened his lips and lowered his voice. "There are rumours that you have dragon scales."

She inwardly groaned. Eva found out too late that Erika had been telling people about her scars. Just last night, she had pulled her aside and told her to stop, but it appeared the damage had already been done. By this time tomorrow, the entire village will know a dragon with black scales had cried on her.

"Don't worry, I won't tell." He winked at her and offered an easy smile. "Though, there is no shame in having them. You have been honoured, blessed by Ebis."