Reborn

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Night had fallen in the forest once again. The sun had set long ago, its blazing colors had been hidden behind the treetops. Now, the stars were shining brightly behind those trees, but such a sight went unappreciated by the three men that ran quickly through the woods.

Marcus ran in the lead, his breath steady with the pounding of each footstep. He pushed through branches, paying no mind to the brush that lay at the base of the trees, and moved at a pace that was both ceaseless and quick. Since finding the camp of the kids, they had traveled in this fashion for two days and nights, rarely stopping to rest.

Marcus probably wouldn't have stopped for rest at all if it weren't for Callen and Mark needing a break to recover some of their strength. Even though he knew that to continue would eat away at his own lifeforce, he also knew that if he didn't catch the kids before they entered that tribe, it would be more difficult to get them back.

His eyes lowered to the ground, watching as twigs and broken leaves on the ground flashed by for a few minutes. He crunched them beneath his feet, vividly imagining that it was the girl's bones, or that boy's face. After satisfying the burning anger that roared inside of him with that visual, he turned his eyes back to the forest in front of him. There was no clear pathway in the forest, so to not pay attention to where he was going for too long could end up bothersome if he ran into something. If he were any weaker, it might have been dangerous, but for him... it would just be annoying to run into an animal or a tree.

His mind was still distracted, however. He couldn't stop obsessing over the question. How had they met the Silver Wolf Tribe?
The boy had lied about meeting his kids, so had he known before he found them that he was after the kids? Had that witch set something up without his knowledge? How? He had never let her out of the tribe, and the Red Fox tribe didn't allow strangers into the inner part of their tribe, so how was she able to reach out to another tribe without his knowledge?

There was no way, right?

Marcus couldn't help his thoughts trailing back to the problem again and again. Every time he ended up thinking in circles until his head hurt and his obsession with the questions grew larger and larger. He couldn't stand it.

He let out a snort of breath in dissatisfaction. It came out in a puff of steam, escaping his lips and trailing in the ice-cold air behind him as he ran on. He tried to refocus his mind once again on the forest in front of him, looking for the easiest pathway through the trees and brush.

With them moving almost constantly they had caught up on a lot of ground. If they didn't rest tonight, they should be close to where they were told the Silver Wolf Tribe's lands were. He had never been there personally, so someone else's word was all he had to go on. When the Silver Wolf traders had first come to the Red Fox Tribe long ago, they had told them their tribe was several days' worth of travel south. Calculating it, they should be getting close soon.

He cursed the Shaman's policy of not associating with other tribes. At the time it had made sense, he didn't want some nosy people butting into his tribe's business, but now... it made things harder.

The only reason they knew they were heading in the right direction was the signs they had found along the way. Broken twigs from others passing by or an odd footstep that had been pressed into mud, such things flashed by on occasion. It was the only reassurance they had that they were on the right track.

He cursed the Shaman again. And then cursed his kids. Then cursed that damned boy for lying. If they had noticed it sooner, he could have taken his kids right then and there and everything would already be solved. He'd be moving on to the next phase of their life.

He swore that if that boy tried to lie again, he'd rip the tongue right out of his mouth so he couldn't lie ever again.

Well... that was his first impulse, but Marcus knew that he and his men would more than likely be unable to do anything. They would be vastly outnumbered. Even with their extraordinary strength it would be impossible to take on a whole tribe by themselves. Even though they had been trading with the Silver Wolf Tribe for the past few years they had no clue how big this tribe actually was, after all, they had never left their lands.