The Archer's Hollow

Chapter Six To The Trees

Backtracking along the road, Nafaeri spotted the archer with the girl. In his weakness he had taken pity on the waif and let her use one of his horses. Perfect. Nafaeri imagined chasing the horse into the woods where she would take the girl hostage and get the answers she sought. Part of her hoped the girl would decline giving any information, at least initially. She needed her as an ally but found coercion much more satisfying.

They had stopped for some reason. Slinking through the shrubbery she padded toward the horses. When Nafaeri reached them, they started moving again. She trotted along listening to the conversation hoping for a tidbit on the human world but the archer spoke about the deterioration of the valley.

"It was not enough to notice at first, so we are not sure when it started. Probably five or six years ago if I had to guess. The rains have been scarce since," he said.

"You said your parents went somewhere to be near your sister."

This quaint conversation sickened Nafaeri.

"Yes, the city of Gehldona, it is in the next valley."

"Is it dying, too?"

Enough talk about the local plight, she wanted action.

"No, those affected have moved away. A lot of people are not waiting until it reaches them, they have already . . . watch out!"

The horses had finally drawn close enough. Nafaeri darted between the legs of the enormous beasts. Fear bounced around inside her matching the fox movements. All around her thundering hooves crashed. One landed too close embedding fine dust into her pelt. Thoughts of brushing it out of her own silky hair irritated her.

"Hold on," the archer shouted.

Nafaeri watched the scene above as she dodged the rearing horse. The girl slid into the bundle of bows. A grimace twisted her hideous face. Nafaeri spotted the reason and smiled. The newcomer's foot was twisted in the blanket's ties. There was a mere second to enjoy the moment before a stomping hoof snapped her back to her goal. Confident the entanglement would hold the human until they got to the woods she hopped behind the horse yapping and herding it down the lane.

They would go over the fence ahead, through the pasture beyond, and finally to the trees. Nafaeri would transform, pretend to help the girl and, by any means necessary, get the information she wanted. The smell of fear churned in the air and she grinned in anticipation.

The horse jerked the reins from the archer's grasp and ran full speed toward the field. Nafaeri struggled to keep up, her tongue from lolling from the side of her smiling mouth as she chased after the runaway horse.

Watching the girl bounce around Nafaeri wondered if she could maintain her precarious balance atop the mare. If the chit fell it would ruin her plan. She didn't want to think of that so she anticipated success hoping it wouldn't take too long. Captain Savio hated to wait and she still wanted to stop by the bakery to torment the owner.

The dust dried her throat leaving grit between her teeth. The bakery would be much better, only flour motes swirling around.

Too much time had passed since she'd tempted the baker. She always timed it so his wife caught them before he had any satisfaction and she anticipated today's scene would end as it usually did. Ethereal beauty had its advantages.

She pushed her tired legs on and hoped that idiot archer didn't follow them to the woods in an attempt to protect the poor little orphan. She couldn't fathom why anyone would, but then he never did what she expected. After all, he had invited the offensive creature to class and to accompany him home.

Her distraction turned to frustration as the horse skidded to a stop in front of the fence and the mess of a girl flew through the air slamming through a haystack and into a shed.

Nafaeri stayed around long enough to make sure her new resource still lived before deciding to check back at Signora Nia's later. With the signora's house staff gone she suspected the archer aimed to put the girl to work.

The fates had smiled on her and she would not disappoint them. She would succeed in getting the human tomorrow even if it meant resorting to a forbidden spell.