Elle's Journey (Book I, Foretold Trilogy)

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Catan Hunter stood by his horse, lost in thought. The woman from the night before lingered in his mind, her haunting eyes plagued by hunger and fear. He wasn’t certain what possessed an unarmed woman to approach two armed men, but he couldn’t shake her simple touch. It was as if the gods themselves touched him, told him his fate lay with her.

He tightened his horse’s girth. His thoughts next went to the Darkness. It had taken no form, even when devouring the horse. Long, thick, snake-like tendrils had wrapped around the horse and pulled it beyond sight into the center of the dark mass. There were no sounds from horse or Darkness, nothing until dawn, when it faded like mist, leaving talon-entrenched trees and a bloodless horse carcass strewn over the riverbank.

He and Laka watched the Darkness and the dark-haired woman disappear beneath the river’s surface while her companions staggered onto the opposite shore at dawn.

She wasn’t dead. The same sense that told him his path lay outside the Keep told him she still lived. He just had to find her.

“It seems Dante planned on sending me with you without my request.” Laka Hunter interrupted his thoughts as he joined him at the horses.

Catan slung his saddlebags over the horse’s withers. “She knows we are friends.”

Laka gave him a long look.

“I did not request this.” Catan answered the unasked question. “Though you offered, I would never put you in that position, to travel to such a place as Iugustin.”

The two Hunters mounted.

“Your father bid you farewell?” Laka questioned, glancing upwards at the village suspended overhead among the branches of the trees.

“He bid me farewell when I arrived this morning,” Catan lied. His father hadn’t returned or seemed interested in seeing his son off. He hadn’t expected the Master Hunter to make time for him but couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Catan guided his horse with his legs as he slung the bow across his back and positioned his daggers. They rode from the secret trails known only to Keep members to the main trail through the forest.

“You told her what we saw?” Laka asked.

“No,” Catan responded. “I have no desire to see her again. Ever.”

“Catan, she doesn’t hate you. You’re not your father, and she doesn’t like that.” Laka chuckled.

“I had too much time to think while following her rules on my Walk. I planned on leaving the forest but not to Iugustin,” Catan said.

“Here we differ. I planned on never leaving the forest.”

“What would you do? Claim Hela and settle here for the rest of your years?”

“Hela? I’d never mate with a Sparrow,” Laka said. “Maybe a Wolf, or another Hunter, but never a Sparrow.”

“I didn’t find her wanting after two years,” Catan admitted. “It was suggested to me that I claim her as my mate.”

“You’d not be happy. Hunters and Sparrows rarely mix, and if they do, not for long. And you could not mate with anyone if you wished to leave here. What would you do? Take her with you?”

“You’re right. Perhaps ’tis good I leave now.”

“What is there on the Outside you cannot find here?” Laka asked, puzzled.

“Sometimes I think ’tis not my will, but the gods’ will that pulls me Outside,” Catan said.

“I am grateful the gods’ will lets me stay, or would if not for Dante.”