Lifeblood

Chapter 21

Children's laughter spun through the air, its chime not muffled, but . . . desaturated? Rike wasn't sure that was the right word. He felt as though there was dirty glass erected between him and Hulf, the place muted like a vision of the past.

Most of the houses were constructed from sun-bleached wood, many of them in need of repair.

I could knock that one down by blowing on it.

Rike suppressed the urge to act on the thought. It might look abandoned, but he was sure whoever owned it wouldn't understand the intricate thought process behind why a stranger would stand by their shed, red in the face, giving it all they had to knock it down in one breath.

A woman carrying a small child gave them an odd look as they passed, her clothes plain and colorless. Rike made a face at the toddler and stifled a chuckle when they stared at him in utter fascination.

Rike sat back more comfortably in the saddle, then straightened as a voice sounded from up ahead.

"Harrison?"

Rike looked up. A woman rushed towards them, her fists clutching a brightly patterned skirt, curls bouncing with each stride. She stumbled to a halt by Harrison's horse, meeting him as he dismounted.

Her eyes lit up. They caught the sun, reminding Rike of the gemstones a trader from Ir'kegarnim had shown him once. Topaz, that was the name.

"I was beginning to think you tripped and fell into Delturr on your way here!" The woman heaved a sigh of relief, or perhaps she was just out of breath. She was short, with tight coppery ringlets—suggesting Danréan heritage—haloing the warm brown of her face.

Harrison returned her hug, hunching awkwardly due to his height. Rike swung down from the saddle, giving her a wide smile.

"This is Rike and Mary. They're the trackers I told you about." Harrison gestured at them, and then added, "And this is Rashida."

Rashida winked at them, and Rike felt his face grow a little hotter, but his smile didn't fall. She looked behind and around them. "Let's get your horses in the barn; then we can talk more."

Rashida led them to a barn that, though small, appeared in better condition than half the houses.

Next to the barn was a square house with its shutters closed tight. Nails and a couple of broken planks suggested there may have been steps to the door at some point, but no longer. Rashida held onto the doorframe to boost herself inside, and Harrison, Mary, and Rike followed.

Dust particles caught the light from a hole in the corner of the roof, and Rashida propped open the door to let in air.

"You can leave your things in the loft if you like." Rashida glanced at Rike and Mary. "I assume they . . . ?"

"I told them what you said about the Shifter." Harrison adjusted his hold on his bag and stepped on the first rung of the ladder to the loft, sharing a look with her Rike could not interpret.

"Perfect. You're filled in then?"

"We read the letters," Rike said.

Mary read the letters, but she counted for both of them. His Rillinian was limited to speech, as he never had the patience to learn to write it fluently. Mary had tried to teach him, but gave up every time Rike said he didn't need to learn it because he had "the world's best translator."

"Do you have any questions about them? It's too late to have a proper look around, but I can at least show you the place the Shifter was spotted."

Rike vaguely recalled Mary telling him a boy had gone into the forest and stumbled across it, though he couldn't recall the details.