Severed Souls(112)

From time to time ravens let out raucous calls to warn others of approaching people. The harsh, echoing cries were grating in the quiet woods. Richard could see some of the soldiers out ahead look up into the trees when a raven made a racket. The men behind kept a careful watch all around as well.

Something about the area they were in made Richard uneasy. The openness by the brook left the forest canopy a little too open for his liking. Through gaps in the leaves he could see the stepped stone of cliffs rising up to the sides. The scouts had said that the pass they were going through was the only practical way to make good progress.

There were hundreds of places from up high where anyone could easily mark their progress along the brook. He felt like a mouse being watched by an owl.

Making good time was always foremost in Richard’s mind, though, and this was the only real choice for a route that would get them to Saavedra and the containment field at the citadel.

Richard noticed all the little birds abruptly take to wing, darting away through the branches. Almost at the same time, three ravens lifted silently into the air and raced off together through the trees.

Richard froze an instant before he heard a clipped cry from one of the men behind.

He spun around and looked up just in time to see legs pulled upward through the trees. Something big and dark was carrying the man away. Richard saw the man’s legs kicking as he fought whatever it was that had him, and then for just an instant before it vanished beyond the trees overhead, he saw the body go slack and limp.

In the next instant he had his sword out of its scabbard. The distinctive ring of steel being drawn echoed off the stone walls. In the hush of the silent woods, that sound was terrifyingly angry.

All the men swiftly had weapons to hand. Everyone looked up, ducking as they turned, trying to see the threat.

Richard instead watched the shadows down in the darkening woods.

Something dark swooped in at them out of that darkness of the trees to the side and snatched up a man not far ahead, breaking his neck as it yanked him from his feet and up into the air. His sword clattered down on the rocks. The man never even had time to cry out.

Whatever it was, it was not half people, or any kind of occult sorcery. Richard recognized the way it had happened. It was some kind of big predator taking prey.

“Close ranks!” Commander Fister shouted back at everyone.

Men ran in from both directions, collecting Zedd, Nicci, Irena, and Samantha as they came forward. Richard pulled Kahlan close with his left arm, protecting her and himself with his sword. Zedd frowned as he looked around for an intruder he could strike down with his gift. Nicci turned slowly, searching the canopy. Irena hunched over, sheltering her daughter. Samantha’s eyes were wide in terror.

They were all vulnerable targets if they stood still.

“Move,” Richard called out to everyone. “Keep going!”

There was no saving the two men who had been taken. All they could do now was keep anyone else from being taken.

“What do you think that was?” Kahlan whispered from close beside him as they raced ahead.

“I have no idea,” he told her as he ran along the side of the brook, jumping from rock to root to rock, “but we need to get out of the open of this streambed.”

“Some kind of small woods dragon?” she asked as she worked to keep up with him.

“I didn’t get a good enough look. There isn’t enough light and they were too dark to tell much.”

“Keep moving!” Commander Fister called out to his men as he urged them on, waving his sword. “Watch your backs, boys!”

“Commander!” Richard called out as they raced down the open area beside the brook.

When the man paused to look back, Richard pointed with his sword. “Make for that split in the rocks on the side. There are heavy woods beyond. We need to get out of this more open area. Whatever those things are, we’re in the middle of their game trail.”

Commander Fister nodded and turned the rush of men toward the place that Richard had pointed to. As he ran through the opening in the huge boulders, Richard could see that the forest beyond was dense and thick. The heavy cover would make it more difficult for any airborne predators.

The only problem was that it was getting dark. They needed to set up camp, not run through the woods in the dark.

He knew they didn’t have any choice. Before they dared stop for the night, they first needed to get out of the area.

The woods they entered were populated by spruce and pine crowded in close. Growing that close left the lower trunks free of branches for quite a ways up. That meant that the ground was more open, but in among the maze of trunks was not the kind of place a big, winged creature could easily navigate.