Between the Shade and the Shadow by Coleman Alexander

Author:Coleman Alexander [Alexander, Coleman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Realmless, LLC
Published: 2018-06-21T05:00:00+00:00

Broken clouds drifted over the plains, speared by moonlight that blazed across the grasses below.

“It’s getting late,” Ahraia murmured, standing right at the edge of the forest. Two nights had already passed and her scars had emerged in full again, ashen-gray instead of fire-red. She was becoming accustomed to it. Too accustomed.

The eyes of the keress shone like a line of twinkling stars, glinting when they stepped and then stopped, disappearing as they lowered their heads to eat and then shining back to life. Losna sniffed at the wind, watching the sprawling herd as they stomped and called, spreading and constricting like the clouds above.

Which one are you thinking? Not that bull in the back . . .

No. The one just ahead of him. The smaller one, Ahraia conveyed. The night was woefully quiet and unbearably bright. She sniffed at the barren breeze as it ruffled through the grasses.

Losna’s tail hung low and still. This isn’t possible. They’re too big.

Ahraia moved several paces through the forest, stalking along with the movement of the massive herd. The river formed a black line through the moonlit fields, funneling the herd past the forest. The males called in trumpeting voices and the calves squealed softly.

We’ll be fine, Ahraia thought, more to herself than to Losna. At this point, they didn’t have a choice. They had spent the first night finding and tracking the herd, and the second just watching them on the open plains, trying to find a weakness in their movements. Twice Ahraia had tried to bond a cow, and once a calf, but each time the males that patrolled the edges turned back her quarry.

Tonight was the last chance to make the kill.

Let’s go over it again, Losna thought. You bind the smaller one, the one ahead of the big bull. Right?

Ahraia nodded. The males roved the borders, closer to the eaves of the forest, protecting the females and calves.

Then you draw it into the woods.

Ahraia nodded. If she could kill it outright with a binding, she would. If not, she was going to use the closeness of the forest to overwhelm it.

Losna glared at Ahraia. And then you kill it with your spare tooth, ripping yourself apart in the process. Her hackles were raised, but her tail swished back and forth with feigned acceptance.

Ahraia swallowed. “The drain isn’t that small.”

And if that doesn’t work—Losna went on, her eyes glowing yellow—then I’ll just run into the middle of the herd, incite fear into the wolf-trampling, sprite-skewering beasts and hope that they accidentally trample one of their own, or one drowns in the river that they cross like a crick . . .

Ahraia frowned at her shadow. “If it comes to that, I’ll make the kill on the plains,” she said, unable to convey the thought with any sincerity. She turned back to the keress.

The males roving towards the forest were enormous. The largest bull roamed in the rear, shepherding the herd, constantly calling and posturing, directing the other males. Its antlers

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