Lizard Skin and Sharpened Steel: A Military Fantasy Novel by Damien Larkin

Author:Damien Larkin [Larkin, Damien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nilbud Press
Published: 2024-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

The knife bit into the spitter’s throat, allowing Boy to work the tip around the poison gland. She pried it free, then separated the head from the flopping neck and tossed it and the body away. Slipping the gland into a leaf, she glanced about. Her eyes darted at the sound of any creature calling out in proximity. Boy hated wasting good meat, but with the possibility of the slashers out there, she couldn’t take any risks.

“Any signs?” she said to Crya, one of the other trackers.

“Looks like they’re heading away from kingjaws territory,” Crya said, prodding the grass with her staff. “Most of them, anyway. A band of three broke off and are going northwest. Still away from where we’re headed, but that’s not to say they won’t loop around and intercept us at some point. I don’t like being this close on the heels of those bastards.”

“Me either,” Boy said, snatching up her bow.

Stepping nearer to the taller woman, she looked over the tracks. Following the larger set, she gazed out into the jungle, trying to picture their direction heading west. That area held endless stretches of trees with a handful of lakes and streams compared to the much more water-filled areas closer to Darronsmount. It’s possible they’d migrated that way recently, but less water meant less prey to hunt. Unless there’d been a much greater shift in plant-eater migration patterns, it didn’t make much sense in the long run.

“What should we do?” Crya asked, tapping her staff off the soil. “Larger or smaller group?”

“Larger one,” Boy said. “The smaller one might be decoys. Even if they aren’t, the cohort will be able to handle three out in the open. It’s the bigger group who poses the greatest threat.”

“And what if they’re trying to lead us astray, only to turn back around and ambush us?”

“Then let’s hope we can outrun them.”

Laughing, Crya turned and led the way through a thicket of trees. Both women jogged at a steady pace, maintaining a close eye on their surroundings for anything unusual. The many species of animals residing in the jungle had long since developed an innate ability to detect danger. They alone acted as an early warning system if the slashers intended to set an ambush.

Around an hour into their trek, Crya threw up a hand. Taking her side, Boy studied the nearby shrubs, wondering what caught Crya’s attention. Rushing water from a stream echoed lazily from somewhere close ahead, and the earth thudded under the weight of a full-grown barrel-horn four hundred feet to their north. Nothing else appeared amiss.

“Do you smell that?” Crya said in a whisper, eyes focusing and washing across the bushes.

Sniffing at the air, Boy turned her head into the wind. The usual odours filtered up her nostrils. She detected the leathery scent of the barrel-horn, the dry, earthy smell of the topsoil, and iron in the water. Then the ever-present tang of dried manure and . . . something else. Feint as it seemed, it lingered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.