Untamed Realms by Various authors

Author:Various authors
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Dark fantasy
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2022-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

The Hunter’s Quarry

Colin B Harvey

‘Hold,’ she intoned, her voice crisp and clear. ‘It’s a trap.’

The Kosargi looked down in surprise at the hand restraining his great muscular arm, preventing him from crossing the threshold. She could see that he was struggling to conceive how so slight an individual could possibly restrain him.

His gaze travelled up her taut arm until it reached her pointed features. Croxis stared at him levelly, urging him to recall her true nature, to understand why she possessed such strength. Finally, his features cleared and she saw that he had remembered who she was and what she was. The vampire let a smile cross her thin, almost translucent lips, briefly revealing her elongated fangs.

The ogor turned his gaze instead to his patrol. They, too, had come to a faltering, confused stop. Now they stood, caught between bewilderment and expectation. The lead soldier let out a low hiss, returning his view to the figure lying some twenty feet distant, his heavy brow furrowing in confusion.

‘Prey,’ he gurgled, gesturing emphatically with his chipped, bloodstained bardiche towards the prostrate figure. The rest of the Kosargi patrol group rumbled their approval. Croxis, though, merely smiled and nodded. It was true, the figure was indeed their prey, and the Kosargi’s instinct was to chase their prey until it could be chased no more.

Yet Croxis’ instinct was altogether different, so she had stopped the chase at the very last instant. Something about their quarry had unsettled her. She had caught sight of the figure – a young Kurnothi female – grabbing some sort of ornamental wooden plate from the reeds near the stream from where it had been hidden. Presumably it held some religious or familial significance to the girl, sufficient for her to sneak back into the forest when all of her kith and kin had long since fled or perished.

Croxis had commanded the patrol group of Kosargi Nightguard to grab up their bardiches and join her in the chase. They had pursued her all the way here, to the extent of the Weald, where they had come to a halting stop on Croxis’ say-so.

Ahead of them lay the Kurnothi girl, having apparently tripped and hit her head on the gnarled root of an outlying tree, the ornamental plate lying smashed some short way distant. To Croxis’ mind, given the girl’s obvious dexterity and the merry chase she had just led them on, this seemed an unlikely outcome. Something was clearly afoot.

‘Prey,’ urged the lead Kosargi, struggling against her iron grip. Croxis considered. The sweet aroma of the Kurnothi girl’s blood was difficult to resist.

‘Oh, very well,’ muttered Croxis, releasing the monstrous arm. ‘Do what you must.’

Unleashed, the lead Kosargi roared in triumph and staggered forwards, the rest of his patrol following suit. The quartet of undead ogors lumbered from the confines of the forest towards the fallen Kurnothi, raising their blades and slavering excitedly.

The figure remained inert until the very last moment, when she abruptly turned and launched a fragment of the wooden plate at the lead soldier with absolute precision.

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