By Bow, Daggers, & Sword: Part Two (A Ranger's Tale Book 2) by Marc Alan Edelheit

Author:Marc Alan Edelheit [Edelheit, Marc Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

With an arrow nocked in his bow, Eli knelt just to the side of a tree. Partially exposed, he scanned the field before him and saw no threats, then glanced over at Titus, who stood a few feet away to his left. Dusk was fully upon them, and it was growing darker by the moment. Titus turned his gaze from the field back over to him. Eli gave a firm nod to the human.

Titus turned to the two rangers who were waiting behind him and flashed a series of curt hand signals that Eli could not fully see. With that, he, Aventus, and Lenth stepped forward from the tree line, first emerging from cover and then moving out into the cultivated field.

Crouching low, they spread out into a line ten yards across with their bows out and ready. Titus made another signal, and all three started forward through the first rows of crops toward the forest settlement.

Heads swiveling and eyes scanning what lay ahead, they moved slowly, deliberately. They were headed across the field toward a cluster of buildings that lay slightly more than a hundred yards distant, on the other side of the field. Their immediate objective was the closest building, a grass-roofed barn.

Mae was at the next tree over to Eli’s right, an old hemlock. She also had taken a knee. Both he and she had their eyes peeled and were watching ahead of the human rangers, providing an overwatch should things go bad.

With no lights of any kind, the buildings of the settlement were dark and uninviting. A cold sensation slithered down his spine. It had nothing to do with the plummeting temperature or snow, which had begun to fall in place of the rain that had plagued them as they’d made their way through the forest to the settlement. No, this was a serious concern.

Something here, at the settlement, was clearly not right. In fact, Eli’s gut was telling him things were quite wrong. The first clue had been the settlement itself and the fields that surrounded it. They had watched for almost an hour, looking for any indications of life, any people inhabiting the place, of which there should have been dozens. They had seen no one.

Not only that, but the fields had long been ready for harvest. Though Eli was not a farmer and had never been one, even he could tell they should have been picked weeks ago.

What was going on here?

Afraid he already knew the answer to that question, Eli glanced ever so briefly up at the overcast sky. About an hour before, the rain had shifted first to a snowy mix, then full-on snow, which now fell in large, fluffy flakes, drifting slowly downward. It was already beginning to stick, not only on the ground, but on the plants in the field, coating the leaves in a dusting of white and giving the view before him a picturesque quality.

Turning his gaze back to the rangers out in the field, Eli scanned the growing darkness ahead as the three men continued to advance across the field.

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