Marked (Curse of the Immortals Book 1) by McKenzie J. C

Author:McKenzie, J. C.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. C. McKenzie
Published: 2024-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

20

We crested the bank of the river that led to the field where the hunters had attacked. Nala must’ve sensed how my nerves frayed with each step because she walked beside me, pressing her furry body into my legs. Whether she did this to reassure herself or me, I’d never know, and it didn’t matter, because at the end of the day, we both needed the connection.

When we arrived at the field, I froze on the spot while my mind tried to process the scene in front of me. It didn’t make sense. The area was empty. No bodies.

I spun around and scanned the forest.

Nothing.

I searched and found location markers around the area—the tall pine with the snapped branch, the fallen log with moss, the alignment of the mountain range through the twin cedars.

They were exactly where I expected. I hadn’t mistaken the area or somehow lost my way. This was the field. This was the place I killed a bunch of men and one of them shot Nala.

My skin prickled, and I slowly approached where Nala had fallen.

Squatting down, I ran my hands along the pine laden ground. It was damp, and the saturated dirt hinted that a pool of fluid had formed here recently, a pool of blood.

Nala’s blood.

My familiar whined.

I reached out and scratched her behind the ears.

“This is where Nala was shot,” I explained to Ace over my shoulder. It was about as much as I could say, given the absence of visible evidence.

“There’s a notable lack of dead bodies,” he said.

I straightened and pointed to my left. “They were over there.” I pointed at another spot. “And there.”

“I’m assuming from their absence someone must’ve moved them?”

I nodded. “Or more than one person. Those archers weren’t small. It would’ve taken time and effort to move them.”

“It has been days,” Ace said, scratching the stubble on his chin. “You shouldn’t be so surprised.”

“Right.” I frowned and looked around again, hoping some sort of secret message with all the answers would fly out of nowhere and smack me in the face. “They had time to move the bodies, but they had to know where to look. So either they travelled this route often, or they did have a spotter.” And the worst part—the part I didn’t speak out loud because it was now phaaning obvious—there were more of these rogue hunters. We had confirmation I hadn’t killed them all.

“Why go to all that trouble?” Ace asked. “Unless their identities gave something else away. Did you recognize them?”

I shook my head and wiped my hands on my pants before straightening. “Not a single one. Their clothes looked different than ours, too.”

“How so?”

“Different cuts and materials. Even the colour was different.” Perga and Wast hunters tended to wear black or mahogany brown leathers. “They wore green wool and light tan leather.”

Ace walked over to one of the spots I had indicated and knelt. “They went to a lot of trouble to get rid of the evidence. They didn’t want us to identify them.

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