Power and the Dark Divide : Book Two by Tory Forest

Author:Tory Forest [Forest, Tory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TK Publishing
Published: 2024-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Shamus

It was a cloudless summer morning, and Shamus was hunting. He and Zeriah had been training the remnants of the Pine Ridge people in arms and tactics ever since one of the younglings had come to Shamus and asked him to show her how to use a sword. “I want to be able to defend my family next time,” Varity Windwood had said, nearly bringing Shamus to tears.

Currently, he was leading a group of them on a hunt. They were just outside the wind-blown tree city, taking a break for water.

“You’re doing great, sweetie,” Beatruce whispered, coming over.

“Thanks, Aunt Tru,” Shamus whispered back, the warmth of her words soaking into him as he stretched out his sore muscles.

“I can just see it now: we artists and potters taking up arms and smashing the bad guys to little bits.”

There was such glee in Beatruce’s words that Shamus couldn’t help but grin at his adoptive aunt. “Get back into formation, you little fire sprite.”

She flashed that lovely smile of hers, and her blonde curls bounced as she turned and walked back to the group, spear in hand.

“Alright, time’s up,” Shamus said. “Reform the lines in clusters of five this time. Stay with your unit—I don’t want anyone to break off. Your movements need to mirror each other. And let’s try to be quiet this time too, eh?”

There were a few grumbles, but his new hunters did as he commanded, even the few younglings that had decided to join in—Varity included. Though their people aged slowly, elf younglings were much more capable than their human counterparts, and it was common for them to attend hunts like this. At twelve years of age, Varity was faster than most human teenagers.

“Move,” Shamus ordered sternly.

He marched in front of his hunters, slow and intentional, quietly directing them through the forest a day’s walk from the mother tree. It took considerable effort to keep them in formation as they traversed pockets of unforgiving underbrush and rough terrain. Shamus was well aware that this little band of survivors would likely not see any real battle. If the war did bleed into the Kaelenwood itself, he would send them away long before it reached Wind’s Hollow, four days from the northern border. However, he couldn’t in good conscience deny his people’s willingness to learn to fight, even if it only served to occupy their time and distract from the tragedy they had been through.

They tracked for two hours before they finally came across what they were looking for. A male elf named Ferintz spotted it.

“My elder,” he called out gently.

Shamus circled around a grove of blue-leaved elms to reach him. “Please don’t call me that,” he whispered.

Ferintz only shrugged. “Is this it, then?”

Shamus nodded, examining the bedding that had been arranged under an overhanging berm of grass and leaves—a little hidey hole. It wasn’t small, which wasn’t surprising based on the size of the tracks they had been following. It would be an interesting contest for his group of novice hunters when they eventually found the female.

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