Deadlands Hunt (8 page)

"About twenty miles ahead, we'll hit a canyon system. There'll be more rocks, less trees and shrubs," Chase informed her. "On the other side of those, there are grasslands that eventually end in desert."

"And what's beyond the desert?" Sally curiously asked.

"Mountains."

"Have you been to them?" was the blond's next question. Chase shook his head.

"No one goes there," Curtis stated. "The mountains are the homelands of all the orc and troll tribes. There's wyverns too."

"I've never seen a wyvern." Amethyst sounded wistful. "We don't have them in our mountains."

"We do have griffins though," Sally reminded her. "They are terrifying. Always hissing and cawing."

"They've got beaks," Peter pointed out. "They can't speak any other way. I think them quite handsome, and rather like watching them fly."

"They are a sight," Kyle agreed. "There's a clan of them that lives near our home territory. Good allies."

"Have you seen a dragon?" Amethyst asked, looking past Sally towards him. "I've not, but would much enjoy meeting one."

Amused, Chase spoke up. "There's a young silver living in a cave near Hondo. The folks there were happy he decided to settle. They keep him fed during the winter, when game's scarce, and he's done a good job of guarding the place."

"How far from Adersol is Hondo?" Amethyst turned her gaze to him. It struck her suddenly that he was handsome, and she studied his face while the Weren answered.

"About a hundred and twenty miles to the east. It's a border town too. If you didn't already know that," Chase added, scanning their surroundings. Having more acute senses meant carrying on a conversation and staying alert were easy for shape shifters, but her intent regard made him to feel a need to look away.

Brian was brooding. Having no interest in the conversation, he was nursing a growing, intense dislike of Chase. He felt that Amethyst was paying entirely too much attention to the Weren and beginning to worry she might be feeling an actual attraction.

Everyone knew the beast men stole away whatever human women they could manage to for nefarious purposes. They were beasts, no matter how well they played human. They didn't feel the higher emotions, such as love.

It would be up to him, Brian decided, to keep the silly woman safe from their escorts. A sideways glance showed him that Peter was completely unconcerned about the position they were in.
The fool
.

Curtis was dividing his attention between his pack leader and Brian, his ears and nose alert for surprises from the ground. Amethyst was the first woman since Delphine that Chase had so much as spoken to, and Curtis wanted to see what would happen. The human's glowering expression was just entertaining to watch.

Still the burly Weren thought that the human would bear watching, since he seemed to think Amethyst belonged to him. Even though she'd made it plain that she didn't think so. Maybe if things worked out, she might decide Chase was someone she wouldn't mind belonging to.

Curtis decided he could hope for that.

*

The morning's travel went without incident, and Chase called a halt around noon when they entered a small clearing. "We'll let the horses rest for a little while."

"Doesn't seem all that dangerous out here," Brian said while dismounting. "We haven't seen anything but birds."

"There was something a few miles back," Amethyst replied, sliding down from her horse. Surprised, all four of the Weren looked at her. Suddenly uncertain, she asked, "Wasn't that vague stench something? We angled away from it."

Chase eyed her over the top of his saddle while loosening the girth. They'd picked up a hint of a draco lizard; he'd figured the humans hadn't smelled it at all. "You've got a good nose. Draco lizard."

"I didn't smell anything," Brian asserted.

"Apparently, she's got a better nose than you do." Curtis grinned, deciding to embellish a bit. "It stank like it was walking right alongside us."

A suggestion of a sneer flashed across Brian's face. The Weren wished Chase would let him smack the human down. Just once. Curtis was positive that would be all he needed.

Peter rolled his eyes while exchanging a look with Bran, who grinned and shrugged.

"Anyone hungry?" Chase asked, ignoring Brian. "We won't be stopping again until almost dark, when we reach the beginning of the canyon."

Seeing the uncomfortable look on Sally's face, Amethyst took her crossbow from the saddle horn. "I think we need a few minutes before lunch."

Chase nodded at Kyle, then Bran. "Go check around."

"Please hurry," Sally pleaded, bouncing slightly. Grinning, the two shape shifters melted away into the underbrush. A bit of silent communication passed between the two women, which involved making faces at each other. Amethyst shrugged her duster off. Sally followed suit after a brief pause.

It had warmed up. Curtis certainly appreciated the improved view while removing his duster. Ladies in britches was a wonderful sight. Catching Chase's reproving glance, the burly Weren busied himself by rolling his duster up and tying it to his saddle. Chase pulled his off, before holding out a hand for the women's. "I'll take care of those. Kyle and Bran are back."

"Clear.” Both smiled, noting the ladies were now duster-less.

"Come on, Sally," Amethyst directed, giving hers to Chase. After doing the same, Sally hurried off behind her friend. Brian scowled as all eyes followed the two women until they were gone from sight.

"Do you mind?" he snapped at Curtis, tone pure acid. The shape shifter took his sweet time before answering.
 

"Nope. Don't mind at all."

*

"Amy?"

"Yes, dear?"

"You're not going to marry Brian, are you?"

"Of course not," Amethyst replied, scanning their surroundings with her crossbow at the ready.

"Oh, good." Sally sighed in relief. "Because I think he's all wrong for you."

"I'm of the same opinion. He's proven himself extremely unpleasant the last few days."

"Rather," Sally agreed. After a minute of silence, she anxiously asked, "Peter hasn't though, has he?"

"Oh, no. I would definitely travel with you both again."

The blond hesitated. "What do you think of our new friends?"

"They're nice," Amethyst responded. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I quite like them as well. Peter does too, you know. Brian's being such a..."

"An ass. He's being an utter ass," Amethyst interrupted. "We should return, Sally."

"All right."

*

Having been expecting a scream, even after a clear patrol, Chase was relieved to see the two women returning. Things could happen quickly out here; the necessity of them having some privacy was something he understood, but didn't like.

"We'll spread out a little for the afternoon, riding in pairs. I want everyone to keep an eye out for any sign of the wagon train," Chase ordered, ending their brief rest break a short time later. The shape shifter was pleased when Amethyst pulled her bay alongside his black once more, obviously prepared to be his partner for the afternoon.

Brian wasn't, but there was little he could do about it. Grim faced, he watched them ride off together, vowing to make every effort to take her attention off the Weren when they made camp that night.

Waiting until they'd gone a short distance, Amethyst asked, "Would it be rude of me to ask you a few questions about being Weren?"

Chase glanced sideways, but she was alertly scanning the ground and vegetation as directed. "No, go ahead."

"What do you call it, when you go from human to your other shape? Shifting, changing, turning?"

"Shifting."

"Is it painful?" was her second question.

"No, not after the first time."

"Why is it painful that time?" Amethyst wondered if she was asking too personal of questions when Chase didn’t immediately respond.

He was trying to come up with a way to explain. "I guess because it's the first time. It's like a...river channel, one that hasn't had any water flowing through it yet. The ground's dry, there's loose dirt, pebbles and old leaves clogging it up. The first water coming through stirs all that up, washing most of it away, and soaks into the riverbed."

"Ah." She pondered his answer for a few minutes before shyly asking a final question. "And what do you look like, in your other shape?"

"A lot bigger and really hairy," Chase replied, his tone wry. Stealing a glance to make certain she hadn't offended him, Amethyst chuckled.

Watching her from the corner of his eye, the Weren grinned.

*

"Not even a dried rut," Kyle called out while riding up to the down slope that marked the beginning of the canyon. "Didn't spot a thing. Not a scrap, no scorched ground, nothing."

"All right. Let's see if we can't find a good spot for camp before we lose the light," Chase ordered, puzzling over the lack of signs. Even after several months, that large of a group of people, with wagons and livestock, should've made enough signs of passage that something would've been left: an old box, a child's toy, bones from hunted meals, possibly even a grave. Something - but not absolutely nothing.

Five

Not but about fifty yards in, they found a spot where the cliff face had broken away and fallen to create a partial circle of huge stone blocks. After a careful survey, and the death of two reaver serpents, Chase decided it was as good a place as any for a camp. The south side was shielded by a high tumble of stone. A low overhang in the canyon wall provided a covered spot for the ladies' bedrolls.

Camp was quickly set, with Curtis and Bran venturing back out to collect firewood while the others unsaddled the horses and fed them. Kyle appointed himself cook with the awkward help of Sally, preparing a pot of their dried stuffs that would end up a thick stew once cooked. Chase watched Amethyst as she groomed her and the blond's mounts, noting it was a task she seemed familiar with. Peter curried his gray, then the packhorse, both of them finishing before Brian had brushed his mount down. The Weren cared for his and Kyle's before undertaking the task of deciding where the men would sleep. 

He finally lined the bedrolls up before the overhang, putting them all between the women and anything that might come looming out of the night. Someone would be standing watch, but some type of cover was a top priority. 

By the time the stew was over the fire, the horses had been cared for and were contentedly munching their rations of corn from nosebags. They'd even have a little grazing afterwards, since they'd were picketed against the south tumble of rocks, which had a thick line of grass around its base.

Peter, sitting on a stone by the fire, glanced around to survey everyone's faces. "I've the impression not finding anything isn't good?"

"Good impression," Bran replied, tossing a twig into the fire. "A wagon train that size wouldn't have made as good time as we did. We should've come across an old campsite a little after our break."

"But surely, with rains and wind, there wouldn't have been any sort of trail left by now," Amethyst spoke up, her eyes travelling from him to Chase as she waited for someone to enlighten her.

"You can't have that big of a group, and not have some signs left that'll last for a good while," Curtis told her. "People lose and drop things, even without realizing it. Lose a button off a shirt, leave behind an empty sack or other stuff. Scraps of material left on branches after being snagged. Hundreds of little things that last longer than you'd think."

"And we didn't find any of that," Chase added, feeling uneasy. A few days' ride from Adersol meant the group had to have chosen to settle just the other side of the canyon. They'd reach the opposite end by tomorrow evening. Between now and then, they should find plenty of signs the wagon train had come through. So far, he hadn't seen anything to indicate they had.

"How could we not? They were seen heading this way as they left." Amethyst wondered if she'd dragged them along on a ghost chase.

"Well, there's the possibility they were the neatest settlers to ever travel," Kyle joked, then flinched as his pack mates gave him sour looks. "Hey, it could happen."

"Not very damn likely they could be that neat," Curtis grumbled.

"What about magic?" Sally asked face brightening. "The Shalinar sell charms, and so do the Charnim. Perhaps some sort of protective ones? Or for concealment?"

"I suppose that's a possibility," Chase conceded. He hated having to point something out as the blond happily smiled over her suggestion being taken seriously. "Only problem is that such types of charms would've likely been all used up by now. We'd probably have found one hanging off a tree limb or tied to a bush."

She looked disappointed, so he added, "But that was a good suggestion."