Three Slices (2 page)
Authors: Kevin Hearne,Delilah S. Dawson,Chuck Wendig
Tags: #General Fiction
Novels
And coming soon…
Staked
Novellas
Short Stories
“The Demon Barker of Wheat Street”
Two Tales of the Iron Druid Chronicles
,
Including “Kaibab Unbound” and “A Test of Mettle”
Blud novels
Wicked Ever After (2015)
Blud novellas
The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance
Short stories
“
The Three Lives of Lydia
” – Carniepunk anthology
“Uncharming” – Unbound anthology (2015)
“The Greenest Grass” - Violent Ends anthology (2015)
YA novels
Strike (2016)
As Lila Bowen
Wake of Vultures (2015)
Horde of Crows (2016)
Novels
The Blue Blazes
And coming soon...
Zer0es
Thunderbird
Novellas
The Forever Endeavor
Non-Fiction
The events of this story take place a week to ten days after the events of
Shattered
, book 7 of the Iron Druid Chronicles
T
HE LOWLAND
marsh in the hours before dawn was perhaps a bit too quiet. The rasp of insects and the throaty warbles of amphibians, so raucous moments before, had fallen off into nervous titters, and it wasn’t because of my presence or because of Oberon’s. We weren’t the predators here. I crouched down next to my hound in the tall grass and put a hand on the back of his neck. Not wanting to alert whoever might be listening with my speech, I spoke to him through the mental bond we shared.
Quietly now. We are being stalked.
I imagine we’ll find out soon enough when it jumps on us.
My plan was not to be prey at any point, but things with teeth and an appetite usually get to decide what’s for dinner.
That would be cheating.
Oberon’s head began to swivel back and forth, searching for anything approaching through the reedy grasses that grew waist-high around puddles of standing water.
We need to get our senses back into shape, Oberon, and here nature has provided us an opportunity to test ourselves. Nothing better for your hearing than being prey instead of predator for a while.
I told you already. We have to see somebody here and this is where she lives.
We were in Ethiopia, the far western portion of it bordering Sudan, in a wilderness now known as Gambela National Park. Most of it was grassland and low-lying wetlands like this, but the occasional tree-covered ridge would rise up as a pro-forma nod to topography and varied ecology. Lots of African buffalo and large antelope species like hartebeests and kob grazed in the area. Prides of lions and other big cats ran around grazing on them, and vultures grazed on the leftovers.
What? Oberon, that is the most bizarre hypothetical ever. She doesn’t even use runes.
The answer is divination doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t tell you that a certain future got canceled and it doesn’t make small talk. If it reveals anything, it reveals the most likely of futures, and that’s always up to interpretation. Even if you get the interpretation right, it can still change due to circumstances. You remember what Master Yoda said about the future?
That’s right. Come on, let’s keep moving, but keep an eye out and your nose in the wind.