The Great Hunt (Eurona Duology, #1)(57)

Lief grinned. At that precise moment the sky gave an ominous rumble and another gust of wind ripped through the trees.

“Sky’s about to blow,” muttered Harrison.

Lief cursed. “Let’s hope not. It’ll cover the beast’s tracks.”

It got darker and colder. Tiny thunks began from afar, moving closer through the woods, and something pelletlike hit Tiern on top of his head. One landed on his shoulder and he plucked it off—a ball of ice.

“High seas, it’s hailing,” Tiern said. They got hail very rarely, maybe once a year during the winter in his seaside town. To see it in the fall was strange. But then again, he was many miles from home and at a higher elevation.

“We keep moving,” Lief told his men.

Paxton leveled Tiern with a questioning look, not moving.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.” Indeed, Tiern felt renewed after discovering the beast’s scat, and was almost numb to the elements now.

They marched on for ten minutes, faces lowered. The stinging pellets began to let up, becoming something worse. Something wetter. Freezing rain.

Within minutes it was pouring, a mix of ice and rain that soaked them through.

“Curse it all,” Paxton muttered. He glanced at Tiern, brown hair stuck to his face. “Do you need to stop?”

“No!” Tiern shouted. He was sick of Paxton assuming he needed babying. Tiern hated that his brother could so easily sense his weakness. Tiern surged past, hitting Pax with his numb shoulder. The Ascomannians were already a fair distance ahead. Tiern picked up his pace, thankful for the burst of angry energy.

They moved briskly through the mud, keeping their heads down. At this point, no signs of the beast could be found on the ground. Every ten feet or so, Tiern raised his head to peer around at the foliage and trees for broken limbs or trampled bushes. The incline gradually steepened, becoming rockier. To their left, through a cluster of trees, Tiern could see the rise of cliffs.

A cry sounded from behind him. Tiern spun, his heart in his throat, expecting to see the beast. But it was Harrison, slumped over.

Paxton knelt beside him. “Is it your ankle?”

Harrison nodded, sucking air through his teeth. “Twisted it. Slipped on a cursed rock.” Harrison tried to stand and winced as he put weight on the leg.

Paxton stared longingly up the hill where the Ascomannians were disappearing into the dark, freezing rain.

“Leave me,” Harrison said. “I’ll be fine. They won’t wait.”

“No.” Paxton’s face was tight with resignation. “It’s useless to track in this weather.” He got under one of Harrison’s arms and Tiern automatically moved to support his other side. “We’ll find some semblance of shelter until daylight.” They’d been hiking half the night, but were still barely into the ridgelands.

Tiern pointed toward the rockier area. “Perhaps through there.”

Paxton nodded, and off they went. Walking with an invalid in the freezing cold was neither quick nor simple. They maneuvered clumsily through the trees and over debris and rocks. A thin layer of ice had accumulated over everything, and Tiern found himself shivering once again. His teeth chattered against his will, and Harrison’s joined his. After an agonizing hour they found a high rock that jutted out with an overhanging tree, providing a few feet of meager shelter.

“Let Tiern be in the middle,” Harrison said. The brothers lowered him to the edge of the dry patch and Tiern practically fell beside him. The three of them huddled together, not moving for the first time in hours, and soon Tiern’s body completely overtook his mind. Next to him, Harrison’s head slumped in immediate sleep. Together they shivered, but Tiern’s body quaked violently after having run and hiked for hours in the cold. He looked down at his hands and was somewhat amused to find that he couldn’t bend his fingers. His toes wouldn’t move inside his boots either. He laughed aloud, or maybe it was in his mind. Tiern vaguely noticed Paxton staring at him. Such a worrier, that one.

The world went in and out of focus.

“. . . need a bloody fire,” he heard Paxton muttering to himself, turning out his pockets and cursing once again. He wanted to laugh at the sight of Paxton on his knees, gathering a pile of soaking, icy twigs. Paxton glanced up at Tiern, who could feel his own head tilt to the side, leaning against Harrison’s. He couldn’t read Paxton’s expression at first, but when it hit him, it fractured something inside him.

His brother was afraid. But . . . Paxton wasn’t afraid of anything.

Tiern’s body quaked, and his eyes fluttered. He stared at Paxton, who watched him fight to stay awake. Tiern failed, his eyes shutting, but he struggled against the complete overtaking of sleep, too shaken by the look in his brother’s eyes. He heard an ongoing hiss, then a crackle. Tiern’s eyes cracked open and he slowly understood how dire his situation was.

He was hallucinating. He blinked, but the strange sight was still there, Paxton hunkered down, his fists tight around a handful of twigs, and smoke seeping from the ends. Each angle of his brother’s face was stern with concentration. It looked as if Paxton were drying the sticks. And then, one by one, he lit them aflame.

With his hands.

Sudden warmth hit Tiern’s skin, causing his body to jolt in reaction. So this is what it feels like to go mad. . . . His eyes rolled back as he passed out.