Start of Part 3

  Midnight swam above Quinlou as he sat under the shelter of twisting branches. His group waited patiently for any message to arrive, aggressively ignoring each other, scattered out across the ledge they’d found among the trees. Quinlou couldn’t help but smile with glee. The memory of Yig’s face was truly priceless.

  “Man, I’ll let them have it the next time I see them.” Seye said as he jittered back and forth. “And I mean really let them have it. It’ll be a bloody day!” He was an energetic fellow, and irritatingly consistent at spouting gibberish. Seye had spiky, blond hair grown through and around scars in sharp and aggressive patches. He was wearing a colourful, scruffy shirt; one of the few he owned, all equally torn and dirty.

  “Be realistic,” Quinlou said, walking over to the ledge, looking out over the forest, appearing then as only a sea of dark. “Those were elite Stearna. We had a slim chance, and we blew it.”

  “Indeed,” Jug said in his deep voice. “We didn’t have the numbers. But when we get back there-”

  “The boy will already have left,” Quinlou said, sitting down, setting his legs hang over the ledge. “We blew our shot, and we missed.”

  Jug grunted. He was a large man with a broad frame. His head was narrow and square like a brick, with a slit scar on his potato like chin. His head was shaved bald, but he could never quite do it right.

  “Well. Well. Well… okay. But that doesn’t mean we give up,” Seye added, starting to pace again. “We could send some of our men to follow them… or maybe the Stearna will sense their aura. We could get Ule to scout. But we can’t contact him right now. Oh, I know. We could just ambush the place!”

  “What do you think we just did you idiot!?” Jug yelled.

  “Well… we ambushed them… but this time, we’ll do it even harder!”

  Jug whacked the shorter Seye round the back of the head. It quickly escalated to a small brawl from there. Hopeful neither would kill the other. It was bad enough that they’d lost Lefou earlier that day.

  Quinlou got up and scanned their numbers. They had maybe ten. And only he, Jug and Seye had control over their Levula. He had to admit, it was a sorry excuse for a group. All they had to pass the time was wait, hopefully in some semblance of quite, until they got a message from Ule.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Luckily, it wasn’t a long wait. Quinlou sensed a small aura approaching only ten minutes later. He wouldn’t have spotted it if he hadn’t been scanning for it. One of Ule’s owls landed on the grass next to him, twitching as it scratched itself with a razor talon. The group calmed down and walked up behind Quinlou, silently awaiting instruction.

  “What can you tell us?” Quinlou asked the bird.

  The Owl’s neck twisted and contorted, cracking as the head twisted slightly to the side. The thing’s body seemed to be actively fighting the process. But of course, it was no match for Ule’s influence. It’s beak cracked open, and the eyes and mouth glowed a faded shade of purple.

  “Now, now,” Ule replied in a condescending tone, speaking through the Owl. “It seams you’ve forgotten your manners dear Quinlou.” The man spoke calmly, a confusing contraction to the barbarity Quinlou knew the pale faced freak was capable of.

  Quinlou snorted. “What do you want me to say? You expect a ‘please’ out of me?”

  “I expect you to tell me how your mission went today.”

  “Right,” Quinlou scratched his neck. “Lefou is dead.”

  “And…? Did you compete the mission?”

  “No. They had a bunch of Stearna backing them up.”

  “Oh, they had Stearna… at a Stearna village?” Ule drawled, dragging out each word. “You don’t say.”

  Quinlou rolled his eyes. “Not the young ones—seasoned Stearna. Even you would've struggled.”

  “Silence!” Ule roared through the bird, making it sway. The beast looked ready to burst. “Your job isn’t to judge my strength—it’s to use your own!”

  “Then what do you suggest we do?”

  “Attack again—and this time, get the boy. I don’t care how. Just get it done.”

  “I doubt they’ll stay long…”

  Ule paused. “And why’s that?” There was a trace of irritation, maybe even skepticism, in his voice.

  “Hunch.” Quinlou knew it wasn’t good enough, but it would have to do. He was determined to keep his connections—and his past—away from the ears of the others. That twitchy lot couldn’t be trusted.

  “Fine. Since I have to do everything myself, I’ll send an Owl to scan the forest. But if I don’t find them, it’s your head.”

  “We’ve got scouts in most towns and villages around here. We won’t miss them.”

  “You expect us to chase them after they show up in public?”

  “What if they show up in Moonset?”

  Ule paused again. Quinlou knew it was the best and most likely option. His group had been planning to head to Moonset for supplies. It was the nearest place to the Stearna village, an obvious destination for Yig and Mona to start their ‘adventure’. Not to mention, Moonset was under Ule’s thumb and the valley folk hadn’t realized it yet.

  “You’d better hope they do,” Ule replied. “And this time, at least try to look useful.”

  It was a swift motion. The Owl didn’t even seem to realize its head was gone. Quinlou wiped the blood on the grass and slid his blade back into its scabbard.That was that. He’d probably get an earful when he reached Moonset, but for now, at least, there’d be quiet.