Spirit Formed, page 6
“That we do.” He held out a small cloth-wrapped bundle. “Bliss sent these along.”
Shasta took it and carefully unwrapped the pale blue cloth. Inside were four small jam tarts. “Yum. I hope you thanked her.”
“I did.”
“Good. Two for the road and two for when we get home?”
“I like it. A treat to kick off the day, plus a celebratory prize if we deal with the deer, and a consolation prize if we don’t.”
“Exactly,” Shasta said as she headed into the kitchen. After digging through the cabinet, she found a small container and transferred two of the tarts into it. “Now I’m ready.”
Cord glanced through his pack before shouldering it. His bow and arrows also got a quick examination. Shasta took the opportunity to lace up her boots and grab her gear. She clipped the quiver on her belt, and the bow went over her shoulder. Had she been wearing a larger pack, it wouldn’t have been comfortable, but with the light daypack, everything worked fine.
Less than ten minutes after Cord arrived, they were suited up, and the only thing left was to activate the tracking charm. It didn’t look like much—a wooden disk with a clear stone in the center. To the untrained eye, it looked like poorly made art. But she could feel the dormant spell waiting to be activated.
Shasta rubbed her sweaty palms on her thighs. If the charm didn’t work, she didn’t know what they were going to do. The local elves, Cord, and she hadn’t been able to track the deer using elven abilities, so this really was the last resort.
“We won’t know unless you activate it.”
“I know.” Shasta took a deep breath and picked up the charm and the fur. She thrust her power into the tracking charm and pressed the fur against the stone.
The charm came to life, sending an electric shock into her fingers. She flinched but didn’t let go. A moment later, the energy evened out. Shasta carefully lifted the fur away. The stone that had been clear only moments ago now had a tan dot on one side. She rotated her hand, and the dot maintained its position, much like a north-pointed needle on the compass.
“It works.” She wiggled it around again. Maybe this one time her family’s bad luck wouldn’t haunt her.
Cord leaned in, peering at it. “Same way as yesterday.”
“Maybe that means they’re close to town.” Shasta carefully placed the fur back in its bag and tucked it into her pack. Then she went to the door. “Let’s head out.”
Cord followed her, closing the door behind them.
They didn’t talk as they left town. There wasn’t any reason to be quiet, but Shasta couldn’t shake the feeling that conversation would just end up drawing some of the townsfolk to them, and they would either get stuck talking or have to convince the well-meaning individuals they didn’t need help.
That particular worry aside, Shasta spent the walk checking the tracking charm. Even though it continued to work as designed, she didn’t trust it. The creatures had eluded them for two weeks, and yesterday the buck had simply vanished. That undermined her confidence in the charm. What if they didn’t find the deer or they got close … only to have nothing to show for their efforts?
“Are we still on track?” Cord asked as they passed the spot where they’d veered off to follow the injured buck.
Shasta held the tracking charm out so he could see it. As far as she could tell, the road was close enough to where the deer were that they should stay on it until there was a good reason to turn. “I’m watching our bearing.”
“I know. I still want to check.” He studied their surroundings. “I still don’t understand how that buck disappeared.”
“Me either.” Shasta sighed. Of all the conversations he could pick to pass the time, he had to pick one where neither of them knew anything. “Maybe we’ll find out what happened to it today.”
“I hope so. We have enough mysteries without that.”
Deciding silence was better, Shasta didn’t respond. Minutes ticked by as they walked. Shasta checked the tracking charm. The dot had moved a little to the right. A few hundred feet farther down the road, and it was a touch more to the right. She watched as, little by little, it angled more to the right. She was hoping they would be able to make a straight path to the deer, but ahead of them, the road took a hard left.
“We need to go that way.” Shasta pointed into the woods.
Cord bobbed his head. “Lead the way.”
As they entered the woods proper, Shasta dropped her shields. She could sense birds and squirrels, but the deer were either out of her range or hidden. In fact, she couldn’t find much that was bigger than a rabbit. There were a couple of skunks and a few possums, but that was about it. “Cord, can you sense any of the large animals? I’m not finding bobcats, bears, coyotes, or anything like that.”
Cord stopped and closed his eyes. The seconds ticked by as he did his own evaluation. His eyes opened. “None of them. I don’t sense any of them.”
Shasta tried to think back. Had she sensed any of them the entire time they’d been searching for the deer? She wasn’t sure. They hadn’t been the target of the search, and they were critters she typically tried to leave alone. “There’s a fox hanging out near town, but I don’t remember seeing tracks for any other large creatures.”
“Why would problematic deer cause all of those other species to relocate?” Cord asked. “It’s really odd, but I don’t understand the connection.”
“Deer would be good eating for most of those, but they feed on other things too.” Shasta shrugged. “We can debate as we search.”
“I’d love to have enough information to debate something,” Cord grumbled as they continued to follow the tracking charm.
An hour later, the tan blob indicating which way they needed to go to find the deer was the same size. However, it had taken a subtle turn to the right. Shasta readjusted their course, and they kept going. Before long, they had to angle to the right again. The tan dot was only slightly larger.
Half an hour later, it changed direction again, making a hard right that angled a bit back the way they’d come. Shasta looked at the tracking charm and thought back to the path they made. They’d traveled west out of town and then continually made easterly turns. Considering that, they were probably on the east side of the town, perhaps even facing it.
“Dammit. They’re heading for town.” She held the tracking charm out so he could see it.
Cord looked at it and then pivoted slowly as he considered where they’d been, and where the new bearing was taking them. “Are they heading for town or are they already there?”
“Narzel blast it!” Shasta stuffed the tracking charm in her pocket. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how far we are from town and how much distance this size dot indicates between us and our target. If we want to get there in time to help, we’ve gotta run.”
Cord tightened the straps on his pack and transferred the bow to his hands. “Ready.”
Shasta double-checked her straps as well and moved her own bow to her left hand. “Go.” She pushed herself into motion. The normally quiet earth seemed to push back, adding a spring to her gait.
She threw open her shields, feeling the earth under her feet and the forest around her. With her elven awareness helping her avoid rocks, holes, deadfall, and roots, she was able to put on a burst of speed. The earth, for its part, almost seemed to be pushing her into the air, helping her take longer, smoother strides.
Cord kept pace, and the two of them ran as only an elf could. They covered more than a mile in four minutes. The next mile was just as quick, and ten minutes after their discovery, they broke through the tree line and into the field surrounding Quercuston.
They slowed enough for Shasta to pull the charm out of her pocket. The tan dot was significantly larger. She put it back in her pocket, and they resumed their headlong pace. From here, it was still nearly a mile to downtown. Normally she wouldn’t want to arrive at the battle out of breath. But she still didn’t know if the magical weapons would work, and if there was the slightest chance that she and Cord could be the difference between someone being injured or not, they needed to be there.
They passed by the town hall and Shasta could see the defenses were up, though she couldn’t spot the guard. As large as the dot had been on the tracking charm, that didn’t reassure her. She slowed to a steady pace and nocked an arrow.
“Do you see them?” Cord said between deep breaths.
“I can see movement past the pike line, but that’s it.” Shasta sent a silent prayer to the earth that this wasn’t what they feared. That the defenses had worked and the townsfolk were safe.
As they got closer, she could see elves moving about, and a tan blob she was reasonably sure was a deer. Maybe she was wrong.
A scream tore through the air.
So much for being wrong. Shasta felt for the pikes. She fed them power and asked, Shrink.
The twelve pikes shrank as the distance between them narrowed. Shasta and Cord stepped over the gap in the bricks. She kept the connection between her and the pikes open. Full-size.
Shasta glanced over her shoulder. The pikes shot back out of the ground, again creating a barricade between Main Street and the rest of the world.
Turning her attention forward, she found pandemonium. Deer and elves seemed to be everywhere. One of the deer was down on the ground, blood pooling around it, but the rest were still on their feet and moving. Wyrran, Areena, and Gwen were doing their best to corral them. From the sidewalk, Meron and Ayla had arrows nocked. The deer were going in every direction, often ducking behind one another as the elves tried to contain them, making it difficult to find a kill shot.
Shasta kept running until she was even with Gwen. “Move back!”
Gwen’s eyes never left the deer. “If we move, the deer will spread out.”
“If you move, those of us with arrows might be able to take care of this mess,” Shasta shouted back.
Understanding flickered across Gwen’s face. She backpedaled as one of the deer kicked at her, hooves missing her by mere inches before it stampeded forward, aiming for the other side of the group.
Shasta took a few steps back as well. She couldn’t summon her sword and use the bow effectively at the same time; a disadvantage if any of the deer got too close. But from where she was standing, she still couldn’t use the bow and arrows because Ayla was on the other side of the circle, and there was too much of a risk of her being injured.
A deer separated from the group and charged straight at her, head level with its spine, hooves clacking sharply against the brick road. Shasta backed up, trying to get her bow into position and drawn, but she knew she wasn’t going to make it. The deer was moving too fast.
Suddenly the animal stumbled. It fell to its knees and then toppled onto its side. A few feet away, an arrow was lying on the ground. It was one she’d enchanted. Shasta took a deep breath. The spells had worked. Two deer down, four to go.
A sharp whistle overrode the mass of noise caused by the elves and deer. “Move!” Cord bellowed.
Areena and Wyrran darted for the sidewalks. Shasta lifted her bow, drawing it, her thumb resting against her cheek. The deer milled around, and then one broke from the group, heading for the sidewalk. Its side was facing her. She sighted the shot behind its shoulder, exhaled, and released the arrow. It flew through the air. She was afraid to breathe, afraid that like the arrows from yesterday, it would bounce off. The arrow sank into the deer until only the fletching showed.
Shasta grinned. Three down. She pulled another arrow out of the quiver. As she nocked it and drew the bow, she moved to the side so she wasn’t standing squarely in the center of the street. Hopefully, that would allow Cord and the others a better shot.
One of the deer turned, trotting toward the other end of Main Street. The deer closest to her moved around to look after it, presenting her the perfect shot. Exhaling, Shasta released the arrow.
It impacted exactly where she’d aimed and went more than six inches into the deer. The deer took off down the street, sprinting after its herd mate.
In the distance, Shasta could see the pike line at the far end of Main Street. The deer could run as much as it wanted, but she was confident in her arrow placement, and it wasn’t getting away.
Once again, she pulled an arrow out of the quiver and nocked it, scanning the street for the remaining deer. She spotted it on the other side of the road, next to the sidewalk. The bow was up, and she was sighting her target when two other arrows went into its side. One of them went all the way through, while the second lodged in the deer’s side. The animal staggered before falling, blood pooling beneath its prone body.
Shasta lowered her bow and relaxed the draw. The only two deer left were the ones stampeding down the road, and they didn’t have anywhere to go. The one she’d hit should bleed out, though that could take a few minutes. If she didn’t chase it, the deer was more likely to lie down or stand still so she could finish it off. In the distance, the deer reached the pike wall and started roaming about.
She turned to Cord. “We each take one side of the street?”
“I’ll go left.” He drew an arrow. “Good job with spells on the pikes.”
“Nissa!” Gwen bellowed.
Shasta jerked her eyes back to the road and paled. The two remaining deer were now thundering toward Nissa. She was running away, but they were moving too fast. She wouldn’t make it this time.
Chapter Five
Shasta charged forward. From here, she was too far away and at the wrong angle for a good shot. However, the deer she’d already injured was pulling ahead of Nissa and turning to charge across the road at her. That was Shasta’s opportunity.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Cord running, and another set of footsteps behind her had to belong to Gwen. But all of them were still too far away to help. Shasta reached out to the earth with a silent plea. Help me reach her.
Even through the brick, the earth answered, pushing her into the air with each step. Shasta ran even faster than she had on her way back to town. As she closed the distance, she brought her bow up. She had a good shot for the deer she’d already injured. If she could get that one down, it would give Nissa somewhere to go.
She released the arrow between steps, and before it even impacted, she was reaching for another. It struck the deer a bit too high and a little too far back. Not an immediate kill shot.
Another arrow thudded into the deer, perfectly positioned, and buried up to the fletching. The deer slipped but got back on its feet and kept running. Luckily, it couldn’t run a straight line and was veering away from Nissa, toward the other deer.
Cord came up beside Shasta as he readied his bow for another shot. She already had her bow drawn but didn’t have anywhere to aim it. Nissa was between her and the deer.
She couldn’t get an arrow to go around Nissa, but spells were a different thing altogether. Shasta tossed the bow to the side and stretched out her hand, pulling up a thick strand of magic. She shaped it, giving it a specific target—the deer on the other side of Nissa. And even if the magic didn’t follow the intended path, it was only a stun spell. “Mannaz.”
The magic flew through the air, diverting around Nissa as intended, and Shasta could feel it hit the deer. She started to smile, but as the magic flared across the deer, it didn’t have the desired effect. The deer’s pace did slow ever so slightly, but it didn’t stop. Whatever had changed these deer had made them resistant to spells too.
If she’d had the breath, she would have sworn. Without the bow and arrow, she didn’t have a ranged weapon. She could try the magic again, but she knew it wouldn’t be enough. Shasta twisted her wrist and summoned her sword. It wouldn’t help from here, but it was better than nothing.
While she’d been focusing on the spells, Cord had pulled a little ahead of her and was running along the sidewalk to her left. On the right side of the street, Nissa was still racing toward them, frantically looking behind her and trying to figure out what to do.
“Nissa, down!” Cord bellowed.
Nissa dropped to her knees.
Cord had one arrow in the air and another nocked and drawn before the first one reached its target. The deer was still closing the distance when the first arrow impacted in the kill zone. It faltered, missing a step and wobbling close to the brick wall when the second arrow landed just above the first. The third arrow was a bit behind the first two, not quite in the right spot, but the combination did the trick, and the deer wheeled away, sprinting ten feet before collapsing to the ground.
Gwen pulled even with Shasta, but Cord was still ahead of both of them. He reached Nissa first, dropping the bow to the ground as he knelt beside her. Shasta slowed to a walk, sucking in deep breaths. She could hear Cord telling Nissa that everything would be fine, that the deer wouldn’t hurt her.
Dropping her spear, Gwen knelt next to her sister and hugged her tightly. Shasta looked away. Nissa was in good hands, and someone needed to make sure the deer were dead. She didn’t mind killing them, but letting them suffer was a different issue entirely.
She went first to the deer that she and Cord had shot. Its chest wasn’t moving, and its eyes were open, staring fixedly at the world. It was dead. She bowed her head, giving the creature the respect it deserved. As necessary as it was to kill these deer, it made her sad. Had they been themselves, they wouldn’t have attacked and could have lived a full life.
She turned away and crossed over to the deer Cord had put three arrows in. She watched it take its last breath as the pool of blood on the brick expanded. Since two other herds had attacked, Shasta didn’t trust that these were the last affected deer. She cracked open her shields and looked it over for magical changes.
It very nearly blinded her, there was so much magic in it. Not just in the skin, but emanating from inside every part of the animal. She carefully extended a tendril of magic to probe the blood. There was a sizzling in her mind as her probe encountered bits of magic in the blood.
