Atty continued to stare into the fire. At first Renken wondered if she was in contact with Yulen, but she didn’t have that wistful, daydreamy expression on her face. Which meant she was thinking instead.
Or listening to herself.
“Hey, Atty.” He snapped his fingers at her.
She blinked, finally giving him her attention.
“Did you hear what Fortune asked you?”
Her eyes jerked over to the Mutah hunter. “Don’t you feel it?” Sitting up straighter, she glanced at Mistelle and Lucien. “Open yourselves.”
Renken watched as Mistelle’s eyes widened.
“What is that?”
“It feels…feral,” Lucien remarked.
“Whatever it is, it’s definitely savage,” Fortune stated, rising into a crouched position. He withdrew several of his leaf-bladed knives from the bandolier he wore across his chest. “Let’s take cover, everyone.”
They immediately left the fire and hid among the low bushes surrounding their campsite. A few yards away, their horses neighed in fear as the thing drew closer and they caught its scent.
To Renken’s left, Paxton lifted his sword as he peered through branches. He gestured to Atty, who was on his other side. Raising his own blade, Renken also unsheathed his dagger just in case he’d need it.
The sound of something huffing gradually grew louder. A light breeze wafted across the small clearing they’d just abandoned, and with it came a stench that made him gag. Now he understood what Lucien meant when he said it was feral. But its exact identity remained a mystery.
Presently, the brush to their right crackled as something big passed through it. The creature appeared unmindful of the way the dry and dead leaves and branches broke under its weight.
He caught sight of a humped back as the thing kept its snout to the ground and followed whatever scent attracted its attention. In the firelight, the wet sores on its skin glistened. Tufts of dark, almost black fur sprouted between the bulbous abscesses. Every now and then, the creature paused to dig at the hard-packed earth, grunting and growling in its search.
Renken narrowed his eyes. It was either searching for something, or trailing it. Was it the Edge woman, whose footprints they’d been following? Was she injured or bleeding, and that’s what attracted the animal? From what he could tell by the way the thing was acting, it was possible. It was almost on top of that path. It would also explain how Fortune was able to track her.
The animal eventually meandered away after an undeterminable length of time, never deviating from the trail. Renken took his cue from Atty, and didn’t emerge from hiding until she signaled it was safe.
“Any idea what that was?” he whispered.
“A bear,” Fortune replied. “Not quite an adult, but big enough to cause major damage if provoked.”
Renken gasped. “That thing wasn’t an adult?”
Fortune chuckled. “I’m guessing it’s an older cub that’s been chased off by its mother so she can have more babies. I take it you’ve never seen how large a full-grown bear can get.”
Renken admitted he hadn’t. “It looked like it was tracking something.”
Atty nodded. “I thought so, too.” She looked at Fortune. “Think it’s following that woman’s scent?”
Renken gave himself a mental pat on the back for having the same thought.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” the Mutah hunter admitted. “Bears are known for hunting down wounded animals because they’re easier to kill, especially humans. To it, we’re nothing more than another chance at a meal.”
Lucien pointed westerly. “It’s headed in the same direction we’re going. If it caught onto the woman’s scent…”
“That puts a crimp in our timeline,” Atty finished. “We can’t stay here and wait until daylight to resume tracking. By then, that thing could have come across her and killed her.”
Without ordering them to, she went to retrieve her mare. Paxton kicked dirt over the fire to snuff it out before joining the others.
“Mom?” Mistelle spoke up after mounting. “Why didn’t it go after our water supply? Or come after us?”
“Bears are pretty much singled-minded animals,” Atty told her. “Its attention will remain on whatever it’s tracking, unless something deliberately puts itself in its path, or makes enough of a diversion to attract its attention.”
