Part 28 (2/2)

He took her and kissed her, rough tongue pressing against her lips. She tasted the blood in his spit, and it was like pepper in her mouth. She did not fight him, but she did not join him.

He let her go.

'Later, we'll raise your enthusiasm. I'm skilled with more than the bow.'

Rudiger stood up.

'First, there's ivory to be had. Come on'

He stepped into the woods, and she got up, ready to follow. She did not know what would happen next.

She had the mare's scent. And so, obviously, did the graf.

XII.

They were back at Khorne's Cleft. On the other side, from which Sylvana had fallen.

For Doremus, this would be a haunted spot now.

By day, it was stranger than it had been at night. The waterfall sparkled, and it was possible to see all manner of colours and lights in the water.

Balthus was down on all fours, smelling the ground. His backbone had lengthened, straining his jerkin, and his ears were pointed, s.h.i.+fting back on his skull.

It seemed only natural. Even Doremus could sense the call of the woods.

He was still seeing things. And hearing them.

The trees whispered, and the rush of the waterfall was a hissing chatter, talking to him, singing him strange music.

It was bewitching.

He felt like sitting down, and listening hard. If he paid attention for long enough, he was sure he could make out what was being said to him.

It was the unicorn blood in him.

Balthus sat up, snorting, slavering. Then, he bounded off into the woods. Doremus should follow him, but he felt a la.s.situde creeping over him. The whisperings held him back.

Balthus was scurrying away.

Doremus followed the guide, trailing after his noise. Balthus was yapping like a hound.

Tonight, he would want to be kennelled with Karl and Franz, leaving the leech alone in his bed.

He found Balthus at the edge of a clearing, pointing. He pressed his back to a tree, and caught his breath.

Something was moving between the trees, something with a silver-white hide that flashed.

Doremus had an arrow ready.

He kicked Balthus, sending him off to the right, hoping to attract the mare's attention. If she charged the guide, Doremus would get a perfect shot. He could take her in the neck, or the eye, or the withers. Then, he could use his knife to finish the job if it needed finis.h.i.+ng.

He would prefer a clean kill. It would make his father proud.

The mare came to a halt and raised her head, listening. Doremus knew the true kins.h.i.+p of hunter for prey, and understood her thinking.

She suspected a trap, but was measuring her chances. Was she confident enough to charge anyway?

Balthus barked, and the mare went for him.

The unicorn galloped out of the woods, and exploded, bigger by daylight than Doremus had imagined last night, into the clearing. Doremus stepped out from behind the tree and advanced a few paces, arrow coming up There was a shaking in the ground as the unicorn's hooves struck. Then, the rumbling increased and became a sharp, earthy scream.

The ground was giving way.

Doremus fired, but his arrow shot upwards, skittering above the unicorn's eyes and clanging against her horn as she batted it aside, its force spent.

The earth tipped like an unbalanced stone, and Doremus slid down it. The unicorn lost her footing too, and whinnied a long stream of forest oaths.

Doremus lost his bow and started tearing at the rippling ground, pulling himself out of the subsidence.

The mare, heavier than he and stuck with hooves rather than fingers, just floundered, and sank further.

Turning his head, Doremus saw the unicorn's head shaking, horn waving, as she fell through into the abandoned dwarf tunnel beneath.

He had lost her.

XIII.

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