44th Ymiden, 719
H
e knew something was off when Blue refused to follow the trail. It didn’t matter how often he would point her at the spoor, the dog would have none of it; whining and growling until Alaric gave up and dismounted to read the tracks himself. Blue would tail him, hesitant and in some distance and it was her nervousness more than anything that filled him with trepidation.Alaric had first spotted the footprints in the soft, red loam of a river bed when watering the horse. A straight line of tracks, deep where the earth was soft, and barely visible where it was not. Deer and other game in search for water had rendered the tracks a challenge to read. Eerily human, it seemed whatever had left them moved at a steady, precise pace. Too precise for any beast he knew, even those few he had seen walk on two legs.
Maybe they were human. He wasn’t sure he trusted his skills to tell for certain. Not when half the forest had crossed over the tracks already.
It was curiosity more than anything that set him on the trail.
Curiosity, and a vague sense of unease, whenever he looked at Blue, stalking along behind him, ears flat against her skull.
Both horse and dog in his wake, Alaric pushed away from the river bank and deeper into the forest. The high trunks of ancient trees stretched to the horizon. Shadows crowded the thick undergrowth and where the sun didn’t break through the foliage, the air was cool despite the advancing season.
Tracks, well-discernible if trampled, turned into smudges of red earth and lumps of dried loam as the ground grew harder. Footprints, once numerous, became rare, then vanished completely. For a time, Alaric followed the general direction of the spoor deeper into the forest. The trail had veered little since departing from the creek and he hoped it wouldn’t start now. At first, it appeared he was lucky. Here and there, he spotted tracks. A partial print at the edge of a puddle. A crumble of red dust along the way. The one or broken branch.
Then, suddenly, nothing. He continued for one break; two.
Blue, ears perked, came to trot beside him.
“You wouldn’t happen to have changed your mind about following these tracks, would you?” Alaric questioned as he looked down on her. Blue yawned—and stopped in her tracks.
Alaric tensed. He looked around, unable to make out much. Too many trees, too little light. Already he was about to push on when something broke through the thicket to his far left. Blue began to bark. Alaric almost lost his balance as his horse swerved to the side, eyes wide. With a curse, he held onto the reigns until the trembling animal came to a halt.
What now?
Resting a hand on the horse’s muzzle, Alaric searched the periphery—and listened.
