Renni Ashfire's Arc

Chapter 4 of 12

Renni leaned against the cold stone, breathing shallow around her cracked ribs. Then a small hoof clicked on rock. The white satyr stood at the edge of the clearing, watching her. It did not run this time. It tipped its horned head toward the trees and waited. She followed because it was the only thing moving that wasn't trying to kill her. The satyr led her along a narrow path she had not seen before. Past a round white den ringed in wildflowers and pale mushrooms — its home, she guessed. It did not stop there. It kept walking. The trees thinned. The satyr halted beside a huge dead tree hung with skulls. Ropes held them like fruit. Some still wore strips of scalp. Beneath the tree sat rows of weathered stones, ten of them, each marked with a hunter's trinket — a bent arrow, a cracked compass, a small carved bow. Renni walked the rows. On the last stone, fresh dirt. No trinket yet. Just a blade laid across the top. Her blade. The one she had left buried in the beast's jaw. The edge was clean. Wiped. Placed. She picked it up. Her hand shook once, then stopped. The beast had crawled out here while she rested. It had marked her grave and given back her steel. The satyr pressed its small head against her knee. Renni closed her fingers on the grip. The hunt was not over. It had only changed sides.