“You mean whatever it caught escaped?” asked Ekhaas, peering over his shoulder.
“I mean it’s been stripped. Whatever it caught has been taken, and animals don’t reset snares.” He tore the cord free and flung it away into the grass.
The second snare he’d set had also been stripped. He studied it and the ground around it for several long moments before rising. “I don’t like this,” he said. “Whoever was here left no tracks behind. If they’re that good, they must know we’re here.”
“I didn’t see anyone during my watch,” said Ekhaas.
“Neither did I.” There was a third snare a short distance ahead. He motioned for Ekhaas to remain silent, then crept forward cautiously, taking care to remain well down among the grass.
His first glimpse of the snare made him blink and look again to make certain he wasn’t seeing something that wasn’t really there. The view didn’t change. “Rat!” he breathed.
Caught in the snare was one of the fat grass rats that had formed most of their diet for the last several days. Carefully laid out in front of the snare were two more, possibly taken from the other snares.
There were also three rabbits, a small heap of some blushing red fruit, two flat loaves of golden ashi bread, and two swollen skins, their surfaces wet with water.
“If we were in Darguun among the Marguul clans of the Seawall Mountains, I’d say that this was a peace offering,” Ekhaas whispered in Geth’s ear. “You know more about the Marches than I do. Who would do something like this and why?”
Geth’s eyes were on the waterskins. Designs had been painted onto the leather in bold, primitive swoops and shapes. He’d seen designs like that before. His teeth ground together. “Bonetree hunters,” he said.
Ekhaas cursed and reached for the hilt of her sword. Geth grabbed her hand and held it motionless.
Beyond the heap of food, a thick clump of the tall grass shook, paused, then shook again. A moment later, a man stood up from behind it and walked forward. He was lean, with muscles that stood out like knotted ropes across his body. He wore breeches and a vest of leather. Tattoos covered his arms, spines of bone pierced his ears, and Geth knew his guess at the source of the food had been right. The man was a Bonetree hunter.
But he was also unarmed. Although he didn’t look at their hiding place, Geth had a feeling the hunter knew exactly where they were. Squatting down on the far side of the food, he took up one of the loaves of bread and bit into it. The hunter swallowed the bread, replaced the loaf, then picked up one of the skins, drank from it, and replaced it as well. He ate a piece of the fruit in a single bite, juice dribbling down his chin. He spat out the pit, wiped the juice away, and sat back.
“The food is good, weretouched,” he said. The words were thickly accented but clear-the hunter could have made himself understood in any city of the Five Nations. “It is for you. Will you speak with me?”
A growl rose in Geth’s throat.
The hunter’s expression didn’t change, nor did the tone of his voice, but his jaw tightened. “I understand. You know I wouldn’t face you alone.” He raised his voice slightly and spoke a word in the language of the Bonetree clan. “Prashenis.”
All around them, the grass rustled as hunters rose from their hiding places. Behind the squatting man, a pair of hunters stepped forward, while two more-one of them barely more than a girl-stood up less than three paces to either side of Geth and Ekhaas. Both stood still for a moment, letting the shifter and the hobgoblin inspect them, then moved to join the others beyond the squatting hunter.
“You have my honor that there are no more of us here,” the first hunter said. He turned to look directly at them. “My name is Breff. I am huntmaster of the Bonetree clan. Will you speak with me now?”
Geth said nothing. He knew the man’s name. Ashi had spoken it. Seeing him and the other hunters, brought back memories. Cold memories of the first raid on the Bonetree mound and the battle to free Singe and Dandra. Hot, angry memories of the attack on Bull Hollow by Bonetree hunters in the company of the hideous four-armed creatures called dolgrims that served the dark powers of Siberys. He hadn’t stayed to see the aftermath of that attack-he, Singe, and Dandra had drawn the hunters and the dolgrims after them into the wilderness to spare the hamlet-but he’d seen more than enough.
A Bonetree hunter had cut down Adolan. Geth had killed him in retaliation, but to face Bonetree hunters across a peace offering was too much!
The continued silence brought a flush to Breff’s tanned face. “Weretouched, I want to talk to you! I know you were among those who took Ashi away. I know you were the one who struck down the Revered.”
The Revered-their name for Dah’mir. Geth still didn’t speak or move. The other hunters were beginning to look angry. Breff paused for a moment, then stood up sharply, his teeth bared. “Talk to me, weretouched, or you strike my honor!”
Geth’s growl rolled back in his throat and became a roar. “What honor do you have?” he said. Ekhaas hissed in frustration, snatched her hand free, and brought it up under his jaw, snapping his teeth closed on the words. Before he could stop her, the duur’kala had risen.
“The weretouched is too angry to speak,” she said. “He wants to know why the huntmaster of the Bonetree greets him with food and talk instead of with a sword.”
The words were stinging, delivered with a dismissive harshness. Geth choked in alarm and braced for Breff to rush them in a fury at the insult. The hunter, however, just stiffened. “He and I have met blood for blood, hobgoblin,” he answered with dignity. “I know that he has rond e reis-he is fierce and tough. I greet him with talk instead of a sword only because fighting each other gives strength to the enemy we share.”
It was too much. “What enemy?” shouted Geth, leaping up. “What enemy could we have in common, you Khyber-worshiping murderer?”
He would have lunged forward, but Ekhaas flung up an arm, holding him back. The four hunters standing behind Breff grabbed for their weapons. Geth wasn’t sure they’d understood what he’d said, but it was clear they understood his actions.
Breff also held up an arm, and the hunters froze. Breff met Geth’s gaze. “The Bonetree clan no longer serves the Dragon Below,” he said. “The Revered … Dah’mir-” his face twisted and he seemed to spit the name “-turned his face from us. The enemy we share is the one who stole his favor from us, the one who pursues you with the orcs. We’ve seen her among the horde. I know that she’s stolen their favor from you just as she stole Dah’mir’s from us.”
Geth blinked. “Medala?” he asked and Breff nodded.
Ekhaas stared at the hunter. “You’ve seen her with the horde?” she asked in disbelief. Breff’s face darkened again, though this time in shame instead of anger.
“The Bonetree clan is not what it was,” he said. “Our numbers are small. We’ve left the ancestor mound. Other clans eat our territory and would hunt us if they could find us. We live by stealth now instead of strength.” He looked up again and thrust out his chest. “But we still live, and we see more than we did when we were strong. We’ve been among the horde. We have seen. If you let us, weretouched, we will stand with you to bring down one who brought us down.”
The words and the gesture made Geth look at him for second time, and he realized with a start that Breff was younger than he’d taken him to be-not as young as the girl who stood behind him, but still a young man. Young, daring, and angry. Maybe the same age as Ashi. Maybe the same age Geth had been at Narath.
Cousin Bear and Grandmother Wolf, he thought, was that what I was like?
Ekhaas’s ears, however, bent at Breff’s words and her eyes narrowed. “The weretouched,” she said, “also brought you down, didn’t he? He fought the Bonetree clan. He wounded Dah’mir. Will you try to bring him down too?”