Heir of the Dog Black Dog - Hailey Edwards Page 0,44
bark for boobs and see how far I got before the hounds sniffed me out and I put my theory to the test.
I made it three steps before guilt gnawed through my resolve. I turned back and found Rook nearer the dryad. Much closer and he would reach out. If he touched her, she would use him for fertilizer.
“Rook.”
He didn’t blink.
“Rook.”
Blank stare ahoy.
The dryad’s lips never moved, but the soft music continued drifting around us. Strange behavior for a tree spirit. From what I remembered in my old textbooks, they were peace-loving, live-and-let-live types. Sirens were more into lethal musical snares. The two could be related I guess, but the dryad’s urgent song still struck me as odd.
The Coronation Hunt must bring out the teeth in everyone.
Easing between them, I broke Rook’s eye contact with her. Sound was the problem. Earplugs. That was what I needed. Checking his pockets, I found them as empty as mine. Casting around for something I could use, I spotted clumps of thick moss covering the roots of a nearby tree. “Don’t move, okay?”
He gave no indication he heard me. He hadn’t moved since I stepped between them.
As fast as I could, I darted to the tree and scooped a handful of moss from the ground. I gave the spongy green stuff a test squeeze. The texture was foamy, but it was slower to reclaim its former shape. Guess I would have to pack it in his ear canals tighter then.
Rolling the topmost moss into tiny pellets, I did the best I could with what I had. Rook still hadn’t moved. He didn’t make a peep when I crammed the makeshift plugs in his ears, either. Feeling time slip through my fingers, I battled a sense of urgency to ditch him and keep moving. My endgame might be facing down those hounds, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for them.
After a few moments, Rook blinked.
“Hello.” I waved my hand in front of his face. “Anyone home?”
He focused on me, or he tried to. His gaze ping ponged between me and the dryad.
“Let’s get moving, okay?” I yelled.
His slow nod told me he was coming around. Good. We had wasted too much time as it was.
Adrenaline drenched me in a sudden rush that left my nerves taut and my thighs trembling with the urge to run. I scented the cool, clean air. Decomposing leaves. Rich earth. Nothing out of the ordinary, even by Faerie standards. The hairs on the back of my neck lifted, but I was done waiting.
“If whatever it is wants to kill us,” I told Rook quietly, “it’ll just have to take a number and get in line.”
Linking my arm through his, I led a dreamy-eyed Rook ambling down a path through the trees. I hadn’t noticed it before, and it was more of an animal run than a man-made road, but the dirt beneath the day’s accumulation of leaves was hard packed and well worn. Someone must be using it often.
“Thierry.” He slurred my name. “I need to—”
He exploded in a blast of feathers.
“Rook?” I spun in a circle, clutching quills in my hands like that would help.
A caw overhead made my shoulders slump. He flapped harder until he pierced the canopy. Great. Some guardian he was.
Alone in the forest, I dusted my hands and trudged onward. Night drifted around me, cooler and darker, hungrier. Common sense said I ought to seek shelter. Stopping for the night wasn’t appealing when I had already lost so much time. If Rook came back, I could ask how long these hunts lasted.
Something told me not long. I figured I had twenty-four hours at most.
“You look awful tired, yes?” a tinny voice called. “I have a bed. Food. I have that too.”
I slowed my steps. “Show yourself.”
“Sure. I can do.” A small black rabbit hopped out of the woods. “See? No harm, dog girl.”
I crossed my arms. “Dog girl?”
“Word spreads fast.” He thumped his back foot. “Old king is dead. The hunt runs tonight.”
Considering the dryad attack, yeah, gossip must be burning up the vines out here.
Anxious to get moving, I cut to the chase. “Why would you help me?”
“Rook Morriganson sent me.” His whiskers twitched. “He said to take you to the burrow.”
“I wish I believed you, little guy.” I sighed and walked past him. “I just can’t risk it.”
A blast of scalding magic slammed into my back.
“You will come.” The rabbit’s voice dropped several octaves. “I gave my word. In exchange, he