Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,163
and landed in another, smaller clearing. Fern and Reiko also glided to a stop beside us.
I slid off Grimley’s back. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I pulled my dagger out of its scabbard and scanned the area. Beyond the clearing, the woods stretched out as far as I could see, and my breath steamed faintly in the chilly air. Given the high elevation of the Spire Mountains, fall had already come and gone here, and many of the trees were bare, although a few were still swathed in brilliant scarlet, gold, and citrine leaves like noble ladies draped in colorful ball gowns.
No one was moving through the trees, converging on our position, so I glanced over at Reiko, who was still sitting atop Fern.
“You can let go now,” Fern chirped in a helpful voice.
Reiko flinched, as though the gargoyle’s bright tone had startled her, but she slowly released her white-knuckle grip on the bases of Fern’s wings and slid to the ground.
“Problems?” I drawled.
Reiko shook her head, and some of the sickly green tinge faded from her face. “Nope.” She shook her head again, as if pushing away the rest of her nausea, then drew her sword. “Let’s go find the Mortans.”
We left Grimley and Fern in the clearing to hunt and headed deeper into the woods.
Reiko and I moved from one tree to another, careful to step on as few dried leaves and dead twigs as possible. We were still making far too much noise, but we didn’t encounter anyone, and we quickly reached the clearing I’d glimpsed earlier.
The fire pit was much larger than it had appeared from above, and the scent of charred wood hung in the air like an invisible, smoky cloud. I reached out with my magic, searching for flickers of thoughts and spurts of feelings, but the surrounding area was silent and still. I nodded at Reiko. Together, we stepped into the clearing.
I strode over, crouched down, and put my hand in the blackened detritus of the fire. The gray ash was still wet, indicating that someone had been here recently. I glanced around, looking for crusts of bread, stray bits of cloth, loose coins, or anything else someone might have accidentally dropped, but nothing had been left behind—except boot prints.
Several boot prints grooved into the soft, muddy ground around the fire pit, indicating that at least half a dozen people, maybe more, had recently tromped through this area. My heart picked up speed. This had to be a Mortan campsite. No one in Haverton would have any reason to be this far out in the woods, especially not this many people at once.
Reiko also eyed the boot prints. “Whoever was here cleaned up after themselves fairly well. The next hard rain would have washed away all traces of them.”
I got to my feet and wiped the ash off my hand. “Let’s track them, and see if the rats lead us back to their nest.”
Together, with our weapons in our hands, we headed out the far side of the clearing and even deeper into the woods.
The Mortans might have doused their campfire and picked up their trash, but they hadn’t bothered to hide their trail, and Reiko and I were easily able to follow the boot prints, broken branches, and scuffed leaves over the hilly, rocky terrain.
I was about to crest yet another ridge when Reiko lifted her hand, stopping me. She held her finger up to her lips, then pointed at her ear. Most morphs had heightened senses, including hearing.
I reached out with my magic, and a couple of presences sputtered to life in the back of my mind, like matches flaring in a dark room. “We’ve caught up to them,” I whispered.
Reiko nodded. We stepped off the faint trail we’d been following, then crept forward, quickly and quietly climbing to the top of the ridge.
This ridge made a wide, sweeping curve to the left before sloping down into another, much larger clearing. At the base of the ridge, a square opening had been carved into the rocks and shored up with wooden beams. No light spilled out of the black hole, but it was clearly man-made.
I pointed out the opening. “That must be the old tearstone mine.”
Reiko stabbed her finger at the ground. “And judging by how thoroughly the grass has been trampled, several people have been here recently.”
She had barely finished speaking when two men stepped out of the mine entrance. We fell silent, watching them.