Emberhawk - Jamie Foley Page 0,15

her grandmother jolted up in bed with a squeak. “The barn’s on fire!”

She didn’t catch Granny’s response as she thundered down the hall, lurching to a stop in front of Lee’s room and pounding on his door. “Wake up!” she screamed, then turned into the living room, where the ranch hands snoozed on the floor, evicted from her great grandfather’s house across the valley so the soldiers could have their own place.

Pairs of blue and green eyes popped open in the darkness, expressions ranging from alarm to groggy murderous intent.

“The barn’s on fire!” she screamed at them before running to the door, stumbling into her leather shoes. She grabbed the lantern of glowing mushrooms and her sheath of three throwing knives. The ones Tekkyn had given her on his last visit.

Kira’s heart pounded desperately as she raced through the garden. Please, let him be okay!

She could feel the heat of the blaze from a stone’s throw away, but she didn’t stop. Flames consumed the barn’s roof, but the front door was thus far unsinged. She threw it open and tossed the lantern aside.

Scalding smoke blasted her in the face. She reared back and coughed, blinking the sting from her eyes. “Tekkyn!”

Two bodies lay crumpled on the dirt at her feet. One was her brother. His eyes were closed.

No!

Kira grabbed his feet and yanked him toward the door, but released the shin guards as soon as she’d touched them and landed on her rump. The metal seared her hand like a skillet on the stove.

She lurched forward and took hold of the thick cloth behind his knees, then pulled back with all her strength. Tekkyn’s body barely moved.

Kira pulled harder and roared.

Dark arms stretched beside hers and grabbed the leather between Tekkyn’s armor. Lee pulled with her, and their older brother skidded through the breach.

Kira hacked up blackened air and crawled away from the heat. Her burning hands trembled, but she paid them no heed. She found the buckles for Tekkyn’s breastplate and used her tunic to shield her fingers as she yanked the metal off. His tabard beneath was drenched in sweat. “Tekkyn, wake up!”

“He’s alive.” Lee pulled his hand from Tekkyn’s neck and yelled at the ranch hands, who ran in their sleep-clothes to the well and the cattle tank filled with algae-ridden water. “Someone get the soldiers!”

Tekkyn didn’t wake no matter how she screamed. The light from the fire revealed a knot on the side of his head and a trail of crusted blood running down his face.

Rage ignited in Kira, hot enough to rival the barn’s flames. Ryon.

She didn’t need to take a closer look into the inferno to know that their stores of hay wouldn’t survive. So neither would their cattle. Or their ranch.

Her hands shook as she retrieved the lantern. She ran to the border where the dark branches seemed to revel in the writhing amber light. She found the spot where Ryon had entered the woods after she’d shot him. She flew to the place she’d twisted her arrow and rendered him unconscious.

She raised her lantern, allowing the mushrooms’ azure glow to whisper across the forest floor. Maybe Ryon was some sort of scout, but she was a trapper. A hunter. And he was nothing but a wounded animal.

Human footprints stretched long swaths through the mulch. They wavered from tree to tree instead of a straight line, and dry branches were sloppily broken and trampled on the ground. No one familiar with the forest would ever leave such a disrespectful trail. He’s in pain.

She picked up her pace, ignoring the faint protest in the back of her mind. Good.

Time blurred as she tracked her quarry deep into the forest. Past her furthest trap. Past the dry creek bed. Past the worm-ridden oaks, until the pines towered over her and stung with their evergreen needles.

Kira stopped to breathe and raised her lantern. The movement tore against her burned hand, and the difficulty in catching her breath assured her that her lungs were scalded. But she couldn’t stop now. She must be moving faster than Ryon—his trail grew more and more obvious the further she trekked.

A growl broke the night’s silence.

Kira froze. Was that human?

She slowly shrunk into a crouch and lowered her lantern. In the absence of its glow, another light emerged through the trees. It tickled the pines with an amber flicker, casting long, dancing shadows into the sky.

A pained grunt sounded, and this time Kira was certain that it came from a man.

Her