Her world wasn’t a safe either, especially not if everything that Silvas said about creatures leaving the forest and other worlds to inhabit the human plane were true, but returning there seemed the smarter option.
The troll shrugged as she handed him back the canteen. “From what I understand, he had it coming for some time.”
The laws and reasoning of those of the Eternal Forest were going to take some getting used to.
Chapter 13
Silvas flew high above the forest, his wings pumping around him as he peered at the landscape rolling beneath him. The forest stretched off into the distance until the trees finally gave way to mountains that jutted up against the sky. The Hyperborean Mountains were the purest white. A human would probably look at it and think that they were looking at snow, but it was really due to the blinding color of the quartz deposits in the mountain. Aquilo, the lord of the north wind, had his palace somewhere along those slopes.
Although he had passed by the outer limits of the impassable mountains once, he had never ventured upon the heights. He never had the desire. He hissed at the idea of having to breach unfamiliar terrain to hunt out Nocis. If possible, he would have left the sword in the company of the strix for all eternity. Unfortunately, it was that sort of thinking that had made his task now all the more difficult. Silvas couldn’t ignore the fact that his reluctance to chase after Nocis had unnaturally extended the life of the strix guardian.
His stomach twisted with revulsion. The strix were long-lived, easily living a full century, but sustained by the sword, this strix, glutted on its power, would have lived eons. He couldn’t even imagine how terrible she would be, how corrupt and twisted with the dark magic of the sword clutched in her nest.
Shaking his head with an irritated growl and a click of his beak, Silvas turned his attention back to the forest below. The trees were calm and undisturbed. He hadn’t expected anything different. Most fauns and silvani would have recognized his movement through their territories. It would stop them from spying on him out of curiosity, but they wouldn’t offer him or anyone in his company any harm. Once he entered the mountains, however, he would have to be on his guard. He was thankful that Raskyuil had insisted on accompanying them, even if the reason was misguided.
Tilting his wings, he turned through the air until he circled around. As he reoriented to head back to camp, a shimmer among the trees caught his attention. He cocked his head, his binocular vision zeroing in on the disturbance, when there was a ripple as if something large was in the branches, forcing them to bow under the weight. He considered circling around again to investigate when the ripple sped forward at alarming rate—heading to where he had left Diana with Raskyuil.
Thundering a cry in his wake, Silvas streaked through the air after whatever was plowing through the canopy below him. It was the only warning he would give. The deep, crashing sound of his battle scream was unlike the sharper, piercing shrieks of actual griffins. The pulsing energy within his voice never failed to alert those within the forest to his presence. Whatever it was, the creature moving through the trees was not reacting in the way it should. It did not slow or change direction in deference to his command for it to stay away. Nor did it behave in the normal ambling way of a wild animal within his forest. This was an intelligent creature, moving in a strike pattern from a distance now that he was separated from the female.
It was intentionally moving in closer to her, preparing to attack.
His temper, seldom roused, struck through him like a terrible viper. The faster he streaked through the sky, the greater his fury climbed as the brush below shook. Every shake of the tree limbs was followed by the darkening of the leaves, as if they’d been touched by something foul. Dropping down lower to the trees, Silvas drew back his head in disgust as a horrible smell battered his nose. The pungent scent of something rotting clung to area of the forest where the creature had passed. He wanted to gag at the putrid scent, but dropped lower into the trees.
Whatever it was that made that smell, it was not natural. It did not belong in his forest!