for any sign of the guardian of this forest. There should have been some reaction. Something was not right. No silvanus would allow taint into his woods!
Folding his wings, Silvas dropped into the trees.
Chapter 14
Diana stepped over a log, her nose wrinkling as she picked her way through the brush looking for firewood. Raskyuil was just a few feet away, hefting a large log onto his shoulder. Showoff. At this rate, he would be done with his part of their shared task before she started. Of course, she was the one who agreed to grab the smaller sticks. Who knew that they would take twice as long to find?
Truthfully, it would be going much faster if she weren’t distracted by a nagging discomfort that began after Silvas left and a putrid smell that seemed to get thicker. What the hell was that, anyway? She couldn’t even put her finger on exactly what it was. It didn’t quite smell like something had died, but it had the overpoweringly sweet scent of rotting flowers and vegetation with a hint of something foreign that made her stomach turn.
Gagging, she called over to Raskyuil. “Do you smell that?”
The troll cocked his head in confusion. Dumping his burden near the space that they had cleared of brush and lined with stones to serve as a firepit, he frowned and headed toward her. Within a few feet of her, she knew it hit him from the way his nostrils flared.
“By the gods, that is foul,” he grunted as he curled his lip in disgust.
“What do you suppose it’s coming from?”
“I don’t know. Whatever it is, from what I can tell it is coming from just north of us… and it’s getting stronger.” He tensed as he drew a large blade.
That was not a good sign.
Diana froze, clutching the firewood to her chest with one arm as she allowed her hand to drift down to the shortsword at her hip. Several trees in the near distance shook violently, some bending and snapping as they crashed to forest floor. Something approached at great speed. The dense foliage seemed to obscure whatever was traveling through the branches, but whatever it was… it was huge. With another large crack and an unearthly moan, everything went still.
The absolute silence made Diana’s skin crawl. No bird calls, only the soft hum of a few insects.
“Raskyuil?” she whispered.
“Move away,” he hissed as he began to slowly back up. “It may just be a silvanus or faun toying with us, but we will not take any chances. Be prepared for anything.”
Nodding, she dropped the firewood as she stumbled to the side. Pulling her sword free, she ducked down into the bushes, her attention trained on the trees ahead. Her breath came out in short pants as she watched and waited. From the corner of her eye, she could see the way that the troll seemed disturbed. His head whipped from side to side as he shifted.
He didn’t even glance at her as he whispered, “Diana, get to Keena and head west to the southern foothills of the mountains. We will catch up and reroute. Go now.”
Diana wanted to protest, but his tone brooked no argument and sent her spinning around. With a leap, she cleared a fallen tree and sprinted back to the clearing. Her arms pumping, she pushed her muscles to their full exertion. Behind her, she could hear Raskyuil roar. She turned her head only slightly, just in time to see the brush near her snap in her direction.
Crying out in alarm, Diana flung herself to the side, barely dodging a long, thick whip of muddy-colored scales that would have slammed into her chest had it struck seconds earlier. In the distance, she heard Keena’s peculiar warbling call. The sound of brush breaking as the crocottas charged forward was loud, but not as loud as the unholy shriek behind her.
Diana rolled over, her eyes widening in horror as a shadow loomed, dropping down through the canopy of the trees. What could only be described as a massive wingless dragon lowered its upper body as it descended to hang just above the ground. It had spines running down its body from the back of its head that seemed to terminate at some point before reaching the tip of its tail. Its fangs were nearly as tall as her as it opened its huge maw, saliva stretching between its jaws in a fashion that set it apart from reptiles as it loosed another horrifying