“The hunt knows we’re coming, I doubt we’ll catch them now.”

“That depends,” the priest murmured.

“Oh?” Adem couldn’t hide the skepticism in his voice. What did priests know of vorns?

“On whether the rider slows them. Or wants us to find him.”

He has a point. Adem grunted in reluctant agreement.

“Let us continue,” Hakan said.

For the next few hours they crept through the forest, following a trail now half a day fresher. The darkness thickened as the night reached that time, just before morning, when all was still and cold. The priests yawned. The scouts trudged after them, now too tired to fear. Adem’s fellow hunters walked with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. He had to agree. Their chances of catching the hunt were slim now.

Then a human scream tore through the silence. Adem heard several curses and unslung his bow. The sound had been close. Perhaps one of the trackers…

The forest filled with leaping shadows and snapping teeth.

“Light!” Adem shouted. “Priest! Light!”

More screams came. Screams of terror and pain. Adem heard a soft patter and turned to see a shadow leap toward him. There was no time to nock an arrow. He grabbed his knife, ducked and rolled, and thrust upward. Something caught it, ripping the blade from his grip. There was an inhuman garbled cry of pain and the sound of something landing heavily nearby.

Then light finally flooded the forest. Adem found himself staring into the yellow eyes of the largest vorn he had ever seen. In the corner of his vision he could see white figures. Adem dared not take his eyes from those of the beast to look. The vorn whined as it got to its feet. Blood dripped from the matted hair of its belly. Adem weighed his chances. It was close, but in pain and perhaps weakened from blood loss. There was no use running away. Even wounded these creatures could outrun a man in ten strides. He groped for an arrow.

The vorn slunk toward him, pink tongue lolling from its mouth. A mouth large enough to encompass a man’s head, Adem couldn’t help thinking. He got the arrow nocked, aimed between the eyes of the beast and released.

The arrow bounced off the vorn’s skull.

Adem stared at it in disbelief. The animal had leapt backward in surprise.

“Where are you, sorcerer?” Hakan shouted. “Show yourself!”

Sorcerer? Adem thought. Magic? The vorns are protected with magic? That is not fair!

“You do not order me, priest,” a voice replied in a strange accent.

The vorn whined again and dropped to the ground, rolling onto its side. Adem could see his blade lodged in its belly. He decided he could risk looking away.

Priests, hunters and porters stood in a group under a hovering spark of light. Vorns ringed them all.