Everybody spun, bows drawn, at the sudden start.

  Hands flailed and slapped at Syl as the woman fought to defend herself. Adrenaline-fueled strength powered the frenzied blows and Syl was forced to retreat.

  “It’s okay,” Syl said to calm the woman. The definitely not-dead woman. “We won’t hurt you.”

  The sound of another person’s voice anchored the woman, and her eyes finally focused on Syl as her hands paused mid-thrash. Deep, shuddering breaths filled her lungs, the fear not so quick to let go.

  “Almost gave me a heart attack,” Kule muttered, but everybody loosened the tension on their bows.

  “Thank the Ancestors,” the woman said between deep breaths. “I didn’t think anybody heard me. Did you kill it then? Is it dead?” She grimaced as she finished and put a hand to her injured leg.

  “It’s broken,” Syl told her. “We’re going to need to splint it. It’s going to hurt.”

  “Can’t be much worse than it is now,” the woman said through gritted teeth.

  “Dena, you’ve done splints with me before. Take Rogar and find something we can use. Oh, and we’ll need a stretcher too. Get some larger branches if you can find them. We’ll use Sho-Val’s as a last resort, but I’d like to avoid that,” Syl instructed, and Dena and Rogar left without a word. “What’s your name?” she asked, turning her attention back to the woman.

  “Milia,” the woman said.

  “Milia, you’re handling the pain very well,” Syl said. Even grown men and women tended to faint or vomit at injuries like that.

  Milia looked Syl in the eye, “Lived outside the villages all my life. Don’t have the luxury of a doctor so often, even if he is kind of handsome so I’ve learned to deal with pain. But you didn’t answer my question.”

  “We didn’t kill it,” Syl said plainly. “But it’s gone, for now. So, we need to take care of this and get away from here while we can.”

  “Will these do?” Dena asked, returning quickly with Rogar and several pieces of wood.

  “Perfect, Dena. Thanks,” Syl said and took the last of the bandages from her pack. If they needed any more…

  I have to keep the others from getting hurt, she told herself.

  “Kule. Leeze,” Syl got their attention. “Use those branches Rogar was carrying and get a stretcher together. You can use my blankets,” she pointed at her pack. Kule and Leeze nodded.

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” Milia asked Syl, and leaned back. “You can’t be more than what, fifteen?”

  Syl raised an eyebrow at the exaggeration. Milia had to be in her mid-thirties, but Syl didn’t look any less a woman.

  “Seventeen,” Syl corrected.

  “And the daughter of the cute doctor you mentioned earlier,” Kule added, his wary eyes still on the forest’s edge.

  But Syl couldn’t feel the Anihazi anywhere nearby. They were safe, for the moment. The others, however, didn’t have that sense of certainty. They were waiting for something to lunge out of the bushes at any second.

  “So, yes. I know what I’m doing,” Syl deadpanned, and held out a piece of thick leather she kept in her supply bag.

  Milia looked from the leather to Syl, and then back to the leather. She knew what it was for.

  “This really is going to hurt, isn’t it?” Milia asked rhetorically.

  “Yes,” Syl said as she cut aside Milia’s pant leg and didn’t find what she’d expected. “No teeth marks,” she said. The injury wasn’t the same as Reylo’s. Was it a different creature?

  No. I definitely sensed the same thing both times. So, why isn’t she bleeding?

  Understanding hit her like a kick to the gut. “Damnit. Jurik.”

  “You found Jurik?” Milia asked, suddenly interested.

  “What’s wrong, Syl?” Dena asked.

  “I’ll explain after we do this,” Syl answered both of them at the same time. “This might be easier if you can lie back. If your body wants to pass out, don’t fight it,” she further explained as Milia leaned back and put the piece of leather between her teeth.

  “You’re in good hands,” Reylo told Milia, and gestured to his bandaged arm.

  Milia nodded, but didn’t say anything. Her fingers dug into the ground at her sides as she prepared for the coming pain. Syl worked as gently as she could, getting the bandages and branches in place before she began her work in earnest.

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  “Dena, here,” Syl said, pointing where she needed her friend’s help. “Rogar, hold her shoulders. Edar, keep her other leg still. Milia, ready?” Syl asked her.

  Milia just grunted with the leather between her teeth and closed her eyes.

  From the bruising, it looked like something had picked Milia up by the calf and shaken her like a ragdoll. The torque of it had obliterated her knee. She’d never walk properly again.

  “Got her?” Syl asked her friends, keeping the diagnosis to herself. When they nodded, she began. Milia mercifully passed out within a minute of Syl beginning, which made it significantly easier for her to work.

  They were all sweat-soaked by the time she finished, but she nodded to herself in confidence as she inspected her handiwork.

  Dad would be proud.

  “How’s that stretcher looking Leeze?” Syl asked.

  “Just finished,” Leeze answered.

  “Great, thanks. We don’t have to wait for her to wake up to get on our way. Kule and Edar, you’ve got the first shift carrying. We really should be leaving.”

  “Why do I have to carry it?” Kule asked. “Rogar’s much stronger,” he pointed out.

  “He’s also better with both a bow and a Sho-Val. If we get into a fight with the Anihazi, I don’t want his hands full,” Syl explained.

  “It was my arrow that hit the…” Kule trailed off when six glares turned his way. “Right. Stretcher. Got it,” he mumbled.

  “Good,” Syl said. “Let’s get her on.”

  “We’re not going back to the village yet,” Rogar said. It wasn’t a question. “Teb’s farm is close.”

  “Thank you,” was all Syl said. All she could say.

  Milia didn’t wake while they moved her and they were on their way in short order.

  “How far was Jurik’s house?” Syl asked Edar when they got back to the road.

  “Thirty minutes, maybe an hour down the road,” Edar said. “Might be a bit longer now,” he amended as he looked at the stretcher.

  “We’ll check there quickly and then continue on to Teb’s farm,” Syl explained as they walked.

  “We may have to stay at Teb’s farm for the night,” Reylo said, eyeing the sky. “It’s going to be tough to make it back before the rain starts. Can you feel the pressure changing?”

  Six heads nodded slowly as they focused on the heavier, more humid air.

  “Did anybody bring an umbrella?” Milia asked weakly from the stretcher.

  “You’re awake,” Syl said, and inspected Milia’s eyes. She was coherent. “Your leg is splinted, but you shouldn’t walk on it.”

  “Thanks,” Milia said, and grimaced as she shifted slightly. “How long until we get back to the village?”

  “We aren’t going back yet,” Syl said. “We’re going to Teb’s farm first.”

  “Are you crazy?” Milia asked, surprising strength in her voice. “You said you didn’t kill it. We need to get away from here. Teb’s farm is the wrong direction. We’re going to the village,” she commanded.

  “No,” Syl started to explain.

  “Yes!” Milia said strongly. “Listen, kids, I’m the adult here. Do what your elders tell you. And I’m telling you we’re going to the village.”

  Kule, who was holding the front of the stretcher, turned and looked at Edar. They nodded to each other and put the stretcher down on the road. “Off you go then,” Kule said, and made a shooing gesture.

  “What?” Milia asked, blinking rapidly where she lay on the ground.

  “You’re welcome to go,” Kule explained, and inspected his fingernails. “But we’re going to Teb’s farm.”

  “You can’t just leave me here,” Milia said.

  “We’re not leaving you,” Kule sighed. “You said you were going back to the village. We’re just going our separate ways.”

  “You… I...” Milia stammered.

  “Milia, you can come with us,” Syl explained matter-of-factly. “But we are going to Teb’s farm first.”

  “Fine,” Milia said, with little other choice. “But be quick about it.”

  Syl looked to Edar and Kule. Their expressions said they understood why Milia didn’t live in the village, but they picked the stretcher back up anyway.

  “I need you to tell me what happened,” Syl said to Milia a few minutes later. “How did you end up under that tree?”

  Milia ground her teeth, stubbornness for the sake of stubbornness roaring in her eyes. “I live out at Teb’s farm,” she finally said. “When Jurik didn’t come to work for a couple of days, I went out looking for him. I was almost to his place last night when something attacked me on the road.”

  “Did you get a good look at it?” Rogar asked.

  “No,” Milia said. “I barely heard a rustle as it came out of the bushes. By then it had my leg in its mouth and I was flying through the air.

  “Next thing I know, I’m under that tree. With my leg like this,” Milia gestured weakly towards her bottom half. “At first, I was confused about where I was. Then surprised I was alive. When I felt those jaws close around my leg, I figured that was it.”

  “And it just left you alone there?” Edar asked.

  “Not exactly,” Milia said, getting more absorbed in her own story. “My leg was hurting something fierce, so I started calling for help. I had no idea where I was, or if anybody was close, but I had to do something. Eventually realized nobody was coming to help me. So, I started crawling away from the tree.”

  “Wait, we found you in a different place than where it left you?” Syl asked.

  Milia shook her head. “I didn’t get more than a few feet, dragging myself on the ground like some kind of worm,” Milia said. “Then I heard this deep rumbling sound from just inside the bushes. When I looked, all I saw was this pair of glowing eyes in the darkness.”

  “What did you do?” Leeze asked.

  “Started screaming for help again!” Milia said. “And pulling myself back towards the tree. And that’s where I stayed until you found me.”

  “Anything else you can tell us about it?” Syl asked.

  “I got no idea what it is,” Milia said bluntly. “Never got a glimpse of anything but its eyes. Funny thing was, it wanted me screaming for help.”

  “How do you know that?” Syl asked.

  “Every time I stopped, it came back. Growling all mean-like until I started shouting for help again. Even when my throat was raw from it.”

  “You weren’t screaming when we found you,” Edar pointed out.

  “You try staying awake all night with your leg like this. Passed out from the pain,” Milia huffed.

  “Thanks, Milia,” Syl said, putting together the pieces of the Anihazi’s plan. It couldn’t really be that, could it?

  “You said you found Jurik,” Milia said.

  “I’m sorry, Milia. He’s dead,” Syl said softly. “For a few days. There was nothing we could do.”

  “Same thing got him too?” Milia asked, tears forming in her eyes.

  “We think so, yes.”

  “You mentioned Jurik back when you were working on Milia’s leg,” Dena said. “What was that about anyway?”

  Syl hesitated. Did she need to worry them further? Yes, she did.

  “I think the Anihazi is learning,” she said. “Jurik died from blood loss. And Reylo’s arm isn’t really hindering us,” she explained. “Milia’s broken leg. It won’t kill her. But it’ll sure slow us down.

  “And I think that’s what the Anihazi is trying to do right now. The bait didn’t immediately draw us out, but we took it eventually. The Anihazi’s first plan—to ambush us—didn’t work. But I think this is its backup plan.

  “Slowing us down. We’ve chased it off twice, and that makes it nervous. So, it’s changing tactics.”

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