Reyr the Gold (Dragonwall Series # 2)

Chapter 21 - The Gobelins are Coming

When asked about it, she often said that necessity was the reason she learned to do those things. Her father had only been a military man, and that didn't exactly prepare her to be a hunter. She was driven to be smart, to learn fast, and to always salvage what she could from a situation. Somehow, that was enough to teach her what she needed. Perhaps that was the true meaning of survival.

Fortunately for her, hunting game brought in a steady income. She had a cache of silver from the extra meat she sold to the butcher. She did not sell all of her surplus; some of it she gave to the mouths that could not feed themselves. There was a fair few who were old and disabled in Kaljah. Many injured war veterans like her father took up residence in the village when the armies retreated.

When her mother died, she cursed the gods for her father's decision to remain in the village. She would never forgive him for it. The harsh deserts directly west and the unfriendly mountains barricading them along the east made life in Kaljah a struggle. Moreover, there was no Mage in this village. When her pregnant mother got sick, they were too far to seek the help that was needed. In Lincastle, her mother would have lived, of that Jeanine was sure.

"Psst!"

A hissing sound forced her to stop. Jahl's face poked out of a bush. Though it was still dark, she could see the lopsided grin on his features. He often met her on the trail to hunt.

Jahl was her only true friend in Kaljah. Not many were close to her age of seventeen and those who were, were already married. She and Jahl loved hunting together, but she was much better at it. His real skill was his swordsmanship. Everyone knew that he wanted to leave Kaljah and become a soldier in the king's army. His parents promised him that when he turned seventeen, he could. His seventeenth name day was but three weeks away. She feared the day when he would leave her behind, but she knew he had to forge his own destiny.

When they were younger, she had watched him practicing with other boys in the village. It hadn't taken long before he insisted upon teaching her. In exchange, she showed him everything she knew about the bow. At the time she was no expert, but then again, neither was he. Together they learned...together they grew.

Even today they kept up the same tradition—in the morning they hunted and in the evenings they sparred. When her father found out about the sword fighting, he insisted upon it. He knew he would never get a son, but that didn't stop him from treating her as one. Thus, she wasn't anything like the other girls in the village. They were helpless—she was not.

"Seems a bit too quiet this morning, doesn't it?" Jahl afforded her a quick glance. Their gazes were largely fixed on the landscape around them. The number of trees increased as the hills grew steeper, until they were surrounded by the forest. She supposed that it was rather quiet, but her mind had been otherwise occupied for the entirety of their walk, so she hadn't noticed. They continued, quietly placing their feet.

Just as she was about to move forward to the crest of a hill, Jahl's arm shot out in front of her, halting her progress. She impatiently glanced at him, only to find an expression of alarm upon his features. An unsettling feeling tumbled into the pit of her stomach.

They crept behind a tree, both holding their breath as they strained to listen. There was no noise—none at all. It was an odd occurrence for a forest that was usually alight with the sounds of birds and other creatures.

It took no time for her nose to discern the most horrid stench imaginable. At first, she thought it might be a spoiled carcass, but then she decided that it was worse than dead flesh. She had been this way two days ago. A scent like this one would have taken far longer to grow to such a strength.

"Can you smell that?" she whispered in Jahl's ear. He nodded, his eyes wide.

Colors were creeping into the trees as the sun began to shed its first rays. It was just enough for them to see their way into the growth. There was still some time yet before it would peep over the horizon.