“Why?” Kendrick pressed.
Dain briefly squeezed his eyes closed. “It’s hard to kill. Even with magic. It’s large enough that it considers us dinner. Its fangs are…enormous, and the venom is lethal with just one drop. There’s no sneaking up on it. Its hearing is impeccable, and even taking out its eyes won’t hinder it. It can even shoot toxic shards from its body. Once it locks on to you, there’s no getting away from it.”
“Is that what came for us yesterday?” Esha asked.
The Dark shrugged but looked away. “I think so.”
“You knew we were in danger,” Kendrick pressed. “I think you know more.”
Dain swung his gaze to Kendrick and shook his head. “I’m telling you all I know. If I had known it was a nightwraith, I would’ve taken you much, much farther.”
That got Kendrick’s attention. He narrowed his gaze. “Why?”
“Once before, a Dark Elf used a nightwraith for revenge.” Dain paused, his lips pursed as if just mentioning it was distasteful. “The elf left the scent of the one she wanted harmed behind when she disturbed the creature. The nightwraith latched on to that scent and sought out the victim over miles and weeks. That’s how we learned there’s no getting away from it, no matter how far you run or how cleverly you’ve hidden.”
Kendrick’s blood turned to ice. He glanced at Esha to see her lips parted in shock. His mind raced with options as he asked Dain, “Did you stop it?”
Dain shook his head slowly. “Hundreds of elves gathered and fought it with magic and weapons, but that only enraged the beast more. Over two hundred Dark were killed that day, including the one the nightwraith sought. Once its intended victim was dead, the creature turned on those around it until the elves retreated. Only then did it leave.”
“Bloody hell,” Kendrick murmured.
Esha lifted her chin. “Well, then. There’s no point in running. And I’m not going to bring that beast into this forest to harm others. If it wants me, bring me back to where you first found us.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Dain asked in disbelief.
Kendrick caught her gaze. There was no way he would let Esha near the creature. “Nay.”
“You heard him,” she stated as she motioned to Dain. “I can’t outrun it, and I don’t want innocents to die while it’s hunting me.”
Kendrick turned to look at the yurts. He used his magic to remove them, along with the fire, leaving no trace of them behind. Then he turned to Dain and Esha. “I’m no’ giving up that easily. Are either of you?”
Dain snorted. “You say that because you’ve not faced a nightwraith.”
“Neither have you,” Kendrick pointed out.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t know how dangerous they are.”
Esha turned to him. “What do you suggest?”
“We were already after a mutual foe. Is this really about you or me? Or is it about the entity?” Kendrick asked.
Dain leaned back against the bolder. “You can’t be suggesting that someone is trying to stop you.”
“Why not?” Esha shrugged. “It’s a good theory. Savita might have limited our time together, but I think that was because of what I did to her. When I saw her the next morning, that was something different. She was deeply troubled.”
Dain’s white brows rose on his forehead. “And you still set out with Kendrick? Savita is a Reader. You should’ve listened to her.”
“Can they no’ lie?” Kendrick asked.
Dain frowned, affronted by the mere suggestion. “They don’t.”
“But they can,” Esha said. “Nothing’s stopping them. Everyone believes them because if we begin to doubt, then everything falls apart.”
A muscle jumped in Dain’s jaw. But he didn’t disagree with Esha.
“Also, she never told me not to go,” Esha added. “She asked me to stay. When I declined, she told me to be careful.”
Kendrick shrugged one shoulder. “She cares about you. I doona think she would put you in danger.”
“I don’t think so either. There’s no way Savita sent the nightwraith,” Esha told them.
Kendrick hoped she was right. “Do you know where she could’ve gone?”
“She’s supposed to remain in Flamefall. The only way she would leave is if a Ranger sent for her. Savita takes her station seriously.”
“Or if she’s called to the Reader Temple,” Dain said.
Esha’s nose wrinkled. “True. Though it isn’t like her to leave without telling someone. No group of Rangers is left without a Reader. Ever.”
“What if a Reader dies?” Kendrick asked.
Dain lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “The Readers stay far from any skirmishes. They’re revered. Protected. At all costs.”
“Even if one of them makes a decision that goes against someone?” Kendrick prodded.
It was Esha’s turn to shrug. “It happens all the time. No one has attacked a Reader in dozens of generations.”
That didn’t mean it couldn’t happen, just that it was unlikely. Kendrick still didn’t understand the full role of a Reader. The way Esha and Dain spoke about them, no one made a decision without consulting them. Kendrick had met Esha’s Rangers, and all of them appeared intelligent. Especially Esha. If she had gained the rank she had, why did Esha need a Reader to make military decisions?
“All right. If it isn’t Savita, then who?” Kendrick looked from Esha to Dain.
Neither had an answer.
Chapter Eighteen
“We can’t stay here,” Esha said.
Dain pushed away from the boulder. “There’s nowhere you can go that the nightwraith won’t find you.”
“Dragon land,” Kendrick said.
Esha jerked her head to him. “You want us to cross into Idrias? We’re not supposed to cross the boundary. You know that.”
“These are extenuating circumstances.”
“We don’t know if it’s after me or you. We’re taking his word,” she said, jabbing a finger at Dain.
The Dark glared at her. “I didn’t have to help, and I’m beginning to think I shouldn’t have.”
“No one asked you to,” she snapped.
Kendrick held up a hand. “There’s no need to turn on each other. We’re all in a predicament, and we need to trust each other when there’s verra little to none between us.”
Esha couldn’t stop thinking about her sister. She was upset and afraid that something had happened to Savita. That caused her to lash out at Dain, which wasn’t fair to the Dark. He had been helping.
She rubbed her forehead. Savita wouldn’t just disappear. But where had she gone? Esha didn’t want to believe that her sister had anything to do with bringing the entity here or waking the nightwraith. Then again, how well did anyone know another?
They had been raised in the same house, but they had spent decades apart, each taking a different path. It was only over the past three years that she and Savita had been brought back together. And in that time, both had changed a great deal.